August 7 – “An Honor Guard Event Success”

We spent a few hours yesterday at the fund raising event for the Galveston Fire Department Honor Guard.  It seemed to be really well-attended, and Fire Fighter David Cangelosi did an amazing job spearheading the event.  Lighthouse Charities did the cooking, and as usual their barbecue beef and sausage with potato salad and beans on the side was as tasty as ever.  Galveston Island Brewery hosted the event in their parking lot.  They had a full playground for the kids and a live band provided entertainment for the afternoon. 

Several tables were filled with donated raffle items as well as silent auction artwork and other very nice opportunities.  There was even an AR-15 rifle being raffled as well.  Fire department red T-shirts designed especially for the occasion were for sale.  There were so many cars that several fire fighters had to be assigned strictly to parking detail.  Several of the rookies stepped up in their role as ticket salesmen.  And honor guard members in those signature red shirts mingled throughout the crowd, welcoming folks and answering questions.

In the short time Chris and I were there we saw not only some of our local fire department personalities (Like Trish Anderson and the crew of Ladder One and several of our retired fire fighters and quite a few off-duty fire fighters and their families), but also some fire-fighting “dignitaries.”  I met Chief Hoff, the fire chief of the Fort Bend department.  Of course Chief Anderson from Santa Fe was there.  Retired Chief Jeff Smith made his presence known before he had to leave for his new assignment – walking around Minute Maid Park during Astros games in case anyone gets hurt.  He is the guy who first asked me to be chaplain.  An honor guard representative from the Dallas Fire Department was also there.  He and some of his buddies drove down because they met our honor guard leaders at a training seminar and became friends.  Of course there were many more throughout the day. 

Thank you so much to the citizens who supported the event with their attendance and with their dollars.  I haven’t heard yet how much was raised, but whatever the final amount, the honor guard team is certainly grateful for it.  Proceeds will allow them to purchase their distinctive uniform paraphernalia, participate in future training events, travel to stand watch and participate in funerals, and present colors at events all around the area.  They are absolutely a team to be proud of, for the department as well as for Galveston as a community.  I know I am proud of them. 

1 Corinthians 3:8-9 says, “The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.  For we are God's fellow workers.”

Father, thank you for the extra commitment, time and effort put in by the honor guard team.  Honor their efforts and give them the energy and stamina they need.  Amen.

August 6 – “Quiver-ing”

Whew.  I’m already tired and it’s not even 7 a.m.  We had a really long day yesterday with our out of town guests from Waco.  Josh and Christi and their kiddos Zak and Caleb and Luke (And, of course, AnnaGrace, who we got a picture of, by the way.  Ultrasounds are amazing things) came into town for their last fling before school starts for them on Monday.  I  know it sounds early, but they homeschool, so their schedule is more flexible than most.

We started the day at the beach, of course.  Had to get that one in right away.  After all, Waco has nothing comparable to the Gulf of Mexico, and we need to make sure those guys have sand between their toes at every opportunity.  It was pretty choppy again, so the boys spent most of their time on boogie boards riding the waves.  I made a few casts with a lure just to make sure there wasn’t a stray spec swimming around who might bother the children.  Can’t have that sort of bullying, you know.  I guess my protection was effective.  All the specs stayed away from them … and from me.  Luke and the ladies did some sand castle construction, but the most impressive beach accomplishment was the Tri-Wizard Tournament at the Beach that Caleb and Zakary held.  I know, there were only two of them, so how could it be tri-wizard?  Well, I just assumed it was because the third competitor was using a cloaking spell to hide himself and make it easier for him to sneak ahead.  It didn’t really work, though.  Zak and Caleb ran three laps around a particularly large washed-out spot of beach while Daddy filmed the proceedings.  The memory card finally ran out of space, so you’ll have to wait for the final release of the movie to see who won.  Ah, the joys of a youngster who has discovered the Harry Potter series. 

After the beach we met up with Nathan and his crew for a chicken enchilada pie lunch.  Nathan made a … well, to use Chris’ words … “A very pretty salad.”  It had tomatoes and broccoli and bell peppers and onions all spread in nice, neat piles.  I was the first to get to it, and I immediately noticed something was missing.  The salad.  Wasn’t there supposed to be some green, lettuce-y type stuff in there somewhere?  I was assured that it was hidden beneath the mounds of foreign matter on top, so I did some excavating, and sure enough, the lettuce was there after all.  Of course I had to endure an undignified level of persecution for “destroying the beauty of the salad.”  I thought the beauty of a salad came in the eating.

After a rest period in the afternoon and a slice of pizza for supper, we headed out to Jamaica Beach for some fishing.  Caleb caught a red fish on his very first cast (Undersized, so we had to throw him back.  But Caleb completely understood.  In fact he gave us a brief lesson on endangered species and how we have a responsibility to give them a chance to repopulate the ocean).  CCA would be proud of that kid.  Unfortunately, his red fish, a big croaker that Josh caught and a sand trout that I caught were our only trophies for the trip.  Well, unless you count the tiny crab that Zak and Cailyn found in the bait bucket.  He provided some fun as well.  We left around dark and headed back to the house with a quiver full of tired, but somewhat happy children. 

The rest of the cousins are coming over for a while this morning, so the energy level will rise to fever pitch again.  Guess I’d better get another cup of coffee …

Psalms 127:3-5 says, “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.  Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth.  How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.”

Father, thank you for the quiver-full you have blessed us with.  We love ‘em all.  Amen.

August 5 - “Late-night visits”

We had a late-night visit last night.  No, it wasn’t Santa Claus making a quick summer round on his beach vacation before preparing for his bigger round later in the year, although he is certainly always welcome at the Vaughan abode.  This particular visit was a family affair.  Josh and Christi and their kiddos Zakary and Caleb and Luke and AnnaGrace (gotta get used to saying that one) came down for a fast weekend away from the turmoils and troubles of a big city pastor’s family.  They’ll only be here for a day, though.  They have to head back for home on Saturday.  So we’ll enjoy them while we have them, the mantra of grandparents everywhere.

Looks like next week I will once again face the wrath of Obamacare.  We had to switch insurances when the new system took effect, and as a result not only is my rheumatologist not in network, but the medication that has worked amazingly well in conjunction with Celebrex, called Xeljanz, was not covered.  The Celebrex stops the pain and the Xeljanz controls the swelling.  The rheumatologist managed to get a deal with the company that manufactures it. So I haven’t had to pay the exorbitant cost.  But that year of provision is apparently drawing to a close.  As of Monday I will have no more Xeljanz.  I do have an appointment with that doctor on Tuesday (out of network, of course.  And I’m sure we’ll pay handsomely for that), so perhaps he can work his magic with the company once again.  We’ll see …

Well, Luke just came in, flashed a big smile, and gave me a good morning hug, so I guess that means I’m done with today’s post.  Let’s go find Frederiecke, Luke.

1 Corinthians 3:7 says, “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

Father, thank you for late-night visitors and early morning hugs.  Amen.

August 4 – “A dolphin show”

I received another fishing recommendation the other day.  This one was from a former Oklahoman who now lives in Galveston and is a Seasider.  I must say at  the outset that his take on conditions of the Gulf of Mexico was much more accurate than the guy from Maryland’s was. 

Here’s the thing.  The time was around 7:15 a.m.  Bob texted me and said, “Now is the time for fishing.”  Bob is very succinct in his text messaging, another of the many qualities I appreciate about him.  I questioned him a little further, asking, “What does the water look like?”  In his signature style, he replied, “Flat as my bathtub and clear.”  Now that is a description I just couldn’t turn down. 

He was spot on with his description.  And on top of that, there were fish feeding all around me.  I could see them not only popping the top of the water, but I could actually see them swimming around me.  Now some of them were just mullet, of course, but I could also see some specs swimming around.  This had to be a good day.

Well, sadly, they didn’t seem to want my bait.  Oh, I caught six or eight hardheads and one little croaker.  I was almost headed home when caught a nice spec.  Of course that is always an invitation to stay just a little longer. So I did.  Just caught one more spec though. 

Oh, I was visited by several dolphins.  They came at different times during my stay.  The first two ambled by and slowly continued on their way.  The next two veered a bit closer to shore (where there were no people in the water) after they passed by me, and played around for a while.  The next one came by himself.  He had a very dark  coloring to his skin and a really pointed-looking fin on top.  I’ll have to try to remember to ask Lauren (our resident dolphin specialist) what kind that was.  The next one was really having a good time.  He actually jumped out of the water and slapped his tail fin against the water when he came down.  The second time he jumped he managed to slap the water twice before submerging.  That must have been what he was going for, because he took off right after that.  Quite entertaining.  The last one was another of those dark colored guys.  He didn’t stick around much, but he did give the rapidly gathering crowd of tourists a sighting to remember.  And speaking of rapidly gathering crowd of tourists, that was my cue to get out of the water and head home.  Cailyn was coming over for the afternoon and to spend the night, so I had to get back in circulation. 

1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “’For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?’  But we have the mind of Christ.”

Father, thank you for the fun morning with the dolphins.  And thank you for friends who give me insight on water conditions.  I really do appreciate it.  Amen.

August 3 – “More to come …”

Water exercise yesterday turned out to be one of the best aerobic workouts we have had in a while.  But then …

We decided to mow the grass.  Not that difficult a task, right?  We went over to Nathan’s and picked up the mower.  Unfortunately the weedeater was already on loan to someone.  Trials and tribulations of living in a lawn service co-op.  He did have his chain saw on a stick, though, so I took that.  No, not to edge the grass.  See, we also decided to finish trimming back that tree that was damaged in the storm the other day.  Now before we got started I decided to run over to WalMart and buy one of those cheap electric weedeaters.  Amazingly, they had exactly zero electric ones to choose from.  Maybe Home Depot, but not today.

Chris took care of the mowing, so that left me to handle the trimming project.  And it turned into a massive undertaking.  As it turned out, numerous other branches were broken in the same twisting manner as the big one that fell to the ground.  Most of them were being held up by other branches they had intertwined with, so it was hard to reach a lot of them, even with the magic junior-sized chain saw.  Once I got well into that tree, it became apparent that I would have to tackle five or six others to do the job properly.  We hewed (always wanted to use that word in an everyday sentence) a huge pile of limbs and dragged them to the street to be hauled away.  But we missed the trash men, of course.  But that’s OK.  They’ll be back.  Next Tuesday.  And Nathan has promised to come help us with the really high branches that we couldn’t reach.  There’s always more to come …

1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

Father, thank you for protecting us when that storm came through.  Amen.

August 2 – “On choosing advice well”

We got to see my cousin who lives in Maryland yesterday.  She and her family are in town for a few days visiting other family and going to the beach.  They are on a college visiting tour for their son.  His favorite Texas school has been Texas A&M, but he hasn’t decided yet. 

They mentioned having had brunch at IHOP, so I casually inquired, “What does the beach look like?”  I was trying to get some information about how rough it was to see if I wanted to go fishing.  He assured me that it was really calm, “enough that you could wade out to the second or third sand bar.”  Now I should have known something was awry at that point.  I guess in my desire for conditions to be just right that I just forgot they have not lived anywhere near the Gulf for many, many years.  After all, where I usually go fishing, you have to walk on sand to get to about where the second sand bar used to be.  But come on.  How could I resist?  I went fishing.  Well, after they left, of course.

It was, once again, really rough.  The tourists didn’t even stay in the water for very long at a time, and the current was really strong as well, so it’s probably best that they didn’t.  Now, I did catch one good-sized spec.  Two others hit the line hard, but never got hooked.  Other than those, though, I didn’t even feed the little ones.  Just nothing.  I certainly did get beat up by the waves, though.  Great workout.  At least that’s what I’m telling myself. 

Remind me not to take advice on Gulf of Mexico conditions from a Marylander.   Well, OK.  I have to confess.  It’s not his fault.  I looked at the Beachcams before I left the house, and I didn’t have to stop where I did.  I could have gone out west and fished in the Bay.  Ultimately, it all boils down to a choice you make …

1 Corinthians 2:12 says, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.”

Father, thank you for the chance to hang out with Kristen and Clay and their kids for a while.  Keep them safe on their journey back to Maryland.  Amen.

August 1 – “The Spontaneous No Agenda Lunch”

We were invited to have lunch yesterday after church with one of the new couples at Seaside.  They just bought a house in Sea Isle and were anxious to begin having some company.  They live in Houston, so I have a pretty good idea that they will be having plenty of company once their friends up there realize what is available.  They want to use the home as a ministry site, so that will be just fine with them. 

Bill sold a business in Houston and agreed to stay on and help with the transition for a few months.  That few months is rapidly coming to an end.  Ten days away and counting.  Dianne is active in a ministry to single Moms at their church in Northwest Houston.  She wants to make their beach house available to the moms and their families as much as she can as well.  They are a great couple.  We really enjoyed hanging out with them.  My favorite part, though, was the insight Bill had to share when we first arrived.  Apparently he had asked Dianne if she had “an agenda for inviting the pastor over.”  She assured him – and us – that there was no hidden agenda.  She was just a spontaneous kind of person, and wanted to invite us over and get to know us.  The Spontaneous No Agenda Lunch.  Best kind.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 says, “The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.”

Father, thank you for Bill and Dianne.  Honor their desire to use their home in ministry, and bless them in a great way.  Amen.