June 22 – “Damp excitement”

The Lord brought us a little excitement yesterday at church.  We were set up as usual under the retreat center building, enjoying the shade.  Forty or so folks were just settling in to worship when all of a sudden a brisk westerly breeze kicked up, a rather strange occurrence on our island with a prevailing southeasterly wind.  A few raindrops began to fall, prompting those on the edges of the building’s protection to ease a little closer in.  And then … the bottom fell out of the sky.  Rain began falling in buckets.  And to make matters worse, just as I began the teaching, that westerly wind picked up even more, blowing the rain righto the backs of the praise team equipment.  And me.  Seasiders jumped into action.  Some moved tables.  Some moved chairs.  Others helped praise team members push equipment further under the building.  It was semi-controlled chaos.  Through it all I tried my best to keep going with the teaching. Oh, I acknowledged what was happening.  Even tried to give a play-by-play account in between sermon points for those folks watching online.  Eventually everybody got far enough from the building edges to be safe from the tempest.  And by the time we said the final “Amens” and “Love ya family’s” the rain had stopped.  I think the only casualty was Dale’s ve-8 acoustic singer harmonizer.  Whatever that means.    

After church I got to talk to the newlyweds from Indiana who were in town for their honeymoon.  They had emailed through the church website earlier in the week, and I wasn’t sure they got my response.  But it worked, Jennifer (Jennifer is our top-notch website administrator).  Oh, and a handful of us stuck around for a little picnic on the grounds.  Whew.  What a day. 

But my day wasn’t over yet.  Chris had left the house at 6:15 to take Cailyn to her softball tournament.  Nathan picked me up on his way to work and gave me a ride to Santa Fe so I could join them for their last game.  Cailyn did really well again.  Several dazzling plays in the field.  She did get a solid hit on the ball, but because of a really good play by the shortstop she was out at first.  They lost the game, but their coach was very pleased with their progress.  Looking to the future …

After the game we went by the LaMarque cousins’ house.  Christina had fixed some gumbo for Father’s Day, so we got to enjoy some good food.  They also gave me a game.  It was one I fell in love with the last time they were at our house.  Called Telestrations.  I described it once before in a blog.  We played one rousing game to break it in.  Great fun.  I recommend it highly. 

John 14:21 says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.  The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

Father, thanks for your protection yesterday in several ways – from the rain hitting electrical equipment, from the elements at the softball tournament, from issues we never even saw that you took care of.  Amen.