Easter

For four weeks here at Horizonte Church we had a wonderful series about the glory of God. It ended on Easter Sunday. The series involved paintings being done love on the stage during the sermon (those of you who have been at North Point for a while, it was the “Canvas” series). It’s hard to describe the sermon series, but the paintings had everything to do with what Pastor Martin was speaking about. On Easter Sunday, all the paintings were put together and made a representation of God’s gift of salvation to us through Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection. (I’m being kind of vague here because I think you should find the “Canvas” series from North Point Ministries and watch it in English!)

One of the artists who painted during the service was Rafa. If you remember, he’s the young guy who is paralyzed from the waist down, and only has partial use of his hands and arms. Rafa arrived at Horizonte about two and a half years ago, and was very shy and rather depressed because of his physical situation. He’s since slowly gotten involved in the young adults group at church and, while still rather reserved, considers us his friends and it’s embarrassed to have to be lifted out of us chair to go to the upstairs room for young adults group, or to come to the water park with us even though he doesn’t go in the water.

Anyhow, the Easter service was very impacting for probably most everyone present. Even Arturo (a young non-Christian guy who’s been helping with our monthly children’s theater and song presentation) was touched. While he still doesn’t want to be a “religious” person, on Easter he took communion with us after saying that he believes that he’s a sinner, that Jesus is the Son of God who died for our sins and rose again. I really don’t care if Arturo identifies himself as being a Christian or not; he believes! And we want to help him grow in those beliefs and begin to live a life pleasing to God! (I hope you’re reading this from C.R. Phil!!!)

So pretty much, besides being a great sermon series because of the content and paintings, this past month has been amazing to see Rafa step out of his comfort and even more, seeing Arturo accept the Lord!!

My picture of all the paintings didn't really turn out, but so you can get a little bit of an idea...