A four-day trip to the coast made the Resurrection come close and become newly intertwined in my perceptions. I was struck by the incredible facets of who God is, who Jesus is and who I am in and through him. As the three of us walked along the beach, Darin drawing Trinity symbols in the sand and Tracy searching for sea shells to decorate her mirror, I came as I often do to a place of silent reflection.

It was Sunday- the day we look upon as having changed history forever- and as I watched the waves washing in I thought I caught hold of some image of hope, as if God were trying to say: there is tremendous potential, not only for you, but for all of creation. The gospel of Jesus is an event so big that our relation to it is inescapable; it is fitting that our understanding of the two great eras of humanity revolves around him, as his coming ushered in the beginning of a revolution; a rising crescendo of redemption, bringing us into a hot-from-the-oven, unpolluted glory. The gospel means that there is a new force at work, something wild is afoot and new possibilities have been awakened- the key to eternity has been revealed. In a catastrophic victory the door has been opened and spiritual saturation has begun.

Jesus, the Eternal Logos, Creator of all that is, the Kabod Yahweh, touched down and strode upon the waters, stronger than a titan yet gentle and controlled. Men saw in him a balance and moral magnificence that was unparalleled and unprecedented, eventually coming to see him as the Virtue. He drew in the sand, he ate, slept and breathed among us, he fished along our coasts and crossed the countryside, he ascended our mountains and walked among our gardens, enjoying his handiwork in the cool of evening.

We refused to accept his radical message, that he was the Source of all Prophets and the Author of Time, the Ultimate Judge and Forgiver of Sins. We spit on him and mocked him, we nailed him to the cross and as his body withered on a tree the universe held its breath as God gave up his last. Was he dead? Was he in revolt? It was terribly frightening, yet just as mind-blowing is what came to pass, recorded in Luke 24. He shows up again, in a mysterious an ecstatic series of encounters, displaying that something titanic had been accomplished- that the ominous sea we call death had been parted, and we are free to cross into life.

An inexpressible joy has dawned, eye-widening and awesome and all-encompassing; at the heart of reality we find love, and within that love, more power than we are capable of imagining. We are engulfed by grace, pervasive and inexorable, and as the worldly mist begins to clear, we see that the ground on which we stand is merely a desolate island surrounded by a river of mercy. A seed, a sort of yeast or salt, has been released- a new Kingdom and a new King, the Hero of Heroes gathering unto himself an army.

These realizations have impacted me in a strange way. The tests I face have not become smaller- children who live up in the hills on Maria Auxiliadora are still starving, my patience and trust is still being tried by fights and brokenness and disobedience and wrath that seem to be all around. Young women are still being lost in insecurity and unhealthy obsessions, young men are still falling into traps of pride, being taught that it is alright to mistreat and take advantage of others; disease and failure and destitution are as prevalent and ever and sometimes it seems like everything is barely hanging on by a thin, frail thread.

But somehow I have discovered a new blessedness; that beneath the dull surface lies color bursting at the seams and restoration upon the brink of explosion. Christ is so inconceivably big that everything seems to be covered by the shadow of his cross. He came and achieved the greatest coup of all time, binding evil and commencing a movement that will be the end of our suffering; his light is unshakable, and not even the darkness of hell can hold it back forever. When it breaks through, we shall see the fulfillment of all our deepest longings- that the Savior has broken in to rescue us, that Christ is Risen.