Easter in Kabul

Though the US won’t celebrate the ressurection of Christ for another six hours at least, in Kabul, He has been risen for a few hours already. My boss asked me if it was Easter this morning when we sat down to breakfast – as I’ve mentioned before, it’s difficult to keep track of the days here, and there are no holidays per se – so I wasn’t surprised when he asked. I think that If I hadn’t received an Easter care package from my wonderful girlfriend, that I wouldn’t have remembered either. And this is tough to admit because as most of you know, my two favorite holidays are Easter and the Fourth of July.

But I’m taking some time this morning to reflect on why I like the holiday so much. I think it is because that the ressurection is a pure display of power and plan that I value very highly. And though the celebration may not be held exactly when the event happened, I still get a strong message of hope. I feel hope for myself – hope that I can keep walking forward and leave behind the past and all the poor decisions that have nearly brought me down and kept me down. I feel a lot of hope for the future, and God knows that I’m not even close to being perfect, but there’s a day where we celebrate a power that’s greater than death and destruction; a power stronger than despair and fear. This power is out there, and I’m praying that the people I see every day will feel it somehow, feel as if there is a hand that might not lift them completely out of their circumstance, but at least hold to them and bring some measure of goodness in a world gone mad.

So I guess whether you believe in it or not, when I say Happy Easter, I’m not trying to indoctrinate you with some belief system, I’m just hoping that everyone will take a moment and try to accept that there is a great love out there, reaching out to every person. How ever you see that taking shape, I hope you take hold of it. Today.