A delightful Easter weekend started with an early coffee at Panera where I wrote another chapter in a new Christmas story. And then the day involved three major projects – the application of our first lawn care “stuff,” connecting the garden hoses and giving the lawn its first thorough watering of the year, and completing April's “When Swing Was King” presentation.. Oh yes, we also sent out to our mailing list of 340 our first Top 5. And one more significant item from Saturday – a neighbor’s son was back in town and I crossed the street to visit with him awhile and, thank the Lord, He created an excellent springboard for me to explain to the young man a bit of my conversion story.
Easter Sunday was also a wonderful, memorable day. Because of family get-togethers, it was just Claire and me to handle the Aksarben Village Senior Living Church service but we managed just fine. And in the distribution of the food and drinks afterwards, we had the help of Cyrstal, one of the resident's assistants. Anyhow, it was a fabulous afternoon. The music videos were inspiring to the max: the elegant Gracias Choir and Orchestra from South Korea doing “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today,” Don Francisco performing a very moving rendition of his classic “He’s Alive,” and Guy Penrod blessing us with “Because He Lives.” My brief sermon covered the last verses of Luke 23 and the first ones of Luke 24 dealing with Joseph of Arimathea’s brave act of asking Pilate for permission to care for and bury the body of Jesus and then the unbelievable surprise of the women who came to further anoint Jesus’ body with fragrant oils and spices. But, of course, they are met with an empty tomb. Thus the title of my sermon was “Ladies, You Ain’t Gonna’ Need Those Spices!”
Our fellowship time afterward was especially sweet with Carolyn and Carmen back and Harry recovering from his pacemaker procedure. We served hot cross buns as a special treat for our visiting as well as having baggies with other Easter-themed goodies to take back to their rooms: pretzels, chocolate eggs, and jellybeans. And another really heartwarming element of our fellowship was listening to their responses to the individual prayer letters we had sent each one earlier in the week. We always have such a super time with these dear friends, but being honored to celebrate Resurrection Day with them was a particularly blessing.
Finally, Easter Sunday closed with Claire’s preparation of a delicious Paleo dinner with pork, gravy, and roasted vegetables. After that, we had a visit from Jacob and Olena who brought over fresh, festive, and delectable Ukrainian Easter desserts that she and her sister Olga had prepared. And can we testify to their taste? Yes...because we cheated and enjoyed them thoroughly! It was a super Easter weekend that we will long cherish.
