Easter Sunday at Bel Air Pres

Growing up, Easter was always a special holiday for both Jay and me.  We would anticipate and celebrate and enjoy special traditions and memory-making with our families.  When we moved to LA and got plugged in to Bel Air Pres, we were a little concerned that celebrating Easter might somehow be underwhelming or sad compared to our usual.  To our delight, Bel Air's Easter celebration took place at the Hollywood Bowl, a beautiful outdoor amphitheater, which was so different from our usual Easters that it made the new era of celebrating such a joy.  Especially since my stroke, my parents have now made Easter in LA their annual tradition, including a brunch we host for family and a few friends after church (more on that later).

{photo by our friend, DJ Viola}

This year the Hollywood Bowl was under construction, so we had the Easter service at the church, and it was phenomenal.  One of the most special parts this year was that we were asked to share our story on a video shown during the sermon.  The sermons (and the small group study) over the Lenten season have mirrored the "I Am" statements of Jesus that Jay has also mirrored in his "Road to Easter" series.  It seemed extremely fitting on this Sunday focused on resurrection that we were able to share our story about the new life we have experienced through Jesus.  What a blessing to be able to share that message to our church family--on Easter, no less!  We are too blessed.  Far too blessed to be bitter.

 {video link here -- skip forward to 21:15 for our segment}