March 31 – “Empty”

Well, God must have something really good in store for us tomorrow morning.  Why do I say that?  Because we have some key Seasiders who are dropping like flies beneath the dreaded flu invasion.  Our event coordinator and her husband both went down.  Her mother has been on the verge, but fighting hard for over a week.  Then I got a text yesterday from our key prayer warrior and unique welcomer, Mister Bob.  He is now officially down for the count as well.  He promised his prayers wouldn’t be any less fervent, though.  Then two nights ago, at 2:15 a.m., I was awakened like someone slapped me in the face with what I could only surmise was an allergy attack.  I couldn’t breathe.  I started sneezing.  My nose started running.  Drainage poured down the back of my throat.  I took some medication, but it took me a few hours to get back to sleep.  Last night I slept in my easy chair so I wouldn’t keep Chris awake.  I did sleep some, but it was quite fitful.  And right now I still have the drainage and a scratchy throat.  Might need someone to do the scripture readings for me tomorrow.  They are kind of lengthy.  I’ll drink lots of fluids today (as per instructions from my personal private-duty nurse wife), and we’ll see.  Keep those prayers coming.

We did our family Easter egg hunt yesterday.  The kiddos came over and dyed eggs first, then we had a great crockpot roast.  And after the roast it was egg hunt time.  While Nathan and I were hiding the eggs, the little girls from next door came over and asked if they could do the Easter egg hunt with us.  I told them that this one was for our children who were inside the house.  Little did they know, however, that we had a surprise in store for them.  They went back into their house after a while, so I raced inside and spread the word.  Christina had Noa and Josiah ready, and Brennan and Cailyn joined in.  They snuck into the yard next door and hid some eggs.  A sign was placed on the front door that said, “You have been egged.”  A description followed that explained twelve eggs had been hidden, and one of the eggs was especially special.  See, it was empty to remind us that on Easter Sunday morning the tomb of Jesus was empty as well.  He is risen.  He is no longer dead, but alive.  A little while later the doorbell rang.  It was the girls from next door, coming over to say thank you.  And the one who found the empty egg was so proud.  Nothing inside, but she was excited to have been the one to find it.  How cool is that?  There’s a lot to be said for “empty.”

Luke 24:5-6 says, “and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, ‘Why do you seek the living One among the dead?  He is not here, but He has risen.’”

Father, thank you for the joy we saw on a bunch of little kids’ faces yesterday.  And thank you for … “empty.”

March 30 – “A blog request …”

I finally found a way to put the link to my blog site on FaceBook where it is accepted as acceptable to their quality control standards.  Whether the all-knowing Big Brother in this case is FaceBook or Google, I still haven’t figured out, but I do know the problem had something to do with the letter “s” and the “triple w” in the address.  Now it seems you can get the direct link if I write it as http://kelleykorner.blogspot.com.  But there still might be a problem.  Chris says when she goes to my FaceBook page, there are no posts at all listed since last Sunday.  They appear when I look at my own page, but she can’t see them.  So here is my request of the day.  Will you please tell me if you can see link from your FaceBook feed or by going to my FaceBook page?  Thanks.

Enough business.  I have to give some kudos to two little boys, about 8 or 10 years old.  They greeted us as we enter the gate for Cailyn’s softball game the other night.  As bold as they come, one of them walked right up to us, handed us a little card, and said, “Will you come to my church?”  The card was about their church’s Easter services.  Nice job, guys.  And nice job to their church for so equipping them. 

Speaking of church, in lieu of home group last night we met up at the church (After the Astros’ opening season game, of course, which they won against the Texas Rangers.  Spring hit his second season opening home run in a row, and Jake Marisnek - Chris’ favorite player, by the way – added another).  We started everything out with prayer to keep us focused.  The praise team was there, practicing for the two Easter services and getting the sound system ready to go.  Some of the group jumped in and started filling Easter eggs for the egg hunt.  I got an office chair put together.  We moved stacks of chairs and set up tables for the breakfast.  Brennan helped unwrap the gifts we have for the sunrise service attenders, and then some others came through and divided them into bags for the “usher types” to hand out on Sunday.  We got one of the downstairs showers cleared out and ready to be used for anyone who gets baptized (or who does the baptizing).  The other one is still full of bottled water for our give-aways.  Tomorrow the Jamaica Beach Volunteer Fire Department will being over a trailer and generator for us to load up and use.  They are also supposed to provide us with some bright lights on the beach.  Their participation is greatly appreciated, especially since our department contact person, Lauren, is down with the flu right now.  Whew.  There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on to get ready for an event like this one.  I’m sure glad we have a good and powerful God …

Psalms 29:3-4 says, “The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The Lord is over many waters.  The voice of the Lord is powerful, The voice of the Lord is majestic.”

Father, you are good and powerful.  Please invade every part of this preparation, and then enjoy our praise and thanksgiving when Sunday comes.  Amen.

March 29 – “Warning”

Well, imagine our surprise.  Last night (or very early this morning, actually) we were rudely awakened by a horrendous squawking sound.  It was emanating from the bedside table.  And what would be on the table that would make such an awful racket?  My phone, of course.  And what could possibly possess it to so offensively attack our peaceful slumber?  Just doing its job.  We were under a tornado warning.  And it the timeless words of the warning … “Take cover now.”  So we did.  Took us a while to get back to sleep, but we were under the covers at least. 

Wow.  It feels good to know you are obeying orders and getting some sleep in.  Oh, did I mention the actual time of this unspeakable interruption of our precious sleep patterns?  Try 3:15 a.m.  Yep.  And the warning was to last all the way until 3:30 a.m.  So for a full fifteen minutes we had to worry that a renegade tornado was going to rip us from the comfort of our bed.  But it didn’t.  We are safe.  It’s still raining this morning, but I guess the tornadoes have left the Island.  If they were ever really on the Island.  Those reports do include all of Galveston County, and a large part of Galveston is on the mainland.  I hope they were safe as well.

Psalms 2:10-12 says, “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth.  Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling.  Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled.  How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”

Father, thank you for emergency warnings.  You were pretty good at giving those as well, weren’t you?  Amen.

March 28 - “Shaking the cobwebs”

I had one of those God moments this morning.  It came as I was waiting for my computer to finish one of those “Good morning, glad you logged on this fine morning.  While you slept the wonderful watchers of all things HP somehow logged onto your computer and updated something that you would never understand anyway, so we won’t tell you exactly what it was, unless, of course you choose to go to the ‘Advanced’ screen, in which case we will put up a dummed-down version that you still won’t understand, so just trust us to know what is best for you and wait while the updates finish their marvelous work.  Oh, and you will be required to restart your computer in fifteen seconds.  Fourteen.  Thirteen …”

I decided to read through the service for Easter Sunrise.  Since we hand out a booklet with the song words inside, I made myself one that also included everything I have to read as well (Scripture, teaching notes, and the like).  As I scanned the booklet past the teaching notes, something I never would have done normally, but the update still wasn’t finished, I realized that I had left out completely the Easter Story from Scripture.  That, my friends, would have been a major faux pas.  Easter without telling the story?  Not good.  Guess I know what at least part of my morning will look like …

Psalms 42:1-2 says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.”

Father, thank you for shaking the cobwebs out of my head this morning and showing me what I still need to do for Sunday.  Anything else?  Amen.

March 27 – “A very funny word or three”

I learned a few new words yesterday.  This time they came from Cailyn.  Apparently they are studying some history of the world in school.  And it seems that many, many years ago punishment for certain crimes were, how shall we say … severe.  She informed us that some crimes even called for the offender to be decompracticated.  I’m not completely sure what that is, but it certainly would deter me from whatever behavior would result in it.  And then last night she remembered the punishment for lying.  Also pretty severe sounding.  They would take both of your ears and ancupate they.  I think I would do my best to hang onto my ears, wouldn’t you?  Thanks for the world history vocabulary lesson, Cailyn.  There’s always something I can learn.

Here’s another fun story from a little guy at church.  On Palm Sunday we had a fabulous, high-energy time of worship.  Chris had just one youngster in the nursery just off to the side of the worship center room.  She was telling the story of Palm Sunday from the kids’ Bible.  Finally she came to that very funny word, “Hosannah.”  She kind of explained that it was the special word the people were yelling to welcome Jesus into town.  And about that time “someone” from the worship center hollered out, of all things, “Hosannah.”   Little CarolAnn’s eyes grew large as she recognized the terminology.  “He said “Hosannah,’” she remarked in a little bit of awe.  Again the cry from the next room came out, “Hosannah.”  And again she reacted, first with recognition, then with excitement.  And then the music began.  And what should be the first words of the song?  Of course.  “Hosannah.”  CarolAnn’s awesome teacher took immediate advantage of the situation and hustled the two of them out to join in the singing of “Hosannah’s” to the Lord. 

Psalms 40:11 says, “Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your truth always protect me.”

Father, thank you for very funny words.  And thanks as well for the wonder of a child at a message of praise.  Amen.

March 26 – “Awake …”

We had yet another pretty full house at Seaside yesterday.  It made for a great Palm Sunday celebration service.  I have to thank Nathan and April for letting me cut some of their palm branches to use for palm crosses as well as decorations around the room.  The greenery provided a real boost to the theme.  We had a time within the service where people could share things they are thankful for.  It was like popping the top of a coke can that had been first dropped on the floor and then shaken a time or two for good measure.  Several shared about personal ways God has touched their lives.  Many others share about how they had been blessed by God’s church that meets at Seaside.  Always encouraging to hear testimonies like that.  And it sounds like people are really looking forward to the Easter sunrise service on the beach next Sunday.  Exciting stuff.

After church we joined a group of Seasiders at Salsa’s for some lunch.  And after lunch we headed over to the movie theater to watch the new show “I Can Only Imagine.”  It’s like a biography of the guy who wrote the title song, which was his band’s (Mercy Me) breakout hit.  I had never heard the story behind the lyrics, so it was pretty fascinating historically.  It was also fun to recognize some of the characters and even some places.  Especially “Camp Glorieta.”  Their portrayal of the place looked nothing like the Glorieta camp we went to for so many years.  And the scene where there are massive fireworks going off at the camp would never have happened, since Camp Glorieta is in the midst of a National Forest.  But other than the inaccuracies that are always fun to pick apart, the movies was done well.  It was definitely geared at people who are already Christians.  Our folks seemed to really like it, and a few of the ladies left in tears.  Give it a look if you get a chance.

So … leading a high-energy Palm Sunday service followed by a Mexican food lunch followed by an afternoon in a dark movie theater.  Not exactly the recipe for this old boy to stay awake.  But I made it through.  Even had enough left when we got home to drive the truck over to Office Depot and pick up a couple of shelves for our neighbors.  So this staying awake on a Sunday afternoon … it can be done.  Next Sunday?  Probably not.  Whole other set of factors involved …

Psalms 40:10 says, “I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.  I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.”

Father, thank you for the story behind a remarkable song.  And thank you for the young man’s courage to share it.  Amen.

March 25 – “Old friends in new places”

The Seaside-as-a-food-vendor day at the Jamaica Beach Community Craft Fair has to be considered a rousing success.  The ten or so Seasiders who came out to work did a fabulous job preparing the food and an even better one representing Seaside and the Lord in their dealings with the community.  Special thanks, of course, to our events coordinator, Lauren, for all of her hard work in getting everything set up.  The initial count shows we made over a thousand dollars.  Looks like we might be getting those door locks fixed and a new set of doors upstairs sooner rather than later. 

I met a lady at the craft fair.  She approached me with one of these, “You don’t recognize me, do you?” greetings that I sometimes get at church.  This one was a no-go, however.  I had absolutely no idea who she was.  She added another clue.  “Langwood Baptist Church?”  Now that was the very first church I worked at as a youth pastor … when I was 19 years old.  That would be, what? 46 years of sleeps?  Not helpful.  I finally had to ask her outright who she was.  The name did ring a bell, though.  We reminisced about some of the kids who lived in that Houston neighborhood, and we lamented that the church had been sold.  Lots of good memories.  Oh, and come to find out, her son is the young volunteer fire fighter who broke his back.  Small world.

One last thing before I start working on the teaching for today.  I saw a TV news crew at the old “Tin Can House” on the way to the park.  Looks like someone is trying to do something with it.  They at least had the door pulled open and were peering inside.  If I had more time I could develop a whole mystery short story about that one.  You are so lucky it’s Sunday.

Psalms 40:5 says, “Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done.  The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.”

Father, thank you for old friends in new places.  Amen.

March 24 – “Gotta love …”

I will strive to be more focused in my ramblings today.  I understand yesterday’s post was a bit too … what was I talking about?

Easter is rapidly approaching, so preparations are solidly in our wheelhouse right now.  We do have one other project to accomplish first, however.  Seaside has been asked to be the food vendor for the Jamaica Beach community craft fair at the park … today.  We will offer our bacon and hotdogs and bacon and hamburgers and bacon and baked beans and bacon and baked goods … oh, and bacon … for a donation.  Proceeds will go toward getting some new Doors and Floors at the church.  Chris is planning to be up there by 8:00.  I have two funerals to attend this morning, so I’ll get out there as soon as I can get free. 

So back to Easter.  I already the Palm Crosses for Palm Sunday.  That would be tomorrow.  100 palm crosses.  My fingers were a little tired.  Yesterday we made the big run into Texas to pick up supplies.  Lifeway Store was first on the list.  I needed some more birthday cards, but we also picked up the Bibles that will be prizes for the Golden Eggs at the Easter egg hunt.  And then we went over to Sam’s for the mega-purchase that covers all things craft fair fundraiser as well as Easter sunrise breakfast.  I suppose there were some normal maintenance things on the list as well.  All I know is, that cart was heavy.  And really full.  Things kept falling off on the way to the car.  We finally made, though, and stuffed all that stuff inside.  We grabbed a quick lunch at the house, then met Lauren and Ed at the church.  Ed is doing the cooking on his grill today, so we carried all the supplies to the park kitchen.  Come on out from 10 to 3 and get you something to eat. 

Last night we braved the Texas traffic once again.  Josiah and Micah each had a baseball game at 5:45.  I think we finally made it through the stop and go by around 6.  Got there just in time to see Micah bat his first time.  Christina found us just after that, and under her direction, we got to see some of both games.  Josiah had a beautiful hit right down the third base line.  They ended up losing by just two points.  Good game.  Micah walked a few times, and he had a picture perfect steal of second as well.  He went about a third of the way down the baseline.  Then, when the catcher made his return throw to the pitcher, Micah took off for second.  He was there before the pitcher realized what had just happened.  Exciting stuff.  His game ended in a tie, but the other team was trying to protest an umpire’s decision, so everything is up in the air there.  Gotta love kids’ baseball.  And bacon.  Gotta love bacon.

Psalms 40:4 says, “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.”

Father, thank you for a kid’s love of a game.  And for bacon.  Thanks for bacon, too.  Amen.

"Focus ..."

We returned to our active lifestyle yesterday.  Sort of.  Well, we started the morning off with a brisk, two-mile walk around the neighborhood.  Hey, did you see that they are making a movie about Mr. Rogers’Neighborhood?  He was our son Josh’s all-time hero as a child up until he was introduced to John Stockton.  Well, he wasn’t actually introduced to him, but he watched him play basketball on TV and decided he wanted to be like him.  I saw John Stockton on TV yesterday.  He was attending the Gonzaga basketball game.  That’s his alma mater.  My alma mater is Houston Baptist University.  They were pretty good at basketball when I went there.  Nowhere near the skill level of the athletes today, but good enough that they needed a training room staff to wrap their ankles before every game.  Guess who was on that staff for a game or two?  This guy.  I mainly worked for the gymnastics team, but I did help out before an occasional basketball practice or home game.  Wrapping ankles is not that hard.  Just make sure they can still get their shoes on.  I got some new shoes yesterday.  We went to Academy after lunch so I could spend my $10 gift card I got for joining the Coastal Conservation Association.  And my old Nikes were squeaking really bad, a built-in Nike code that they have seen better days. Guess their life expectancy was drastically shortened by our jaunt into the hiking paradise that is Big Bend National Park.  Oh, and speaking of hiking, we returned to our active lifestyle yesterday.  Sort of.  Well, we started the morning off with a brisk, two-mile walk around the neighborhood …

Psalms 40:3 says, “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God.  Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”

Father, thank you for busy days and heroes and brand new shoes.  Amen.

March 22 – “The great printer computer whisperer fail”

Here’s the latest on the Office Depot booklet printing, folding and stapling computer/printer team.  I had to make two more trips up there yesterday.  First, I returned a call from them.  Seems they were having some trouble (Imagine that) and needed me to do something.  I had no idea what she was requesting, however, so I told her I would come up to the store and she could tell me in person.  Fortunately the store is not but about a mile away, or we would already have more serious issues.  When I arrived she went into her second attempt at telling me what she needed for the printer’s computer to accept the document.  I finally stopped her and asked her to show me.  Ah.  Finally.  Their super-intelligent computer needed each page of the 8 ½ by 11 inch folded in half booklet (not each piece of paper, mind you.  Each numbered page of the document, itself) to be printed as an 8 ½ by 11 sheet in itself.  Apparently all the computer could comprehend was how to shrink that down into the proper formatting.  OK.  More work for me.

I went back home and set to work reformatting the document.  Amazing what a West Ender will do to keep from driving all the way downtown to the other print shop in town.  I increased the font size appropriately so that the shrinked copy would still be readable.  I gathered up the original copy I ran on my printer, made a PDF file and put it on a flash drive, and made a return trip.  The girl waiting on me was ecstatic.  I finally had given her what she needed.  Her boss told her to make me a copy so I could approve the job.  So she ran them through the good ol’ machine.  And it printed out the booklet … on that monstrously sized, 8 ½ by 16 inch paper.  She brought it over to show me that it had indeed sorted the pages properly (except for one little glitch that she assured me was fixed).  She then said they would get it down to the right size and take it from there.  I said, “I would like to see one that is the right size.”  Seemed like a reasonable request.  She loaded them back up.  And it printed out the booklet … on 8 ½ by 14 inch paper.  It didn’t look bad.  Just not the size we ordered.  That brought out a call for the big guns.  The mysterious Page would have to be involved in the process from here on out.  She is the printer computer whisperer who can get it to do anything.  Page would be able to get it right … when she comes on duty in another two hours.  Of course. 

Chris and I were in WalMart later in the afternoon when my phone rang.  On a hunch, I went ahead and answered.  It was … dun, dun, dun … Office Depot.  Seems Page was not as all-powerful as they had assumed.  She could only convince the computer to shrink as far as the 8 ½ by 14 inch paper.  Anything less was deemed impossible.  For them to do the order as I requested, they would have to run each page, then assemble, fold and staple each booklet by hand.  Horror of all horrors … the old-fashioned way.  And of course the increased manpower required to do such an unthinkable task would considerably raise the price of the job.  Right.  Their final offer was to run the print job at the already quoted price, but on the larger paper.  I honestly didn’t feel much up to arguing from a position somewhere between the pineapples and grapes.  We will have slightly larger song booklets for the sunrise service this year, folks.  Hope we can all see the print.  And maybe, just maybe, I will make the trek all the way downtown next year to that other print shop. 

Psalms 40:2 says, “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”

Father, please help those folks out with the print job.  No matter what, though, we will worship you on Easter.  Amen.

March 21 – “Print Madness”

Early start to the day yesterday.  We took the truck in to be inspected.  Chris followed me in the car so we could drop it off.  However … Dennis the Mechanic said he could do it right then while I waited, so Chris headed back home.  I gotta tell you, owning a classic vehicle is awesome.  And by “classic” I mean “old.”  Any guesses how much the inspection costs?  Try seven dollars.  Yep.  Of course the registration is still the usual $74.  And speaking of registration, I just happened to have the paperwork to get all that done as well, so I headed on downtown.  Apparently 9:15 in the morning is a good time to take care of such things.  Only one other customer anywhere in sight.  I was in and out in less than five minutes.  I’m all stickered for another year.

Next we went to Office Depot to order the worship booklets for the Easter sunrise service.  Every year it seems like such an easy task when I leave the house.  But every year something comes up to make it difficult.  Last year I put the master on a flash drive for them.  But they needed it saved in PDF format.  Not sure why their massive program couldn’t do that if my little laptop could.  They ended up using the sample copy I had printed out as a master, and they did everything by hand.  Same thing happened the year before, but that became a nightmare when the young girl they tasked with the project paid no attention whatever to what she was doing.  The printing was off terribly and the stapling was even worse. 

So this year I anticipated everything.  I saved it to a PDF format on a flash drive.  I brought a completed copy for them to use as a guide.  Guess what?  They couldn’t figure out how to do it.  Three different employees struggled with getting it set up.  Meanwhile the line was backing up behind us.  We heard talk of employee evaluations going on, so there was already a sense of pressure throughout the store.  The manager on duty, who was also trying his hand at the whole mess, was getting more and more antsy.  Finally they asked when we actually needed the order.  I have had experience with that question as well, so I said, “This Friday.”  Had to give myself some leeway to check it out in case they had to do it over again.  I guess that took some pressure off.  Apparently in one of the phone calls for help one of them had made, it came to light that the one person on staff who actually knew how to operate the machine was due to arrive at 11 … thirty minutes.  Since I could wait, they would take all my information and I could pay when I picked them up.  Again, my past history with their service led me to counter with, “How about you call me and let me know how much it’s going to cost before you start on the order?”  Considerably flustered by then, she agreed and hastened on to the next customer in line, happy to be rid of me. 

However, after we got home it occurred to me that I never gave her my cell number to make that call.  Hmm.  Maybe I should go by there and touch base this morning …

Psalms 40:1 says, “I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.”

Father, would you bless the efforts of those two people who had to try to figure out something they had obviously not been trained effectively on.  They did try.  And we do need those booklets for Easter.  Amen.

March 20 – “Life Game”

We got back into the swing of things with the kids’ baseball and softball season resuming last night.  They were all off for a week for Spring Break.  You know, I sure don’t remember being off for Spring Break back when I was playing as a kid.  That would have been a serious, nay horrible, occurrence for those of us who were in love with the game.  I don’t know.  Maybe we did have a week off from games, but with the coaches we had, that would just mean two extra practices to fill in usual game days.  But then, we also used wooden bats back then.  And our “baserunning helmets” were basically two strips of thin plastic that only covered the sides of our heads. 

So Cailyn’s team resumed play with a big game against their rival team.  The good guys won the last one by one point.  This time the game went into two extra innings before Cailyn’s team lost by one point this time.  We weren’t at the game, but from her Daddy’s description it sure sounded like a nail biter. 

Where were we?  We drove up into Texas to watch Jachin play against the team that is considered to be League City’s Pony League all star team.  Apparently they have been playing together for a while.  It really showed, too.  One of their players crushed a home run early on, and that set the tone.  Their pitcher was a fireballer who had the good guys swinging and missing a lot.  We did get some hits, though, and even scored against him.  A double and a scratch single, in fact put us ahead in the bottom of the first, but that was the last lead the good guys saw.  It was the last threat, too, until the all stars changed pitchers in the last inning.  Then one of our kids smashed a homer, and we batted around.  Made the score at least a little more respectable.  The final was 18-7.  Jachin did a pretty good job playing first and then doing some relief pitching.  He is just learning the nuances of fielding the position on the mound, and he has really come a long way since he first started.  After the game the coach was talking to him about how to more effectively use his lanky stature to create more of a whip effect on his pitches.  Hope he listens. 

Psalms 39:7 says, “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.”

Father, help me to listen when you have suggestions that will make the best use of who you have made me and make my “life game” more effective.  Amen.

March 19 – “on the move …”

We had a great group of folks at Seaside yesterday.  All ages.  Some weekenders.  Some snowbirds still hanging around.  Some locals.  Even a few brand new to the Island people who were checking us out for the first time.  I talked to one lady about the Galveston schools.  One person told me that she visited about a year ago and remembered doing the “picture things” (Visual Verses).  She wondered if that was something we do every week.  Another discovered she lives right behind one of our regulars.  One of the guys who plays guitar with Jim at his “other job” came, since they had a private party gig right after church.  He jumped right in and played with the praise team.  And dinner on the grounds after church was a real smash hit.  A lot of people stuck around to eat with us, and, as usual, God multiplied the food so we had more than enough.  He certainly appears to be on the move …

Excitement seems to be really building about the upcoming Easter Sunrise service and other Easter activities.  Candy for the egg hunt is trickling in.  Someone offered to start stuffing the Easter egg hunt eggs during the week.  Someone quietly handed me some money to be used for whatever our biggest expenses were for the event.  Another guy, also quietly, asked if he could bring some money next week so that somebody who knew what we really needed could do the buying.  And the sweet lady who is a transplant recipient shared with the group why she is going to be baptized.  Well said, too. 

Oh, and one of my personal favorite anecdotes of the day … Chris stayed home because she hadn’t been feeling well.  I can’t count the number of folks who told me to communicate with her that she was missed (I’m pretty sure the fact that I made a huge deal out of taking responsibility for messing up anything that Chris usually does had nothing to do with it).  But the one I appreciated the most was the little girl, about 3 or 4 years old, who approached me after church.  She is one of the regulars for Chris’ Kids’ Bible Story Time during the sermon every week.  She looked up at me with sad eyes and queried, “Where is Mama Chris?  Why isn’t she here today?”  I told her that Chris wasn’t feeling well.  She continued, “Well, will she be back here on next Sunday?”  I assured her that she would indeed most likely be feeling much better by then.  Her eyes brightened.  A sweet little grin filled her face.  And she frolicked away to join her Mom, casting over her shoulder a parting, “Oh, that’s good.”  Chris, I’m pretty sure you are loved.

Psalms 37:39 says, “The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; he is their stronghold in time of trouble.”

Father, thank you for the expressions of love and unity at Seaside yesterday.  And thank you that Chris is, indeed, feeling better.  Amen.

March 18 – “One in 40”

I received an interesting email yesterday.  It came through the church’s web site.  Seems a lady was interested in being a part of the Easter baptism service.  And not just her, but her sister as well.  I responded with the information and an explanation of what baptism means and how to become a Christian.  She assured me they would meet me at the church at 6 a.m. on Easter to talk about it further.  Exciting stuff.

I was the officiant at a memorial service in the morning.  The guy was a BOI, so I had a connection with him from the start, even though we never met.  From all the accolades he received, he must have been quite an individual.  Jokester, magician and musician all rolled into one.  I know his family and friends will miss him a lot.  The most moving part of the service, though, came when his Mom spoke from the podium.  She struggled through her prepared statements, but it was pretty impressive that she even made the attempt.  People can do amazing things in times of great stress. 

Chris disappeared on me at one point in the afternoon.  I checked for her outside, but she wasn’t there.  I finally found her asleep in the bedroom.  That’s usually a sign of extreme fatigue or she just doesn’t feel good.  Sadly, I’m afraid this time it was a bit of a combination. We decided to take it easy when she woke up.  A quick trip with Brennan across the street to see his newly planted roses.  Then Chris did some reading while I checked on the Texas teams still in the NCAA tournament.  And then we decided to watch a movie.  We have never see Justice League, the new DC movie, and I actually bought it last week when it came out on DVD.  So I made a quick trip to Whatburger so Chris wouldn’t have to cook anything, and we settled in. 

Actually I did have a fun little encounter while waiting in line at Whataburger.  A guy walked in behind me and called out, “Chaplain Vaughan.”  I turned to face him, and knew right away that I didn’t know him.  He hastened to add, “I don’t really know you.  The only reason I said that is because of …” At this I joined him for the finish of his sentence, “… It’s printed on the back of your/my hat.”  (I was wearing my fire department chaplain cap).  I greeted him, and he immediately rushed on (He was quite a jovial guy).  “I’m a believer, too,” he stated, “And I have a riddle for you.  True or false: There nothing that God cannot do.”  I answered, “Well, technically that it false.  God can’t do anything that is not in his nature.”  He went ballistic (in a good way).  He was overwhelmed with excitement.  “I have asked at least 40 people that question and you are the only one who has ever answered correctly.  God cannot sin.  He is the anti-sin.  It is just not in his nature to sin.  You got it right.  The only one out of 40.”  When he finally came up for air I assured him, “Well, I am used to being considered the exception to the rule.”  He shook my hand walked away, mumbling to himself, “He got it right.  First time out of 40 …” 

I picked up my order and headed back to the house.  Chris and I enjoyed watching the film about some other super heroes, some one-in-a-million super heroes.  But I knew in my heart that I was a one-in-forty super hero myself.  Save me a seat at that round table Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Cyborg.  I’m coming to the next meeting …

Psalms 37:37 says, “Consider the blameless, observe the upright; there is a future for the man of peace.”

Father, thank you for fun meetings with fellow believers.  Amen.

March 17 – “On Maewyn Succat”

OK.  This is actually a blog post on St. Patrick.  Well, why not?  My name is Kelley, after all, which was my mother’s maiden name, so it is a family surname.  Yep.  I’ve got some serious Irish in my blood, so I have to know a little bit about my roots.  And St. Patrick is Ireland’s patron saint.  He spread Christianity all through the country back in the 5^th century.

So, this guy St. Patrick was actually born Maewyn Succat in Britain around 386 A.D.  He took on the name Patrick later after he got really involved in his Christian work.  We really don’t know all that much about him, though.  His father and grandfather were apparently both members of the clergy, but he wasn’t raised with a strong emphasis on religion.  I know.  Sounds weird, right?  His parents didn’t even stress education all that much either.  That kind of embarrassed him later in his life. 

When he was 16 years old he was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland.  His job was to tend sheep.  His owner was a high priest of Druidism, the sect of paganism that had huge influence over the country at that time.  Strangely enough, during his six years as a slave Patrick became more and more devoted to Christianity.  He even had a vision where he saw the children of Ireland reaching out to him.  As a result he grew more and more determined to convert the Irish to Christianity.  His dreams didn’t stop there, though.  In another one he got the idea of escaping, and sur enough, he managed to talk some sailors into letting him get onboard their ship.  Problem was, after three days of sailing they had to abandon ship somewhere near France, and wandered around lost for almost a month.  In that month they covered almost 200 miles of territory, and Patrick was eventually reunited with his family.

Patrick next went back to France, this time to study and enter the priesthood.  He always wanted to return to Ireland, and in 432 he was commissioned as a missionary to Ireland.  After some initial resistance, he and his fellow missionaries finally made significant inroads into the country through preaching, writing, and performing countless baptisms.  One of Patrick’s strengths came in his ability to recognize spiritual practices already in place, and incorporate the nature-oriented pagan rituals into church practices.  Many believe that it was Patrick who introduced the Celtic cross that combines the native symbolism involving sun worship with the Christian cross. 

OK.  Here is the part you were wondering about.  There have been many legends that are associated with his life as well.  One is that he introduced the idea of the Holy Trinity in his teaching by using the three-leaved shamrock.  Pretty ingenious, if you ask me.  Of course that part of the teaching got lost in the mix and now it is just seen as a symbol of good luck.  And of course, the best known legend is that of St. Patrick driving away all the snakes from the country.  I always wondered his he managed that one. 

So St. Patrick’s day is March 17^th, the traditional date of his death.  The traditional way to celebrate the religious holiday is to attend church in the morning, and then head out to a traditional meal of cabbage and Irish bacon.  Can’t beat bacon.  Of course, like so many originally religious holidays, St. Patrick’s Day in the West has become more of a cultural, secular celebration of culture and heritage … all things Irish.

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye!

Psalms 37:28 says, “For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones.”

Father, thank you for guys like young Maewyn, who overcame some significant hurdles to follow you.  Inspiring stuff.  Amen.

March 16 – “Snippets”

Ah, March Madness is finally in full swing.  My second favorite time for sports (Following a distant second behind the Astros, of course).  I have been able to watch snippets of several games since the tournament started.  Well, some snippets have been longer snippets than other snippets.  And Chris would probably say all the snippets have been way too long … for snippets.  The Red Raiders (Texas Tech University) and the Cougars (University of Houston) have already won a game.  There is a full slate of games starting around eleven today.  The Aggies (Texas A&M).  The Longhorns (University of Texas).  The Horned Frogs (Texas Christian University).  The Tigers (Texas Southern University).  Sensing a pattern here?  Lots of Texas schools on tap today.  And tomorrow starts the second round, so things should start to get really interesting.  I predict my snippets may get a bit longer, Chris.  Sorry.

We planted the first of Chris’ new supply of plants yesterday.  Two azalea bushes will now try to establish themselves in a battle with an oleander tree for water and nutrients in a corner of the backyard.  The original site planned for them has now been reserved for some knockout roses … yet to be obtained knockout roses.  It looks like there will be two of them battling each other (I assume that’s what knockout roses do.  Why else would they be called “knockout” roses?) next to the bird bath.  A new plan has arisen for the renegade oleanders that sprang up in the front flower bed.  They are destined to be replanted on the other side of the house to take the spot of the two Mexican oleanders that succumbed to the freeze.  It will be interesting to see if they survive or if the neighbor’s yard guys mow ‘em down. 

Great visit with the fire fighters and the administrators down at the central fire station yesterday.  The chief showed me the progress on the new station being built.  It is an exciting venture, for sure.  Dirt work is just about complete, and they are measuring for electrical conduit and plumbing lines.  Shouldn’t be long before the concrete will be set and walls will start to rise.  Keep an eye on that project.  It will be a great addition to the downtown fingerprint.

Psalms 37:25-26 says, “I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.  They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed.”

Father, thank you for basketball and bushes and excited fire chiefs.  Amen.