I hope you’re as excited to dive into this post as I was when I sat down to write it. This post is all about introducing The Kvas Chaos Easter shirt, but really, it is going to be all about a much bigger story, and a bunch of other little stories too.
I once heard that any great story that’s ever been told will inevitably point back to the greatest Story of all time, the story of our great rescue.
I’ve said it before, but I love stories. I love reading them. Telling them. Hearing them. Watching them. I can get lost in a movie to the point that I feel like the characters are real people and I’ve somehow been a part of their experience. We all think in stories. They help us to make sense of life and to be able to relate to each other by reminding us that we all share similar emotions, thoughts and experiences. Stories draw us in, explain how we make decisions, uncover our motivations, and expose our shared flaws. Storytelling connects us in deep ways, even when physical presence or experiential history are lacking.
So this story of our great rescue. It’s a love story, an unparalleled narrative about how God came after us when we wanted nothing to do with Him. He saw our great need for Him and that we were powerless to do anything to come back to Him. We were the princess locked in the tower. The kidnapped child held for ransom. The accused on death row.
And He came for us.
So...does every great story ever told in some way point back to the greatest Story ever told? I’ve thought about it for years and looked for glimpses of God’s great redemption story in many of the books and movies I’ve read or watched. And little by little, I would see it.
A main character who sacrifices himself for his true love, a love story that defies the odds, a hero who saves his people, an orphan who finds a home, a widow who experiences love again, a healing story, a redemption story, an underdog story. The story of Jesus weaving in and out of all the other stories.
Lord of the Rings. Star Wars. Braveheart. Narnia. Finding Nemo. Frozen. Sophia the First.
(you're laughing at those last few, aren't you)
There are so many more, but these are some of my favorite plot lines shining light on God’s overwhelming, sacrificial, never-stopping love. An other-worldly battle of good versus evil. A warrior who comes to save his people by laying down his own life. A lion Savior who negotiates a trade to endure the deserved death sentence of his beloved but treasonous child. A father fish who crosses the span of an entire ocean to redeem his own. A sister who lays down her life to save her one and only sister. A peasant girl who becomes a princess when her mother marries the King, changing her identity because of who she is, not what she has done.
So in light of my desire to see the gospel in every single thing, I knew my Easter shirt had to boldly proclaim the newness we have in Christ. To reflect the joy we have because of what Jesus did on Easter Sunday. I knew that it had to be something that reflected the old passing away and the new that has come. Something that reflected celebration, new life, joy and a changed perspective.
The "Best. Day. Ever." shirts are meant to uphold and celebrate what Jesus has done for us. They are meant to point us back to that Best Day Ever and remind us that we are free because of what happened on that day.
If you're asking "Why is Easter the best day ever"? It's because that’s the day that our ransom was paid and our captor handed us back to the One who loves us. Like a kidnapped child, we had no power to get back to a safe place. We had to wait to be saved. We were facing death and torture and defeat. And on Easter, we were saved.
The olive green color reminds us that Christ endured death and then burial in a grave. He laid in the ground for three days before he rolled that stone away himself. The earth could not hold him in. The grave had to let go.
The bold, white letters...when your news is this good, you want everyone to know it. You want everyone to hear it, see it, read about it and ask about it. His victory over sin transfers his pure, white as snow, righteousness to us.
The punctuation...it is and was finished. We have nothing to add.
Just like all the stories out there that (sometimes unknowingly) whisper pieces of the Greatest Story to our hearts, I hope that this shirt can do the same. That it might help point us to the truth of the Great Love Story that we all get to be a part of. My hope is that it will help us all to begin to see glimpses of His story in everyday details, small moments and unexpected places.
What stories do you see as reflections of God's great story! Send me a message or shout it in the comments.