Today we celebrate Jacob’s 7^th birthday. (His birthday is actually tomorrow, April 20^th.) He is already up and it is not quite 6AM. He wants to get the full treatment!

It is also the 1 year wedding anniversary of my daughter Amy and son-in-love Manley. Add in the fact that they are shortly (May 5^th) adding a new baby boy to the household and it is a busy time in the Johndrow household. (Truth be told there are two new babies coming our way in the next few months.)

Family is important to me. It was not always the case and I admit it. But somewhere in my salvation God touched my heart. It was then that I simply decided years ago to celebrate what He, Jesus, celebrates. And that is family.

Like all people, all children, there is story of miracle behind Jacob and his being with us. My daughter went through a very difficult time, was beginning her recovery and things were not well in her life though slowly getting better. Honestly, her “mother day” decision to have Jacob in our household was incredible. Yes it was answered prayer but it was also the love of the Father and family reaching out to her in a difficult and challenging time.

The miracle of that time and that season is that Jacob is with us today.

And now to hear him challenge me about raising the dead or describe the angels he sees or to see the compassion he has towards another just melts my heart. But I would say to parents that there is a heart of gold bound up in a child that is just waiting to be released, to be shown forth on an unbelieving world. Trust me when I say it is there. While reminded of the difficult time surrounding his birth I do not get caught up in what was then but what is now.

Jesus understood the miracle of birth. Against so many “odds” He entered this world. He gave up a crown for a crowd. At the cross He took on yet another crown for a crowd.

This weekend I celebrate birth and life. So did Jesus. As we also celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, pulling down one covenant in return for another, it is on that cross that a life ended carrying all the requirements of the law to appear again with love and grace in His hands.

As the days turned and the disciples hearts turned cold, the world was just being readied for the “joy that would come in the morning”. There is no doubt in my mind that were Jesus not in my life that Jacob would not be either. Nor would so much of the goodness that I and my family enjoy.

I remember my mom’s refrigerator “declaration”. “Let it begin with me”. That is what Jesus did. He knew no one else could do what He was to do. He bore the cross, the shame and the pain. And He released amazing grace, loving life and the promise of all things good.

My daughter was faced with darkness. She made what was the “right” decision at the time. She painfully let Jacob go to another family. 28 days later her heart rent by the love of God and family she called to have Jacob back. It was a painful time for her. Even now I watch her walk through feelings on pain over her decision. I know she felt there was no hope. But Jesus had not “appeared”.

The disciples had lost hope but joy came in the morning. Jesus no longer roomed in a darkened tomb but He carried captivity captive, opening the doors to a revival of “biblical proportion”.

I have always found amazing things happen in the “Easter” weekend. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead, man are the lives that are changed by the power of His love.

Today your life may be chaotic, the pain more than you can bear. But I would simply say to you, He is Risen. And because He has risen, He has made a way.