Day two of our little mini-adventure found us with an entire morning in our hands before we had to get to the funeral at 2. So … three or four hours in Corpus Christi, Texas. What to do? What to do?
We
quickly settled on a trip back in time to World War II. Well, sort of. We went to explore the U.S.S. Lexington, an
aircraft carrier-turned museum that is moored in the Harbor. Nathan remembers it well. Way back when he was in training for the
Refinery Terminal Fire Company right out of the fire academy, they used the
Lexington as the base for their training.
Rescues from tight spaces inside the ship as well as zipline and high
angle rescue maneuvers on a cable strung from the ship to the shore. It was hard to imagine when he told us about
it the first time. After seeing it up
close and in person … it is harder to imagine.
That thing is huge. And it was
not easy for Claustrophobic Chris to deal with the tight stairwells and very
skinny walkways, not to mention the glimpse of the “coffin boxes” (that’s
the nickname they gave to their sleeping bunks). One of the most impressive areas, was an
entire room filled with scale models of every type of airplane ever used in
battle since, well, since airplanes were used in battle. And the middle of the room had models of
battleships and submarines and aircraft carriers. We immediately thought of Caleb. He would be fascinated by that place. The actual flight deck was pretty impressive
as well. Planes and helicopters of all
shapes and sizes were parked, and you could get up close and personal with them. I have to say, though, that my favorite
discovery came in the ship’s chapel.
Tucked away in a back corner display case was a very small collection of
items honoring an obscure radio show that used to happen onboard ship. It was produced by the chaplain (which is
what caught my attention) and was called Padre Power. Even had a sweatshirt with those words on
it. Padre Power. I really like that.
The
funeral was over in Aransas Pass, about 30 minutes from Corpus. It was an interesting one. It actually felt kind of disjointed. Well, it felt like no one was really in
charge. I know a few Galveston funeral
directors who would have whipped this outfit into shape without
hesitation. The pastor was a bit wordy,
but he loves Jesus. Come to find out
this was the fourth member of this family he has had to perform a funeral for
in less than a year. That’s gotta be
tough for the family to be sure, but for the pastor as well. I appreciated him sharing that the deceased
had become a Christian at camp. That
always makes this kind of transition much easier. On lighter note, my favorite line from the pastor
… “I always worked in small churches that couldn’t afford to pay me enough to
help me raise my wife and children.”
Wait. Raise his wife? My wife is still raising me …
At
the graveside another guy had been asked to speak. He did a great job. He established his connection to the family,
then shared a very succinct, clear gospel presentation. And then the other pastor preached another sermon. Again, he was a really nice guy and obviously
had a strong history with and connection to the family. Ah, well.
We got through it all relatively unscathed. Nathan and April stuck around for another day
to be with the family, but we headed on home.
And
on the way home we stopped at K2 Steakhouse in Bay City. Really nice place to eat. Huge portions of food (we brought home
doggy bags). Chris had a massive
chicken and avocado salad and I had an equally massive chicken fried
steak. Good stuff. The rest of the way home we watched the
Astros game on my phone. Well, I
watched, she drove and listened. Freddy
was ecstatic to see us. She ran in
circles for a good ten minutes before she wore herself out. It’s nice to be missed.
Romans
6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Father,
please continue to walk with April’s family.
Give them peace and wisdom for the days ahead. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment