January 22 – “One of our associates …”

Toyota takes the lead.  As far as I'm concerned, anyway.  Chris test drove a Toyota Rav4 this morning.  It is almost identical to the Equinox.  But it has more storage space, the spare tire is outside, and it gets way better gas mileage.  I'm sold.  I think we may test drive an Equinox just to make sure, but if the Toyota guy can get the price down more into our range, we may just have a winner.  We mailed in the request to transfer funds.  We should have access to them in a week or so.  That's good, because we only have until February 6 or our voucher runs out.   On the way home we stopped at Lifeway Christian Store.  Seaside needs some more offering envelopes, and I was looking for a copy of the book, Becoming a Contagious Christian.  I had one, but I guess it was among the missing, presumed drowned.  Anyway, their computer said they had it, but the poor girl couldn't find it.  I couldn't either.  She finally blamed it on a computer error.  Imagine that.  A computer error.  Do they do that?  While we were checking out a young guy found out we were from Seaside and he said, "Oh!  Is Seaside that church down in Galveston?"  (See, Galvestonians aren't the only ones who refer to our home as an island off the coast of Texas).  He continued, "One of our Associates goes to your church.  Her name is Kelly."  Well, of course we bragged on Kelly for awhile.  So did he.   We went by Mall of the Mainland to check out some bookcases that WaldenBooks has donated to Seaside Christian Academy.  They are going out of business in a few days.  Our only problem now is going to pick them up.  I asked Nathan if he could get some of his burly friends from the fire department (or anywhere, for that matter) to help us out.  I'm not sure they will all fit in the back of our two pickups, either.  But Nathan can do amazing things with rope.   Sam's is right next to the Mall, so we ran in to get the three basic needs for the school and church – toilet paper, paper towels, and coffee.  As we were finishing up we got a call from some good friends we met first in Colorado.  I would honestly say that Olivia is one of the closest friends Chris has ever had.  It was so cool to see her face light up when she realized who was on the phone.  Mike had been at a conference in Houston, so they drove down to see our house and just hang out for awhile.  They live near Fort Worth now.  He teaches at the seminary there.  We still don't see them very often.  It made it all the more sweet for Chris to get to talk for a few hours with Olivia.      Psalms 119:63-64 says, "I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts.   64 The earth is filled with your love, O Lord; teach me your decrees."   Father, thank you for giving Chris a friend like Olivia.  Amen.