December 5 – “Where are we?”

Happy birthday today to our oldest grandson, Jachin.  He’s turning 12 years old.  Ah, the teen years are virtually upon his Mom and Dad now.  Enjoy.

I received an interesting recorded message on my phone yesterday.  It was from Comcast verifying the installation we have scheduled at the church on Monday.  At least I think it’s at the church.  The recording cited our address as: “16534 Termini San Luis Pass Road 3005.”  Okay, all was fine up to that point.  The road the church is on goes by all of those names.  But then it continued with what I expected would be the state and maybe the zip code.  How’s this for the unexpected?  “Federated States of Micronesia.”  Um.  We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”  Maybe we don’t have an installation scheduled after all.

Speaking of phone calls, I suddenly received two FaceBook messages last night dated from August and September.  Intrigued, I read through them.  They were from the guy who bought my Uncle Jerry’s house.  The first one indicated that his landscapers found some concrete with tiny footprints in it.  He wanted to know if anyone in the family wanted them.  The second, a month later, said since he hadn’t heard anything he would just dispose of them.  His FaceBook info that accompanied the message said he was the fire chief at the Bedford Fire Department, so I replied with a thank you and let him know I doubled as Jerry’s nephew and FD chaplain here in Galveston.  Always good to find another in the fire service family.

And speaking of the fire service family, I met the crew of engine one over at the church that burned the other day.  They delivered five or six huge bags of toys to the church to replace the donations they had been collecting for the Galveston Urban Ministries.  Now the church can still be involved in the joy of giving, even in the midst of tragedy.  While there we met the sister of the lady who lives across the street from the church who was apparently one of the ones who called it in.  She told us that the Galveston Fire Department crews were there on site and actively fighting the fire within 4 to 6 minutes after the call.  She was quite impressed.  So am I.  So am I.

James 5:16 says, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Father, thank you for the connection with the Bedford fire chief.  Keep his crews safe and healthy.  And thank you again for the real heart shown by our GFD guys.  Amen.