The phone ringing jolted me out of the calm silence. One glance at the number told me that I was needed at the trailer: Grandpas’ trailer. The phone number simply said, “grandpa needs help.” That was the identification we put on the lifeline number. I headed out the door toward the trailer on the run. Coming into the trailer entry way, I called out to see if Grandpa was okay. I could hear laughter as I turned to push the door open. Sitting at the table was Grandpa, and the laughter was obvious: it was Mary, Grandpa’s wife. I didn’t know her well; she died a month after we were married but her laughter was infectious and very identifiable. Grandpa was laughing and making up for 30 plus years of lost time.
The shock in the room was obviously only mine. I watched for what seemed like forever as the scene in front of me unfolded. Gone, forgotten, now sitting at the table visiting and laughing as if it had never happened. Nothing happened? Like 34 years never happened. Like grandchildren, daughter in laws, great grandchildren, and lots of water under the bridge. The bridge Grandma Mary never got to see built. Those thoughts go through my head in a second- and then I said, “did you call Jim. “The lifeline call always goes to Jim, then me then Lori. They were too busy laughing and talking and so lost in the moment, I looked at my cell phone and then started running up toward the shop! Jim doesn’t often, ok almost never, does he hear his text dingee thingee, and more often than that, doesn’t reply. Well, for some odd reason, he had seen the lifeline alert and was on his way, not to be outdone by Lori flying in, the LOJO license plate zipping by us as she turned to go down to the trailer. We got to the open door and stood with wonder as we watched life disappear into an amazing moment of, life come back from where it had stopped.
It was a dream. You might have figured that out by now. Grandpa J passed away almost a year ago. But maybe, it happened like that when those who came to the tomb then saw Jesus in person felt. I can only imagine that’s what it might have felt. The realization that Jesus was alive. The heart skipping a beat, the burden or sorrow being lifted like the pulleys move the big curtains at the theatre.
John 20:15 “Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him. Jesus said to her, “Mary”. She turned toward him and cried in Aramaic, “Rabboni (which means Teacher)”.
The abrupt realization that Jesus was alive must have been quite the moment. Mary was caught in her grief, and instantly went from tears to absolute astonishment! Just as it would be quite the moment if we walked into the trailer and saw Grandma Mary sitting, laughing with Grandpa.
It’s hard for us to think about the dead coming back to life. Very few except in the medical community have seen such miracles. So, allow me to think out loud. To hear my mother in law’s laugh, watch someone walking down the street and realize it’s my father’s walk, or to hear Grandma Campbell whistling. Those moments would take my heart up a notch and I know I won’t see them alive on earth again.
Jesus had told them, I will rise. And he did. And we walk by the wonder with a, just another manic Monday attitude. The difference is also Jesus will never die. If such a wonderful gift comes to my heat as having a loved one brought back to life, the reality is they will die again. Lazarus had to go through it, dying, again! Jesus, is alive, will always be alive and the way I see the morning sunrise, the way I look at a flower, the moments I can’t breathe and then a calmness comes upon my heart, the scripture that comes into my mind: those are the living Jesus, alive and present in my world.
“He is risen- He is risen indeed”, echoed through many corridors yesterday. The question to be reconciled within the heart is, will that still be bouncing off the walls of my week? He is risen doesn’t simply end when we go back to normality! He is risen changes where I find myself walking, what I find myself thinking and who I find myself loving. He is risen goes far beyond the euphoria or the thought of a loved one back in our lives again. It places the God of the universe walking beside us every moment of the day and throughout the dark of the night when we can’t sleep. We will head home from family time full of ham, potatoes, chocolate eggs and jellybeans. We are also heading home full of love, hugs, laughter and talking about the things life has us wound in its web. Regardless of the direction we drive, there is nowhere Jesus will not be with us. “He is risen, he is risen indeed”, aren’t simply 6 words, they are the focus of our hearts lens.
Special Touch Ministry 