♥ WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD ♥: March 2013

May God bless you at Easter,

And keep you all year through.
May God give you all the faith it takes,
To make your dreams come true.

May His love and wisdom always help,

To guide you on your way.

May His light shine down upon you now,
To bless your Easter Day.

Christ is risen, He is risen indeed.

Alleluia

This is the day the LORD hath make let us rejoice and

be glad in it.

Let us live everyday like a new Easter.

Inspiration

We have become far too familiar with losing. Granted, there are enough factors to make failure an everyday occurance. Life is difficult at best, defeating at times. But now the time had come to talk about triumph. By His resurrection from the dead, Jesus had a spectacular triumph over the forces of sin and death. These are the same forces that defeat us. How he calls us to rise in victory with Him.

LET US REJOICE IN

HEARING GOD'S VOICE

Acts 10:34-43

Col. 3:1-4

John 20:1-18

Psalm 28:1-10

"Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus' head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen. (They did not understand the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) John 20:6,7

He holds my hand,

This wonder Savior, and He is mine;

So why should I fear when I know He's so near,

And I know that His hand holds mine.?

Easter Tree

Around 1945, as a young boy, Volker Kraft saw his very first Easter Tree (Eierbaum, Osterbaum or Ostereirbaum, in German), and decided he would have one of his very own when he grew up. Time passed and young Volker became a married man with a family. But his childhood dream stuck with him and he decorated his first Easter Tree in 1965 using 18 colored plastic eggs. In a few years, he and his wife stopped using plastic eggs and instead used real eggs which they decorated after using the insides. When their children grew up, they started helping with the decorating,and the Easter Tree became a family tradition, known not only in their home town of Saalfeld, but all of Germany.

After their kids moved out of the house, it seemed the Easter Tree would finally catch a break, but grandsons arrived and the Krafts went back to decorating their giant tree. The number of Easter eggs hung by the tree?s branches grew every year,and in 2010 it reached an incredible 9,500 eggs. It takes 2 to 5 people two weeks to decorate the tree. It stays fully decorated for 2 weeks before Easter and one week afterwards.

Rags at the Banquet

Once upon a time a man lived in the streets,

clad only in the dirtiest and worst of rags.

One day a person from the Palace saw him,

and approached him.

There was going to be a banquet at the Palace,

and he had instructions to come

and invite people from the highways and byways.

Would he like to come?

The man was indeed interested.

However, he could not attend a banquet

dressed in his rags.

The Palace representative assured him

they would exchange his rags

for some suitable finery to wear to the banquet.

All was in order.

The two arrived at the Palace

where they went directly to the

dressing chambers of the King.

Servants took the filthy rags,

bundled them in a little package,

and proceeded to rub, scrub,

and clean the man from top to bottom.

He was then allowed to choose his robes

from the closets of the King.

He was told that whatever he picked

he would be able to keep,

so he carefully examined

all the many garments in the closet.

He chose an exquisite

inner garment of purest silk,

and an outer robe of finest purple satin.

He was ready for the banquet!

As they left the dressing quarters,

the man grabbed his old rags.

The servants told him to just leave them,

because he wouldn't need them anymore.

However,

he insisted on taking the bundle with him.

Even though he didn't need the rags now,

he felt more secure somehow

if he could just hold on to them.

In the Palace banquet hall,

the festivities were about to begin.

Nearly everyone was there,

including the King himself.

The man was seated,

looking resplendent in his new attire.

He hid his bundle of rags on his lap,

underneath the tablecloth,

so no one would see them.

The banquet was not to be believed!

There was music and dancing,

and every kind of delicacy imaginable.

As the trays were passed,

the beggar had difficulty

getting the food onto his plate.

He was constantly juggling

the package of old rags on his lap

, balancing it so it wouldn't fall off.

It constantly distracted him

from what was going on

in the grand hall.

Eventually the evening ended

and the great gala event was over.

Everyone was stuffed to the gills

except for the man clinging to his rag bundle.

He was as hungry as when he had come in.

He never had eaten even one morsel of the food.

He had been too busy fixing

and holding on to his old rags.

Today,

Jesus invites all of us to God's great banquet,

to leave our old ways and old rags,

and to say, "Yes!" to Him

and to a new and glorious way of living.

That is good news!

Lord,

your Word says that I am a new creation

in Christ.

Help me to discard the old

and walk in the new with You today.

Thank you,

Lord.

Amen.

*Author unknown

Bunny Butt Cake

1: Box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® yellow or white cake mix

: Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box

: Tray or cardboard covered with wrapping paper and plastic food wrap or foil

1: Container Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting

: Red food color

1: Large marshmallow, cut in half

3: Cups shredded coconut

: Green food color

2: Strawberry or cherry stretchy and tangy taffy candies (from 6-oz bag)

1: Roll Betty Crocker® Fruit Roll-Ups® punch berry chewy fruit snack (from 5-oz box)

3: Green-colored sour candies, separated into strips

: Construction paper

1 Heat oven to 325°F. Grease 1 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl (8 inches across top) with shortening; coat with flour (do not use cooking spray). Lightly grease 3 muffin cups in regular-size muffin pan.

2 Make cake batter as directed on box. Pour cake batter in 3 muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Pour remaining batter into 1 1/2-quart bowl.
3 Bake cupcakes 17 to 21 minutes, bowl 47 to 53 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove cakes from muffin cups and bowl; place rounded sides up on cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour. If necessary, cut off rounded tops of cakes.
4 Spoon frosting into large bowl. Add red food color to make desired pink color. Place bowl cake on tray cut side down; spread 1/3 cup frosting over cake. Use frosting to adhere cupcakes to bowl cake for feet and bunny tail. Use toothpicks if necessary. Place marshmallow halves, cut sides down, on tops of 2 cupcakes to make heels of feet. Spread thin layer of frosting over side and top of cake to seal in crumbs. Freeze cake 30 to 45 minutes to set frosting.
5 Spread remaining frosting over cake. Sprinkle with 2 cups of the coconut; press gently to adhere. Shake 1 cup coconut and 3 drops green food color in tightly covered jar until evenly tinted. Surround bunny with tinted coconut. Use rolling pin to press strawberry candies into 2 large rectangles. Cut 2 large ovals and 6 small circles out of candy. Press onto bottoms of bunny feet, using frosting if needed.
6 Roll up fruit snack to make carrot shapes. Cut green sour candies in half crosswise; press into large end of each carrot to make greens on carrot. Cut ears from construction paper; wrap ends that will be inserted into cake with plastic food wrap. Insert into cake. Remove ears, plastic wrap and toothpicks before serving. Store loosely covered.