A Palm Sunday Many Years Ago

Tonight, Bethany pointed out that tomorrow is Palm Sunday. This reminds me of an event many years ago. The church I grew up in gave out palm crosses to the children on Palm Sunday. Somewhere along the line, my friend Jamie and I got the idea that we were supposed to burn the palm crosses 40 days after Easter. We weren't sure of the religious significance of this, and to be honest I'm now sure there was no religious significance. It is a dangerous thing to tell a couple of pre-teens that it is their religious duty to start burning things. We put the palm crosses on a foil pie plate in the sink (which I think was what saved the house from the coming conflagration). In an excess of religious zeal we sprayed Lysol on the crosses until they were sitting in a puddle of flammable liquid. One match was all it took. The flames leaped higher than the top of the sink. When things started to get out of control we turned on the tap. If we had been showing our devotion in the living room the results would have been disasterous. Yes, we were a couple of pyros, but at that age I guess most of us were.