Sunday, April 08, 2012

He is Risen Indeed!

This past week has been a bit of a blur, with numerous extra activities as we've worked alongside a team from Canada, hosted by Jim and Shari.  Marta Sánchez put together an incredible kids club (again), a swing set was made and several bookshelves were constructed for use in the coffee shop and English classroom.

Yesterday 40 of us traveled in four vans and a car up to Paso de Cortez, between the volcanoes.  Always a great time up there...but we weren't the only ones who wanted to enjoy a beautiful day at over 10,000 ft.  Seemed like half of Mexico City was hiking, camping and eating alongside the small, glacier-fed stream that flows through several park areas.  We arrived back home at around 8:30 p.m. last night after a long, very dusty trip back.

This morning our church celebrated our annual Easter Sunrise Service at 6:30 a.m., around a bonfire behind Sam and Aurora's house.  What was pretty amazing to both Mayra and me was how many people woke up early and participated in the service.  The majority of the church was there, ready to worship and hear once again about the wonderful resurrection of Christ.  Our text for the sermon was John 12:20-29.  "Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."  I bought an ear of corn late Saturday night to illustrate.

A big thanks to the Canada team for their many contributions to the ministry over this past week.  Kudos to Jim and Shari for their very capable leadership.

For many more pictures and descriptions of this past week and weekend, check out the Cottrill's blog at http://cottrillcompass.com/blog/ and Tina's blog at http://avoidanceoftheperfunctory.blogspot.mx/

Quote of the Day: The point is this: While much of our church culture believes that talk of wrath and judgment is toxic and unloving, Paul didn’t seem to have a problem with these things. In fact, Paul believed that these were essential truths. Similar to John the Baptist and Jesus, Paul believed that warning people of the wrath to come was actually loving.
Chan, Francis, Erasing Hell: What God Said about Eternity, and the Things We've Made Up (p. 100).






1 comment:

Pastor Jonathan said...

Howdy, Rod and family! Hearing you talk about the Paso de Cortez was so nostalgic. I remember the chill air, beautiful scenery, frigid river and millions of trinkets and candies in the store by the highway where we used to stop sometimes.

Sounds like a great Easter service you had. I haven't been able to convince our folks up here in Spokane to do a sunrise service yet, but maybe one of these days. My brother, Ben's church in Sanibel Island, Florida, had a sunrise service on the beach!

Anyways, may God richly bless you and your family this year!