November 22 – “Refreshing”

I can divide today into three distinct sections.  First is the "powerpoint finally works" section.  It took three days and all kinds of trial and error, but I finally figured out the program.  157 slides and two songs are finally one presentation.  I have great respect for those who do this sort of thing every day.  The only remaining point of confusion is why the CD I made won't play the music on my desktop computer.  It does the pictures fine, but no sound.  I chalked it up to an older version of powerpoint.  But as long as I have my laptop, I should be fine at my talk tomorrow.  It works on there.    Part two of the day came when we went into Galveston for the Seaside Crafts Festival at Moody Church.  It's a big deal every year, and this year they added an extra day.  We always see several people we know, and usually find something to buy for Christmas presents.  (Christmas?  Is that coming up?).  We got there and noticed right away a huge difference from last year.  We found a parking place on the first row.  Where was everybody?  We went on past the outside vendors, the animal shelter group with two dogs and a cat for adoption.  Then we passed a new booth that actually made me laugh out loud.  A lady called out to me, "Is there anything we can do for you today?"  I turned to respond – nicely, of course – but when I saw the sign on the table, all that came out of my mouth was a laugh.  Not just a chuckle.  A real out-loud laugh.  And it was three full steps past the booth before I could formulate the words that did finally come out (and Chris said that was a good thing, too!).  My words were, "Sure.  You can go home."  You guessed it.  FEMA had a booth at the crafts fair.  So much for "getting away from it all."  We did see a few friends and pick up a few presents.  It was good to roam around "shopping" without worrying about color of tile or hardwood floors or sheetrock or electricians or plumbers.  But there was one thing noticeably missing.  There were a lot of vendors – not as many as in years past.  But there were very few "normal" folks – Galveston people who bring their wares to sell and make a few bucks for their own Christmas.  I guess it was too soon to get back up and running.  I guess they had other things that were consuming their time.  All in all, this was a sad part of our day.   Part three, though, was refreshing.  A guy we met when he came down with a crew to work on our house called and said he was bringing us some food.  His wife is from the Philippines and had cooked up several dishes and a batch of rice.  And he had baked one of his famous lemon cakes.  In fact, he also baked one for Nathan to take to the fire station.  He used to be a chef and that was his specialty.  He dropped them off around two, and we called Kel and Christina and the boys to come help us eat it.  Hence, the refreshing part – food and grandkids.  Can't get much better than that.   Acts 3:19 says, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."    Father, every day reveal to me where I need to repent.  I desperately want – need – those times of refreshing that are better than lemon cake and grandkids.  And something that good can only come from you.  Amen.