May 26 – “The Real Stan the Man”

I had a great surprise Sunday morning.  First of all it was great to be back at Seaside after our vacation.  Jimmy Stone did his usual great job of filling in for me.  But the surprise was that Christina, Micah, Josiah, and Noa came to Seaside.  They joined the 50 or 60 others in the Memorial Day weekend crowd.  And they came over for lunch after the service, so we got to spend some time with them.  And they brought the lunch.  Can’t beat that.  It was Kel’s week off from his church, and he and Jachin had tickets to the Houston version of Comic Con.  I think they were waiting in line to see Lando Calrission from Star Wars.  Kel had already been the day before with Micah.  They got to see Agent Coulson from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.  And at some point Kel posted that he was shaking hands with, in his words, “Stan the Man.”  I think he was a little confused.  I know he wasn’t referring to my little brother.  This Stan Lee guy he was greeting was an interloper of that particular title.  The real “Stan the Man” Musial died early last year.  One of the best professional baseball players ever.  Never be another quite like him.  Maybe they can come up with another moniker for the comic book guy.  In fact, how about that one: “Stan the Comic Book Guy.” 

It was most assuredly a gorgeous day in Galveston.  Weather was perfect.  Problem was, somebody must have told Houston.  The beaches were so crowded you could barely turn around.  Not that I went to the beach, of course.  I went home after church.  Not interested in fighting holiday crowds around here.  I really did want to go fishing, though.  But wade fishing was out of the question.  The beaches are solid with seaweed right now.  And not just the stinking, brown, rotting on the sand, three feet deep kind.  Fresh stuff is washing up all the time.  Looks like islands of the gunk are floating around.  Oh, that means there are plenty of fish out there, all right.  Lots of bait exists under those patches of grass.  But getting a hook under there is very difficult, if not impossible.  So, sadly, I chose to wait it out and enjoy the gorgeous day from my living room couch. 

Well, our flag is up to honor the servicemen today.  And we do plan to cook some burgers for the family.  That is if they can get here through the sea of tourists. 

Psalms 22:27-28 says, “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.”

Father, on this day of remembering, help us to remember as well to turn to you and bow before you.  Amen.