Easter Memories // Easter Hope

As we anticipate a wonderful Easter morning gathering with family and church family at the Hollywood Bowl, we are awash with memories of being at this particular place on this particular day for over 7 years now.

One of the healthiest and most poignant exercises that we can engage in is remembering our past.  This is NOT so we can yearn for that past or be bound by it, but so we can be encouraged that life has always been both bitter and sweet (rather than painting an overly sentimentalized or tragedized version of it).  Moreover, it takes time, even years, to be able to look back and more clearly see God's hand at work through those good and bad seasons.

Looking back on our lives gives us a confident hope so that we can LIVE forward.

{left, Easter 2007, Katherine throwing up from morning sickness and Jay throwing up from a stomach bug // right, Easter 2008, sweating and sleepless with 5-month old baby James, about a month before the stroke}

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{Easter 2009, approaching the 1 year anniversary of life changing forever // still living in Pomona, in full-time therapy at Casa Colina // had only recently been allowed to eat orally again though still hiding a feeding tube under the Easter dress // would have phase 1 of a radical facial surgery a few weeks after this}

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{Easter 2010, major strides in recovery, including walking again with a cane // had recently moved away from rehab into a home in Culver City // had undergone the 2nd strabismus eye surgery about a week before}

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{Easter 2011, the new normal continues to sink in though a yearning for the old life remains // engaged various new opportunities to share our story of hope}

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{Easter 2012, Hollywood Bowl under renovation but a video of our story closes Easter Sunday morning at Bel Air Pres (link here) // both turned 30 a few weeks before // just returned from a challenging but encouraging trip to Italy a few days before}

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The joys and sorrows of the last 7 years of our lives run so deep and spread across such broad spectrum, and yet no matter what happens between this Easter and the next, hope will remain.

"We are the already people but the not yet" ~ Gerhardus Vos

For now, we recount Easters past to remind us to hope in Easters present and future, but we know that one day we won't need to look back to be reminded of how far God has brought us because one day, every day will embody the hope of Easter.