Tag: Palm Sunday

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Attitude growth

Why I Am Grateful to Be Alive

1965 Elkhart Double Tornado-Palm Sunday.

Every April 11 reminds me why I am grateful to be alive. It was sixty years ago, on April 11, 1965, when disaster struck. The day was a balmy Palm Sunday in Indiana. My mother was five months pregnant with me. Even though it was stormy, it was evening, and they were getting ready to go to church.

My grandparents lived about five miles southwest of my parents. My Uncle Preston was with them. As they were chatting, they suddenly felt things go deathly quiet. Uncle Preston rushed out to the mailbox. To the northwest, he saw the tornado. He ran back in and told everyone to get in the coal bin. He rushed to the phone to call my dad.

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Adobe Illustrator children cartoons holiday single panel cartoon webcomic

Palm Sunday Cartoon

Happy Palm Sunday! It will be an exciting time in many churches and children’s ministries today. The palm branches will be flying in many church services. It can be a confusing time for the kids and since the event happens so close to spring break, I had to draw this Palm Sunday cartoon!

Palm Sunday Spring Break cartoon. A boy says, "I thought Palm Sunday was when everyone went to Florida for spring break."

For those who don’t know what Palm Sunday is, here’s an explanation. The story is found in all four of the Gospels.

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church cartoons Easter holiday

A Very Different Palm Sunday

Cartoon of two children with palm branches

It’s Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week for Christians across the world. It is a very different Palm Sunday for almost everyone. Frequently, our day would start out with wrangling kids, passing out palm branches and marching them into the sanctuary with a triumphant flair.

Palm Sunday reminds me of what a difference a week makes. Jesus goes from riding into Jerusalem triumphantly as the crowd shouts “Hosanna! which means save now! They are expecting a king which will abolish Roman tyranny and establish a new kingdom.

By the next Sunday, Jesus had been arrested, convicted, crucified, died, and resurrected from the grave. No wonder the disciples’ heads were spinning! A lot can happen in a week.

This Palm Sunday, there won’t be spring breakers going to Florida. There won’t be churches with boys and girls bugging each other with palm branches. What there will be are faithful people gathering together around a computer or television to worship. We will remind each other that things can look bleak, then turn in an instant. We will encourage each other with the hope that things are rarely what they appear and they will be better someday.

We will also implore God to Hosanna!: Save now!

Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

Psalm 118:25-26 King James Version (KJV)
Cartoon of two children with palm branches
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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.