--The Power of Christ! ~

-For three days Jesus' body decayed. It did not rest, mind you. It decayed. The cheeks sank and the skin paled. But after three days the process was reversed. There was a stirring, a stirring deep within the grave...and the living Christ stepped forth.

And the moment He stepped forth, everything changed...The resurrection is an exploding flare announcing to all sincere seekers that it is safe to believe. Safe to believe in ultimate justice. Safe to believe in eternal bodies. Safe to believe in heaven as our estate and the earth as its porch. Safe to believe in a time when questions won't keep us awake and pain won't keep us down. Safe to believe in open graves and endless days and genuine praise.

Because we can accept the Resurrection story, it is safe to accept the rest of the story.
Because of the Resurrection, everything changes.

Death changes. It used to be the end; now it is the beginning.

The cemetary changes. People once went there to say good-bye; not they go to say, "We'll be together again."

Even the coffin changes. The casket is no longer a box where we hide bodies, but rather a cocoon in which the body is kept untill God sets it free to fly.

And someday, according to Christ, He will set us free. He will come back. "I will come again and receive you to Myself" (John 14:3). And to prove that He was serious about His promise, the stone was rolled and His body was raised.

For He knows that someday this world will shake again. In the blink of an eye, as fast as the lightning flashes from the east to the west, He will come back. And everyone will see Him--you will, I will. Bodies will push back the dirt and break the surface of the sea. The earth will tremble, the sky will roar, and those who do not know Him will shudder. But in that hour you will not fear, because you know Him.
-- (From: When Christ Comes by Max Lucado)./HOPE OF THE WORLD!