June 15 – “Update: Strawberry the Wonder Turtle”

Let me start today with a nod to the only comment I had from the article yesterday about Strawberry the Wonder Turtle.  We were talking to our son Josh on the phone, pre-publication.  When I got to the part of the story where Strawberry took off as I reached down to grant him assistance, I commented about the animal’s unexpected burst of speed.  It was fast.  And Josh, after a brief pause, replied, “I don’t mean to be offensive, but that’s not saying much.  It WAS a turtle.”  Thanks for that vote of confidence, son.  Speaking of Strawberry, we got word from Brennan’s Mom that Strawberry the Wonder Turtle has been returned to the wild.  He was last seen swimming away (rapidly, I might add, Josh) into a very large pond near the batting cages.  Now Brennan can visit every time he takes batting practice.  Nice.

We had an interesting snafu or two at church yesterday.  The FaceBook Live feed turned itself sideways.  No idea how that happened.  Chris went over to our tech consultant Shawn to get some help.  After a brief consultation period, we did what every self-respecting computer operator would do in a similar situation.  We turned it off and started it over again.  I don’t think it was too much of an inconvenience for our online viewers. 

The other one involved our new mic that I wear on my head like a pair of glasses.  We finally figured out how to keep it from turning itself off, but yesterday we hit a different snag.  The wind.  Our pleasant Galveston Beach breeze picked up a little steam, and before we knew it all we could hear was the blowing into the microphone.  Sounded like a hurricane was blasting its way on shore.  Jim did every adjustment he could to settle it down, but to no avail.  We ended up switching to the backup floor mic again.  Guess I’m doomed to be glued to the stool until we can move back inside. 

In spite of the issues, it was still a good day.  Beautiful weather.  That wind made the shade under the building feel great.  A recently retired couple from New York State joined us as part of their cross-country trek.  Their next stop is the Grand Canyon.  How about that?  Galveston ranked right up there with the Grand Canyon as a top spot to visit.  The praise team did their usual great job, and it looks like they might have a new member next week.  Stay tuned.  We were able to respond in real time to a request for prayer that came in through the comments section of the broadcast.  Thanks to those who are monitoring and responding to the comments.  In fact, thanks to those who are still with us watching on line.  We‘re trying. 

2 Thessalonians 3:3 says, “But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.”

Father, thank you for the patience and love everyone showed while we dealt with those tech issues yesterday.  Amen.