Growing up, Easter was a very typical holiday for my family. Just like many othe families in my neighborhood. We’d get some new clothes for a sunrise service at church, hunt easter eggs, devour too many chocolate bunnies, and maybe have a family dinner with relatives after church. But it wasn’t until I was an adult that I gained a deeper level of understanding and appreciation for Easter.

Without Easter, Christianity doesn’t exist.

That’s not an overstatement. That’s just the truth. All of Christianity is based on the resurrection. It’s based on what happened nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Easter morning. Lee Strobel, former atheist and now Christian author, has written several books from an investigative reporter’s point of view, building cases for Christianity.

His first book, The Case for Christ, is based on his own investigative work when he was an atheist, all trying to disprove Christianity to his wife, a reborn Christian. This book was also recently made into a movie. In that movie, when Lee is beginning his crusade to disprove Christianity, he asks a Christian colleague where he should start his investigation. His Christian friend responded immediately. “If you disprove the resurrection, you disprove Christianity.”

Two thoughts crossed my mind when he made this statement:

1. Why would his Christian friend help an atheist trying to attack his own religion? (I realized later the Christian friend wasn’t worried one bit about what Lee would find. This character knew he’d only find evidence to support the resurrection!) God doesn’t mind if you have doubts. He just wants you to investigate for yourself.
2. The full weight of Easter hit me. I thought, “He’s right!” I guess being raised in a Christian home I can say I logically knew this already, but this characters statement struck me. If you take away Easter, you take away Christianity!

Regardless of your personal religious beliefs, I pray you experience gratitude, joy, appreciation, and love this Easter.

I’m guessing we can all agree that the world would be a better place if we could express these toward each other more often.

I’ll see you next week when I’ll share what I learned about leadership from 4 senior leaders on my recent trip to the Far East.

All the best,