March 1 – “Reflections on those stringy thingies”

OK.  Have you ever eaten a mandarin orange?  Not the kind that come in a can.  I mean the kind in a bag with eleven or twenty-three of its closest friends.  The kind you have to peel before you eat.  The kind that is, admittedly, considerably easier to peel than a traditional orange.  Here’s my question.  What’s with all those little stringy thingies?  I know they are edible and all, but do you spend time pulling them off, one by one?  You know, there is a strange sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from doing that.  Someone ought to create a meme for social media using it.  I’m sure it could be a great help to someone’s self-image.  On the other hand, it could be a source of great ire, or at least infuriating aggravation for someone with a bit of a patience problem.  Well, I just wondered where you stood on that earth-shattering issue.  I for one can go either way.  But those strings do tend to get caught between your teeth …

 

Yesterday morning we got a kind of crisis call from Kel.  Everything was OK with Christina and the kids.  It’s just that he had just been notified that voting booths were being delivered to the church, and they needed someone to meet them.  Strange.  We already had voting booths at the church.  We have been hosting early voting for several weeks.  The only thing we could figure was that they were wanting more for the actual voting day (which is today, by the way).  Kel was helping a neighbor move, so he couldn’t get there, and there was no one else available, so we drove out to the church for the meet and greet.  It was the same delivery guys as the last time they came, and they recognized me as the old, retired guy.  Done and done in about ten minutes. 

 

I spent some time working on a wedding service for this Saturday.  I also worked on the Thursday night Bible study.  It’s a strange one this week.  Called by scholars, “The Sewer of Scripture.”  It’s near the end of the Book of Judges.  Read ahead … if you dare.

 

Last night after a quick supper of tuna sandwiches, we headed up to Pasadena (Texas, not California) to watch Jachin play a baseball game.  We were pleasantly surprised to find that he was the starting pitcher for the evening’s contest.  And he did an amazing job, too.  In his stint in the game, he gave up no runs and only one hit.  His big accomplishment, though, was that he struck out five.  And two of them came after the count was 3-0.  That’s my boy.  Very nice game game, Jachin.  Oh, and did I mention that his team won?  Yep.  15-0.  We joined the team for an after-victory celebration at a nearby Whataburger.  Did you know Whataburger has hot cinnamon rolls?  Really good late-night snack. 

 

Psalms 42:2 says, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.  When can I go and meet with God?”

 

Father, please be with those delivery drivers I met yesterday.  I bet they see all kinds of people.  Help them have a cheery heart.  Amen.