July 26 - "A True American Icon"

Yesterday I was among the privileged few granted the once in a lifetime opportunity to be in the presence of a true American icon.  That doesn’t usually happen in Galveston.  At least not any more.  I have read about all the big name stars and political figures who used to come to the island.  I understand it was Clara Barton who suggested the “half” streets here.  The Balinese room brought a lot of famous entertainers: Frank Sinatra, Spike Jones, Vaughn Monroe, Duke Ellington, Edgar Bergen and Alice Faye.  I’ve heard of three of those.  I guess the others are just as famous, just not in my circles.  I just looked up some of the famous people who were born here.  Gail Borden.  Yep, the milk guy.  Jack Johnson.  That’s the boxer.  King Vidor.  He was a movie director from long ago.  Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan.  That’s a fun one to have in our legacy.  Casey Hampton.  Gotta have at least one pro football player.  Brandon Backe.  That would be a pro baseball player.  There have been a few of those, including two guys I went to high school with, Adrian Devine and Bo Quiroga.  Kay Bailey Hutchison.  That would be our politician.  Liana Liberato.  She is a little girl actress who actually used to come to Seaside.  I think there were a few presidents who came through back when Galveston was the big time place to be in Texas.  Not that it’s no longer the place to be.  Oh, and I remember going to a local sporting goods store when I was a kid and meeting Lefty Gomez, the New York Yankees pitching star from the olden days.  I even got him to sign a baseball card I had of him.  Still have it. 

So the superstar I met yesterday is in some amazing company.  He ranks, in fact, right up there with the lady I met the other day at the library.  Now she was a real superstar.  Mother Goose.  Have I kept you in suspense long enough?  Here it comes.  The star of children’s public television the world over … Big Bird.

Psalms 18:25-27 says, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.  You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”

Father, I guess from those verses it’s a big deal to ask you to show yourself, but could you do it in spite of us?  Amen.