A few years ago a guy in Texas won the Powerball lottery.

A trucker. An instant millionaire.

He’d bought the morning paper, took it home, and matched his ticket to the winning numbers while sitting at the kitchen table.

Where he stayed. All morning. Speechless. Thinking: ‘This changes everything.’

No aspect of his life would be unaffected. Work. Family. Friends. Home. Possessions: ‘This changes everything.’

Worries melted. No more mortgage, car leases, college loans. Possibilities emerged, Mom’s retirement center, a vacation home, kids’ braces, dream car, invitations to the Governor’s Ball: ‘This changes everything.’

On Sunday, you and I are invited into the very same euphoria. We will witness this among the first to discover Jesus’ empty tomb – as we too will stare into the wonder and mystery of the resurrection. After all Easter is simply God’s assurance that we will never be alone, forgotten, or uncared for. Easter is the Almighty’s writ large statement that all things are possible through Christ. God can do it. Things will work out. We will be strengthened for our victories and comforted in our losses. Easter is better than any lottery win (after all, a somewhat substantial percentage of these folk eventually lose their money, marriages, and their souls as a result). For Easter is the day that God wins. Love wins. Humanity wins. Come to church, go to your quiet place, or simply sit at the kitchen table on Easter morning and let’s open our minds and delve into the supercharged notion that ‘this changes everything.’