Imagine....Easter

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No sky above us

Below us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today....

The stereo resounded with the latest album from ex-Beatle, John Lennon.

Smoke from marijuana and hashish filled the room. A young man sits quietly to one side of the room....thinking...contemplating.... his last day(s) on earth. Suicide is an awful thought,...but sometimes one feels painted into a corner where there is no escape...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too...

How did he get to this place in life? ... and at such a young age. Everything seems against him. Life sucks. Friends?.... What friends?... Other people who like to drink, get stoned, listen to music? But what do they say behind his back?... loser....screw-up..... The kid who has no future, ... no hope....

In the corner a television is on. The volume is muted. It's Easter Weekend and on this Friday a Passion Play is being broadcast. A man carries his cross up a lonely hill. Bruised and battered and bloody, this unrecognizable figure of a man. Soldiers accompany him. They lay him down on this rough-cut timber. A hammer is lifted.....nails are driven....


You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll come join us

And the world will live as one

The young man is transfixed.... watching....


The nails. They are driven mercilessly through the man's wrists and through his feet. Agonizing. Time seems to stop. The cross is lifted into the air where the man struggles with every breath.

Now, it's just the young man...and the scene before him. The cross,...the execution... the...dying...

The young man hears a still, small voice. It seems to come from within him, but he's not sure. The voice speaks: "I did this for you." I have come for YOU tonight!... Trust in Me and I will deliver you from death and give you life."

The young man looks around the room at his "friends". They're all stoned, having a grand time. The music plays loudly. But,.... what is real? Is this "real"?... Or,... is Jesus Christ "real"?.... What have I been missing all these years?...

Sure, he knows about Jesus. But,... he's never been broken before so he's never really found the need. What did he ever have to be saved from?...



But.... What if it is true?... What if Jesus Christ really did live and die... and rise from the dead?... For him?.... What if God really loves him that much?....


No need for greed or hunger


A brotherhood of man


Imagine all the people


Sharing all the world...



The young man breaks down into tears. Locks himself in the bathroom,...sobbing. His friends are knocking on the door? "What's wrong?"... "What are you doing in there"?...


Finally, the young man composes himself. Out of the bathroom,... out of the house,... across the yard, ...into his car... Starts it up.


Where is he going? He doesn't know.... just away from there.... hopefully, away from this whole world. But where is God? Where IS God? Where IS Jesus?.... "Lord, I need You".... answer me."

A familiar face peers at him through the driver's window. "Where are you going?" It's someone from the party.

The only answer?...." To find Jesus."

"Jesus!".... Are you crazy?".... There's no Jesus. I know. I've been there... done that. There's nothing there."....

"There's nothing there."

The young man stammers. "O.K... But, I have to find out for myself.... goodbye.".... He starts the car and drives away.... for the last time.


You may say I'm a dreamer


But I'm not the only one....

The search is on. The heart is stirred. A Greater Love is in pursuit... or, is it "being" pursued?.... Sometimes it's hard to tell who is doing the seeking.


The young man finds himself in a small bible study a few days later, invited by an old friend from his past. A "Jesus Freak"... who now, suddenly, doesn't seems so weird after all.

It's an interesting bible study...but, the young man is anxious. Do these people know Jesus? Do they know how to find Him? Do they have any idea how important it is that this young man find Him?.... His very life is at stake.

The study ends. The leader of the bible study has a question. "Is there anyone here who wants to know Jesus Christ?.... Who wants to follow Him?

The young man's hand shoots straight up into the air!

Is this guy for real?

What is he saying? Is Jesus in the back room somewhere?.... Confusion.


But, the young man is all in. Whatever it is that he has to do to find salvation, he's there. Say a prayer. Did a hole and jump in. Crawl through barbed-wire? Run through a fire?.... Whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes.....

It takes a prayer.

And a heart that is hungry and a soul that is broken and needy. The young man finds himself there again,...at the foot of the cross... looking up into the face of love.... and forgiveness.... and peace... and joy... and LIFE.

Easter, ... 1972. The Easter that changed my life...forever....

I pray that this Easter finds you at the foot of the cross. And I pray that your life is changed,... as mine was... all those years ago. Newness of life. I've never been the same since. My "old friends" can testify to that..... I never looked back.....

to that "old" life.

There's nothing there. ...


"He is risen"!

"He is risen...indeed...."