May 4 – “IVSP”

After staff meeting yesterday I called the church sign parts supply company to ask about the parts we need.  I was able to negotiate their website fine until it came to the very end and said, “For tax exempt orders call this number.”  Could have led with that one.  The other issue was their cost for shipping.  The lady in Alabama who I talked to was very nice, but she couldn’t do anything about the cost of shipping.  Seems that is the lowest possible UPS rate for the odd sized materials we are purchasing.  She did, however, offer us a ten percent discount off the price of the order.  I sent her the tax exempt form and what we wanted to order.  She is supposed to craft an “official” order form for me and email it back. 

We took Cailyn to her softball practice yesterday.  All-star season has begun.  She did great until she picked up a ground ball one time that had a stickerbur in it.  That evil interloper transferred to her finger, and she was down for the count.  I went over to help her out.  She regaled me with details of how she fielded the grounder, how she reached into her glove for the ball, and how the sticker bur impaled itself into her unsuspecting, innocent finger.  The bur was gone, but it had left behind a splinter, as many of those horrible seedlings do.  She wouldn’t let me touch it as she alternated between holding it out for me to see and sticking it back in her mouth to suck on.  Miraculously, after one such IVSP (internal vacuum surgical procedure), the finger came out of her mouth completely splinter-free.  I applauded her medical expertise, and after a quick water break she rejoined the team. 

Last night we went to Jachin’s game.  He texted me and told me they played at their home field at Hitchcock High School, so we headed on over there.  2004 and Highway 6.  Not a soul in sight when we arrived.  Chris called up her calendar that Christina so meticulously updates, and found that the game was not scheduled for this field at all.  Instead it was at a field in somewhere on the east side of Texas City.  Hitchcock versus Bay Shore at a Texas City field.  Of course.  Silly us.  We only missed the first inning, and Hitchcock was ahead 1-0.  The good guys scored several more runs after that, but the big news was the encroaching … thunderstorms.  And when they encroached, boy, did they encroach.  The umpires were determined to make it an official game, though.  One half-inning was all they needed to complete, so play in the rain they did.  Sadly, with Hitchcock ahead 4-0 and Bay Shore at bat with one out and runners on first and third and rain now pouring down in sheets, the lightning began.  That was all it took for the parents to start calling for the game to end, and after an especially bright flash, the umpire finally agreed.  The game was officially a rain out.  Not many people heard his official declaration, however.  They were all running for cover.  Chris and I were already safely ensconced in a fairly dry area near the concession stand.  We waited to say goodbye to Kel and Jachin and finally headed home.  We got back in time for me to watch the last few minutes of the Astros’ rout of the Rangers.  Great to see them figuring out a way to defeat them … finally.

Hebrews 5:11-14 says, “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”

Father, thank you for the rain once again.  And thank you for protecting those guys during the thunderstorms.  Amen.