happy easter!

a friend sent me this video today in the hopes that i'd spend a few moments watching it and letting the words sink in deep. i did... and it's changed me. it's put my heart in that place where i'm ready to truly celebrate Easter for its real purpose... Christ died for me and conquered death so that i might have eternal life. i don't say this to be "religious". i say it because it's true and i believe it. Christ has changed by life and by accepting him and what he did for me on the cross 2000 years ago i get to spend forever with him... starting now. so i want to let His light shine through me. i might not be a perfect vessel, but i'm willing and that's all he asks for. come to me as you are... but don't stay that way.

i loved this version of romans 12:1-2 that they showed in the video. it's from the Message...

So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Happy Easter everyone!