July 20 – “A ferry wonderful wedding”

I had a wedding over in Crystal Beach this weekend.  And of course that meant crossing the ferry.  Always a wonderful experience, especially in the peak of the summer tourist season.  Now we were scheduled for a quick run-through on Friday afternoon.  The bride sent me the address, so I started out not long after lunch.  The line for the ferry was actually not that long.  Of course that was probably because it had been pouring down rain all day.  It was still sprinkling a little bit, but not all that bad.  I made it across with no real problems and followed my map ap to the address.  But when I arrived, I realized there were no address markers on the houses.  No problem.  I just sent a quick text to the bride letting her know I had arrived but wasn’t sure which house to go to.  Almost immediately after I pushed send, my phone started to ring.  It was her.  Seems that their rental agent had called them to inform them of some bad news.  The house they had rented for the wedding, and for the entire week after, had a problem.  The air conditioning had gone out and had no prospects of being repaired for at least a week.  Many apologies followed, and they finally offered a replacement home.  The couple had driven all the way from Oklahoma, so they really had little choice.  They reluctantly agreed to have a look at what there was to offer. 

At this point in the story I was already shaking my head, hoping they hadn’t been scammed in some way.  As it turned out, though, the replacement house was a brand new build in a gated community right on the beach.  It was beautiful.  So much so that they changed their plans about being married on the beach and instead just set up in the yard.  Of course it threw them several hours behind their schedule, and the bride forgot to call and tell me.  She was in Galveston with her fiancée picking up the wedding cake and some tables.  She told me the new address, but it would still be several hours before they would have access.  I decided to drive by anyway just to see where it was, and we agreed to touch base a little early the next day.  So I hit the ferry again.  I was planning to do a few crossword puzzles for the 20 minute ride, but the allure of watching kids see dolphins for the first time was just too much.

The wedding day was gorgeous.  Partly cloudy, so the sun wasn’t too bad.  Of course that meant the tourist were back – with a vengeance.  The plan was for me to be there around 5:30, so I left the house at 4:00.  Surely that would give me enough time.  Well … no.  I sat in the ferry line for a little over an hour.  It wasn’t too bad, though.  Chris and texted the whole time.  I sent her updates on my position, and she sent me words of encouragement about how much closer I was getting.  Hey, it doesn’t take much to entertain us.  What can I say?  When I finally boarded, I breathed a sigh of relief.  But that didn’t last long.  The sun came out and I was located right in the direct line of fire so to speak.  It got hot fast.  I went upstairs into the air conditioned waiting area for a while, but that got boring fast.  I decided to rough it out back down on deck where I could at least see the dolphins.  About halfway across the channel I noticed something unusual.  The ferry was slowing down.  Markedly.  Now I have been on that thing many times, so I assumed we were slowing to veer around an oncoming ship.  Well, I was right about the oncoming ship.  Tokyo Marine.  But I was wrong about the veer.  We were stopped, dead in the water.  Like we were at a red light.  I have never seen that happen before.  We stayed that way for a long several minutes, until old Tokyo made its way past.  Finally the engines started back up and we were off again.  By this time it was already past 5:30, so I texted the bride to let her know I was on the ferry and on my way. 

The wedding itself went fine.  They had done a great job decorating the yard, and I hurriedly gave the few instructions for the bride’s dad and the ones with the rings.  And we began.  Aside from it being really hot by this time, and hence everyone was sweating a lot, the whole group was very laid-back and ready to have a good time.  The bride and groom felt free to talk to each other and the guests … during the ceremony.  I guess my ceremony fit the atmosphere pretty well, because I was getting lots of feedback through the whole thing.  My favorite part of the whole thing came when I was explaining how to begin a relationship with Jesus.  I said, “You begin it the same way these two began their relationship …”  At that point I paused for a second to catch my breath and transition to the next statement.  But I guess my second took too long.  The groom spoke out an answer of his own, “Facebook.”  Not everyone heard it, but those who did started snickering, so I went with it.  No sense depriving everyone else of something that was really funny.  I continued, “Right.  Facebook.  Which eventually led to actually talking.”  When the laughter subsided, I continued on about praying just being talking to Jesus.  I may use that in future weddings. 

The trip home was relatively uneventful.  Another long wait in line, but at least I could listen to the Astros game on the radio.  Just before we boarded, a blackbird hopped up onto the hood of the car.  Caught my attention right away.  He slowly made his way all the way to the windshield, peering at me, then investigating the nooks and crannies between the glass and the wipers.  He found a leaf to play with at one point.  Even made his way around to sit on my rearview mirror.  I took a few pictures to prove to Chris I had a “Waiting Buddy.”  The crazy thing didn’t move until I had to speed up to get on board.  And then it was more of a slow slide up the windshield and over the roof.  I saw him walk away, so he didn’t get crushed by the car behind me or anything.  I don’t know.  Maybe he was feeling a bit abandoned.  Ah, well.  There were a few hundred other cars behind me, so it shouldn’t take him long to find another crony.

Matthew 6:26-27 says, “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”

Father, draw that new couple close to you as they discover your love for them that surpasses that of your care for the birds.  Amen.