Today is Palm Sunday. It always sneaks up on me — I never seem to know when Easter will be. I wish it would stick to a particular day, or even a particular month! Fortunately, Palm Sunday is sort of like that automated phone call you get from the dentist three days before your appointment, except in a more positive way. When you see the kids waving palm branches, you know Easter is only a week away.

Pastor Reg preached today, and he mentioned that Easter, as compared with Christmas, is actually worthy of a lot more celebration, from a theological perspective. Yet most of the time even Christians spend a lot more time fixated on Christmas than we do on Easter. I suppose he’s right — time to break out the Easter lights and hang our Easter Baskets by the chimney with care.

I love the tradition our church has of bringing the kids up on Palm Sunday to sing for the congregation. It is a lot of fun to see each of them waving the palms (or sometimes colored gauze handkerchiefs) at their parents, while their teachers try desperately to arrange them on the risers without any fatalities.

The kids did a great job singing for us. I was sorry they only stayed for one song.

Our church has begun a building campaign to expand the facilities to deal with recent growth in attendance. Although we’ve grown, I didn’t realize how dramatically until today — there must have been 60 or 70 kids up on the stage this morning. Add the thirty-odd volunteers and toddler and nursery-age kids who stayed in their classrooms, and I begin to understand how our church growth is making itself felt not only in terms of how full the sanctuary is.

Being full to the rafters is a good problem, but I can’t help agree with one of our church members, who wished that we could just clap our hands and a new building would be ready. As we embark on a multi-year fund-raising and building plan, I wonder how we’ll deal with the sheer number of adults and kids that fill our church each Sunday, before the new facility is ready.

I suppose we could seat a bunch of folks up on risers, on the stage, if we give ‘em palm branches. I’m sure the pastor wouldn’t find it too distracting, to have people sitting behind him. It will be sort of like having church ‘in the round’.

Project 365, Day 88
Tim

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Kathy is off on a leadership retreat for the home school co-op, and so the kids and I are at loose ends. I checked the movie listings and found that Do You Believe was still showing at our local Regal theater.

So we hopped in the car and caught the early evening showing. I always forget that there is no rush to getting to a movie that plays in the theaters — there must’ve been 20 minutes of previews tacked onto the beginning of the film.

Street preacher who appears briefly at the beginning of Do You Believe

It was a very well-spent $46. I always like to support Christian movies when they are in the theater, even though I’ll probably buy the DVD. If Christians don’t go to see these movies, theaters will stop carrying them. After all, why let even one of 15 theaters sit empty? It just doesn’t make good business sense.

There was a decent crowd for a Christian movie — I’d say there were between 40 and 50 people in the theater. Not bad for a movie that has been out a week or so.

The acting was pretty good, and the plot moved along nicely. It wasn’t too preachy, and the movie connected with me — I teared up several times. I was very glad to have a chance to see it, and I’ll definitely buy it when it comes out on DVD. It has a good chance of appearing on the AWANA prize table, one of these days.

One of the grave markers in the Western State Cemetery.

I was out playing my portal game (Ingress) at lunch time, and I happened across a cemetery for people who died in a nearby mental hospital. There are more than 3000 people buried there, in what looks like a poorly-maintained grassy field. It made me sad, to think of so many people dying, most likely abandoned by family. Some of the grave markers were named, but others were merely a brick with a number.

The Western State Cemetery monument

The human mind is very fragile, and I am sometimes frightened by how narrow the gap is between mental health and a variety of mental illnesses. It reminds me of the Biblical story of Nebuchadnezzar, who went from being on top of the world, to being treated as a madman, in a matter of a few weeks.

Number 818 must have had a name, and I know he or she was deeply loved by God.

I am thankful for my mental health, and I don’t want to take it for granted. I am also glad to be reminded to pray for those who suffer from depression, anxiety and other poorly-defined maladies of the mind.

Project 365, Day 86
Tim

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You really don’t notice how important some things are until you lose them. Yesterday morning, I was all set to leave for the office when I suddenly realized I was missing an important item: my wallet.

I need my wallet. I need my drivers license to legally drive. I need my transit pass to pay for the train and bus fares. I need the comforting feeling of my wallet in my back pocket so I’m not constantly patting my bottom in an awkward way. (I know this may conjure up some unfortunate images, but the truth is, if I don’t have my wallet, I’ll constantly be checking for it.)

I got a new wallet for Christmas — I think it is time to move everything over to the swanky new one.

So I racked my brain for where it could possibly be. I’m a creature of habit — when I come home, I always put my wallet in a certain place, where I’m sure to find it. I never deviate from this pattern.

Well, almost never. It was several hours later when I found my wallet in the jeans I had worn the previous day, in a pile of dirty laundry. Of course, by that time the last train was long gone.

Tonight, Kathy lost her cell phone at AWANA. In spite of my own recent bout with a lost item, I was immediately suspicious. Her phone is having trouble holding a charge these days, and so I figured this was a crafty ploy to get a new phone. It took about fifteen minutes of searching before she found it at church — she had it on vibrate-only, so we couldn’t hear it when we called.

Kathy’s faithful Galaxy S3 keeps chugging along, as long as she constantly charges it.

Losing things is very annoying — keys, wallets, phones — these are often hard to find and very inconvenient to replace. It makes me wonder why my possessions don’t make more of an effort to be found. Indeed, sometimes I think they delight in hiding from me.

Switching gears, it is sobering to think of how many people are ‘lost’ from a spiritual perspective — lost in their sin, doomed to be separated from their God forever. I’m so glad that I am no longer ‘lost’ in that way, but am Found by the Maker of the Universe.

Project 365, Day 84
Tim

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One of the things I love about our church is the way that Baptisms are handled. New believers (and anyone who has never been baptized) are encouraged to make a public profession of faith sooner rather than later, which I find refreshing. Personally, I delayed my baptism until I was nearly 30 years old — there just never seemed to be a good time to do it, and so I never did (until I wanted to be a Deacon in a church that required baptism in their Deacons).

Dave Pritchard had the privilege of baptizing Julia. I love the way that each baptismal candidate gets a chance to tell (or read) their testimony.

Several times a year, a Baptism class is offered, and anyone who goes to the class is then baptized in one of our church services the next weekend. This weekend we have fifteen people being baptized — it is quite a celebration and very exciting to be a part of a vibrant church with a steady flow of new believers.

This soldier was baptized, and then immediately turned around and baptized his son.

I was privileged to witness the baptism of two of my good friends tonight — two girls who I have known for many years. It was very encouraging to watch each of them take this important step in making their salvation their own.

It was very moving to see my nemesis good friend baptizing his little princess bug.

Project 365, Day 80
Tim

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