February 7 – “New and renew”

OK.  Rapid fire results of day one in school.  Met a new friend.  Mommy always told me that was important.  Henry is a mental health guy from Katy Texas.  The other person at our table was Theresa, a cop lady from Baton Rouge.  Both nice and a lot of fun.  Ended up going to lunch with Henry.  Luby’s.  Liver.  It’s been a long time.  Brought back a lot of memories of the salad lady greeting us (Salad?  Aaaight), and the whole line knowing what our request would be when we walked in the door.  In case you didn’t know, there used to be a Luby’s in Galveston.  Went every Tuesday with Mom and Dad and Aunt Betty and Cousin Tammy. 

We tried to get the start time moved to 8:30 since we didn’t start until then today.  No such luck.  Guess I’ll leave at 7 again.  I’ll still have to trust Google Siri, though.  She sent me to the back gate entrance this morning.  Kind of fun. 

Psalms 32:7 says, “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.”

Father, thank you for my new friends.  Keep them safe in the driving they have to do.  Amen.

February 5 – “Back to School”

For the next three days I will be attending a class in critical incident stress management.  Starts at 8 a.m. and ends at 5 p.m. each day.  That means I have to leave the house at 7 to get to the location up in Texas.  I still have to come up with some time to prepare for Sunday’s teaching as well.   That means blog prep time will be seriously curtailed.  Sorry about that.  So here goes day one …

Psalms 31:23-24 says, “Love the Lord, all his saints!  The Lord preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.  Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.”

Father, help us all learn something from these classes to make us more effective in ministry to first responders.  Amen.

            

February 5 – “The Interviews”

Another one is in the books.  Well, it will be as soon as I finish writing about it.  Last night was our annual Super Bowl Commercial Party.  Now this year we approached it a little differently.  Since former Texan Case Keenum and his Vikings didn’t make it to the Big Show, and with all the controversy surrounding “The Kneelings,” not a whole lot of people around here cared one way or another about the football game.  And honestly, the commercials have been a little weak over the last two years as well. 

So this year we added a third component.  Games.  Folks were encouraged to bring along their favorite board games to play while waiting for a good commercial or for Tom Brady to get sacked.  I think the idea went over well.  There was always a game of something going on at the table.  Sounded like Exploding Cats was the favorite.  Hey, I’ve never played it, but you can’t beat a game called Exploding Cats.  Now we still had the game related to what was happening around us.  Ed and Cory and Sarah all won prizes for the Bingo game.  Ed won the prize for filling in the most spaces on his card.  A 12 pack of Pepsi.  Gotta stick with the advertiser theme, you know.  Micah, however, worked extremely hard to figure out the clues to the scavenger hunt, and even though a few of his numbers didn’t exactly match mine, he was close enough to warrant a double candy victory.  Giant Nestles crunch bar and big bag of Skittles.  Way to go all you winners. 

The commercials were actually not terrible.  With so much going on, I had a very hard time hearing any of them, but by far the most aesthetically pleasing, and just downright funny, was the one with Eli Manning and his receiver doing the Dirty Dancing scene.  That youngster Eli must be stronger than he looks, because he absolutely nailed the dance lift over his head. 

The absolute highlight of the night, however, came unexpectedly from the football game.  After the Eagle underdogs knocked off the mighty Patriots, the award presentation began, and with it came the interviews.  Aside from the team owner accepting the trophy, there were three interviews.  The first was, of course, the Eagles coach.  Then came the guy who caught the winning touchdown pass.  And finally came the game MVP, the Eagles quarterback.  Three interviews.  And to a man, three acknowledgments of “Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”  That, ladies and gentlemen, is called getting your priorities in line.  Thank you for that. 

Psalms 31:3 says, “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.”

Father, honor the faith confessions of those three footballers.  Amen.

February 4 – “Never ending something …”

So what do you do on a miserable, chilly, wet day in Galveston?  Well, if you’re not planning to brave the elements and attend one or more of the Mardi Gras parades and events, you hang out inside and … get creative.

Cailyn was here with us in the morning until her Mom came to pick her up.  After a hearty breakfast of apple turnovers, the three of us played some pretty competitive games of Kings in the Corner.  That’s a modified solitaire card game, if you have never heard of it.  Lots of fun.  Zak and Caleb taught us that one.

When Cailyn left, Chris pulled out her quilting, so she was pretty well set for the rest of the day.  Well, except for the interlude when she swept the floors.  Sometimes dog hairs just get the best of her.  Since it was Saturday, that was my cue to pull out the teaching for Sunday and do some polishing.  Oh, I considered making a run over and watching some of the college softball games.  Briefly.  I briefly considered it.  Way too cold to play softball, much less sit and watch it. 

I did catch some basketball, though.  College games abound on TV on Saturdays, so I was just fine in that department.  Way better than the NBA and whatever game that is they claim to play.  You just can’t beat the exuberance of college athletics.

Oh, and movies.  We also watched two movies that we had never seen.  They were the first two in a trilogy called Maze Runner.  Bunch of immune teenagers in a futuristic society hold the key to saving the world from destruction by disease.  I really liked them both.  And we found out the last one is on its last leg at theaters right now, so it shouldn’t be long before it is on DVD or even Netflix.  Can’t wait to see the final chapter. 

OK, so much for the Sunday random snippets version.  Gotta go over that teaching again and get ready for church.  Great life, the ministry.  Never ending something, so you take the quiet days when you can.

Psalms 30:11-12 says, “You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.  O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.”

Father, thank you for relatively quiet days.  Keep the first responders and revelers safe this weekend and next.  Amen.

February 3 – “It means what?”

I tried to get ahead on some of next week’s work yesterday.  Starting Tuesday I have a Critical Incident Stress Management Team training class for three full days.  Starts at 8 a.m. each day and lasts until 5 p.m.  Sounds like some serious classwork to me.  And it is in League City somewhere, so I have to do the commute thing as well.  Not much time left to do silly things like prepare sermons.  It didn’t take long for Chris to realize what I was doing, though.  She didn’t hesitate to remind me that Friday is supposed to be my “day off.”  Yeah, we thought it was kind of funny, too. 

In a remarkable show of good faith, I invited her to go on a spur of the moment date with me.  The Galveston College Whitecaps ladies softball team was hosting a big tournament over at the airport fields.  I thought it would be a nice outing for us.  Sadly, however, she declined.  Something about not wanting to watch softball with a 30 mile an hour north wind in her face and a wind chill of 47 degrees.  Well, I tried.  Oh, I did go over to watch some of the games.  I hoped to see the Whitecaps, but they were running about an hour behind schedule on that field.  Of course.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, the game being played was pretty exciting.  Lots of offense.  The entire Whitecaps team was sitting in the stands watching, so I guess technically I did get to see them.  Their scheduled opponents weren’t content to just sit and watch, however.  They were staying loose and agile.  How, you might ask?  They were engaged in a rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose.  When yet another inning began on the field, I decided it was time to leave.  I was just too cold.  I wish someone had told me it was going to be so chilly …

Cailyn came over to have a sleepover with Nani.  The two of them spent most of the evening sewing together a replica of Scooter’s head (Cailyn’s Boston Bull Terrier).  To close out the evening we sat across the room from each other and played a game of Words With Friends.  Cailyn and pretty much smoked me.  Of course she had Chris’ help.  See, Chris plays that game against her friends all the time, so she has learned all the obscure words that are acceptable - like Xi.  What in the world is a xi?  Oh, I looked it up.  Aside from being the proper name of a letter in the Greek alphabet (which would not be a legal usage), xi is an unstable elementary particle of the baryon family existing in negative and neutral charge states with masses respectively 2585 and 2572 times the mass of an electron.  Of course it is. 

Psalms 30:5 (One of my all-time favorites) says, “weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

Father, keep those young ladies warm today as they finish up that tournament.  And keep the first responders safe as they deal with Mardi Gras revelers.  Amen.

February 2 – “Siegfried”

It is that day once again.  The one time of the year when all eyes are on one solitary creature designated as the harbinger of cold – or perhaps somewhat warmer – days ahead.  And it all hinges on this small being’s ability to see a shadow.  Oh, not just any shadow, however.  The one that looms before him must be … his own.  I pretty sure there is some psychological application to that scenario for the poor beast, but I don’t know what it is.  So who is this prognosticator of weather phenomena?  Well, he is known throughout the galaxy, so I’m fairly certain you have heard of him.  The name he has affectionately been given by those of us who know and love the little critter is …

Siegfried Sandcrab, of course.  And his prediction for the weather in 2018?  No shadows at all on his stretch of beach this morning.  That’s good news.  It means winter is essentially behind us here on our tropical island paradise.  None of the six more weeks of winter pall hanging over our heads.  Bring on the sunshine.  Bring on the heat.  We’ve had enough snow for another 15 or 20 years.

Oh, what’s that?  The rodent?  You want to know about that Northeastern Interloper the media has pushed to the front pages of newspapers and internet sites.  Well I had a hunch you would want to know about that guy, too.  Not that his predictions have any effect on weather here in our country called Galveston Island.  But here it is anyway.  At around 6:30 a.m. central time the little rodent was dragged from his warm hole and forced to face the media.  And the answer all of you mainlanders await with bated breath … Punxsutawney Phil was once again terrified by the plethora of shadows surrounding him, not just his own, but his handler’s and the cameraman’s and the food truck guy’s and … well, you get the picture.  So, I’m sorry, Northeasters.  Six more weeks of horrifyingly cold weather for you.  Can’t stand it?  Come on down to Galveston and visit old Siegfried Sandcrab.  He’ll show you a pinchin’ good time.

Psalms 30:4-5 says, “Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name.  For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.”

Father, thank you for the weather we are blessed with here on the Island.  Amen.

January (oops) February 1 – “Fire Report – The Old School Way”

Well, there it is.  I made it through a whole month without putting 2017 on anything, and here I mess up on the first day of February.  For sure a short month, it sure has been a jam-packed one for us.  Two of our kids were born in February.  That right there is enough stress.  Then you pile on there Valentine’s Day, which this year doubles as Ash Wednesday.  We might just need a day or two … away.  More to come …

Last night I went to a fire call with the Galveston Fire Department.  I didn’t get there until about 45 minutes after the call came through, so the flames had already been knocked down.  The sad, and even unbelievable, part of this one was the fact that less than an hour after the call went out, the media was already reporting a death and an injury involved.  I get them wanting to scoop the competition.  After all, I grew up reading about Lois Lane and Clark Kent doing the whole scooping thing.  But the address was already out there, so how can you report a death in particular before making sure all next of kin have been notified?  My little blog reports are certainly not picked up by major news outlets, but I still do my best to be respectful.  Guess I’m just old school in that regard. 

Our Galveston fire department meanwhile did another masterful job.  They arrived on scene quickly, made their way inside to do the search, and worked together to rapidly and efficiently get the survivor out of the structure and into the hands of EMS personnel.  Sadly, there was a fatality.  And a lone fire fighter was assigned the duty of respectfully watching over the body of the deceased victim.  Fire crews stepped in and battled the blaze and, as I said earlier, had the entire thing extinguished in less than an hour. 

Fire Marshall Harrison was on scene, already beginning his preliminary investigation into cause.  Another Marshall from his office was also on the scene to lend his expertise as well.  I saw Herman as I was leaving the scene.  In his warm way, he took my hand, pulled me into an embrace, and said not the expected, “Good bye.”  Instead what I heard was a quiet, “Love ya.”  That meant a lot.  Back at ya, my friend.

Fire Chief Mike Wisko was on scene to support operations and to expertly field queries from the press.  He touched base with me as he left the scene on his way to the hospital to check on the victim.  Thanks for going the extra mile in showing compassion, Chief. 

I can’t say enough about the privilege of being connected to such a body of public servants.  Galveston, know this.  We are incredibly blessed.  Appreciate it.

Psalms 29:10-11 says, “The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever.  The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Father, be with the family of the victims of the fire last night.  Give the fire fighters rest today as they go off shift.  Amen.