“He is not here...!”

  The focus of our latest trip to Michigan was to help celebrate our youngest grandson’s fifth birthday. And celebrate we did, with three parties in the span of four days! Friday evening there was a special family birthday dinner with vanilla ice-cream topped off with Michigan’s famous Sanders Hot Fudge for dessert.

   On Saturday, some of his friends from school met us at a gymnastics center for another party. This was a great place for the kids to run, jump, flip and swing, much better than doing that in the house!

Our grandson, Elliot, had a “Darth Vader” themed party in a small upstairs room which had been rented for the occasion. My only regret was that adults weren’t allowed near the gymnastics equipment! The wall to wall trampolines and pits filled with sponge cubes looked very inviting!

   Then on Monday morning, Al and I drove to his preschool where Elliot was again the center of attention.  All of the children sat in a circle behind a poster with the name of one month of the year while he stood in the center holding a picture of the sun. A little girl was chosen to hold the ‘earth’ and walk around Elliot five times, representing one orbit of the earth around the sun for each of his five years. The children and teachers sang a song relating to the earth, sun and Elliot during this activity. It was very cute!

   When the song ended, his mom showed pictures of him from babyhood up to the present, telling some of the things he did at each age. Elliot had helped his mother, Shanda, bake chocolate chip cookie bars the night before to share as a treat with his teachers and class afterwards. We enjoyed being there for that special morning.

   Later that day, Al and I watched Elliot and his older brother Nate, while Shanda taught music lessons at her home. We decided to go for a walk around the block, instructing the boys to wait for us at the corners. They wanted to ride their bikes and sped ahead of us remembering to stop at the corners. However, after having to wait to Al and me to catch up a few times, they decided to get off their bikes and hide from us.

   We spotted Nate easily, hiding behind a tree near the corner. But where was Elliot? Al stayed with the bikes, while Nate and I walked back and forth several times calling his name. Nate didn’t remember where Elliot had hidden.

   Al was getting very concerned as the minutes passed and we hadn’t returned. Finally, Nate and I walked back to Al with a negative report. As a desperation measure, he called Shanda on his cell phone, interrupting the lesson. She looked around but didn’t see Elliot. The three of us started back for the house with the missing boy’s bike in tow.

   A few minutes later, however, Al’s cell rang. It turned out that Elliot needed to go to the bathroom and ran home without telling anyone. He had forgotten all about the rest of us, his bike and helmet. Thankfully Elliot was ok, and we weren’t fired as grandparents. However, it was sure a terrible feeling not knowing what had happened to him.

   When celebrating Easter a few days later, I could identify with Jesus’ friends and followers. After hearing about His death and mourning for Him for two days, what joy they must have experienced on Sunday morning when they found out that He was alive and had risen from the dead! From sorrow to joy and gratitude, their lives were forever transformed by the power of God’s great love. May our lives be transformed as well!

“The angel said to the woman, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.’” Matthew 28:5-6a NIV

Elliot gets to be the 'star' attraction