?The life of man is a diary in which he means to write one story and writes another; and the humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make.? (J.M . Barrie)

?If only one could have two lives: The first in which to make one?s mistakes and the second in which to profit from them.? (D. H. Lawrence)

@EDITRULE:

We so often live with regrets, ?if only I hadn?t?.? ?if only I had!? The Easter story however presents us with hope which transforms our ?if only?s? ? the hope of a new beginning, from wherever we are.

It is THE event which raises Christianity above every other belief system and philosophy. It doesn?t just present us with a vain promise that things might get better, if we try harder (until the next big knock comes along) but with a ?living hope? guaranteed by the transforming power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

In one moment that greatest enemy of hope, death itself, is dealt a blow from which it can never recover. What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did to death!

But this hope is not just for life hereafter, but for life now.

Our darkest moments, those things of which our conscience is afraid, is subsumed by Jesus? darkest moment when he dies our death on the cross. Forgiveness, that elusive thing which so many feel they need, is offered freely by God to those who turn to Jesus in repentance.

LIFE, that thing that we crave, meaningful, purposeful, joy-filled life is promised to those who come to the risen Saviour and are restored in relationship to their creator.

Meaninglessness, guilt and death swallowed up in victory. My wish for the people of Bermuda in these days, when for want of anything else to do our young people drive their bikes to their death; or for want of a ?piece of the rock? people enter a world where lives and families are put at risk in the drug trade or souls are sold in pursuit of ?yet more? in the board room; where hope is placed in things that are transitory or meaningless; that we would return to the One who made them and loved us to the degree that he died to set them free and then rose to make a new start a reality.

Jesus does not offer us a condo in Bermuda, but a home in heaven. He doesn?t ensure us perpetual happiness when we come to him, but he does promise us LIFE as it was intended to be lived. And because he lives, he promises always to be with those who begin that new journey with him.

?Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead? (1 Peter 1:3)