Friday, April 3, 2020

April 3 – “Searchin’ for the space station”


I have a new word to add to your vocabulary.  It’s one of those coronavirus-inspired gems we have all come to know and love.  How about … “essentialling”?  Have an idea what it means already?  Well, everybody knows that you are essentialling when you break quarantine and head to the grocery store or pharmacy to buy “just the essentials” as outlined by national, state, or local guidelines.  Put it in your dictionary right next to “social distancing.”

Did you hear about the April Fool’s joke that caught a few folks?  Seems the International Space Station was supposed to hover right over Galveston around mid-afternoon.  People were encouraged to take a picture of themselves waving to it as they tried to spot it in the bright afternoon sky.  And I heard more than a few folks were hoodwinked, including a certain elementary school teacher who shall remain nameless to protect her identity.  Being the awesome teacher that she is, she even notified her students of the phenomenon.  Love it.

I noticed our neighbors outside around that time, so I discreetly took a picture of one of them gazing into the cloudless sky.  Then I went outside and joined in with their young son as we waved and waved, hoping to be seen by actual astronauts.  It was great fun, and an excuse to be outside.  Now, you do understand that the space can indeed be seen on occasion.  It looks like a star, slowly moving across the sky.  However … like every other star you have ever seen, it is only visible at night, or maybe in some circumstances early morning or dusk.  But never in mid-afternoon.  Sorry, folks … April Fool’s.

We received a really great gift yesterday.  As I noted in an earlier post, we put out some palm crosses on our porch here at the house as well as on the porch at church.  Yesterday was the first day available, and several of our neighbors stopped by to grab one.  One who came was a Dad of one of our little guys at church.  And he didn’t come empty-handed.  He gave us a bottle of hand sanitizer.  It’s one of the new creations from a local distillery that revamped their machinery to create hand sanitizer instead of vodka.  Amazing gift.  Thanks so much guys.  That is truly a treasure.

Isaiah 55:11 says, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Father, thank you for the fun of celebrating a great joke and for the expression of love in a bottle of hand sanitizer.  Amen.

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