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The Ones Who Stayed - Tuesday, 04/07/2026

Scripture: John 20:3–11; Romans 8:38–39

When Peter and the other disciple heard the tomb was empty, they ran to see for themselves. They looked inside, saw the burial cloths, and — according to John — went home. They saw the evidence. They just didn't stay. Mary stayed. And everything that follows in the Easter story happens because she did.

There's something in that worth thinking about for our own lives. How often do we look at a situation, not see the answer we were hoping for, and head home? We check in on faith when things are urgent, and then drift when things stabilize. We start a conversation with God and then get distracted. We show up at the hard place — the difficult relationship, the challenging commitment, the honest question about what we believe — and then quietly leave before anything happens.

The witness of this story is that staying matters. Not forever — just long enough. Mary didn't solve the mystery at the tomb. She didn't figure out the theology. She just didn't leave. And in that staying, she became the first person in history to see the risen Christ. The first Easter witness wasn't the most educated or the most faithful or the most prepared. She was simply the one who stayed.

Romans 8 makes a sweeping claim: nothing — not death, not life, not things present, not things to come — can separate us from the love of God. That's a claim worth staying with. It means that wherever you are right now, whatever you're walking through, you haven't wandered beyond the reach of God's love. You can't. The distance doesn't exist.

Today, staying might look like five more minutes in prayer when you feel like giving up on it. It might look like going back to a hard conversation instead of avoiding it. It might look like showing up on Sunday even when you're not sure you believe everything being said. Whatever it looks like — stay a little longer. Something might happen.

Reflection Question:  Is there a place in your life — a relationship, a spiritual practice, a community — where you've been quietly leaving instead of staying?

Action Step:  Identify one thing you've been avoiding or drifting from. Take one small step back toward it today — a text, a prayer, a return.

Prayer:  God, it's easy to look and leave. Give me the courage to stay — in the hard places, the uncertain places, the places where I'm not sure what I'll find. Amen.