September 7 – “Chalking one up for old school”

I was awakened early this morning.  3:01 a.m. to be exact.  My phone had made an unusual sound, and the light on it was still on.  So, awake now and curious, I picked it up to check out the odd intrusion.  It was a voice mail notification.  But wait.  The phone did not ring.  Why would there be a voice mail?  Now intrigued, I cautiously listened to the message, worried that perhaps one of our kids was calling or maybe one of the Seasiders or fire fighters needed me.  But, no.  Strangely enough it was the voice mail connected to a call that had been made about the middle of the day before to remind me of my hearing aid appointment, which by the time I got the voice mail had come and gone.  Good thing I had it written down on my paper calendar book.  Chalk one up for old school.

After said hearing aid appointment (where I found out, by the way, that my warranty is about to run out, so I guess they will be the next things to break down), I headed to fire station number one.  Trish had emailed and let me know that someone had delivered a box full of New Testaments.  “That’s your department,” she told me, so I was going to pick them up and see what the best use of them would be.  The crew got back shortly after I arrived, so I hung out talking with them for a long time before three of them joined me to go up to Trish’s office.  Of course she wasn’t at her desk when we first got there, so one of the battalion chiefs joined our banter.  Before long a lady walked in and rather sheepishly asked if one of us could possibly come with her and help her out.  Now, the lady was pregnant, so the guys slowly began to shift into EMS mode.  But then she continued.  “We are smelling something in the break room around the corner.  It smells kind of like burning rubber.”  And in an instant the transition was made right before my eyes.  The faces of the fire fighters immediately reflected their concentration.  Their brows furrowed.  Their eyes narrowed.  One of them gently assured the lady that they would come with her, and they left, walking quickly down the long hallway to the city offices side of the building.  When they reach the turn, they recognized the smell, and a haze was filling the hallway.  One called back to the battalion chief to please get a thermal imager.  He rushed to comply.  He also informed the city’s director of facilities to get him involved as well.  I stayed back out of the way until the chief told me I needed to go on down there and check it out.  I told him it would be exciting to be able to tell my wife that I had been to a fire all morning.  He said he wanted to be able to put my name in the “official” report.  Right.  By the time I arrived the smoke had pretty much dissipated, but the smell was still quite evident.  The fire fighters were in full-on efficiency mode.  It appeared that the problem was in the motor of one of the coke machines, but if so, it had stopped smoking.  The guys were double-checking the other machines in the room as well as the ballasts in all the lights and the electric outlets in the walls.  I had to leave shortly after that, but the headlines this morning didn’t read, “City Hall and Fire Department Station One Burns to the Ground,” so I guess the guys did their jobs … again.  Nice job, fellas.  I’m proud of you. 

Yesterday afternoon we got a phone call blast from the past.  Some good friends from way back in our Arlington days were on their way to a weekend in Crystal Beach, and the wanted to stop by our house on their way.  Absolutely.  We haven’t seen Steve and Susan in years, although we did follow their recent trip to Germany on FaceBook.  We talked about hurricanes and house renovations and of course grandchildren.  It was a great time of reminiscing.  Can’t beat the old friendships that just refuse to go away. 

Psalms 97:10 says, “Let those who love the Lord hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked.”

Father, thank you for early morning phone messages (I suppose).  Thank you for fire fighters who absolutely know their job.  Take care of them as they do it.  And thank you for great friends.  Be with Steve and Susan as they enjoy their weekend together.  Amen.