Peak Season

It was early in the spring many years ago, and I was out in the backyard playing lumberjack. I was trying to trim our big shade tree to make room for a new season of growth. This tree was near to the house and grew so rapidly that if I didn’t cut it back each spring, its limbs would grow over the roof line. Then, in the fall, the leaves would clog my rain gutters.

You know, trees can be a real pain in the neck. Kids can be too, but at least they eventually grow up and take care of themselves. Trees on the other hand, seem to require more work the older they get – watering, fertilizing, raking, trimming and spraying for insects. It can cause you to reconsider the relative value of shade, but that’s another story.

Anyway, there I was, hanging by the fingernails of one hand, trying to control a twenty-pound power saw in the other, and swaying in the breeze-blown limbs wondering if I would live to ever enjoy shade again. Suddenly form the yard next door, my neighbor tried to engage me in conversation. Though normally not one for small talk, I was looking for any excuse to get out of that tree alive. So, I climbed down and made an attempt to be neighborly.

We talked about the weather, rose bushes, and electric garage door openers. Then, just as the conversation was faltering, my neighbor made the following observation about the fast approaching Easter holidays. He said, “This is ‘peak season’ for you, isn’t it?”

The funny thing about his statement was that he wasn’t trying to be funny. He was just trying to make conversation about my vocation as a pastor using the language of business. And indeed, if church life is related to business, Easter is our “peak season”. It’s the biggest day of the year for church attendance. Churches spend millions of dollars on advertising, decorations, choir supplies, even special bulletin covers, all in an attempt to capitalize on this unparalleled ministry opportunity.

Even if all this weren’t true, my neighbor hit the proverbial nail squarely on the head. The apostle Paul said, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is vain and your faith is also vain (1 Cor. 15:14).” Yes, for believers, Easter is pivotal. It comes down to this: If there’s no resurrection, we’re all hanging by our fingernails from a limb that isn’t there.

However, the good news is, He’s alive! To any unbiased inquirer the evidence is overwhelming. In fact the apostle Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians that there were over 500 people who saw the Lord alive at one time. He made this statement as an invitation to doubters to check his story with any of these people, most of whom were still alive at the time of his writing. History does not record any challenge to his claim.

I eventually moved from the house I described earlier. However, my new house has trees too, and I’ll soon be playing lumberjack again. I don’t know what kind of conversation may take place over the backyard fence, but I do know what I’ll be thinking. As I’m hanging there by my fingernails, I’ll be thinking about how grateful I am that my Savior is alive. Among more important things, it’s nice to know He’ll be there in case one of my fingernails breaks.