Easter pictures

Lesson from a Seder

A couple years back, we enjoyed Murray Tilles, with Light of Messiah Ministries, presenting a traditional Jewish seder at our worship service. I had never heard such awesome insight into the foreshadowing of Christ in this Jewish tradition, and as he explained, many Jews unfortunately miss it too. (Check out this link for more details on how to have your own Seder). Anyway, this is the part I was thinking about this week. The significance of the symbolism of the hidden matzah bread is lost on those Jewish people who haven't yet had their eyes open to the picture of Christ in this part of the seder meal, but it's really powerful to me as a believer and Mr. Tilles explained how it overwhelmed him once he was saved. He mentioned many other examples of Jewish tradition that are actually clear signs of Christ, though many just haven't realized the Truth yet. I became burdened for those people who are God's chosen, but don't recognize Him as their Savior yet, and have enjoyed keeping up with this ministry since, and praying for their work. Anyway, I just wanted to share an explanation of this portion of the order of the seder meal because of how cool it was to me:

There are three pieces of matzah bread, two for the blessing and one ot be broken. There is a special cloth holder with three sections called matzah tash. The three pieces ofmatzah are inside, one in each compartment. The leader takes the middle sheet of matzah and lifts it for everyone to see. He then breaks the bread in two. This symbolizes Christ. Next, he takes one piece and places it back in the matzah tash. Then, he takes the other piece and wraps it in a linen cloth. This linen-wrapped matzah is called the Afikoman.The matzah tash forms a unity of one which speaks of the unity of God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The leader then hides the Afikoman. This is a picture of Yÿshua (Jesus), the middle part of the tri-unity, which was broken, wrapped up in cloth, buried and brought forth again (as bread brought forth from the earth.) Yÿshua (Jesus), the bread of life, was without sin (leaven), pierced, and striped just as the unleavened matzah. And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb...(Matt. 27:59-60).

Happy Easter!

The magnificent Chuck Hooten led us in worship today. This beautiful song sums up the amazing gift we celebrated today.


Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.
No tongue can bid me thence depart.


When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end to all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.
To look on Him and pardon me.


Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Happy Easter!

As you can see, we had a fun week! Not only did we get to celebrate Jesus' life, but we were blessed to spend time with family and friends too, for several days this weekend. On Thursday we had an egg hunt with friends along the banks of the Cahaba River. It was pretty chilly, but the kids weren't fazed by the temperature. We enjoyed a picnic lunch and then the Easter Bunny (my wonderful husband) made an appearance and posed for some pictures. Afterwards I told the Easter story with a set of resurrection eggs, which are a wonderful tool to use to make the story of Jesus' sacrifice and awesome love for us very understandable and real. The kids loved hunting for eggs and eating cupcakes, and consumed way too much sugar probably! I also took a picture of baby Will before the egg hunt, surrounded by bunnies - how cute is he?!

Then, this weekend was lots of fun. On Saturday, Jacob competed at Barber Motorsports Park in a Ride to Live road race. Mom and Dad came down from Decatur and met us there to watch him. It was a cold day, with a brisk wind, but he performed very well, as did Team Tria. The kids loved cheering him on, and we got some good photos too. Afterwards the whole family went to Whole Foods and shopped and ate there. What a fun store! If you haven't been, you should visit it. I love grocery stores, but this one is amazing!

We enjoyed worshiping in church yesterday morning, and had a small egg hunt after we returned home, with clues I'd prepared for Isaac and Abigail to follow to their prize. They were so cute working on solving the clues and had no problem getting to their treasure at the end. The clues, for inquiring minds, and so you can figure out the pictures above. You can also click on the collage to see the pictures better.

Today is Easter! Jesus is alive and we have no reason to cry! Let's have FUN, so go out the front door for clue #1! (in the wreath on the front door)
1 - Now find a bike that we can't ride. The clue might hide, so look inside! (flower basket of my decorative bike)
2 - You got #1, now isn't this fun? Our second clue says "Look for an old shoe. When it you see, you've found number 3!" (old tennis shoe by back door)
3 - You did it again! What a great team you are! Now don't walk too far, but search near our gold car. (on the tire of our van)
4 - I'm clue number 4. Do you want some more? I though you'd say yes. So, think - where might we find a bird's nest? (in the jasmine vine around our front door)
5 - For number 5, can you tell, where is it we find our mail? (in the mailbox)
6 - You sure found number 6 quick. This one may not be so easy. What do we hear blowing sometimes, when the wind is quite breezy? (our flag)
7 - Look under a cedar tree, and you will see.... (in pine straw under the tree)
8 - A Happy Feet DVD! Happy Easter! Love, Mama and Daddy

We went to James' parents' home in the afternoon and visited with Angel and Phillip there, and enjoyed watching the egg hunt prize "Happy Feet" with their family. Granny had prepared a great Southern meal too, that was delicious, as usual.

We hope your weekend was surrounded by loving family and that you were able to focus on the reason we have such hope, in serving a Savior who lives eternally.

Peeps

You know, I have never eaten one of these. Apparently, they are quite a phenomenon, and I've just missed the boat. I mean, they even have their own website! ( FYI - http://www.marshmallowpeeps.com) There are some very interesting facts on there about Peeps. Feel free to check them out, if you're just bored out of your mind or something! (Abbey - you should've known about this last week!)














However, this year, I had to buy some, because they're just too doggone cute. There's even a fanclub for these goofy marshmallow critters. My kids adored looking at them, but alas, they're not even interested in eating more than the first bite they tried. So, whoever wants some Peeps, let me know. I'll mail them to the first blogreader to respond!