The Salad Days

As you will see from the photos, we are having a truly Minnesota Good Friday. We have had a wonderful day. Steph and I attended a wonderful church service downtown while her parents watched the kids. The message was wonderful, emphasizing God's sovereign act of our salvation. There was also some gospel tinged worship which made it a very refreshing experience for us.

Tonight, Steph and I are going out for a quiet dinner. We are grateful to her parents who are always willing to help out with these dates.

In the middle of this Good Friday, I took the kids out (along with their papa) for a romp in the snow on this, the first day of spring.






At the same time, this day always has that tinge of poignancy because of what Jesus did for us. This morning, I turned on Bach's St. Matthew's Passion for awhile. At one point, Corrie came in the room. She seemed uncomfortable with the tone of the music. I explained to her that it was written by Bach, and that the people singing were singing about the time when Jesus died for us. She kept asking questions about the death of Jesus. She held up her little king doll with his crown, and I asked her what crown did Jesus wear..."A crown of thorns," she said. "Daddy," she continued, "I wouldn't like a crown of thorns on my head." She expressed her love for God. And then an interesting thing happened. She came out with one of her cries when she isn't really crying (at other times, I would call it a phony cry). But this time, it was clear that she was kind of sad. I asked her if she wanted to hear other, happier music, and she didn't want to. It was as if (this is only my interpretation) she felt like she wanted to hear this sad music for a time, since I had explained to her what it was. After a bit, she expressed a desire to hear happy music, but only if it was "grown up music." I put in Handel's Messiah, and Corrie instantly recognized the "Hallelujah Chorus" from her Handel kids' CD. Jack came out and we danced around the living room for awhile. As we danced to the Hallelujah chorus this morning, Corrie repeatedly asked me, "Daddy, is this the very good ending?" (Corrie has a children's Bible in which the final chapter has the title, "The Very Good Ending.")

I may be reading too much in to this, but it struck me that we are all like this to a degree. We need to focus on the magnitude of the suffering of Christ, for it is there that we see his amazing love for us. But we move ahead to the Resurrection, for the suffering of Christ accomplishes nothing with out his victory.

Yes Corrie, this is the very good ending.