October 18 – “not done yet …”

Chris and I had a chance yesterday to spend much of the morning with some old friends from way back in our early South Oaks Baptist Church days.  That would be back when there was a 19 in front of the year and 80-something was how it ended up.  Great memories of those years, and they all center around the people we knew, several of whom are still close friends to this day. 

Mike and Celia Philpot showed up at Seaside this past Sunday.  He pitched right in and helped the guys who were folding up the bounce house from the Festival to return it to the block party trailer.  So yesterday we went to visit them at their second home that they are in the process of renovating in Galveston’s East End historical district.  They are taking their time on that project, and they even have a permanent renter so they don’t have to worry about meeting two mortgages.  They wanted some advice on how to manage a satsuma tree in their backyard and what to do about cutting back oleanders in the front.  The satsuma was huge.  Made our poor little guy look like chump change.  I told her to trim off the branches that looked like they were growing downward (after the growing season, of course – the thing was loaded with fruit).  The oleanders would be no problem.  We assured her that oleanders are almost impossible to kill.  You can cut them down to the ground and they will still find a way to come back.  I’m sure they will have no problem training them to match their fence.

Oh, and I got another e-mail yesterday.  Lauren wanted to know what she had to do to become an “official” member.  This would be the Lauren who so marvelously coordinated the Fall Festival.  Easy enough fix on that one.  She was baptized years ago in a horse trough.  But then I got some extra great news.  Her husband Ed the Park Ranger wants to be baptized.  That’ll take a little bit of doing since he works every Sunday.  We’ll get it done, though.  Lauren said maybe we could get it done on his lunch break.  Apparently the Lord is not done yet.  Keep on workin’, God. 

Galatians 2:15-16 says, “’We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners”’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”

Father, thank you for old friends and for new commitments.  I can’t wait to see what you have in store next.  Amen.