May 23 – “Coconuts”

We started the day in our role as volunteer custodians at the church.  The highlight of the morning was getting to meet the new couple who is in charge of the Alcoholics Anonymous group that meets at Seaside on Saturday evenings.  They seem to be pretty outgoing, and they even asked what time our services started.  I'm looking forward to seeing them again.   We grabbed a quick lunch at Taco Cabana.  Quite different from our usual fare of McAlister's Deli or Sonic.  We both had a taco salad.  Mine had beef in it.  Chris picked the fajita chicken.  It's not too bad for an occasional visit, but it's not going in my regular rotation.    Working at the house was our next stop.  I had hoped to get a lot more done on cleaning tools in the back yard, but I didn't even change to my "diesel clothes."  Instead we planted the five squares of grass we bought at Lowe's.  Then I helped Chris do some weeding in the side flower bed in the front yard.  Then we planted the hibiscus bush we also got at Lowes.  And she still has more on her Lowes gift card.  Christina and Kel brought her sister and brother-in-law by to see the house.  He's going to help us get our camera fixed.  They got to see the doors getting their second coat of finish.  It's some kind of clear varnish.  They were also spraying it on the windows inside, so it was hard to stay in for more than a few minutes at a time.  We were all feeling kind of high when we came back outside.  Maybe we can charge extra when they're spraying.  Chris really liked the backsplash.  But we were very disappointed in one very minor thing.  After the incredible job they did on the tile and grout, they finished it out with the worst job of caulking I've seen since the last one I did.  Actually, I think I could even do it better.  It just looked sloppy.  We decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe they are coming back to "clean it up."  Our contractor is worse than Chris when it comes to those kinds of details, so I sure hope they fix it before he sees it.   We went to a wedding this evening.  Actually I was the pastor.  The couple has been coming to Seaside.  They have a beach house in Jamaica Beach right on the beach.  At least it's right on the beach now.  They are worried that the new Ike vegetation line might take it away from them.  We were going to do the wedding at the house, but they decided to move to the beach since the weather was so nice.  Just as we started to the beach, the bride asked the groom if he wanted to do it barefoot.  He was all for it, but she kind of hesitated.  So I bent down and started taking off my shoes.  She was quite surprised that I would do it, too.  Then, as we walked out onto the sand, she mentioned to Chris that she really wanted to do the ceremony standing in the water.  Of course Chris said, "It's your wedding, go for it."  It took a little more gentle persuasion, but sure enough, we ended up in the water.  The bride had two young daughters, and the groom had a son, so they made up the wedding party.  The family just gathered around with pants rolled up and we started right in.  About halfway through I felt something hit the back of my heel.  I casually glanced down and didn't see anything, so I kept going.  But it hit again and then again.  I knew there was something there, but I really couldn't imagine what it could be.  We were standing in the water, for crying out loud.  Finally, when it became obvious that everyone else knew what it was – I could tell by the snickering and pointing – finally, I was able to catch a glimpse.  It was a coconut.  A real coconut that floated over from Gilligan's Island somewhere out there.  And it nestled into the little ditched that my feet formed in the wet sand, and stayed there for the rest of the ceremony.  When we finished the kids immediately came over and grabbed it.  I told them that it was not often that God sent a wedding present like that.  They decided to keep it as a souvenir.  That's when the groom said, "Well, did you see the other one?"  Just a few feet away, a second coconut had washed up during the service as well.  He said, "Yep.  Two nuts just got married and two nuts floated up to commemorate the occasion."    Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."   Father, thank you for giving that couple the unexpected gift.  Thanks even more that the Dad recognized it and received it.  Amen.