I have always been a Christmas kind of girl. The manger, the wisemen, the virgin birth – it just never gets old.

This week, however, my heart is overwhelmed with thoughts of Easter. Thanks to this post, I have been following Easter week in real time and I’m captivated by the drama of it all.

As the week progresses, I find myself anxiously awaiting what I know is to come. I become tense as Friday draws near. I long for the happier anticipation that Christmas brings. Yet, without Friday’s cross, Christmas is reduced to a nice story. And Christ did not come to be a nice story. God did not wrap Himself in human flesh so that we could have warm fuzzies as we sit in the glow of Christmas lights.

Christ came for the cross.

I can not escape the reality of this week. Even as I follow the children of Israel on their exodus out of Egypt, I am reminded.

The blood…will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. – Exodus 12:13 HCSB

From the very beginning, it was about the blood. When God passed through the land of Egypt, he was looking for the blood on the door frames. And today, when God looks at us, He sees us as covered in the precious, redeeming blood of His Son.

Because Christ chose to receive what He did not deserve…we, in turn, do not receive what we do deserve.