March 12 – “Transformations”

It was a really good day at church yesterday.  Not just because of the great group of people or the good singing.  Both during and after the service I had a chance to talk one on one with three different people who were asking about getting baptized on Easter Sunday at our sunrise service.  The first one came to me during our encouragement time.  She has recently been attending with the influx of new folks from the Sea Isle community.  As we talked I found out that she is a transplant recipient who was mere hours away from death when a new liver became available to her.  Since that experience and her successful surgery, she has seen her life radically transformed into one that not only acknowledges Jesus, but celebrates him.  She now embraces the intimacy she has with Jesus every day.  It will be really exciting to baptize her.  And after she headed back to find her seat, her husband came over to me.  He and I have talked before about fishing and the like, so that’s what I expected.  Not so this time.  Seems he also wants to be baptized.  His wife’s transformation has had a lot to do with his decision, and he is also quite excited.  Finally a young man in his twenties came to me after service to talk about baptism.  He was very clear about his relationship with Jesus.  He even pointed back to a specific day in January when he gave his life to Jesus, and he has been growing ever since.  He recently moved to Galveston, so his baptism will truly be the capstone of a new start for him.  That, folks, is an exciting day at Seaside.

After church a group of us went to Salsa’s for lunch.  We barely beat the Spring Break lunch crowd and got a table right away.  And as we walked toward the table, who should we see but Mike and Cindy Bell, munching on a meal of their own.  Mike was youth pastor at Seaside for many years before they moved to League City.  Lots of hugs and grins all around …

And when we got home, we made our way across the street to check out things at the Geran household.  They are the new neighbors we helped move in on Saturday.  They had made some incredible progress toward getting all that furniture unwrapped and placed throughout the house.  Bryan and Jennifer stopped by as well.  They were delivering a vacuum cleaner.  And since we had some extra brute strength availability (that would be Bryan and Corey’s Dad, not me), we managed to lift a few of the heavy top pieces to finish out the furniture placement.  The house is looking really good.  Almost transformed into a home.  But not yet.  TV isn’t in yet …

Psalms 37:8 says, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret — it leads only to evil.”

Father, thank you for all the progress the Geran’s have made on their house.  And a huge thank you for the changed lives from Sunday.  Transformations are hard work, but they sure are fun.  Amen.