An Easter Story
On Good Friday, I thought I was dead. A wealthy man named Joseph dressed me in linen clothing and took me to a windowless room below. From this otherworldly place, I emerged on Easter Morning to find pins piercing my feet that inspired me with wonder.
The self-proclaimed “Brother of Jesus” leading 20 million to death in China’s Taiping Rebellion reminds us all never to claim false closeness to Jesus, but the parallels in my life were extraordinary. From septic shock—potentially fatal—I checked into Dominican Hospital on Good Friday and prayed to the cross in my bed, sad that I would miss Easter service.
My doctor, Joseph Albright, like the Biblical Joseph of Arimathea, had laid my body to rest in a simple shroud. On Easter morning, I visited worlds of anesthesia before emerging from a windowless operating room with pins literally embedded in my feet. A bone infection had delayed my baptism before the hospital incidents.
You may remember me as the “paraplegic planner” or author of “How I Fell in Felton,” and I hope that developing a career amidst health challenges and ceaseless calls for help inspires. Christ inspired a million times more. Our schools often don’t teach Bible stories, though they are central to our culture and even our salvation.
Know that this sinner believes Easter is more than just egg hunts or Earth Day posters mounted in a formerly Christian hospital; it is the day which honors resurrection, suffering for others, and celebrates victory over sin and death.
Robert C. Arne
Ben Lomond
