August 8 – “Nice Touch”

I made it through all day yesterday and I'm not sick yet.  Well, not at least in the manner that Chris has been.  Thank you to everyone who prayed for that end.   Chris stayed in bed all day.  She did get up and try to eat some soup while Mom and I were at church, but she still couldn't hold anything down.  Late in the afternoon she finally kept down a few crackers.  And shortly after that a very sweet couple from church brought over some homemade chicken soup and Gatorade.  I really appreciated the soup.  She said it was her first attempt ever at making it so she was apprehensive.  Rest assured, Nancy, the soup was delicious.  And more importantly, Chris ate some and held it down.  I have high hopes for her recovery today.   I realized that I never did say anything about that wedding Saturday night.  It was held outdoors at the bride's grandmother's house right the on Bay.  The view was amazing, and the breeze was even better.  It was still sticky and hot, but it was actually quite bearable compared to some I have done at the San Luis Hotel in mid-summer.  I stood up on their pier and the wedding party was on the lawn.  The chairs were arranged so everyone was in the shade.    The groom and I started out by ourselves, and then the groomsmen escorted the bridesmaids down the steps from the deck.  Just before the bride and her Dad, the flower girl who looked to be about ten or twelve held hands with the little ring bearer, who couldn't have been more than three years old.  He did fine until he realized there were a lot of people looking at him.  You could see the "it-was-not-this-way-last-night-at-rehearsal" look come over his eyes.  And he stopped.  But the flower girl was in her element, basking in the glow of the attention.  And she didn't stop.  The little guy stumbled down a step or two before losing his balance completely.  To her credit, though, the flower girl never let go of his hand, so she spared him a major fall of at least five or six steps.  Of course the little guy's Mom raced to the rescue.  A few others did as well, but they were not nearly fast enough to beat a panicky Mommy racing to protect her cub.  She scooped him up and held him close for the rest of the ceremony.  He never did cry.  Held on pretty tight, but I never saw him cry.  And he did return for the pictures after the ceremony.   Since it was outside we couldn't do a unity candle, so the Moms brought in two vials of different colored sand.  One vial was black sand from Costa Rica and the other was white from New Mexico, both places the couple had visited.  The bride and groom each poured the "family vial" into a third one, creating the "new family vial."  It worked very well.  Another twist came at the end of the ceremony.  Instead of exiting and returning for pictures, the bride and groom onto the pier and out over the water for a special "new family" time together.  Very romantic.  Nice touch.    In Matthew 23:37 Jesus says, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing."   Father, thank you for the picture of your kind of love when that Mom raced to scoop up her child.  Thank you for loving me like that.  Amen.