September 14 – “A Trip to Glen Rose”

In the grand style of youth camps of eras past, here is a little ditty to share some of the fun and frivolity …

I’m an acorn, small and round

Lying on the cold, hard ground

Everyone walks over me

That is why I’m cracked, you see

I’m a nut, I’m a nut, I’m a nut,

I’m a nut, I’m a nut.

Call to gather early on

This time Sam was the late one

Was Suzann late? This time not

Showed up with her coffeepot

Violet’s cinnamon rolls were fine

She and Dee drove right behind

Saw a mobile taco truck

But for orders, no such luck.

Target circle, Buc-ees head

“4-legged cow I see,” Jim said.

Scavenger hunt for in the van

You can do it, yes you can

Heard of Eggler’s cruising dares

Tales of Northwest Cindy shares

Lauren took us off roads main

To the pot maker’s domain

Lunch was next at Cotton Patch

But PK –

Eeeek.  Screech.  Eh.  Ooorp.  We interrupt this broadcast for this important message.  Our resident poet and songwriter is down for the count.  So is his wife.  Plan B in effect.

Waco made, sick ones in tow

To their son’s house they did go

Dr Pepper, silos, too

Bob and Amber joined the crew

Got to Glen Rose, none too soon

Found the house of many rooms

Cathy met her new roommate

Scary green guy was her fate

Psalms 98:7-9 says, “Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.  Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.  He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.”

Father, watch over the folks on this journey.  Keep the rest of them as healthy as possible.  Amen.

September 13 – “Refreshing”

I went to the funeral of the mother of a high school classmate yesterday.  I didn’t know the Mom well.  I did know her Dad a little better, but it just seemed right to go.  I’m glad I did.

I got to give my classmate a comforting hug.  That’s so much better than a FaceBook comment or a heart emoji would have been – for both of us.  I saw a few other old friends a swell, a common experience at funerals, I suppose.

The service was refreshing.  We sang some old hymns like Victory in Jesus.  We also sang Jesus Loves Me.  That was a more than pleasant addition.  I was especially impressed with the guy leading the service.  It’s not often you hear someone who can effectively transform a dry obituary into an excitingly coherent story of a real person’s life and times.  Fascinating.  This 90+ year old was obviously a very special lady in the hearts and minds of a lot of people.

Psalms 98:4-6 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music;  make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram's horn — shout for joy before the Lord, the King.”

Father, be with the family that is walking through grief over the next few days and weeks and maybe longer.  Draw them toward yourself so they can feel your love.  Amen.

September 12 – “Pay attention, Knucklehead”

I had yet another of those “Pay attention, Knucklehead” moments yesterday.  Chris and I had several errands to run before we leave for this trip to GlenRose tomorrow.  The usual stuff … the bank, the vet’s office for some flea killer stuff, Randall’s for dogfood and to pick up a prescription (Which, by the way, was another insurance fiasco.  They still had not corrected whatever was the glitch in their system that caused them to completely overlook, nay be totally blinded to, page four of my benefits book.  But that’s another story), and finally to WalMart for a pre-storm grocery run. 

Other than the prescription debacle things were going really well.  Flea meds procured, dog food safely in the back seat, bank deposit made.  All that remained was the WalMart run.  Simple enough, right?  Well, yes and no.  I mean, all the fabulously fun WalMart shoppers were out in force, so I had plenty of people watching to do while we shopped.  We even got a hug from one of the cashiers (now a customer service manager, thank you very much, how may I help you) who we have befriended over the years.  All was well.  Or so we thought.  As we emptied our basket into the car I began a mental rewind of the checkout process.  And nowhere in the rewind could I find the checker moving from her spot behind the counter to tally the case of water we had on the cart (You know the situation.  It’s a really heavy item, so why lift it twice?  That’s why they instituted those nifty hand-held phasers … er … scanners, wasn’t it?).  Hesitantly, I asked Chris to check the ticket to see if by some chance I had missed the encounter (not at all out of the realm of possibility).  But no.  The water did not appear anywhere on the receipt.  We simply had not been charged for it. 

Chris asked me what I wanted to do.  I took a deep breath before I answered.  It was now full-on raining, so I was not at all excited about walking all the way back inside hauling a case of water.  “I have to take it back in and pay for it, or I won’t be able to preach on Sunday.” 

Chris smiled that dazzling, all-knowing smile of hers and said, “They’ll probably be amazed that anyone would do such a thing.” 

She offered to drive me closer to the door, and of course I jumped at that chance.  I grabbed the heavy case from the back, dropped it into another cart, wheeled it up to one of those near-by self-service registers, and paid for it.  Then I wheeled it back to the front door where Chris picked me up. 

No one even noticed … except God.  Oh, and the thundering hordes of WalMarters who really didn’t care …

Psalms 98:2 says, “The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.”

Father, thank you for this weird sense of right and wrong you implanted in my brain – my very own, built-in “Pay attention, Knucklehead” sense.  Oh, and thank you for noticing.  Amen.

September 11 – “Heed thine own advice”

After yet another of those “romantic walks in the rain” yesterday, we hunkered down and did our best to stay dry the rest of the day.  It was Monday, so I buried myself in computer work.  I was really trying to get as much done as possible because we are scheduled to leave for a trip tomorrow.  Where this time?  Well, we are going with a group of folks from Seaside to see, The Promise.  It’s an outdoor theater production of the life of Christ.  It is located somewhere outside of Glen Rose, Texas, so our event planner Lauren put together an excursion for us. 

However … said excursion might be in a bit of jeopardy.  As today’s newspaper headlines read, “Eyes on the Sky.”  All Galveston eyes are on the Gulf of Mexico and an area of tropical disturbance that is looming over the Yucatan Peninsula.  It is supposed to move into the Gulf today or tomorrow and begin to intensify as it heads directly in our direction.  At this point we wouldn’t see the worst of it until Sunday, so the trip should be fine.  Well, unless you are not yet prepared for some high wind and water.  We’ll see.  Meanwhile, remember that old adage, “Heed thine own advice”?  Umm … where is that hurricane list, anyway …???

Proverbs 8:33 says, “Heed instruction and be wise, And do not neglect it.”

Father, grant your protection to the folks in the path of Hurricane Florence over on the East Coast.  Provide some runoff relief here in Texas as even more rain approaches.  And then we could use a little of that protection ourselves from old Isaac as he churns our way.  Amen.

September 10 – “A baptism aftermath”

Here’s the transcript of an email I received the other day.  She asked me to read it to the church, so this is part of that process.

Pastor Kelley and congregants of Seaside Church,

First, I'd like to take a moment to say how wonderful it was to visit your church.  It was so welcoming and inviting that we hardly felt like visitors.  Every aspect of the service we enjoyed from the worship sermon and praise music to the visiting and meeting all of the people.  My son, Benjamin summed up the church in one word.  He said it was "interactive".  I think he is absolutely correct.  I've never, in all of my years, memorized a Bible verse so fast.  My son and I both loved how we were able to participate during the service...after all...isn't that what praising God is all about? 

Secondly, words cannot express our gratitude for allowing Benjamin to be baptized at Seaside.  He came up with the idea because for him, the ocean is God's creation.  He said, "What better way to be closer to God than to be baptized in the bay he created."  It was so meaningful to him. 

Thirdly, I will never be able to put into words what it meant to myself and my son when so many of the members of this church braved the wind and rain to see Benjamin being baptized.  I was so shocked at the level of caring and commitment each of you shared with us.  I didn't think my son would realize the magnitude of seeing most of the church waiting for him back on shore.  But, that is the first thing he said afterward was, "I can't believe all of those people came just to support me."  I explained to him that this was the greatest testimony of Christians and the support they give one another.  None of you had to do this and Pastor, you certainly did not have to do this for someone who was not even a member of your church.  All of your actions showed a young man that the Christian faith is alive and strong....that when you think your fellow Christian brothers and sisters are not there for support....they are...they are standing on the shore, just ask God to bring them closer to you.

In Christ,

Greta and Benjamin Bain

I couldn’t have said it better.  Thanks, Seasiders.  I love you guys.

Ps 98:1 says, “Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.”

Father, once again I ask that you be with young Benjamin in his walk with you.  And thank you for his Mom’s encouragement.  Amen.

September 9 – “A little late”

I had another of those wonderful creations called weddings last night.  It was scheduled to take place on the beach at 5 p.m.  That was actually a lucky choice of times, because when we went down for the rehearsal we discovered that there was going to be another wedding on the exact same random spot on the beach.  As it happened, their wedding was to be at 4 p.m.  In the words of the guy who informed us, “As long as we get started right at 4, the ceremony should only last about seven minutes and we should be gone in plenty of time for you guys to set up.”  OK.  There were altogether too many “should’s” in that statement, but our set-up guys were fine with it. 

Fast forward to last night.  I arrived about 30 minutes before the event, a good span of time to triple-check everything.  There were a few folks already on site.  Four people who had driven in from Missouri.  The groom’s grandparents.  Bob and Amber from Seaside.  But no bride.  No groom.  No wedding party.  So we waited.  And waited.  The temperature was 84 degrees with a heat index of 99.  Not a completely comfortable situation, even with the cool Gulf breeze.  Five o’clock came and went.  I read through my wedding notes and jokingly announced that we could all probably just head on home and let the bride and groom know they had been hitched by proxy.  Five fifteen.  Five thirty.  I began to be worried about Grandma and Grandpa (and one other grandpa with whom I am rather intimately involved – Me.  I was getting pretty miserable).  I finally had to walk back to the car to cool down some.  I even texted the bride to see if someone could bring some water when they came.  Five forty-five.  I began texting Chris to let her know what was happening.  Six o’clock.  Was that a new car entering the parking lot?  Yes.  The groom and his entourage have arrived.  I joined them on the beach … to wait some more.  This time I brought our umbrella from the car and handed it to Amber so she could surreptitiously provide shade for Grandma, at least.  The groom explained something about a makeup issue.  Ah.  That does explain everything.  Then the photographer arrived.  “They are right behind me.  They should be leaving in five or ten minutes.” 

Everyone did finally arrive, and we got started a little after six.  Not all that late when you factor in the Island time differential.  The wedding itself went off without a hitch, and we were back at the beach house for the reception dinner by seven or so.  That’s when the really exciting moment of the evening occurred.  There were citronella candles lit everywhere in an effort to ward off the tiny flying vampires that now inhabit the Island after our bout with rain last week.  As we stood around talking and waiting, the bride’s sister, the maid of honor, mentioned that she was particularly hot in the bridesmaid’s dress she was wearing.  Suddenly she realized that the heat was not from the muggy night air.  “My dress is on fire!” she cried.  Fortunately, the dress was made of some kind of material that didn’t actually burn.  It just melted into a blob of burnt plastic looking gunk.  She got it stopped as soon as she moved away from the flame, but was, of course, mortified that it had happened at all.  As it turned out everyone else had a great laugh at her expense.  Especially her father.  He’s a fire fighter back in Missouri.  He told me he really wished he had been there when it happened.  “I would have turned the hose on her, for sure.”  I think that he wasn’t kidding …

The food was great (catered by Benno’s).  Stuffed shrimp and some kind of chicken.  Once everyone got their shot of mosquito spray, we were able to enjoy the meal in relative peace.  I did have to share my shrimp with a particularly persistent critter.  Otherwise he might have flown away with the whole thing.  Hey, our mosquitoes are monstrosities here, you know? 

All the required wedding stuff got done.  It was a successful venture and a good start to a new life for the young couple.  May God walk with them.

Psalms 97:12 says, “Rejoice in the Lord, you who are righteous, and praise his holy name.”

Father, I echo that prayer, may you walk with Sarah and Alex in their life together.  Amen.

September 8 – “Go with the status quo”

Our walk yesterday finally revealed something we had been suspecting for a few days now.  My brand new shoes … were defective.  And how did I come to that difficult conclusion?  They squeaked.  Loudly.  Obnoxiously.  Every single step I took.  It started out as just one of them.  The right one.  Every time the heel touched the ground.  Squeak.  I tried tightening the laces.  Squeak.  I thought it might be because of the wet streets we were walking on, so I tried walking across carpet.  Squeak.  I tried walking a different way to put pressure in different spots (Don’t try that at home, folks.  Not a good idea for back or joint issues).  Squeak.  And just when I had about given up on it … that would be yesterday … the left one started adding to the concert.  Squeak, squeak.  You can’t very well live up to the name “sneakers” if there is a constant squeak, squeak, can you?  So what would you have done?  We boxed them back up and returned them for a different pair. 

Now you would hope that would be a fairly easy process, wouldn’t you?  I mean, how hard can it be?  Turn in the defective pair.  Pick up a new one.  Go home.  Yeah.  Not so much.  See, we couldn’t find the same shoe in my size.  Oh, we found a different shoe right away, but it cost twenty dollars more.  Nope.  We were on a mission.  Between the two of us we personally scanned every box on the shelves that we could reach, including the stacks of boxes behind the easily visible ones.  Chris finally gave up and went for help.  Not such a good idea, either.  She found two employees stocking and asked them for some assistance.  They looked at each other as if playing a mental game of rock, paper, scissors.  Finally the apparent loser left with Chris to help us out.  She hated to take him away from his task at hand.  Oh, did I mention that the item they were stocking was … shoes?  He looked up the shoes we wanted in the computer and returned with his report, “We have two of them in stock, so they should be here.”  He started looking in the same places we had already looked, and continued until I finally convinced him (after three attempts) to please check the boxes stacked way above our heads.  He sighed at the difficult customers and slumped away to get a ladder. 

Oh, the story has a good ending, I suppose.  He never found either of the two pair the computer indicated were somewhere on the premises.  He did offer us a pair that was identical to the ones I have been wearing for quite some time now.  Hey, so much for the benefits of change in the little things.  The price was the same, and I knew they fit, so, let’s go with the status quo.  Now I’ll have to break them in a bit to make sure they know how to stay quiet …

Psalms 97:11 says, “Light is shed upon the righteous and joy on the upright in heart.”

Father, would you be with those two kids working in the store yesterday?  I guess it’s hard to get fire up about working day to day, and when someone breaks into the reverie you worked so hard to achieve, it must be even worse.  Give them a good shift next time.  Amen.