Last week, a Jewish friend that considers me the source of all information related to Christians called me to find out the date for Easter this year. I was a little embarrassed for not knowing the exact date, but said “I think it is probably another month or so away.”

Since living in Israel means following the Jewish calendar more closely than I would anywhere else in the world, I have become more committed to celebrating the resurrection in relation to Passover, rather than as it is scheduled according to the Gregorian calendar.

Knowing that Passover was still a month away, I naturally thought of the resurrection as being a month away because, as another friend likes to say when talking about the differences between the Gregorian calendar and the Jewish calendar: “He has to be crucified before he can be resurrected, and he was crucified at Passover.”

I advised my friend that Google would be a good source for questions such as this, and while we were talking, I Googled the date of Easter and was shocked to find out that not only was it not a month away, it wasn’t even a week away. I was more embarrassed than in the beginning and tried to explain why it had “snuck up” on me. He was sympathetic and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep this between us.” I laughed and said, “Hey, he has to be crucified before he can be resurrected.”

Please don’t understand my oversight as a lack of interest in the resurrection of Jesus. I’m definitely with the Apostle Paul who said that if Jesus wasn’t resurrected, our faith is in vain and we are still in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:18).

For those who celebrated the resurrection today, I hope that your faith was strengthened by the truth of his resurrection and the hope that we have because he was resurrected.

Because He lives,
Craig

Since we wrote about the things that we’ve found in our yard that had been dropped from the floors above us, many more things have arrived. Things like carpets, patio umbrellas, shoes, lots more trash – things too disgusting to detail – and assorted kids toys.

While all these things are a nuisance, none of them are as disturbing as what came falling down today: a 25″x12″, 20+ pound limestone tile. It fell from the 18th floor, which translates to something around 120 feet.

On a couple of occasions, I have wondered if these siding tiles ever fall off, and what would happen if they did. Now, I know the answer to both questions: Yes, they do; and they shatter on impact.

Thankfully, no one was in the yard at the time. Now, I wonder if we should allow Grace to play out there.

In the photo, the red circle indicates the location on floor 18 from where the tile fell. The inset photo is the result of that tile’s fall.

Please disregard the dead appearance of the grass around the tile on the ground. At the end of last year’s growing season we were invaded by army worms, which ate all the grass leaves. I was finally able to get rid of them, but not before they destroyed much of my yard. (But, that’s stuff for another post.)