Easter in Africa

All my life and all the years that i have been going to church, this is the first year i have fully understood Easter.

Easter to me used to mean wearing that new sun dress my mom picked out, easter egg hunts and going to church early Sunday morning wether i wanted to or not. 

This time its different, this culture that i have been immersed in, is different.

Here, i have a faith of my own, no one here to force me to keep reading my Bible, pray or go to church, here i have to have the strength and endurance to do it myself, i have to want to have a relationship with God. That has been a lesson to me in being independent here, something that would be very difficult for me to learn in the comfort i live in at home. 

In this culture, church is a huge deal. Here churches are a party, every week its a celebration; which it totally should be! It has become my favorite part of church here. People sing so loud that you cant here your own voice, there is constant dancing and rejoicing because there in celebration of what God has done. (Which is a constant reminder to me that God is good all of the time.) Churches here are packed over capacity, so much so that people will sit outside pressing their ears to the wall just to here the word of God! People here get to church early hours early just so they can get a seat, people crowd the doors before service as if they were waiting for a black friday sale at Wal Mart. 

So here i am sitting in church, remembering all of the times i had dreaded waking up early for church and all of the times i had walked into service half an hour late. 

So why in a culture where there is so much hurting, pain, reasons to be angry with God and poverty surrounding these churches that people are in constant joy and have faith to be envious of.

Im continually dumbfounded and inspired by these people. they have showed me how to genuinely rejoice in Him and to live with a faith not to be afraid of and hide. They showed me that today is a day of rejoicing that the tomb is empty and will forever will be, that no other god did what our God did, he loved us enough to pay the ultimate price, he is a great God!