What's in a Name?

Another holiday gone by.  I love Easter.  Any holiday that is spent gorging myself and hanging out with family is alright by me.  This morning before church, my 6 year old son asked me "Dad, if we have Easter to celebrate Jesus coming back from the dead, why do we color eggs and have an Easter bunny?"  All I could think of was "That's a really good question, son."  It really doesn't make any sense does it?  My savior is nailed to a cross, is dead for 3 days, is actually risen from the dead and we have a bunny hopping around dropping eggs and chocolate all over any grassy area he can find.  WHAT!?  It makes not sense at all.  So, I did what Dennis and I always do when we have a question.  We go to the all knowing internet.  Ends up that this all stems from some pagan ritual where they revered birds because they could get close to the sun god.  Therefore the eggs were very special and given as gifts.  Leave it up to man to turn a pagan sun god ritual into a celebration of the one and only God giving his Son as the ultimate sacrifice for my sins.  Oh well, I guess if it gets people to church, even if only once or twice a year, it does some good.  What good is once or twice a year though.  If you are one of the "C & E" Christians, please tell me.  (KSteenbergen@msn.com) If you can convince me that going to church twice a year will yield the same eternal benefit as me going every week, I would be very interested.  Do you know how much more sleep I could get.  Or how much more work around the house I could do if I was not involved in church?  Sunday morning service, Wednesday evening Bible study.  Putting out the signs every Friday evening (OK, realistically they go out on Saturday morning because I am lazy after work on Friday) and then picking them up again Sunday afternoon.  Then there are the meetings and preparation, summer camp, men's events and on and on and on.  And if all that is not enough, I have this unquenchable desire to go back to school to get my BA in Biblical Studies.  Why?  Can I accomplish the same eternal destiny by going to church on Christmas and Easter?  You are going to have a hard time convincing me of that.  In no way do I think I am better than someone that goes to church twice a year or twice in a lifetime.  In fact, through my eyes, I am a worthless struggling person who screws up more than he gets it right.  But, I continue to struggle.  I will never give up.  I will keep fighting because one day it will be worth while.  I believe that with all my heart.  I have heard it before but my Pastor said it this morning in his lesson; if I am wrong, I have nothing to loose, but if you are wrong you have everything to loose.  When you got married, did you vow to see your spouse twice a year on major holidays, till death do you part.  As much as I would love it, how would my boss react to me coming to work two days out of the year and then using the rest of my time just for me because I am too busy to work any more often that.  If I tried either one of those, I would be a divorced, unemployed person.  My wife never died for me and I know my boss never would.  So why is it we short change God?  Why is it that when it is time to give back to Him, any excuse will do to get us out of it?  What then do we all do when we get into a tight spot?  Who do we call on then?  I don't think it is fair to expect anything back if you are not willing to give.   If you care to debate it, meet me at the Oasis Christian Church next Sunday in Pueblo West (theoasischristianchurch.com) at 10:00 am.  Next debate you can pick the location.