AFTER THE ROUGH WINTER MAY 2026

After the Rough Winter, Spring!

“But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made

alive” 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 ESV

It may just be me, but I think we endured a brutal Ohio winter this year. Some of the old-timers here in Central Ohio told me they haven’t experienced a bitter, cold winter like this in decades. The cold mornings seemed the hardest to take for me. I just wanted to stay in bed and not get up like a bear in hibernation.

To add insult to injury, as winter was receding a few weeks ago and it seemed as though Spring was right around the corner, in Marysville and Union County we had what was described as near

tornado force winds. Dozens of homes in the Mill Valley subdivision where I live had portions of their roofs blown off by the fierce gusts! When I took a walk the other day, I saw the house pictured to the left with a temporary patch on the roof like many others in town, giving roofing companies time to catch up with the backlog of repairs they have from the storm. This house is just a few doors down from mine. Thanks be to God ours was untouched! Our FELC church building pictured to the right, had a large portion of the roof blown away and is patched up also awaiting permanent repair from our roofer.

Krystal loves to garden, and she has been chomping at the bit waiting for warmer weather so she can plant her vegetable garden as well as all her flowers in the beds around our house. One day she got impatient, bought an indoor greenhouse and placed it in our  dining room. Now that the weather has moderated, it’s housed in our all-season room. The freezing nights have ended so she’s now in the process of moving everything outside. Hallelujah!

I love the great Oxford scholar and children’s author C.S. Lewis’ allegorical description of Easter. In his book, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the White Witch ruled tyrannically over Narnia. As a result, there was a permanent state of winter. All the creatures in Narnia languished under dark, frosty, gloomy days.

Then Aslan, the magnificent, large lion with a golden mane stepped in to redeem Narnia from the curse that brought on such suffering and despair. He willingly sacrificed himself on the Stone Table to save Edmund and everyone else from the White Witch’s spell.

In the last scenes of the story Aslan rose from the dead, and slowly Narnia came back to life. The snow and ice began to melt, and Spring emerged.

This of course, is what we celebrate during Eastertide. Not only is our long, brutal Central Ohio winter receding and Spring flowers blooming, most importantly we celebrate our Savior’s resurrection from the grave. Death could not keep Him down after He died for our sins on Calvary’s Cross so He burst from the grave and declared to the world that Satan’s curse is forever broken and all who believe in Him will enjoy eternal life.

A blessed Easter season to you! In case you missed worship on Easter Sunday we will continue our resurrection celebration for four more weeks. I hope to see you this Sunday. He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed. Alleluia. Amen.

Pastor Kurt Luebkeman