Easter Eggs

   Guess what tomorrow is! That's right; Easter!
 
   In our modern-day  world many people assume Easter is about chocolate and bunnies and spring. However, Easter is about something much better than eggs and candy. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. But before He could be raised from the dead Jesus had to die. Good Friday honors His death on a cross. The Friday before Easter Sunday is called Good Friday because when Jesus died He satisfied God's wrath for our sins, allowing us to have salvation.
 
   The joy and severity of the holy holiday is watered-down by the secular traditions the world tries to associate with Easter. However, some significance can be found in these traditions. Here are a couple similarities between Jesus' death and dying Easter eggs:

- In order to dye eggs the yolk and egg white must first be removed. This is usually done by poking three holes in the top of an egg and a larger hole in the bottom and then blowing into the three small holes. In this way Jesus was pierced for our transgressions. He was poured out for us (his blood was shed on our behalf) as He hung on the cross. His  blood became the sacrifice that saved us from our sins.

- The dye used to color Easter eggs is usually made with a vinegar base. Jesus was given vinegar to drink on the cross.

- In order to produce a vibrantly colored Easter egg the egg must be submerged in the dye for a long period of time. This is similar to how Jesus' body stayed in the tomb for three days and three nights.

- For whatever reason my brother and I had a tradition of breaking our old Easter eggs on the Fourth of July (don't ask why). Each of the eggs we smashed were completely empty inside, just like Jesus' tomb on that fateful morning.

   
   He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Comments on Fahrenheit 451

   The title of this blog originated from my love of books, so it is only fitting that my first post be about a book. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, to be exact.

 
   This book has been sitting on my bookshelf for almost a year now. I bought it at a Goodwill with the intent of taking it to read on the plane to Moldova (for those of you who did not know I went to Moldova on a mission trip last summer). I did take it (it's world-famous!), but never opened it. And so it's lonely existence of not being read was extended. I finally picked it back up because it was one of the books on my reading list for school. Usually classical novels like this intimidate me, but I was able to get through it in just a couple days (it's only 165 pages total, so that helped).

   Being a potential graphic designer I really appreciated how the cover looks like it has some wear and tear (books are not treated as nicely in the novel). It looks like the book has a dust jacket that has been ripped to reveal the hard cover underneath. Pretty cool, right?

 
   The first copy of Fahrenheit 451 was published in 1953. The story is set in a dystopian future (this is before dystopian fiction was cool), probably somewhere in the twenty-first century. Because the story is set close to our current time I found it interesting to see how the technological advances compared. Some go beyond what is possible today (fire-proof houses) or fall short of modern technology (sorry, no internet), and in a few cases, match up almost spot-on with what we have today (devices with Bluetooth capabilities!).
 
   In the book society has degraded to the point where books are considered illegal. This is a decision made by the majority of the population, not the government. Firemen in the traditional sense are no longer needed, thanks to the invention of fire-proof houses. Instead, their job is to burn books. I don't think that these kinds of Firemen will be needed in our current society, but Mr. Bradbury does provide criticism on some of our potential fatal flaws.
 
   I enjoyed this book much more than I was expecting to; it is an interesting insight into what could have been our future.