What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it—we’re called children of God! That’s who we really are. But that’s also why the world doesn’t recognize us or take us seriously, because it has no idea who he is or what he’s up to. – 1 John 3:1-2
One beautiful serendipity that marked Easter Sunday 2020 came in the form of so many family photographs posted on Facebook by people we know and love. Scores of families from our church dressed up, drove to the campus, and posed in front of the flower-covered cross in the front circle.
I’d love to print them all out, combine the photos in a wall-sized poster, and let the cumulative love radiate.
But instead – for today at least – I’m going to share our immediate family “Easter 2020” portraits. Miami, Dresden, and Wake Forest.
Because the human condition is not defined by deadly strains of virus, or by underhanded politics, or by devastated economies, or by forced isolation, or by worldwide crisis! No, we are a world populated with children of God; we are individuals, families, people living in neighborhoods, and communities of believers grounded in faith.
John put it so very eloquently: “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are!”
My family portraits extend to include yours too; not only church and friends but all the far-flung, diverse, colorful, multi-faceted, religiously and ethnically distinct, disparate, equally loved by God billions who inhabit this planet.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. – Genesis 1:31
Not just good but “very good;” absolutely the whole thing, and every single living soul!
In Easter love – DEREK
Derek Maul: Words and Photographs for the Journey 