Good day dear friends.
I don't know if we can attribute this to March Madness or simply keeping Austin Weird, but it was on Saturday we were at Austin's Barton Creek Mall. Our son-in-law, Eric, is a police officer in that sector of town. We were making our way to the mall entrance to Sears (it's part of our ritual walk that takes us to Sears' yummy flat screen tv display), and I notice that there is what appears to be a tall, slender, homeless man, walking in the Sears entrance wearing only his tidy whiteys. As I approach I notice he is wearing pants, but they're around his ankles. It was then I notice that there was a display of what may have been Sears credit card applications thrown all around the floor and there were two mall security officers motioning all who approached to go through their upstairs entrance. Our daughter Carli calls Eric to see if he is the officer that certainly has to be on the way. Eric responds that there is a call from the mall but that another officer was responding to that call. But being a cop he wants Carli to give him full details of the situation. Carli covered the phone and said, "He's in Cop Mode!" We laughed because we know the Cop Mode. Eric is a happy-go-lucky guy when he's not in his uniform and on duty. The first time I rode along with Eric it was in Galveston when he was on duty and I was surprised and amazed, and yes, impressed with the Eric I was riding with! Back to the situation. We stayed for a bit longer than I think the mall cops wanted and the Austin police did arrive soon there after, but we were being strongly encouraged to enter Sears from upstairs. We moved upstairs. From there we could sit see the situation. What makes this even stranger was that as I looked to see who had moved upstairs to continue viewing the situation, there was, I kid you not, a man with a Santa cap looking down. I pointed that out to my family and as I turned my gaze towards Sears, the Easter Bunny came walking out of Sears. Yes, the costumed guy who poses with kids for their Easter pictures came walking out and I remembered I was in Austin!
Yesterday was Palm Sunday and we were so blessed to have such a great group of kids participating in the procession of palms. So many kids waving their palm branches and a time for reflecting on what God did through Jesus during this week. Yesterday's entrance was a culmination of all the events in which the rumored rabbi made his way into Jerusalem putting a face on the one who had done so many unexplainable things. The sadness coming in knowing that most of the ones who shouted Hosanna on Friday cheered for Jesus' death. The one question I had to posed to the congregation at 11 was: If a parade were held in your honor, how many people would line for you? How many people have you touched during your life for the benefit of their faith?
I also announced to all three services that Nellie and I are leaving San Marcos. I will be the senior pastor at First UMC in Harlingen, Texas. We have mixed feelings as we leave our grandbaby behind. We would appreciate your prayers during this time of transition. We also ask prayers for the new pastor who will be named publicly soon.
