My dear Readers…I hope you had a wonderful week and great Easter Week-end.
Right now, it is First Light…The Day after….Quiet…my private time.
Today, I just want to sit back…sip my cup of tea and reflect on last week before moving on to the hustle and bustle of April.
Please, come sit with me and let’s talk and discuss, because a lot has happened in just one short week.
I just happen to have a couple of ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls left over from yesterday and when I warm them in the microwave, they will taste like they just came out of the oven.
Trust me.
My hips know of which I speak. 🙂
So let me introduce you to this past week.
The week started with lots of anticipation….you know the kind of anticipation one has as a child looking forward to the Easter Bunny or Christmas?
College Basketball
First up was the college basketball win against Duke that assured my Jayhawks of playing on the last day of the month of March… in the Final Four Game of the NCAA Championship!
As I have previously posted, the Kansas Jayhawks were the underdog, dismissed by the analysts and with each round of games, we surprised everyone (except our Jayhawk fans) by continuing to win each round against such great teams as Pennsylvania, Seaton Hall, Clemson, and finally Duke. The thrill of victory was sweet and a great hold-over until we had only two games to go.
Holy Week
Second up was …because it was Holy Week…a Wednesday evening service teaching the meanings of each course of the “Passover meal” or the “Seder Meal” as it is called.
Even though we are not Jewish, I had read many times of this meal in the Bible, it wasn’t until our Pastors (Pastor Keith and Pastor Arlin) explained the exact meaning of each course, right down to the finest detail of this Seder Meal, that I saw the significance of each particular course.
The chart below identifies each course. If you have never studied this, please take the time as it is very interesting.
Good Friday
Thirdly, was the Good Friday Service at the Yacht Club Shelter house right on the beach. It starts with a Potluck followed by our Pastor baptizing any who would like to be baptized in the Gulf of Mexico. This is an annual event for our church and it always includes the baptisms of about 20 people…and this year it included the Captain. Actually, the water is the Caloosahatchee River that flows into the Gulf of Mexico…but who is measuring?
This was such a wonderful experience that started in the early afternoon if one wanted to spend the day at the beach…. the potluck at 5 p.m. and the baptisms at 6-ish. The beautiful weather of SW Florida was perfect.
The Captain had given his life to the Lord many years ago and the church he attended at that time, only did the “sprinkle” as we have come to call it.
One evening, last week…the Captain said to me...”I am going to get baptized again, …this time fully immersed, ….on Good Friday”. He (in Maroon T-Shirt that says Fly-Utah) is in the above picture with our Pastor (in black T-shirt).
John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” and Matthew 28: 18-20 says: A person who loves Jesus and accepts Him as his or her Savior, will want to follow Him in baptism.
The Captain is smiling as he is now holding the Cross that is in the water, ….as Pastor Keith prepares to baptize another gentleman (in red tank top). Pastor’s wife Cindi (in purple) is watching on as are others.
Baptism is important, because it is a public declaration that we have accepted Jesus and are turning our back on the old life of sin and are now trusting Jesus to live a new life as a Christian. When we are placed under the water and raised back out of it, we are symbolically stating that we have died to sin, that our old life of sin has been buried, and that we have been raised to new life in Jesus—just as He died for our sins, was buried, and was raised to life again.
The sun started to set and I was reluctant to leave the beach….as were a few others.
Final Four Game And Truck Trouble
Saturday, I tried to keep busy so as to not worry or stew about the upcoming, very important basketball game for Kansas University.
I did laundry, planned our Easter Dinner and made 49 home made cinnamon rolls for our Sunday School class, knowing that I would not have time to let dough rise, etc early Sunday morning as the church service we attend is at 8:15 a.m. and our Sunday School/Adult Bible study, is at 9:30. I would save the frosting of the cinnamon rolls for Sunday before church.
In the middle of the afternoon, The Captain informed me that his pick-up truck decided to “rest” for the day. Luckily, I had my car out and about…so he called the tow truck to take it to the dealer (after determining it was most likely the alternator)….and I transported my stranded honey back home.
Actually, I was glad for the distraction from thinking about the Final two teams playing to determine the Champions of the Basketball Season.
The time for our game was late…8:40 p.m. I knew it was going to be a long evening!
By the time the Jayhawks came running onto the basketball court, I had my Jayhawk jersey on, a bowl of popcorn by my side and a positive frame of mind that they could win this game over Villanova.
The first two points on the board were Jayhawk points tossed in an easy lay-up.
And then Villanova started knocking down 3 point plays from almost half court and it seemed the Jayhawks were not going to be able to come back.
Kansas was off to a slow start and they could never quite catch up.
At half time, the Villanova coach was interviewed and he was asked how his team could make so many threes that they had already set tournament records and there was another 20 minute half to play.
Their coach, Jay Wright responded that this was highly unusual for his team and for 7 players to make all those three pointers. He commented that the second half would be different as he knew his team could not keep that up.
But they did keep it up. A sports analyst said after the game that he didn’t think a professional NBA team could have beaten Villanova on Saturday night.
One thing I have noticed in almost every basketball game the Jayhawks play…they bring out the best in the opposing teams. The Jayhawks bring out record setting performances and announcers comment that so and so has made only 6 points all season, but tonight they made 20 points.
Even though it was a disappointing loss…KU had an amazing season beating teams that played amazingly well. Kudos to Villanova and good luck in the match-up Monday night with Michigan.
And Rock Chalk Jayhawks…we love you and as we say good-bye to our basketball season, we finished on a high. I am so proud of this team.
Easter
And then Sunday…Easter Sunday or as we like to call it…Resurrection Sunday!
We started with a beautiful day and ended it with a delicious Ham Dinner….and a couple left over cinnamon rolls.
Sigh!
I say good-bye to a very busy week.
Tell me about your week or week-end…was it relaxed or a bit like mine?
Could you taste the warm cinnamon rolls, oozing with icing?
Hugs and Blessings.
Kari, what a beautiful sight to see your captain immersed. You described baptism for the believer perfectly! I think I commented last week when you talked about the Seder meal. I experienced it several years ago as a Messianic Jew shared the celebration and meaning of each course at our church! The cinnamon rolls look scrumptious, how I would enjoy one or more likely two! Have a joy-filled week!
Thank you Pam….the week was perfect as well as interesting….a great start to April. Thanks for stopping by.
This lovely message came in an email from DeeDee…
Love your blogs and could almost taste those rolls. And of course calorie free.!!!! I was eating apple and enjoying a sprite zero while reading. Put up most of my Easter things and getting out my spring decor
Keep on writing 😄
Dee
Yes you was busy, but left out another important item!!
ROYALS OPENING DAY💙💙💙
Lol😘😘
LOL!!! And you are right…I forgot to mention the KC Royals opening day of baseball….#Go Royals and I am #Forever Royal!!! I hope Salvy Perez heals quickly because we sure miss him in the catcher position…altho Drew Butera is doing ok. Thanks for stopping by Sis…..luv it when you leave comments.