Easter + 1

I wonder what the disciples of Jesus felt like today. I can only imagine they still felt like they were in a dream to some degree. They had seen Jesus die on the cross and today He is with them again - alive and teaching. I imagine they were filled with a feeling of awe for what had happened and I imagine God felt as real to them at that moment as He ever had to them or their forefathers.

As I listened to the preacher at a church I was visiting, as I heard him talk about the proof people had seeing the stone rolled back, seeing the tomb empty, I couldn't help but think how many people are skeptical today or who refuse to believe. What is their hope? What do they see for the future?

I have hope because of what I celebrated yesterday. It is not a hope built on what I have seen or what I have touched or what I can even prove but a hope built on faith that Thomas and many others did see and believed. I have a hope built on faith that I have seen God work in my life and faith that it is more than coincidence or fate. I have hope built on faith secured by seeing the miracle of two babies born into this world and faith that only a great God could create such precious things. Because of my faith, I have hope for a future that is so much better than anything I know or can imagine here. I look forward to my last day on earth + 1 because I have faith I will wake up in what seems like a dream but will become a beautiful reality.