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church cartoons Easter holiday

No Easter Egg-stravaganza here

Cartoon of a pastor and a boy with an Easter egg basket. The Pastor says, "Eggstravaganza was yesterday. There's no Easter eggs up here."
Judging by this cartoon, perhaps I have Egg-stravaganza PTSD. I have been through my fair share of Easter egg hunting events. It can take over a church before you know it.

In fact, if the egg hunt was inside, the pulpit would undoubtedly be used as a hiding spot. I am guessing the pastor knows that is the case and he his hiding the really good chocolate, peanut butter eggs inside the pulpit. I know that is where my grandfather hid the really good treats from his grandkids. 

I drew this cartoon for the Church of God ENewsletter.

 

Categories
Easter holiday

Easter Egg Quota

Cartoon of a boy and girl with Easter egg baskets. The boy says, "It was a great Easter egg hunt, but it fell short of my quota."Easter egg hunts are great lessons on survival of the fittest. Young kids learn right away that the big, older kids will take no prisoners, but they will take all of the Easter eggs. Parents scope out the competition and will plot, block and intimidate the older kids while their little one tries to discern an Easter egg from a twig.

Meanwhile, the older kids begin trash talking their peers about their lack of egg-grabbing ability. the avarice and cutthroat competition is on display for everyone to see. It’s an example of what happens when you commercialize a religious holiday. So if you’re conducting an Easter egg Egg-stravaganza this week, be sure to find some ways to even the playing field and minimize the competition between the preschoolers and the preteens. Sure, maybe everyone won’t get their quota, but their may be fewer broken hearts and empty plastic Easter eggs.

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children's ministry cartoons Easter holiday Kidzmatter Magazine Magazine

West Palm, Spring Break, and Palm Sunday

Cartoon of two children with palm branches
Last month, I got to spend spring break in Florida with my wife and daughter. Each time I’ve gone down for spring break, palm branches would be on my mind. For a kid from Indiana, they are exotic. But in Florida, they are as common as Indiana maple leaves. 

When something is common to us, it loses its meaning. To the disciples, that Sunday when Jesus entered Jerusalem could have been just another amazing day with their teacher. They had three years of amazing days. It may have felt common. But soon, they would realize how amazing that event was. In less than a week, the crowd would turn on the one they praised with “Hosannas.”

I drew this in 2010 for Kidzmatter Magazine. 

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Easter holiday sketch diary

It’s Saturday, and Palm Sunday is Coming!

Boy holding palm branch. The text reads, "Palm Sunday is Coming!"
Copyright 2017, Kevin H. Spear

Tomorrow will be a day that makes full use of the palm branch industry across the country. Many churches will have kids marching into big church with palm branches held high.

I love Palm Sunday because it is a time of celebration before the drama of Passion Week. We go from the high of Palm Sunday to the low of Good Friday, and back to the high of Easter Sunday. Life is that way. We have highs and lows. Sometimes there are in the course of a day. Take time to celebrate the high points in your life. And when the low points come, remember that things are cyclical. Eventually, a high point will come again. 

I drew this in the Adobe Illustrator Draw app. It was a quick sketch on my iPhone. 

Categories
motivation sketch journal

Sketch: Taking the Bad Days with the Good

Sketch of a windy, cold day on April 6, 2017
Copyright 2017 Kevin Spear

Today was a day filled with blustery wind, ominous clouds, and spitting rain. Really! The rain felt like the world was spitting on me. I know a little about that. I went to middle school after all!

There are days that just seem they weren’t made for anyone. Then there are days that feel they were custom made for just me. We can persevere when we remember both kinds of days are coming. 

On this cold, windy day, I discovered how nice it was to sketch in the iPad Moleskine app. A miserable weather day became a nice discovery day. Now that’s a way to turn lemons into lemonade!