My office is full of memorabilia. I wouldn't take any of my collection to the Antiques Roadshow of course - it's not that good. But it is immensely important to me.

There's a small piece of stick that I picked it up in a stream running through the ancient Roman colony of Philippi for example. It reminds me that I have stood where the apostle Paul's first European convert was baptized. (You can read the story in Acts chapter 16).

And then there's a photograph of my first church secretary and wife. Their smiling faces remind me that it was a huge privilege to know them. They were people of deep faith (he actually died on his knees, praying), and they were amazingly generous. If the truth were told they were living proof that God will give us all we need to enrich the lives of others. This lovely couple taught me lessons in giving that I will never forget.

And then there's that small leg-shaped plaster cast that causes such amusement whenever I take into a school assembly. It's quite unusual because it still complete; the only thing that's missing is the leg that it once contained!

It belonged to my youngest son. He broke a small bone in his leg when he was a toddler, and it supported his leg until he went on a church outing to Swansea. But while we were there, something rather remarkable occurred. As my wife and I were sitting beside a swimming pool with a group of older ladies from the church, and he was on her lap swinging his leg contentedly, the cast suddenly flew off and bounced along the floor. One of our ladies could hardly believe her eyes and she jumped out of her seat screaming, "His leg's come off." We were in stitches for the rest of the day!

I keep that cast to remind me of her reaction. It never fails to cheer me up. But I keep it for another reason too; it's a useful illustration of Easter Day. The Archbishop of Canterbury reminded me of this a week or two ago when he claimed to detect a more favorable attitude religious faith.

"So we have reason to feel thankful that things appear to be moving on from a pointless stalemate," he said. "Yet, granted all this, and given all the appropriate expression of relief Christians may allow themselves, Easter raises an extra question, uncomfortable and unavoidable: perhaps 'religion' is more useful than the passing generation of gurus thought; but is it true? Easter makes a claim not just about a potentially illuminating set of human activities but about an event in history and its relation to the action of God. Very simply, in the words of this morning's reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that 'God raised Jesus to life'.

But did He really do that? Is it true? The disciples were sure He had done just that because His tomb was empty as my son's plaster cast! And if that was not enough he then spent the next 40 days teaching and helping to make sense of his death.

That resurrection changed their lives just as it has changed mine. I just wish more people would examine the evidence and come to the same conclusion, for if it is true, it's the best bit of news this world has ever heard.

Rob James is Pastor of Westgate Evangelical Chapel, Pembroke, and can be contacted at [email protected]">[email protected]