JOYCE CORONEL

Two centuries ago, British philosopher and statesman Edmund Burke famously warned that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

Standing there in front of the bank of flickering candles, we closed our eyes and silently whispered a prayer, the days and years and lifetimes leading up to that moment behind us and yet somehow within us.

The voice on the other end of the line was choked with emotion. Years of bad decisions and poor choices had finally caught up with her and she felt trapped by her past. “I feel so empty inside. I’ve made so many dumb mistakes and now I’m paying for them!”

I was in my third year of college the first time he played for me. Sitting under a tree at a local park, he strummed the guitar gently, crooning songs of love for God and His wondrous mercy.

Today, nearly 2,000 years later, we’re still living in the glow of that glorious moment when the Holy Spirit rushed upon the Apostles, emboldening them to carry the Gospel to all nations.

“What came to be through Him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This quote from the beginning of the Gospel of John points us to the reality of Christ as the light of the world.

When you get right down to it, the message of Easter is one of hope. Jesus is victorious over sin and death and offers each of us the gift of new life.

If you’ve ever watched a football game on television, you’ve no doubt seen a banner in the stands proclaiming the message “John 3:16.”

A 40-foot balloon floats high over a rural area in Communist North Korea. When it lands, the precious cargo is discreetly received and distributed by those willing to risk imprisonment or death in defiance of the regime.

I can still hear her voice, all these years later: A coworker at the local newspaper where I was working was angry — very angry — and launched into an explosive tirade with one word.