January 12 – “Revenge of the Creature”

So exactly one week away from our cruise to the Panama Canal.  Chris is rapidly approaching full-on vacation preparation mode …

Meanwhile, yesterday I visited three of the fire stations.  My main purpose at one station was to deliver a baby Bible to one of the new Dads.  Always a fun task.  I also got to meet two of the new hires.  One is a young man originally from France.  Still has a pretty distinct accent.  He said he was trying to lose it, but I encouraged him to own it instead.  Hey, it’s part of who he is.  Our guy from Italy has done that and it has served him well.  The other rookie is a legacy hire.  Don’t get me wrong.  He passed the agility/skills test.  But his Dad is a Galveston fire fighter as well.  He said he felt like he would be fine as a legacy as long as he didn’t grow up to look like his Dad.  Ouch. 

Chris has been playing with our new Christmas toy, Alexa.  Last night Freddy walked out of the room to check out the action in the front yard.  Chris asked, “Alexa.  Where is Freddy?”  Alexa replied, “Freddy is from Angola.”  Well, well.  I always wondered where she came from before she found our car to run into …

We watched an excitingly tragic movie last night.  Black and white.  Totally entranced by it, in fact.  Well, I was.  It was called Revenge of the Creature.  It told the story of the capture of the incredible, horrible Gill Man.  He looks strangely similar to his cousin from further north, the Creature the Black Lagoon.  In this story he is held in a tank at a Sea World type place chained to the bottom.  He falls in love with a female scientist assistant who is also in love with the scientist she works for who is studying the monster.  Ah, love triangles.  They never work.  The Creature manages to escape his tank, though.  He tracks the girl down and kidnaps her, killing her beloved dog, Chris, in the process.  Told you it was a tragedy.  He also killed a couple of kids talking about not going to college.  And how did this thriller end?  Well, I guess I’ll tell you since it is probably impossible to find on DVD or Blue Ray.  The entire police force of the Florida town and a few dozen volunteers track it to one particular lagoon (I told you it was a cousin thing).  They separate the creature from the girl by shining spotlights on them.  Of course the creature can’t stand the light.  Once the girl is safe in the arms of her beloved, the posse starts shooting.  The final scene is of the creature slowly sinking to the bottom.  Is he dead?  Not completely sure.  See the movie began with some guys doing some TNT fishing where they set an explosion and gather up all the stunned fish that float to the surface.  Gill Man was among the floaters, and he was in the same position then.  Could he just be stunned?  Could there be a sequel yet to come?  Hey, maybe that cousin of his could get involved …

James 1:19 says, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.”

Father, help the rookies as they acclimate to the fire department culture.  Keep them safe.  Amen