Not Forgotten!

Today is Palm Sunday. You can't miss it in Manila. As we drove to church this morning, myriads of people carried leaves from coconut trees that had been trimmed and creatively formed into a decorative palm leaf as a memorial to Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem two thousand years ago.....

I know that true worship is not tied to tradition, but tradition does play a part in every culture, and in Christianity as well. This morning, after our church service was over, I was disappointed that not only were the traditional Palm Sunday hymns not sung, but Palm Sunday was not even mentioned during the message.

Later in the day, my face brightened as I saw a post from a friend quoting words to a Palm Sunday hymn. There's more!

God was not about to allow this day to go unnoticed! I have been convicted lately that I should be shutting off the tv. This evening, after watching for a little while, I did shut it off, and placed my ipod in the dock to listen to a message from John Piper. I have been listening periodically for the last two plus years to his series of 220 messages that he gave at his church in Minnesota on the book of Romans. I listened to two of them yesterday, so today I was on #192. We were in Romans 12. The passage for the day was read, and John Piper began his prayer with words to a hymn they had sung that morning: "Hallelujah, What a Savior, Hallelujah, what a friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end." Then he continued: "On this Palm Sunday......"

Do you realize what just happened? This part of the series was taped in 2006 or 2007. In 2010, the Lord knew the heart's desire of His child, and gave me a Palm Sunday hymn! ...On Palm Sunday! From a message that was on Palm Sunday several years ago! I just "happened" to be on #192 today! HE IS SO AMAZING!