Staying True

I sat across from Vitaliy, chomp­ing on my Super Taco with sour cream, and munch­ing on my delight­ful chips and salsa. There is noth­ing quite like this com­bi­na­tion. Vitaliy + Mex­i­can food = per­fec­tion. It was a beau­ti­ful Fri­day after­noon. The sun glis­tened in the sky and the breeze was cool but refresh­ing. I watched as peo­ple came and went as if it was just another Fri­day. But for us, it was not just another Fri­day — it was Good Friday.

In between my dips into the salsa, we dis­cussed. I wanted to share what this day was — I wanted to shout it out! We spent hours that morn­ing try­ing to fig­ure out what to write. I wanted to share some­thing from some­one who mat­tered — a C. S. Lewis type. I fig­ured that oth­ers might lis­ten then. There is author­ity behind his words. As we con­tin­ued in our dis­cus­sion, it dawned on me, as it has many times in the past few weeks, how tempt­ing it is to be some­one your not. Authen­tic­ity is key to life — it’s the key to main­tain­ing your free­dom. Vitaliy con­tin­ued to chew on his bur­rito as well as his thoughts. He dug deeper, “Can­dace, tell me why you want to write this post.”

What was com­pelling me to make this post? Why was it so heavy on my heart? I crunched on a few more chips while search­ing my heart. I had only one answer. It’s who I am. In the calmest of voice with tears form­ing in my eyes, I answered, “V, we have to remem­ber who we are. We are two peo­ple who love Jesus and who love God’s Word.” That is who we are and the rea­son behind all that we do today. There is no way that we can post about fun hap­pen­ings in our life, about all of our amaz­ing clients and friends, and so much more with­out men­tion­ing the source of it all.

The old hymn sings, “Amaz­ing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found; was blind but now I see.” The day that I finally saw what a wretch I am and what a holy God He is, life as I knew it would never be the same. I knew that I was given a gift that I had to share. I could not treat this gift like fine china only to be taken out on spe­cial occa­sions and only for spe­cial guests. I knew that I had to share it at all times and with all people.

So here I am on the Mon­day after Easter. Shar­ing the Truth that last Fri­day was the day Jesus died for your sins and for mine. And yes­ter­day was the day He rose from the dead! What a glo­ri­ous week­end! What an amaz­ing Truth! What free­dom and hope fills my heart through these words. My hope is that they can do the same for you.