December 6 – “Three-parter”

Aside from the work portions of the day, yesterday had three key components as far as life and our ministry in it are concerned.  First off, I met with yet another bee guy out at the church.  I think this is the fourth or fifth time we have tried this.  This one seems to be on target, though.  He is incredibly experienced, personable yet professional in his dealing with me, he raises queen bee babies and trades them with people from Illinois to Louisiana, and he even teaches people how to be bee keepers.  This guy talks about the bees like they are his kids or grandkids.  And the coolest thing of all was … he had a heat sensor that told him where they were.  He said when it gets cold like it is, they all huddle together, turn off the flying function in their wings (I’m sure there is some kind of scientific name for that), and buzz together, generating heat.  As a result, the temperature in the hive stays at 96 degrees.  He’s set to do the removal tomorrow.  I can’t wait to watch.  Of course our next baby will probably come during that time.  And that will be OK, too.

Next we headed over to Galveston Urban Ministries.  This week is their toy store week, and Seaside has been collecting toys for them.  This is the group that discounts new toys by 80% so families can actually have a part in providing Christmas for their kiddos rather than just receiving a handout.  It really helps to build self-esteem in the parents.  Great idea.

Our final stop was last night the Galveston Baptist Association hosted a banquet for pastors and staff and their wives.  This year it was held at the Antique airplane museum at the airport.  I had no idea that venue was available for things like this.  It was pretty impressive to eat a catered banquet meal beneath the wings of a B-17 Thunderbird.  And the door prize was pretty impressive as well.  They gave away a free flight in one of the old open cockpit planes.  A guy sitting at my table won it.  Missed it by three chairs.  I was going to see if it was transferable and offer it to Josh.  He texted me that he could probably find someone who might possibly be interested.  For those of you who don’t know Josh, he would most assuredly be that interested party.  The other gift was from the association to all the churches.  We have all been given a free six-month subscription to RightNow Ministries.  It is a streaming service like Netflix, but they offer Christian shows as well as a lot of training opportunities.  I am very interested in see what they have to offer.  The guy is supposed to call me later on. 

So, not a bad day at all.  Oh, an d we even managed to squeeze in a quick fruit run to WalMart.  I’ll take that as  a win.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Father, thank you for the opportunities with that video service.  Thanks as well for the evening out with Chris.  Nice.  Amen.