Jesus - Our Savior

This past week one of the news stories which stood out to me was the teacher who had students write the name of Jesus on a piece of paper, then told them to put it on the floor and stomp on it. Our world has lost the understanding of who Jesus is and what his purpose is. He is the Savior of all mankind.

What or who do you trust to save you? I for one have never understood the mentality of the folks who want to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel or some other way. It just makes no sense to me to put your life at risk for no good reason.

After reading about a number of those people who have gone over Niagara Falls I noticed one thing they all had in common. None of them expected to die! All of them had some idea of protecting themselves from the dangers of going over that powerful water fall.

One of these dare devils was Robert Overacted, a 39 year old man challenged the mighty Horseshoe Falls on October 1st 1995. He planed this stunt for months, he checked and rechecked all of he figures and plans. He planned on riding on a single jet ski until he reached the brink of the Falls. There he would deploy a rocket propelled parachute, which would help him land in the River below the Falls to allow for a rescue.

Overacker launched himself into the Niagara River upstream of the falls. At the brink of the falls, Overacker ignited the rocket which deployed the parachute as planned. Unfortunately, as the parachute deployed it did him no good at all, because Overacker, he had forgotten to attach the parachute to his body.

To me that was a perfect, howbeit sad, example of what will happen if we trust in men or man made things to save us rather than Jesus. One of the most powerful testimonies about Jesus is found in Matthew 1:21 where the angel says of the coming birth of the Savior, "And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Many today live dangerous lives, going through life with nothing to protect them or save them from what really counts. Until they (and we) join ourselves to Jesus, we are just as near death as Robert Overacker. You may think you have it all together and are safe, but are you really?

This week our world celebrates Easter, which traditionally is a remembrance of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of Jesus. It's not about Easter Bunnies or colored eggs, it's about remembering the one who can save us from our sins.

Russ Lawson