December 2 – “Just the Star”

Today was one of those "I have to do something physical" kind of days.  We were still waiting to hear if have to tear out the rest of the ceiling, so the only thing left to do around the house was scrape floors.  So scrape I did.  I got a little bit done before Luby's (Yea!  Mom's back and it was Tuesday, so that part of our routine kicked in quite naturally.  All of our Galveston family even joined us – Nathan and April as well as Kel, Christina and the boys.  Mom was beaming to have everybody there.  So was Chris.  OK.  Me too).  After we ate, Chris went grocery shopping with Christina, so I attacked again.  Finished the laundry room floor.  It had that stick-on tile stuff.  Then I attacked Mom's room with all that leftover tar.  It came up pretty easy.   So that took care of physical labor for the day.  I was tired.  Then we had to get ready for a pastor and wife dinner at the Galveston Baptist Association office.  It went pretty well.  Found out some more networking kinds of things.  We may be able to get all of our sheetrock and insulation free.  I may be able to replace some of my books through Lifeway.  That's a few phone calls I need to make for sure tomorrow.    I called our contractor with that news after the meeting.  He was fine with working with whatever "good fortune" we might have.  He also let me in on where we were with regard to sheetrock, insulation, and electrical bids.  It was exciting to finally see some movement in the direction of building.  Until he hit me with the other news.  The sheetrock bid would be $500 cheaper if we went ahead and tore out the old stuff.    The extra insulation would cost $700 more, but the old stuff was only R19 and we really need R30.  OK, I don't know what all that R-stuff means.  But what I heard was … tear out the old ceiling.  That means my desire for physical labor was about to be granted "above and beyond" what I expected.  (Get it?  Above.  Ceiling.  Ha Ha).  Here's to getting started tomorrow.   We did one other thing before bed.  Nathan and April remembered that they had a Christmas tree up in the attic at Mom's house.  Tonight was "decorate the tree" night.  When I came in from the meeting, they were busy hanging lights.  Not on the Christmas tree.  On the artificial palm tree.  We eventually got to the "real" tree, and April saw to it that there were plenty of lights on it as well.  We even found out that the brand new dated ornament we bought was broken, so we have to return it.  But, you know what?  I kind of like that palm tree.  They had an extra star to go on top of it.  No other ornaments.  Just the star.  Made me think about the wise men and the star they followed.  I know all the stuff about them being astrologers and all that.  But there was a star.  And it was significant enough that they followed it.    Revelation 22:16 says, "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."   Father, our life here in Galveston is a mess right now.  But the Star is still there.  Thanks for letting us see it.  Amen.