By Cathy Jameson

On my first day off in weeks, I found myself driving toward the mountains.  It was an unexpected trip, but with everything going on, it was the best day for me to go.  My daughter is recovering from a second surgery after an injury that happened mid-March.  She left campus that day with just a backpack.  Hoping she’d be back taking classes there, she’s been online keeping up with school from a distance.  A vehicle, a dorm room full of clothes, school supplies, and more, we just haven’t had time to retrieve anything.  The hope that she’d return to school also kept us from rushing to pack things up, too.  With just a little over two weeks left of this semester, we thought it wise to begin the pack out.  Hoping to go with me, it was better for the kids to stay home so I could get in and get out of the dorm room as fast as possible.  With the help of Ronan’s younger brother who lives close by, that’s exactly what I was able to do.

I gave up a few things for Lent when it began, but I keep a constant fasting of not listening to the radio while I drive.  I started that practice a few Lents ago, and I’ve stuck with it now for a few years.  If you know me, you know I’m an 80s girl who loves her music, especially while driving!  But that quiet time in the car gives me extra time to think, reflect, and pray.  While driving through the mountains on Holy Thursday, after a terrible night of sleep, I needed something to keep my mind going.  So, I turned on the radio.  I don’t know the stations too well, but I knew I could find some Christian music and some pretty bad heavy metal music stations in the last 45 minutes of my trip.  I turned the dial until I found one with the least amount of static and was greeted by a familiar voice.

Chuck Swindoll, a pastor who my Mom used to listen to back in the early 1990s, had a very timely message.  That morning message, like some I remembered, was spot on.  Reflecting on Matthew’s gospel, Swindoll spoke of the Resurrection.  So, so timely!  Reading from the Bible, he recounted Easter morning:

Suddenly, as the women approached the tomb, they felt an earthquake.

An angel, whose face shone like lightning, appeared at the tomb.

The stone was rolled away. 

The guards shook with fear and fell into a dead faint.

The angel spoke to the women saying, “Don't be afraid!  I know you were looking for Jesus.  He isn't here; He has risen from the dead, just as he said would happen.”

“Come, see,” the angel told the women, “See where his body lie.”

Then the angel said to go quickly and tell the disciples, “Tell them that He is going ahead of you, to Galilee.”

“…and He will see you there.”

The women went, and when the guards woke up, they went into the city.

Meeting with the leading priest who then met with the elders, the guards were given a bribe.   

The elders said, “You must say Jesus' disciples came during the night while we were sleeping, and they stole his body.  If the governor hears about it, we will stand up for you, so you won't get in trouble.”

The guards accepted the bribe and were given a script.  Their story spread widely among the Jews…

…and they still tell it today.

More believed that lie than believed the truth. 

More believed the words of critics and skeptics than of the women who were living that day and never before or after lied to us...but somehow lied to us about the Resurrection.

The witnesses were silenced, but they were grateful to live by the truth and to die for it.

Before my drive to and from the mountains late last week, I knew that I’d missed a lot of news.  I missed the updated autism rate announcement, and I missed Secretary Kennedy’s https://www.ageofautism.com/2025/04/secretary-of-hhs-says-autism-epidemic-is-real.html announcement.  When I had a minute to look at the internet before I got in the car, I gleaned from headlines, and from facebook posts, that something was off.  In giving up the radio, I also gave up listening to talk radio.  Easily I could’ve caught up on what the media thinks I need to know on my drive, but I randomly stumbled upon a radio station with a beloved pastor from days gone by with a message that was not just so perfectly timed for the holiest of weeks.  I thought it was perfectly timed for our time.

I’ve heard that Gospel story since I was a child, but not until this week did I think to compare it to a current situation – finally, our community of parents was heard!  But in sharing the message again, that for some children some vaccines cause some very serious health and development problems – parents were attacked again.  Parents who witnessed what happened to their child were silenced again.  Leaders in the health and media communities were quickly again providing scripts that don’t reveal the truth but that cover up wicked ways.  And the threat to the loss of power and money again seems to be at the core of the cover up.

The resurrection is one of the greatest acts. It's the fulfillment of God's promise, that the gates of Heaven will be open to us.  Live by His word, and we will gain eternal reward.  It’s a lifelong goal for many.  Life here on earth, though, can be full of trials, some created by non-believers.  It’s only their own gain that they live and breathe.  They care not who gets hurt by their actions and inactions.  Those parents who were silenced for speaking out decades ago are being silenced again by the non-believers.  They must persevere!  I have no doubt that they will, because a higher power has called us to always live by the truth. 

To those who continue to witness, who continue to speak up despite the skeptics and the critics…thank you.  You, your work, your children, and most especially your faith, does not go unnoticed. 

Cathy Jameson is a Contributing Editor for Age of Autism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPE9uSFFxrI&list=RDTPE9uSFFxrI&start_radio=1&rv=7hZFkWvUnuc