May 11 – “Lookin’ for a huggin’”

We made it through another Sunday of Seaside Outside yesterday.  Everybody seems to be getting the hang of it.  We had a few more brave souls join us for worship on a beautiful, clear, kind of cool Mother’s Day.  The temperature was in the mid-60’s when I woke up.  It did warm up considerably by the time we started, though.  Some mothers were still quarantining, a few wore masks.  Still others were “lookin’ for a huggin’.”  At one point I encouraged everyone to call your mom and say, “Hi.”  One of the kids in the front row leaned over and waved to her mom at the other end of their little cluster of chairs, and mouthed out, “Hi, Mom.”  Excellent.

But the big excitement of the day came when we went down to the beach for not one, but three baptisms.  At first I anticipated that maybe as many as ten Seasiders would make the brief trek down to the Gulf to be a part of the big event.  Then when I saw the family of the one being baptized begin to arrive, I had to up my estimate a bit.  But I certainly didn’t expect what ultimately did happen.  One of our folks gave Chris and I a ride in their golf cart, but as we crossed at the traffic light, so did almost fifty others, all headed to support and encourage the three being baptized.  At the beach, there were so many people already there, and the tide was so high, that it was difficult to find a place to gather for prayer.  We managed, though, and soon we were in the water.  The waves were a bit rough, which is a good thing for baptisms, actually.  That way the candidate doesn’t have to do much more than bend their knees.  God then takes care of the baptism with the next wave.  It also makes staying stabilized a bit of a chore, but I had two able-bodied assistants this time.  I actually forgot to ask one of them if they could help, but Lynn and Josh both agreed to “dive right in” so to speak.  Thanks, guys.

I guess we still have some viewers at Seaside Online as well.  I looked at the recording briefly and saw some of the comments.  As long as we keep getting feedback from them each week, we’ll keep plodding along with learning how to be more effective at the whole online live experience. 

Oh, and on a more personal note, I was pining a bit on Saturday’s post about filling our freezer with Blue Bell ice cream, but the designated spot for speckled trout fillets was pretty much empty.  Who should greet yesterday but Mr. Bob the fisherman.  And he handed me a bag of fillets he had caught (well, he caught them as whole fish, then did the filleting) to begin the process of filling up that barren spot.  Thanks so much, Bob. 

Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Father, walk with the three who were baptized yesterday, Liz and Lucy and Korey.  Draw them ever closer to yourself and bless them with your joy.  Amen.