Happy Easter, people! Thru the magic of the internet, I've come to care about many of you whom I've never met, but who regularly read this blog. So when I wish you "Happy Easter," it feels more honest than it does like some kind of perfunctory and hollow holiday greeting.

Still, I wish it were more - I wish it were the sacred exchange between believers that it used to be. Somehow in the last quarter century Easter got deemphasized in America in favor of Halloween. Just one more indicator of the trajectory our country is on.

As for Karen and me, although we're in the empty nest stage of life, we love Easter around these parts. If nothing else, it affords those of us who follow Jesus a chance to whoop it up a bit and exult over the sheer fact of resurrection in history and in the present moment. The very earth cries out with resurrection life around these Georgia foothills. Our Bradford pears lining the driveway are in full bloom. Jonquils spill out over the earth flashing a yellow so bright it seems to be laughing.

It's a good time to push the pause button on work-a-day life and take stock of our blessings and our direction. Are we as Rich Mullins described himself, "An arrow pointed straight to heaven"? Do our lives show the reality of a living God? In the last three months, we've been focused on dark places - helping people in three countries (Mozambique, Nicaragua, & Peru) cope with floods, a hurricane and an earthquake. In the middle of such tectonic hopelessness, it can be overwhelming. Our small efforts can seem futile.

With one foot planted in a world that seems to be continually racked by pain and another planted here in America, Karen and I find often ourselves asking, "Is what we're doing enough?" Can we bring hope to counter this tidal wave of need and despair?

By ourselves, we'll never shine enough light to dispel the darkness. The only answer I've got is that we have to set the next generation on fire. We have to fan the flame of their passion, allowing them to not only touch the world's pain, but be touched by it. Individually, our flame may not be bright, but when combined with others, we have hope against the darkness.

On this day of seasonal change, here's our family update:

Karen is recovering from a week of sickness.

Estie just got back from a mission trip to Costa Rica with her nurse buddies.

Talia is contemplating plans for world domination from her inconspicuous redoubt in GA while pursuing a profession in the hospitality industry.

Leah's in school and enjoys volunteering at the local hospital.

Emily's is auditioning for two movies.

And Seth, Jr. just got baptized by Andrew Shearman in Swaziland yesterday. He told Andrew, "Hold me under as long as I can stand it - I want to really remember this day!"

Praise the Lord. For he is risen!
He is risen indeed!