The Passover Plot

         I was on my way to a place called Passover. I wondered what I'd find. I was told by some friends it was all about violence blood and gore. I did not
want to believe them so I talked to the only one that I near trusted.

"God I fear this thing called Passover. I have been told that there was blood and gore in that place. God help me to be safe and in being safe share with others about the only one worthy of trust"'.

         I arrived the next day with people in my own family. I was the oldest, almost fifteen years old. I should not have had to wait. It seemed that I was being protected from knowing something. I knew in my heart I should not have to wait. Mom and Dad said going to Passover had to happen at a certain time. Long ago a people were enslaved and needed a deliverer. The place called Passover is more than a state of mind, it is a place in which all persons can share how a soul can be free. In the Exodus from Egypt the People of God faced certain death as they came to the Red Sea. God parted the waters and the people were delivered from certain death.

         The teacher told the story about how the people of God were slaves at one time. They feared for their lives. They were told to put lamb's blood over the tops of their doors so that they could be delivered from sure death. God spared His people while the evil oppressors ("the Egytians") saw their first born animals and children dead the next day.

         The teacher shared that God has offered even better news than that which happened in the Exodus from Egypt. God sent a person named Jesus to die on a cross for all of us. Jesus blood was shed as a reminder of the passover so long ago. Jesus was known as the Lamb of God. God's offering of Jesus was for all persons of all generations. At the cross there was despair. Was Jesus life in vain? There was reminder of the Exodus from Egypt all over again. Hope took despairs place when Jesus was risen from the dead. Death no longer has free reign. When we die with Jesus to deal with the power of sin we welcome opportunity to also rise with Jesus through who wee were freed from the power of sin. Persons no longer had to be victimized by sin and death, they could be victors through Jesus the Christ. The teacher, one of Jesus disciples gave me this message. Will you come with me to Passover?
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         The story could have ended there. As a young fifteen year old boy I had religious interest. The only thing I did not have was a Red Sea type of experience. At the age of twenty-three my pilgrimmage to Passover began in Earnest. I was hospitalized in a hospital, because of emotional instablity smack dab in the middle of a number of people wanting to commit suicide. There was a young girl about nineteen who had cuts covered with band aids up and down her arm. There was this very beautiful blond with three very handsome children and a husband who seemed like someone out of "Leave it to Beaver". Over and over she said she could not stop herself from wanting to die. Then there was my room mate. He was a big strong muscular boxer plunged into despair. Who was I to be any different than them. People were being killed everyday from within. A red sea of blood was threatening to take away life. For the first time I wondered if suidice was another way out.

         Passover took place for me as I experienced inside a sea of bloody intentions. I had been told often a person who committed suicide went to hell. I heard about how I had no "right" to be depressed. I did not realize how good have it. Then there was the clincher,
You call yourself a Christian", "You need to be born again into the happy feelings that I have."

         I honestly can think of no reason that God spared me. As I look back to the horrible struggle it was because of the Passover blood of Jesus. Jesus looked past my depth of despair that said I had no reason to live. He shared with me a vision of the cross. Jesus understood. Again I say it was the blood of Jesus that rescued out of the red sea of death and despair. I rose up out of that despair to become a minister, father and more. And here I am glad to let you know that the Passover story is mine. I pray that you too might find a place where you can know a saviour that wants you whole.
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