Easter (and my birthday)

My birthday was on Easter this year.  It was great because the whole family was getting together so I got to see everyone.  It was also great to be reminded that it's NOT all about me!  Easter is about Jesus, and so is everyday!  It was a nice Easter and a nice Birthday.  I turned 24 by the way.  

We went to church at our church Cahaba Park Church PCA.  We had the service at Samford University's Reed Chapel, since we meet at a high school on a weekly basis.  Our pastor, Murray Lee, preached on "The Power of the Resurrection for the Hope of Heaven".  Instead of preaching the literal Easter story from one of the gospels, he took a different approach and preached on this passage :

1 Corinthians 15:50-53  "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.  Behold! I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality."

His message was that our lives are completely wrapped up in the resurrection.  Only because of Christ's resurrection and through having a personal relationship with him, can we have hope to see heaven.  We need the hope for heaven to live our lives and must preach it to ourselves and others daily.  His sermon is online here.    

After church we went over to my parents house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt for my six nieces and nephews.  Here are some of my favorite pictures.  They were taken by my sister Kate, who's a great amateur photographer.  Visit her blog to see more of her pictures, especially some beautiful pictures of street children in Peru and Honduras, where she spends basically all of her vacation time ministering.  

And here's how my dad finishes every day holiday...