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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Managing Editor

Easter, or Resurrection Day as it is also called, is an important holiday for me.

While I do not often mark the day with a big celebration as I do at Christmas, the Easter season helps me to reflect on the core of who I am and what I believe.

Around Good Friday I often think about what it was like for the disciples of Jesus on that day and the next.

Their friend, teacher and the one who they thought would save them was gone.

I can only imagine the grief that they felt.

I have tried to image what that first Easter was like as the disciples found out that the tomb was empty and later seeing Jesus for themselves.

Image the surprise and excitement of seeing someone you thought was dead standing right in front of you — Alive!

Not a ghost or something from the imagination but truly alive and able to eat with you.

The events of Easter give answers to the questions about who this Jesus mysteriously born in Bethlehem really was.

He was fully man and fully God. He came to the world to tell us about Himself in a way humanity could understand and live here without doing any wrong, yet chose to be punished for all the crimes of the world to make possible a relationship with him for everyone who asks.

Jesus coming back to life shows that everything He said while on earth is true. It gives hope that we can truly know God and that we do not have to be afraid.

Death is something that many humans fear. It is a great unknown. What happens after we breathe our last is largely a mystery.

With the resurrection of Jesus, those who have a relationship with him are given hope that there is eternal life with Him after this life we know.

This Easter has a special significance for many local churches since they were unable to hold in person services last year because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Some are having outdoor services this year in order to allow all those who wish to attend to follow social distancing recommendations to make the celebration truly special.