Back From The Dead

This Sunday is Easter.  Most people celebrate Jesus and His coming back from the dead. We celebrate all who come back from the dead. Brett Favre came back from the dead.

Brett Favre during the 2006 NFL season.

Countless others we know from the media or by personal association also came back from the dead -- or near death.

Jesus Christ died a horrible death after severe torture (is there any other kind?).

Standing beneath His death cross: His mother, Mary, His friend Mary Magdeline (who many historians say was a prostitute) and John "The Younger" or "The Apostle."

I am named for John.  My bride and wife and life-mate Lien is named for Mary Magdeline.

We both came back from the dead.

Lien was a prisoner of communism.  She escaped torture and near death only to find herself in an open boat on the high seas.  Some of her shipmates died but she prevailed: only to find herself detained eight more years.

I survived addiction and fight for life each day.

We are both survivors and "back from the dead."

This is not about religion, or faith or going to church.  This is about life.

Life is about living and doing your best -- whatever the cost.

Silver star recipient Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester of the 617th Military Police Company, a National Guard unit out of Richmond, Ky., is resurected.  She came back from the dead: a death the enemy called for but God intervened.

So we celebrate this Sunday all those we know who have come back from the dead.  They are many and they are blessed and they are spectacular.  And we are honored and blessed to know them: each and every one!

Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, vehicle commander, 617th Military Police Company, Richmond, Ky., stands at attention before receiving the Silver Star at an awards ceremony at Camp Liberty, Iraq, June 16. Hester is the first woman soldier since World War II to receive the Silver Star. Photo by Spc. Jeremy D. Crisp, USA