February 7 – “Lazy Boy”

Getting ready for some football?  We did a little bit of that yesterday.  Oh, I’m not talking about the Super Bowl.  Not yet, anyway.  I mean the three flag football games we attended yesterday.  After we arrived up in Texas at the field we discovered that Micah’s team was playing a doubleheader, followed by Jachin’s team.  A full morning (and part of the afternoon) of football.  And with grandkids involved as well.  Can’t beat that combination. 

Micah’s team proved itself early on in both games and never looked back.  The very first play of the game Micah’s team was on defense.  The quarterback dropped back, stepped aside to avoid the rusher, and let fly a long pass … right into the hands of a Micah teammate.  He quickly raced to the goal line for the pick-six score, and the team never looked back.  The second game was quite similar, with the defense dominating Micah, by the way, was a part of that defensive unit.  Thatsa my grandson. 

Jachin’s game was almost as entertaining.  At least for one half.  Jachin played quarterback most of the time, and he set the tone early with a towering touchdown pass that covered about half the length of the field.  And their defense was just as dominating as Micah’s team’s was.  The defense scored two touchdowns on interceptions to go along with the three the offense put up.  By halftime the score was 30-0.  That’s when things got a little weird.  Apparently an obscure league rule kicked in at that point.  When one team is 30 points or more ahead at any point in the game, the team that is ahead officially wins the game.  Play does, continue, however, as a scrimmage.  The leading team must play defense until the other team scores.  Then the scrimmage returns to normal rules.  Interesting rule.  Obviously designed as a mercy rule of sorts to be encouraging to the losing team.  I kind of like the concept.  Especially in this case.  For the entire second half Jachin’s team played defense.  Yep.  The other team never scored.  Pretty impressive defensive exhibition.

After the game Chris wanted to stop by a sewing place where she had a gift card.  She wanted some kind special ruler for her quilting tackle box.  She also picked up a shadow box she wanted so she could more effectively display her mom’s (and her own) nursing caps.  From there she asked if I wanted to make a quick stop at LazyBoy furniture store.  Seizing an opportunity I have been working toward since Hurricane Ike chewed up all of our furniture, I quickly agreed.  Now don’t get me wrong.  I appreciate to no end the donated furniture we are using right now.  I don’t think the family that gave us the unused living room furniture from their deceased parents’ house ever imagined that it would give us eight more years of hard use.  But as we walked into the door I told her, “The safety is off.  The trigger has been clicked back.  All that remains is to squeeze it.  And that will happen today.  Right here.  Right now.” 

We endured the affections of one of those salesladies who told us within the first thirty seconds that she would leave us alone to look around … and then never left.  And never stopped talking.  Agonizing.  But to make a long story short, we picked out a couch and just the right color and even a special print for pillows to go on it.  Chip and Joanna Gaines would be proud.  But I was on a roll.  Next we moved on to the rocker/recliners.  Yep.  Convinced her that I wanted one of those as well.  Even had them add a special feature that I have missed terribly … swivel.  I can’t wait.  We signed on the dotted line – three years to pay with no interest.  It will take a month or two, though, for everything to get created to Chris’ specifications (and this morning she is talking about wanting to change some of those).  Shouldn’t be too long, though, and we will have the beginnings of a new look for our family gathering place. 

1 John 3:11 says, “This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.”

Father, thank you for giving us the chance to spruce up our home a little bit.  It’s been a long time since that storm.  Amen.

February 6 – “A duck?”

I met with the fire extinguisher guy yesterday.  All eight of them are hung up and inspected and duly approved.  Now we need to schedule them to come back and do a full inspection of the sprinkler system.  The brand new air conditioning unit was being installed while I was there.  It’s the one to cool the main room in the worship center.  Now that’s one I can’t wait to try out.  Well, when it gets hot.  It was back in the low 50’s again this morning.  I’m pretty sure it’s time for the cold to cease and desist so we can get back to living on our tropical island paradise again.  Oh, and our new projector was installed as well.  Guess Wes and Jim got it all taken care of.  That will get tried out Sunday morning for sure.  I have two video clips I want to play in conjunction with the teaching. 

Back home and Kel’s kids were over for a few hours.  They didn’t even know I was there for a long time.  Chris was putting Noa down for a nap.  The boys were playing Super Mario Brothers.  Josiah did glance up at one point and grin, but the other two didn’t even acknowledge me until the game ended.  I guess I should applaud their sense of focus? 

When Noa woke up she had an announcement for me that I am still pondering.  She looked at me with those sweet eyes, removed her pacifier so the comment would be unmistakably clear, and declared, “DadDad, you smell like a duck.”  And there it is.  My secret is out, I suppose.  I smell like a duck.  Now I had to follow up on that one, so I asked her, “What do you mean that I smell like a duck?  What does a duck smell like”  She sat pensively for a long  moment, obviously collecting her thoughts and not wanting to say something misleading in any way.  Finally she replied, “Well, you smell like rotten eggs, too.”  Wow.  How endearing can one day get?  A duck and some rotten eggs.  One would think she had an older brother or two … or three …

1 John 3:5 says, “But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.”

Father, Thank you for our grandkids.  Love those creative comments that fall out of nowhere.  Amen.

February 5 – “Emnimnies”

I had one of those pastoral proud moments last night … sort of.  One of our little guys at home group, Korty, made a pronouncement to me regarding his hoped-for future.  I’m not sure what precipitated it.  I was clear over on the other side of the room when he called out to me.  In fact I had to come closer and ask him to say it again to make sure I heard him correctly.  Here it is …

“When I grow up I’m gonna be a church guy and tell people about Jesus like you do.  And then I’m gonna join the army and kill some men who are our emnimnies.”

Well, OK.  That would make quite the superhero/secret identity combination, I suppose.  Not sure which role would be which, though.

I also managed to print out my sermon notes from a teaching series I did on the Book of Esther back in 2011-2012.  A lady at church is doing a Bible study on the subject with some friends at work.  When someone mentioned in passing that I had done a teaching on it, she asked if I still had the notes first, and if so, could she have a copy of them.  She was wanting more background than the class was providing.  So far I’m at almost a hundred pages.  Guess that qualifies it as another book.  Maybe I can dress it up a little more.  I already appropriated a picture of a princess that Cailyn drew to use on the cover.  Hmm.  Maybe I could use some of the pictures the boys have drawn.  Most of them were of monsters, though.  But, hey, Haman was a pretty bad guy, right?

1 John 3:2 says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Father, than you for Korty and his aspirations for the future.  Whatever he ends up doing with his life, help him to stay close to you so he can be … well, happy.  Amen.

February 4 – “On Evacuations and … Parties”

Yesterday I spent a lot of time doing some party planning.  Well, not exactly planning per say.  The party is going to happen, even if we do nothing beyond open the front door,  make a pot of chili, and turn on the television.  Nothing can stop the thundering roll of super bowl commercial unveiling day. 

But we have to have a at least a few fun things to play with during the interminable hours between showings of commercials.  It’ll be great to talk with friends and hopefully meet some new people.  But nothing can beat a good, challenging Monstrous Random Super Bowl Trivia Test.  All-new this year are question from past Super Bowl commercial classics as well as a few from actual football games.  Hey, we have to acknowledge our roots at some point.  The commercials do, after all, have to have some kind of a hook to hang on.  Oh, and by popular demand, the Bingo game has returned as well.  Grab your card and watch what happens on the screen.  Prizes, if any, are yet to be determined.  Everyone is welcome, so invite some friends to join you. 

The rest of my day was spent developing some Evacuation Route maps for the church’s Retreat Center.  I actually found one that had already been done (I am not one to duplicate work – to reinvent the wheel).  But that one had a multitude of extra lines and designations all over it, so I pulled out the old faithful white-out pen and went to town.  I think the final result should work just fine once I get them laminated.  And that will mean a quick trip to Office Depot later today.

OK.  I still have about 10 minutes before I have to leave for water exercise class, so I better check my list.  Maybe I can squeeze one more thing in before I go …

1 John 3:1 says, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

Father, thank you for providing us – no, for being - the very best evacuation route possible for life when it comes to an end.  Amen.

February 3 – “BRP”

Hmm.  Burning off calories, getting in shape, and staying off a painful heel spur.  How does one accomplish such a feat?  Oh, and without access to a swimming pool.  I know that’s how they handle it on Biggest Loser.  Weird, non-impact exercises on the rug?  Maybe.  I know that helps with core strengthening, but it doesn’t do much aerobically, so there’s not much getting in shape involved.  What is the answer?  Why, a bicycle ride, of course.

I hope I managed to say that so it sounded cheerful and excited, really fired up about the prospects.  I’m doing my best to convince myself.  See, I never have really enjoyed bike riding.  Oh, I did enough of it as a kid.  But back then there was always a purpose behind it.  You know, I had to get out to the airport for baseball practice.  Or maybe ride over to the Wilder’s house to trade some baseball cards.  Or most likely, ride over to the 7-11 to see if they had any new baseball card packages to sell.  Of course I couldn’t do that until I had gone door to door asking people if I could sweep their gutters for a quarter.  And a quarter back then got me five packages of cards.  I guess my point is … there was always a point to my bicycle excursions.  To ride just for the sheer joy of riding?  Not in my realm of existence.

So this whole bike riding for my health thing needed quite a boost in my eyes.  Some reason behind it other than enjoying the scenery in the short term and “getting healthy” in the very long term.  In an effort to make the experience more palatable, Chris worked hard to deck out my bike with several amenities.  A seat that is rectangular and roughly suited to my anatomy Way better than the triangular nightmare that works from the moment you sit down to cut off blood flow to the lower extremities.  A special holder for my iPhone so I can stay in touch with the world as I tool around in it.  Actually it is there in case of emergencies, of course.  I would never, say … accept a FaceTime call from Cailyn while I was riding.  Well, maybe I would do that.  OK, so I did that.  But the idea is that if we have a crash we will have the phone right there in front of us (Notice I switched to “us”?  Chris has one, too).  I even have a cup holder for a water bottle for those long, grueling treks in Galveston summers.  Not that we have taken one of those yet.  We just got the bikes a few months ago.  But my all-time favorite bicycle extra, the one thing that has kept me excited about riding around the neighborhood with no immediate goal in mind … my horn.  For Christmas Chris got me one of those old-timey honkers that fits right on the handlebars.  Now you’re talking.

I love my horn.  Sometimes I honk it randomly, just to announce to the world that I am on my bicycle and I have a horn.  Most of the time I honk it when I see someone, just to get their attention so I can wave and smile.  Except that one little old lady who was getting something out of her car.  I guess she did have her back to us, and who would have expected such an awesome sound as my bicycle horn?  She did seem a little startled.  Maybe that’s why Chris wouldn’t let me honk at her when we came back around to her house again and she was watering her grass.

Other than that, thus far everyone seems to appreciate the gesture.  They all wave back and often add a grin of their own or maybe even a verbal acknowledgment.  The one response that also seems universal is the slight shake of the head from side to side as we pass by.  I think they might be thinking, “Why don’t I get a bicycle like that guy – and a horn of my own.”  Chris thinks it might be more along the lines of, “There guys one weird, probably senile old dude on a bicycle.  Hope he’s not dangerous to himself.”  Either way, the smile has happened and they can’t take it back.  Mission accomplished.  And I have my BRP – no, not “Burp.”  My Bike Riding Purpose.

1 John 2:28 says, “And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”

Father, thank you for my neighbors and for the chance to get them to smile just a little bit.  Amen.

February 2 – “Galveston Gertie”

As foggy as it has been here in Galveston, I don’t think any groundhog on the Island would even know for sure if it’s morning or night.  But since there aren’t any groundhogs on the Island, I’m pretty sure we gauge our winters by what Galveston Gertie, the infamous Island sand crab, sees when she peeks out of her hole.  So much for seeing a shadow here, though.  And that’s a good thing, isn’t it?  Nothing to scare her back into her hole in the ground, so she can come on out and bask in the sunshine on the beach, occasionally dodging the brave tourist here for Mardi Gras.  And I, for one, am just about ready for some Galveston-type weather.

Yesterday was a full one for me.  I only had three appointments for the day, but they ended up lasting until seven o’clock last night.  And in between time I was getting text updates from the hospital.  One of our folks had a family member in the ER.  He came through everything fine, though.  Thanks again to Cory for being there as a voice of calm for the family. 

The first appointment was to meet the fire extinguisher certifier guy (I have no idea what they are actually called).  He was supposed to inspect our extinguishers in the worship center which haven’t been looked at since sometime in 2010.  I waited 15 minutes past the scheduled appointment time before I called the office.  Sure enough, they didn’t have any record that they had even talked to me.  They promised to send someone out with thirty minutes. 

All the units still read that they are charged (barely), but he highly recommended getting some new ones.  Seems getting ours serviced would cost almost as much as buying some brand new ones, so we are going with the new ones.  I asked him to walk through our retreat center as well and tell me how many we needed to add up there.  That building has a sprinkler system, but it has always seemed like something is missing without a fire extinguisher hanging on the wall.  He’s returning Friday with replacements for downstairs and enough new ones to cover upstairs as well. 

The second appointment was with the bug guy.  We had to have both church buildings exterminated in preparation for the Spring critter season here in Galveston.  No problems there.  Always fun to walk around with Mayor Steve and hear his stories.

The last appointment was with Wes.  We went up into Texas to Fry’s Electronics to buy a new projector for the worship center.  I think we got a pretty good replacement for a good enough price.  Now if Wes and Jim can get the thing mounted before Sunday we should be in great shape.

1 John 2:17 says, “The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

Father, thank you for being the Master of the Weather.  I sure prefer trusting the future to you rather than a groundhog – or even a sand crab.  Amen.

February 1 – “I smell something”

The projector at church has been growing dimmer and dimmer over the last few months, so we decided to replace the bulb in an effort to nurse it along for maybe one more year.  So first off, that meant ordering the part, of course.  Our music guy found a website that had the one we needed, so the order was made.  And that all happened back in mid-December.  The part finally arrived Friday of last week.  Perhaps we should have seen the delay as an omen.

After worship yesterday (which went great, by the way.  I met a couple who just moved to Jamaica Beach.  He is starting an air conditioning business and she is a Christian counselor.  I for one am glad to have one in town.  I’m looking forward to getting to know them better.  Our “adopted” daughter Katie surprised us with a visit as well.  Come to find out her boyfriend lives in Jamaica Beach.  I also met a couple who was heading to Africa soon to be missionaries.  He is retiring as a pastor so they can move over and be close to their grandchildren whose parents are already missionaries there.  Oh, and a California-based Seasider, Lisa, was also back in town for a visit with her daughter and granddaughter.  She’s doing well out West), Wes and Jim were chomping at the bit to get the new bulb in place and see how bright it made the projections.  It took them a while to figure out how to get the projector open, but once they handled that obstacle, there was no stopping them.  Old bulb removed.  Dust cleaned out best they could (and there was a bucketful).  New bulb inserted. 

Excitedly, they returned the projector to its position on the ceiling.  Jim stood by underneath it as Wes turned on the computer.  And nothing.  One of our glitches with the computer.  They had to reboot the computer and turn both machines on at essentially the same time.  Gotta love technology.  Finally the picture began to appear.  And it was beautiful.  Sharp colors, clear graphics, and really bright.  Better than it has been in some time – maybe ever.  We were all basking in its radiance.  Chris noticed one thing I had missed.  She commented, “I smell something.”  The guys assured her it was probably the bulb burning off excess dust and film from shipping.  Wes decided to play a video to check out that capacity.  So he went over to YouTube on the computer and clicked on Cinderella.  By this time I noticed the smell as well.  Jim and Chris propped open the doors to circulate the air and combat the smell.  And as good ol’ Cinderella began to play, the image on the screen began to disappear, ever so slowly.  It started from the very middle of the screen, almost as if a cloud was forming or a shadow creature was walking in front of the light stream.  The smell worsened.  Jim checked to see if the fan was operating, and it seemed to be doing fine.  I decided to stare into the belly of the beast.  I got off to the side of the light stream and tried to see into the lens itself.  And finally I could.  And what I saw was not what I expected.  There was a steady, albeit still tiny, stream of smoke surging within the projector.  The source of the offensive smell.  Jim and Wes quickly removed the machine from its ceiling perch, took out the new bulb, and replaced the old one.  They returned everything to the ceiling bracket and crossed their fingers as it warmed up. 

Sadly, the lurking shadow remained.  Something within had been forever scarred by the advancement in bulb technology.  Guess where Wes and I are headed this evening?  New projector time.

1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Father, again I thank you for the amazing things technology can do.  It is a great reflection of your unfathomable creativity.  Amen.