August 5 – “The prayer day”

Jachin and Micah and Josiah came over yesterday.  Their Mom and Dad were finally taking an opportunity to go see Captain America.  It was kind of an unusual visit with the guys.  Usually when they come over everything is all about being outside, usually to play some version of baseball.  But with it being so hot, they didn't even ask to go outside.  We did some horsing around and wrestling, but then they watched a movie – the Three Musketeers, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy Whatever-his-last-name-is.  Pure cartoon stuff, so I did some work rather than fall asleep.  Cartoons still do that to me.  After the movie we set up the computers so they could play some video games on the Legos website.  My comment about that interval?  Noisy.  Very noisy.    I got a call from a guy at church who was interested in setting up a satellite viewing of the big prayer meeting being held in Houston with the governor.  I told him to see what he could find out about it and let me know.  The only problem I could see was finding a place to set up.  We have two different out of town groups staying at the church right now.  He got everything worked out, though, and I sent a mass email out to my list of church folks.  So we are very quietly hosting a viewing and prayer time from ten to five today.  I can't be at all of it because of the wedding I'm officiating this afternoon, but it can only be a good thing to spend some time – any time – in prayer.   Speaking of that wedding, Chris and I went to the rehearsal last night.  It is being held at the bride's grandmother's house right on the Bay.  Very pretty venue.  Long pier.  Pelicans flying over.  Bride to come down the stairs.  Should be a beautiful memory for them.  The bride is the daughter of a guy who grew up in my neighborhood.  We were in Cub Scouts together.  Mom was our Den Mother.  The groom was in the youth group at Seaside.  It was an interesting match, and kind of exciting to find all the common connections.    I met the bride's grandfather at the rehearsal dinner over at Mario's on 61st street.  Very interesting guy.  He went to Ball High around the same time as Mom.  He remembered knowing someone named Kelley, but apparently not well.  I mentioned she had red hair, and his eyes glazed over a bit.  He hesitated for a long time and then said, "I married a gal with red hair.  She died about ten years ago."  The sadness didn't last long, though.  He told me tales of his football career "back when you had to play offense and defense.  There was only about twelve of us who played in a game every week."  He also reminisced about sneaking up into the dome that covered the old Ball High School with his girl friend.  Not to make out.  The tradition was to sneak up there and sign you name.  The problem they faced was that there were so many names, some dating from the 1800's.  They had to keep crawling higher and higher to even find an empty space.  I'm anxious to see if Mom remembers Roger Workman.   Proverbs 21:30 says, "There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord."   Father, help this young couple learn to work with you in their life together.  There's no way they can be really happy otherwise.