November 14 – “Pretty inspiring lady”

We arrived in Waco.  Guess I failed to mention that we were heading here yesterday. The plan was to attend the Baptist General Convention of Texas, or whatever they are calling themselves these days.  They were gracious enough to hold the convention in Waco this year.  I’m fairly certain the decision was made strictly to make things easier for us.  No hotel room to pay for, and we would have access to a certain four grandchildren.  Such a difficult sacrifice we have been called upon to make, but we are willing.

We arrived early enough to go by the church where Josh is pastor.  A young man was sharing about a trip he had just taken to Israel.  He was focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in his teaching.  Pretty fascinating history lesson.  Caleb was enthralled.   He even approached the speaker at the end, and the two of them discussed their mutual love of history and begrudging acceptance of all things math. 

Zak and Caleb hopped in the car with us for the ride home, so we got to hear their welcome excitement.  Luke is four years old now.  In an apparent nod to our aged forgetfulness, he told us that at least five times.  And AnnaGrace melted our hearts with a smile, of course.  Girls.  How do they do that? 

Grandchildren fix completed, we made our way to the conference yesterday.  We got checked in, received our free welcome bag, and headed into the exhibit arena.  Isn’t that what everyone does at these things?  Lots of free gimmick-y stuff to go with the coffee and snacks for breakfast.  We had already had breakfast, though.  The hotel had a place set up with some really good bacon and cheese breakfast burritos.  We did avail ourselves of the gimmicks, though.  Strictly in the cause of research, of course.  You never know when we might have cause to purchase a hundred or so engraved pens (that’s an easy one), or single pen holders (Kind of an odd plastic blob with a hole on top), or those squishy stress balls that look like baseballs (lots of offers to us for these, since I was wearing an Astros shirt), or my personal favorite so far, a tiny fan that plugs into the recharge port of your cell phone, so you can be cool anywhere you have your phone, which of course these days is everywhere. 

We also ran into an old friend from our South Oaks Baptist Church days.  We have been keeping up with Jodi on FaceBook.  She is an amazing woman.  A while back she was on vacation and fell, breaking both ankles and a wrist.  She received news from the ER doctor that she would require some surgery once the swelling went down.  Guess what?  Since she had to wait for the swelling anyway, and she wanted her own doctors to do any invasive stuff, she just continued on with her vacation.  Took her four months to come back from the ankle surgeries and another three months for the wrist.  But now she is up and at ‘em, traveling again.  Pretty inspiring lady. 

Rev 1:17-18 says, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.’”

Father, thank you for Jodi and for her story of inspiration.  Keep her safe and healthy.  Amen.