January 9 – “Blast from the past”

Talk about a blast from the past … we had a surprise visit last night from some friends from another era of our existence.  Yes, they knew us back when there was a nineteen in front of the date.  Yea, even when the second part of said date began with a seven.  That’s right.  By our calculations, we met while we were in seminary back in the late 1970’s.  Chris and I were mere babies at the time, of course.  Well, OK, Kel was the actual baby in our lives, and he now has four children of his own.  Bob and Linda had two little boys, also now married with children.  I remember giving the one of the puppies when one of our stray dogs had a litter.  I think the puppy eventually escaped from their custody, but after spending the evening with Bob, I can see he absolutely loves dogs.  They now live in Taylors, South Carolina.  Their granddaughter, who lives in Katy, Texas, is cheering in a competition over at Moody Gardens.  Hence their appearance in Galveston.  Hey, you just can’t beat a cheap hotel room in Galveston, right?

Bob was a pastor (he just recently retired).  So am I (a pastor, though not yet retired).

Bob has had back surgery and has recently had some further problems.  So have I. 

Bob is extremely claustrophobic when it comes to MRI’s.  So is Chris.

Linda loves to sleep with a fan blowing on her, no matter the season.  Why?  Because she has a constant ringing in her ears.  So does Chris. 

They watched pretty much every Hallmark Channel Christmas special movie presentation.  So did … OK, I admit it.  Chris and I both did. 

The more we talked and got caught up with family news, the more it seemed like we were eerily looking into a mirror.  Linda attributed it to the generation we grew up in.  I’m still not sure.  Maybe there was something in the water we drank back in the 70’s there is Fort Worth.  Was the government undertaking some kind of secret experimentation on an expendable portion of the populace – pastors?  Or perhaps an alien race saw potential in cloning internal characteristics while allowing external features to remain different.  Yeah.  I think that must be it.

We went out to the church to give them the grand tour.  We also intended to eat at Jimmy’s on the Pier, but when we got there we discovered it was closed for remodeling.  McAllister’s Deli won out in the end.  I was supposed to have an initial marriage counseling session last night as well, but they were running late so it was beneficial to all of us to postpone that until another time.  Thank you for that, Cory and Sara.  It’s not often you get a chance to reconnect an almost-40 years ago friendship.

1 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”

Father, thank you for Bob and Linda and our friendship with them.  Keep them safe on their journey back home.  And walk with them through Bob’s back ordeal.  Amen.