I was thinking about Easter this week, looking back when my kids were younger, at the many Saturday afternoons when I would bring down their Easter baskets and plastic eggs, to prepare for the annual Sunday Easter egg hunt in our backyard.
I thought about the many times I had carried the old camcorder around that backyard to video those two little girls so I would have a way to remember how they looked when they were kids. You always hear from older people about how time flies by when you get older. I think that time of my life is here.
I remember placing jelly beans, mini candy bars and one-dollar bills inside all those plastic eggs then hiding them in plain sight and not to high so my little girls could reach them. I always enjoyed helping them sort through all that candy and money when we corralled everything in the middle of the living room floor.
It seems like yesterday when we would all head out to the El Reno fairgrounds for her family’s annual Easter get-together. There was always so much food and so many people I did not know but it was always a great visit with so many people from Canadian County.
In 1992, I remember going through the food buffet and had my eyes on some good-looking fried chicken. I filled my plate then headed over to sit down. As I started in on that chicken, I noticed that it didn’t really taste that good and was very tough to chew. I was really struggling with it and kept spitting it out into my napkin, while my former father-in-law chuckled at me.
I couldn’t figure out what him and my former brother-in-law thought was so funny. They just let me keep on trying to get that chicken down as my forehead began to sweat. You can only imagine the surprised look I had on my face when I finished my lunch and they both asked me, “How did you like that fried rabbit they brought in from Union City?”
Believe me…I have never been the same after that encounter!
I think I am going to break out the discs that contain the many years of my kids Easter memories. I know the best ones will be when they both were baptized on Easter. I’m not so interested in seeing myself eating the Easter Bunny on that fateful day in El Reno some 20 years ago though!
One of my favorite Easter stories is about local auctioneer Ken Reding who many of you know. I have told his story before and it is so powerful that I am going to tell you again.
Several years ago, Ken Reding’s health had taken a turn for the worse. It was Easter weekend and that Good Friday Ken was admitted into the hospital needing a liver in the worst way. They said he was very near death. The next day, Saturday, miraculously, a liver became available and he was rushed into the operating room and given his new liver.
On the third day, a day after nearly dying and going through a liver transplant, Ken Reding rose from the bed and walked around in his hospital room. Does that scenario remind you of anyone? Ken Reding shares a similar story with Jesus Christ in case you didn’t catch that. Jesus rose on the third day. Ken rose on the third day. What a great story. If you want your heart to be touched this Easter weekend, just ask Ken Reding to tell you about the comparison. You will cry along with him.
I hope you and your family attend the church of your choice and celebrate Easter. We have so many dynamic pastors in Yukon who have prepared the perfect messages for not only the regular church members, but for the many people who only attend church on Easter.
If you can’t attend church and you have access to it, please watch the movie Passion of the Christ. It is, without a doubt, the most touching and relevant movie I have ever watched in my life. I saw it on the Saturday night before Easter in the year it first hit box offices. After watching it, I was speechless, in tears and unable to move from my theater chair. So was everyone else in that theater. For those of you who saw it back then, it is probably time to see it again. It will make you a better person.
Please make your best effort to shop at our local Yukon stores. If you need a good ham for Sunday, our Yukon grocery stores have them. If you need fried chicken, Yukon has more chickens than the Tyson plant! Buy local…fry local!
Thanks so much for reading. I will see you next Saturday. Would you like a Progress?
