February 2 – “Galveston Gertie”

As foggy as it has been here in Galveston, I don’t think any groundhog on the Island would even know for sure if it’s morning or night.  But since there aren’t any groundhogs on the Island, I’m pretty sure we gauge our winters by what Galveston Gertie, the infamous Island sand crab, sees when she peeks out of her hole.  So much for seeing a shadow here, though.  And that’s a good thing, isn’t it?  Nothing to scare her back into her hole in the ground, so she can come on out and bask in the sunshine on the beach, occasionally dodging the brave tourist here for Mardi Gras.  And I, for one, am just about ready for some Galveston-type weather.

Yesterday was a full one for me.  I only had three appointments for the day, but they ended up lasting until seven o’clock last night.  And in between time I was getting text updates from the hospital.  One of our folks had a family member in the ER.  He came through everything fine, though.  Thanks again to Cory for being there as a voice of calm for the family. 

The first appointment was to meet the fire extinguisher certifier guy (I have no idea what they are actually called).  He was supposed to inspect our extinguishers in the worship center which haven’t been looked at since sometime in 2010.  I waited 15 minutes past the scheduled appointment time before I called the office.  Sure enough, they didn’t have any record that they had even talked to me.  They promised to send someone out with thirty minutes. 

All the units still read that they are charged (barely), but he highly recommended getting some new ones.  Seems getting ours serviced would cost almost as much as buying some brand new ones, so we are going with the new ones.  I asked him to walk through our retreat center as well and tell me how many we needed to add up there.  That building has a sprinkler system, but it has always seemed like something is missing without a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall.  He’s returning Friday with replacements for downstairs and enough new ones to cover upstairs as well. 

The second appointment was with the bug guy.  We had to have both church buildings exterminated in preparation for the Spring critter season here in Galveston.  No problems there.  Always fun to walk around with Mayor Steve and hear his stories.

The last appointment was with Wes.  We went up into Texas to Fry’s Electronics to buy a new projector for the worship center.  I think we got a pretty good replacement for a good enough price.  Now if Wes and Jim can get the thing mounted before Sunday we should be in great shape.

1 John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

Father, thank you for being the Master of the Weather.  I sure prefer trusting the future to you rather than a groundhog – or even a sand crab.  Amen.