May 14 – “Gotta Love It”

What a weekend.  We were back at the ball fields again.  This time it was for Cailyn’s all-star district tournament held here in Galveston.  They ended up doing really well.  Fourth place out of fourteen teams.  Not bad at all.  And some of those games were really exciting, bottom-of-the-last-inning, nail biter affairs.  Nothing quite like spending the day outside in the heat watching softball.  I love that game.

We had somewhat of a crisis at church yesterday.  The air conditioning in the sanctuary room wasn’t working.  The fan wouldn’t even come on.  Ordinarily we just cry “aaargh” and call our resident A/C expert Lynn.  But of course Lynn and his wife were on a cruise yesterday.  Not available.  Now we have been through this before back in the past, though, so we jumped into high gear.  Turned all the ceiling fans up as high as they would go (Well, except for the one that shakes and rattles like it’s about to fall off its hinges.  That one stayed on low).  Arranged two floor fans to blow cold air from the office and the nursery, both of which had working A/C.  The result was a bearable, even cool-ish place to worship out of the growing hotter and hotter Galveston sun.  I love summer. 

We had a new visitor couple yesterday.  Recognized their visitor-dom as soon as they walked through the door.  How did I know they were visitors? The guy was wearing a suit.  Tie and everything.  Oh, he looked sharp enough, but he recognized right away how out of place the garb was.  It didn’t take him long to lose the coat.  Between the lack of A/C and the Island casual atmosphere surrounding him, it couldn’t last long.  To his credit, though, he stuck it out with the tie still intact.  After the service he assured me that when they came back next time, he would be wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt.  I love Galveston.

After the service the little lady from Rhode Island (who last week invited me to come back home to Rhode Island with her) once again asked me for some help with my sermon.  She had taken extensive notes this time, but realized she couldn’t read her own writing at several points.  I just gave her my written backup copy again. This time she said she would actually consider moving to Texas if she could be a part of a group like this church.  She loved the teaching and the music and the way everyone made her feel like a part of the family.  Yep.  It’s quite a place.  It’s quite a people.  I love Seaside.

Chris got her Mother’s Day phone calls from each of the boys.  Nathan started the whole thing off by texting her early in the morning from the softball fields.  He called later, after the tournament ended.  Josh called and turned on FaceTime so Chris could interact with the kids as well.  And Kel made his call, appropriately enough, right after the Astros game ended (Thank you for that, Kel.  I got to watch the end of the game without turning the sound all the way down.  Oh.  So did you).  And speaking of the Astros, they won big again, 6-1.  Happy Mother’s Day all around.  I love my boys … and my wife.  And I kind of like the Astros, too.

Psalms 62:5-6 says, “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”

Father, thank you for giving me so much to love.  Amen.