February 20 – “A new fire station”

I went to the grand opening of Galveston Fire Station Number Four yesterday.  It’s the one that is responsible for protecting my house.  Seemed appropriate that I should at least show my support.  The old station located at the airport was destroyed by Hurricane Ike, and they have been operating out of a doublewide trailer since then.  Good thing we haven’t had another hurricane.  No way that thing would have survived.  Actually, they haven’t officially started using it yet.  There are still some final touches the builders have to put on it.  It is pretty impressive, though.  Individual rooms for the fire fighters instead of big bunk areas.  A very cool red slide to get from the living areas to the trucks quickly.  A gorgeous wrap around balcony.  Big kitchen.  Big TV.  I guess there are fire trucks and minor stuff like that to go in it, too, but they weren’t in there yesterday.

The ceremony was about what I expected for something like that.  Except maybe I would have oriented it the opposite direction.  The setting sun gave us spectators fits with glare, and I’m sure it affected the pictures people were taking.  They gave plaques to key people who participated in the building process.  They also recognized all the bigwigs who showed up.  Representatives from fire departments around the area were there.  I noticed trucks from Hitchcock and Texas City.  The Galveston city manager very quietly snuck in and stood next to me.  Michael has come to Seaside a time or two.  His incognito status didn’t last long, though.  Someone saw him, and he had to go pose for the ribbon cutting and all the photo ops at the end.  He also did a pretty good job shaking hands all around.  He’s a really nice guy.  I saw just a few other people I knew.  One was a fire fighter who has been to the house with Nathan.  He was taking pictures for his father’s online newspaper.  He thought I was someone else when I shook hands with him.  I corrected him, and he said, “You look just like that other guy, but you’re a lot more fun than he is.”  How’s that for a save?  I might use that one sometime.  The other guy I saw was a friend I knew from First Baptist Church.  Greg is big into Kiwanis and doing things for the community, so I wasn’t too surprised to see him there.  The one thing that kind of surprised me, though, was the absence of very many children.  I know it started right at three, but I thought some would make it over when school let out.  Maybe more got there after I left.  Hope so.  I’d hate for the cookies made in the shapes of fire hydrants and fire helmets to go to waste.

Psalms 4:8 says, “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”

Father, thank you for your protection.  Take care of the Galveston fire fighters as they do what they can to extend your protection in practical terms.  Amen.