December 14 – “Pall Bearer”

We are heading to a funeral today.  Chris' mother's sister died a few days ago, and the service is at a church in Needville, Texas.  We went to the visitation last night, which was at a funeral home in Rosenberg, Texas.  The death was unexpected, so they had to do some scrambling to get all the arrangements done.  A grandson was on active military duty in Afghanistan, so they contacted him and he was able to make arrangements to get home on emergency leave.  Chris has a pretty tight-knit family group.  Lots of cousins.  And the last six months there have been four or five deaths in the family, so they have gotten together more in that six months than they have in years.  It's fun to watch them together.  It reminds me of that Olive Garden commercial on TV when the guy says their gathering feels just like they are back at the kids' table for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner.  Lots of remembering going on, which is very healthy.   While we there Chris found out that her aunt had made an unusual request.  Ordinarily, the way of the family has been that all the guy cousins act as pall bearers at the funeral service.  That's the way it was when Chris' Mom died.  But Aunt Hope wanted something different.  She said the guys always had to do the dirty work, so … since she had lost a lot of weight, she wanted the cousin girls to be her pall bearers.  Nice call, Aunt Hope.  Different is good.   But that meant Chris had to have a white shirt and black slacks.  That's the "required attire" in these family situations.  So on the way home we stopped at a JC Penney's and found her a very nice white shirt.  She already had the pants.  Now she's all set.  Needville, here we come.   2 Corinthians 9:15 says, "Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!"   Father, bring peace and comfort to this great family.  Amen.

December 13 – “On Christmas shopping”

So what is there about Christmas shopping that makes it different from, say, birthday party shopping, or anniversary celebration shopping, or grocery shopping?  Or how about car shopping or house hunting (isn't that just, in the grand scheme of things, another form of shopping?) or shopping in general?    I've been shopping with Chris many times over our years together.  She always makes out an elaborate list with everyone's name on it.  Then she fills in the gifts as we find them.  But finding them is not always an easy task.  Many times she has "something" in mind, but apparently she can't exactly tell me what that is.  She'll give me a vague idea, and I'll start pulling out options to see if it would match up with her vision for that person.  Needless to say, that can take a long time.  It's kind of fun for me, though.  Not so much for her.  She can get frustrated with my "choices" for some reason.  It's better when she can get a spouse or someone to give her a "Santa's List" for the person.  Then it's just a matter of checking off the list.  Unless, of course, there are clothes involved.  That means colors and sizes – variables that are necessary but hard to remember (for me).     I say why not this:  throughout the year, as you see something that would be a cool gift that you would like yourself, buy it right then and take it home.  Then, when it comes time for a birthday or Christmas or any other gift-appropriate occasion, lay them all out on the bed or a table, and match them up with the most recent recipient.     Or here's another variation on that same theme.  It's basically my own style of shopping that has certainly worked well for me over the years.  I just get a specific person in mind.  Then I try to immerse myself in that person: what do I know about them?  What things have I seen them doing for fun?  What issues have proven important to them?  What have they talked about lately?  With all that in mind, I can then go into a store – any store - even a dollar store – and find something that reminds me of that person – a particular quirk, or a memorable event that connects us or something they said that seemed random at the time, but that can be used to come back to haunt them at gift-giving time.  Sure makes it fun for me to see if they make the same connection when they open the gift that I made when I got it.  Of course, Chris is not so much into that style of giving.   So a few years ago I started giving special "Dad Gifts" to my sons and daughters-in-law and to Mom and Chris as well.  That way Chris doesn't have to take the blame.   Proverbs 18:16 says, "A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great."   Father, help the people who receive gifts from us this Christmas feel like "great ones."  Amen.

December 12 – “Caroling at the Corner”

Did you ever go Christmas caroling much when you were a kid?  For me it was never a family thing, but I do remember one time after I was in junior high school.  A group of friends were going to go around our neighborhood.  I decided it would be fun to accompany the group.  Accompany as in play a musical instrument.  I had a problem, though.  In the first place, the only musical instrument I knew how to play was the cornet.  That would be cornet as in the brass thing that is kind of like a trumpet.  I'm still not sure what the exact difference between the two is, but they both make the same kind of sounds – loud.  That's what appealed to me in the first place.    So I decided to get out my cornet and be the accompanist for the neighborhood Christmas Carol Choir.  I wouldn't have any problem with the cold, because it never gets really cold in Galveston.  Except that one year when it snowed Christmas Eve.  That was nice.  But if we had been in Colorado my mouth might have stuck to the horn and become a permanent fixture.  I still don't miss twenty degrees below zero.  No.  Cold was not a problem.   The problem was I didn't know any Christmas songs.  We hadn't gotten that far yet.  Remember, I was just in junior high.  I could barely remember which fingers to use to make the notes.  And I didn't know that many notes, either.  And Christmas carols are notorious for using some very strange notes.  And there was no such thing as the internet back then, so I couldn't just go online and download the music.  Come on.  You're not even supposed to do that now.  Isn't it illegal?   I did find out how to play one song, though.  And in my junior high mind, that would surely be enough to wow the world with my expertise.  I remember setting out with my cornet in one hand and my cheat sheet of music in the other.  We walked up to the first house and rang the doorbell.  And as the homeowners opened it we started right in.  Now, I didn't play on the first song.  But the people saw the horn.  I know because they pointed at it.  I didn't sing the second song either.  Or the third.  I think we finally got to my specialty on the fourth or fifth song, and I let 'er rip.  Everybody in our little group jumped when I blared the first notes, but to their credit, they kept singing.  And they kept up.  I didn't have much of a concept of timing yet either.  Not that I'm any better now.  But we got through it, and the people clapped and said thank you, and even gave us some cookies.  People back then always had cookies around to give to carolers.    We made it to a lot of houses that night.  And if I do say so myself, I'm pretty sure we got better and better.  And I know I got, well, louder and louder.  That was the only time I can ever remember cornetting with the carolers.  And I think it went down in history in the neighborhood as well.  It was the night that Vaughan kid blasted the ears of Gulf Village with Jingle Bells on the horn.  People were so kind back then.   Oh.  We did some caroling tonight at church.  We stood on the corner by the stop light and sang to the Lord.  Caroling at the Corner.  It was lots of fun.  Cars were waving as they passed.  Actually it was the people in the cars that waved.  Except for one car.  It waved right over and pulled the wrong way down a one way street so it could pull over and hear our concert.  Surprisingly, it didn't cause any traffic problems.  The lady driving finally realized what she was doing and pulled on into the parking lot and joined us.  They were visiting down here from Illinois or Michigan or somewhere up there where it's too cold to go caroling on the corner.  Or anywhere else for that matter.  She had a great time.  The hot chocolate was ready to go when we got back inside.  What a night.  I kind of missed the cornet, though.  Maybe next year.   Luke 2:8-18 says, "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.'  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,         'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.'  When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.'  So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them."   Father, thank you for carols and cold and kids and Christmas.  Amen.

December 11 – “On White Elephants”

So what is the deal when you get invited to a White Elephant Party?  It's my understanding that originally the whole point was to wrap up something you already have that you don't particularly want.  That's what a white elephant is.  Unless, of course you are referring to some kind of rare albino creature in Africa or India or a zoo or wherever elephants live and have baby elephants that get born with huge ears that make it able to fly or with different a color of skin (is it called skin on an elephant?).  The thing that makes it different makes it less valuable to the group and hence the group doesn't really want it around.  So they make fun of it and call it names and don't let it play in any special elephant games.  Does any of this sound vaguely familiar to anyone else?    OK.  So from those roots we get the Christmas White Elephant Party.  That's when everyone just brings some kind of random wrapped gift, they are all thrown under the tree, and one at a time a person from the group opens one while everyone watches.  Then if the next person in line likes that gift, he can simply take it instead of unwrapping one himself.  Invariably one of three things happens.    1.  No one wants to "steal" a nice gift.  Wouldn't want to hurt somebody's feelings, right?  Especially if you would be the first one to do it.  That's too risky.  So everybody unwraps one, keeps what he got, and all go home, some somewhat disappointed, others elated, and no one particularly has a sense of having had fun.    2.  Or the one really good gift changes hands so often that a special rule has to be made up that one gift can only be in three different people's hands.  After that it is frozen.  At least in this case strategy comes into play, along with alliances and promises.  It becomes a microcosm of a TV reality show, which is supposed to be a microcosm of life, isn't it?  And we all go home feeling philosophical.  And kind of angry that we never got a chance at the "good stuff."   3.  Or none of the gifts is particularly appealing in the first place.  Ah, sad, but true.  In many cases the gifts turn out to be really and truly junk.  How could anyone really wrap up an old vacuum cleaner motor?  Or a broken broom?  Or a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle with only 497 of the pieces included?  Now you have to be careful with "prizes" like that.  For sometimes the Unknown Wrapper sneaks in a tiny surprise for the unsuspecting recipient.  Maybe a five dollar bill rolled up and stuffed into an obscure corner.  Or perhaps a gift card hidden in the pages of a 300 page coffee table book on the Mating Habits of Transitory Egyptian Butterflies.  You never know.   Sometimes groups set a price limit on white elephant purchases.  That's a subtle way of telling everyone not to bring real unvalued junk, so everyone can leave with the idea that he at least got $5 worth of recently purchased junk.  In places where the parties are customary year after year, and the group members often remain the same, it is a lot of fun to rewrap one particular gift and have it reappear and find a new home for the year.  Kind of like a traveling trophy.  I remember a certain grass skirt that fell into that category at one time.    Oh.  Here's an interesting White Elephant custom that is apparently not universal.  At some of the parties, after the grand opening time and before they leave for home, the guests discreetly hide their White Elephant treasures in the house of the host so that they can be blessed with an abundance of cheer as the discover them over the course of the days and weeks to come.    We are going to a White Elephant Party next Wednesday.  And we have some white elephants coming over here next Thursday.  Time to start scrounging around to see what we can find that will truly "bless" someone.  Right.   James 1:17 says, "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."   Father, thank you for showing us over and over what a "good gift" looks like.  Amen.

December 10 – “Baby Talk”

It is fun to listen to people talk about babies.  Especially when one couple in the group has just found out they are going to have one.  That happened at our home group last night.  The couple sat through the entire Bible study without saying anything about it.  Then we went into our prayer time and several people shared needs and concerns they had about divorce and dying and other sad things.  Finally the young wife said, with a smile that couldn't be deterred, "On a brighter note, we, my husband and I, are expecting a baby."     "On a brighter note."  I should say so.  We did our best to focus on completing the prayer time without slighting all the other important requests.  And at the final "Amen," the next thing said was, as expected, "So a new baby?  Yay!"  And from that point on the discussion was riveted.  "How far along are you?"  Have you decided on names?"     They were both from somewhere up by Cleveland or Illinois - one of those North Texas places, and they are going up there for the Christmas holidays.  And they have not yet revealed their secret to the parents.  So that became a topic of discussion.  We had to help them out with ideas.  Perhaps handing them a Christmas card addressed to "The Grandparents."  Maybe walk in wearing t-shirts emblazoned with some catchy phrase like, "I'm not fat.  I'm pregnant."  I didn't think that would work, because by no stretch of the imagination does she even look like she's pregnant yet.  One idea was to sneak the ultrasound picture up on the mantle next to the other family pictures and see if anyone notices.  The husband's idea was to walk in the door and say, "Hi, Mom.  Hi, Dad.  So we're pregnant."  Where's the fun in that?  Come on, Dad.  Be creative.  To his credit, he did come up with the idea of making the announcement in Biblical form.  Something like, "Unto us a child will be born …"  Great for the season.  They promised to let us know what they chose.    The conversation soon turned to the delivery itself.  I guess it was doomed to end up there.  Two pediatric nurses on hand was just too great a temptation, although from my limited experience in situations like these, all it takes is two women and the discussion will end up there eventually.  Entertaining was a good word for this part of the evening.  The new Mom started out by indicating her excitement at discovering the availability of a wonderful tool at hospitals.  Seems she heard that there is a little button you can be hooked up to that allows you to pump in pain relief any time you need it.  Sounded like she was all for pain relief.  Sure sounded good to me.  From there, though, they started talking about natural childbirth and midwives.  She was very interested in that option as well.  Seemed to me like that was comparing apples and oranges, though.  Can't really go from total pain avoidance to embracing the pain as a natural part of the process, can you?  She was serious about looking into it, though, so we got her the name of a renowned group that practices out of St. Luke's in Houston.  Speaking of names, the name of one of the midwives there sparked a lot of interest among the guys in our group.  You'll have to check with one of the guys to see if he remembers it.   Luke 1:41-45 says, "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"   Father, bless the little baby that has begun life, and continue the joy in the parents' lives.  Amen.

December 9 – “Wrapping up”

I did a very un-Galveston-like thing this morning.  I wrapped the exposed pipes in our back yard and put those faucet caps on the other two exposed faucets that come out of the house.  It felt very strange doing it while it was fairly warm outside.  Most of the time I wait until the forecast has been verified and they really and truly do expect a freeze on the Island.  Freezes are so few and far between here that I honestly don't pay a lot of attention to the television weather forecasters.  It's nice to see if they think it might rain on the days we have to go into Texas, but it has too often happened that the rain or the freeze line stops at the causeway for some strange reason.     We have three faucets that come out of the framework of the house now.  There used to be just two, but the plumbers after Hurricane Ike said we needed another one.  The one in the back yard stays covered up all year anyway.  That's the only one that has ever frozen, so I guess I have done a little overkill on wrapping it.  The one in the front is facing North, so it's really the main one I try to get covered.  One of those caps fits it well.  The new one is on the side of the house.  It used to be the cut off valve for the house.  It still is, but now it also has a faucet.  I always forget it is there.  Thirteen years without it.  Two with it.  Long term memory trumps short term every time.  The pipe coming out of the ground stays wrapped, and I found a flexible cap that wraps around the new faucet.   That's what I need to look for in the last pipe.  It comes randomly up out of the ground back by a flowerbed in the back yard.  That means I had to wrap the pipe as well as the faucet back there.  The pipe was no problem.  I used some of that foam stuff they sell at WalMart.  The head was a little tougher.  I didn't have another of the flexible ones, so it got the old-timey newspaper and duct tape solution.  Should be fine unless it gets into the teens or something outrageous like that.   We actually have four other pipes sticking up from the ground.  They all are connected to an old well the previous owners dug years ago.  It didn't work when we moved in, and we haven't taken the time or money to see if it is worth pursuing fixing it.  So they remain.  Useless, white rods of pvc pipe with faucet heads on top.  I guess we should keep them as is.  They make for great decoys during water balloon fights.     Psalms 90:14 says, "Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days."   Father, give us some of that satisfaction.  Joy and Gladness are pretty tasty icing on the cake of your love.  Amen.

December 8 – “Who is who and where is what”

OK.  I had a talk with Chris yesterday about naming the buildings at Seaside to make it easier to tell them apart.  At some point the "new" building is not really going to be a new building, and it seems like the "old" building has always been old.  What else could it be?  It was the original real estate building for Jamaica Beach back when the area was a few fishing shacks and a lot of marshlands.  It also was the original home of Coastal Creations.  They have done quite well since departing.   So I thought it was a good idea to come up with names for the two buildings.  I introduced the idea on the church website in my article there.  My idea was to name them after hurricanes.  Sure.  Rita and Ike.  But wait.  There is a Rita who is a regular at church.  Can't use that one.  Maybe Allison, then.  That was a Tropical Storm that caused a lot of flooding several years ago.  The Seaside building was kind of a high place during that one.  People came and parked their cars in the parking lot.     I didn't get any responses from the website.  So where else was I to go but to Chris?  I asked what she thought about the hurricane name idea.  Chris is a master at being kind when she disagrees with me.  She asked why those particular hurricanes.  I think she was buying time so she could formulate what she wanted to say.     I finally said something about a church we saw in Fort Worth with three buildings named Faith, Hope, and Love.  That was the opening she was looking for.  And it didn't take long for her to present her case.  So here's the new thinking.  We could call the old building Hope.  The old girl has been through numerous storms through her years on the Island, and she has never been destroyed.  That makes her, by default, a bastion of Hope.  I know after Ike hit we talked a lot about hope in reference to her.  Except then it was, "We sure hope that building is still around."  We really didn't expect her to be.  So Hope makes sense for that one.    And no one will argue that the new building has been a work of Faith.  She was built after Hurricane Ike – new construction while people were trying to rebuild their homes.  She was built without borrowing anything, a combination of unbelievable frugality, unexpected financial offerings, and unprecedented volunteerism.  The school is operating on faith.  And month-to-month God keeps the doors open just as we need it.  She is a great symbol of faith.   So now I'll try to remember who is who and where is what.  Hope is old and looks to the future.  Faith is now and reflects day-to-day living with Jesus.  That just leaves Love from the Big Three in 1 Corinthians.  And the Love here at Seaside?  Of course.  It's not a building at all.  Love is the great people God has placed here.     As 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, "And now, these three remain: Faith, Hope, and Love.  But the greatest of these is love."   Father, thank you for the tools of ministry you have given us in those buildings.  Thank you for the Hope you inspire in us.  And the Faith you call forth.  But especially for the Love you place in the hearts of believers.  Amen.