Wednesday, June 8, 2016

June 8 – “A New Vaughan Whippersnapper, a GFD Padawan, and a little baseball”

Day two of our 41st anniversary year was  almost as full as the actual day, and we still didn’t get around to the anniversary meal Chris had planned to prepare for us.  Chris spent the morning (and a little into the afternoon) up in Texas, babysitting the LaMarque cousin bunch while Mommy went for a doctor’s appointment.  They came out with a photo of a cute little whippersnapper who has taken up residence in the womb.  Kel insisted that he could see evidence of another boy, but the technician assured him that it was just too soon to tell one way or the other. 

Since Chris was off in Texas, I went to water exercise first, then worked on the sermon for a while.  Next I decided to make a few rounds at fire stations.  Well, after I got my hair cut.  And tried to get the new prescription filled from the doc (hadn’t been called in yet).  And tried to get some more hearing aid batteries (they were closed for the day).  I finally made my way to station two to check in on the new recruit who got his picture in the paper.  Front page, no less.  Pictures of a few of the other guys were also in the article, but they didn’t show up until the “continued on page six” section.  Now fire department tradition says if you get your picture in the paper, and it is recognizable, then you have to buy ice cream for everybody on your shift.  Well, it sounded like these guys were doing their part to tweak that tradition just a bit.  They were trying to convince the lad that front page meant steaks for everyone.  Page three meant ice cream.  Page six, of course, had no particular meaning at all.  Somehow I don’t think he was buying it.  I did get his picture holding the newspaper, though.  Special moment.  Oh, and they made sure he bought an extra one and sent it to his parents.  Hey, I’m proud of you, too, young Padawan Temple.  Welcome to the department.

After a quick power nap, I spent the rest of my afternoon working on the sermon for Sunday.  Then last night we went to some more baseball games.  Jachin and Micah are in the end of season tournament, so they play a lot this week.  Micah’s team played first, and the highlight for me was some pretty good instinctive moves by the little left-handed catcher.  He moved to just the right spot to block bad pitches, and he made a move to block the plate and tag out a runner that was as by the book as you can get.  Very impressive.  Oh, the catcher’s name was Micah.  Micah Vaughan.  Good kid.  Great heritage.  Sadly, they lost the game, but I was still really proud of him.

Jachin’s team played next, and their opponent was a new team that had lost several players over the course of the year.  In fact Micah had been playing with them for the last several games.  Brother versus brother.  Classic match-up.  And interestingly enough, Jachin was the left-handed catcher for his team as well.  Jachin’s coach saw an opportunity to rest his pitchers for future games, so he gave five of the younger players on the team their big chance to pitch in a real game.  There were a lot of walks and a few good hits, but when all was said and done and the dust had settled, Jachin’s team won 15-10.  Both boys play again tonight.

And that put us getting home after ten again.  And again, we heard the final inning of the Astros game on the radio.  One of those almost but not quite enough ninth inning rallies.  One more loss to the Rangers.  At least we’re keeping the losses inside the state.  Just you wait, though …

Romans 8:31 says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?”


Father, keep that little one healthy as he (or she) develops.  And please watch over the one doing the same up in Waco.  Amen.

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