not what you expected?

Have you ever been going along in life when suddenly everything changed? All your expectations crashed to the ground? Your hopes and dreams crushed in an instant? The way you thought things were turned out to not be reality at all?

If so, then you can relate to how the first disciples of Christ must have felt these past few days. This man was the Son of God - they had seen it, they believed it. He was building a kingdom, He had said so. He was going to change their world.

But then, gone. Arrested. Dead.

All of them betrayed by a friend. Someone they trusted was a deceiver. And I imagine they questioned whether or not they had been deceived by Christ himself.

What devastation. What fear. What anger.

On this day - the day that Christ lay in the tomb- they must have felt such hopelessness and confusion. Their world had just turned upside down. The moments of acute fear had eased. The high feelings of the trial and crucifiction were behind them. Now, shock. Grief. I imagine them sitting in the upper room together just looking at one another. Unable to even figure out an emotion to express. Staring. Their minds spinning without forming any definite thoughts.

When life pulls a one-eighty and your feet are knocked out from under you, what do you do?

Well, that tends to bring us to our knees. Figuratively and literally.

That's a good place to be.

See, those dreams the disciples had were good dreams. They envisioned wonderful things. They had exciting plans. There was nothing wrong with their expectations- except that they were not in line with God's expectations.

God had something far better in mind. Do you think one single disciple imagined the Truth? That Christ was going to ransom their very souls? That He was dying to give them eternal life? That He would walk into their very midst the following day. That He would send His Spirit to indwell each of them?

We see today. We see the pain and grief and lost hopes. But look to tomorrow! God always has a better plan than we can ever imagine!