October 23 – “Let’s all cheer …”

Well, we hosted another Astros watch party last night.  This one was for the opening game of the World Series.  Kel and his whole family came over.  So did Lauren and Ed and Sam and Cathy from church.  Sam is the one who loves Jose Altuve, the Astros’ second baseman.  Ed and Lauren gifted her with a t-shirt in honor of the occasion.  It has the image of a heart-shaped baseball on the front, emblazoned with Altuve’s name and number.  Perfect for Sam.  She immediately went and put it on.  She also faithfully played the Altuve Polka on her phone every time he came to bat.  That’s one smitten fan right there. 

The house was one constant stream of chaos, with Ezra and Noa playing on the floor and the ladies (except for Sam, of course) talking at the table, and the sound turned up on the TV, which didn’t really help, because I couldn’t hear it anyway.  On a positive note about that … at least I didn’t have to listen to Joe Buck try to be a commentator.  Ed left the room a time or two, and the Astros fell apart.  I left once to blow my nose and the Nationals hit a home run.  None of the ordinary superstitions were having any effect.  Not even Jachin’s rally cap efforts.  I guess we needed to have Sarah Anderson back so we could send her out of the room.  That seemed to work last time the Astros were in the Series. 

The snacks people brought were good, though.  I really like that seven layer dip stuff.  And you just can’t beat plain old French Onion Dip, Fritos, Doritos and Chris’ sweet tea.  And of course the whole point of a party is to hang out with great people.  We sure had that one covered.  Great folks to enjoy the game with, for sure.

We’ll more than likely host another game sometime over the weekend.  I hope to be feeling better by then.  I understand Ed and Lauren are OK with people watching tonight’s game at their house.  At this point I think I may just stay home and sip some hot tea and listen to the Altuve Polka and cheer on the offense.  Yordan finally got some hits last night, even if he did strike out with the bases loaded.  Hey … lots of pressure for a youngster.  So did Yuli.  Oh, and Tucker got a pinch hit off the bench.  Springer hit a home run – his fifth World Series game in a row doing that (a record), and narrowly missed a second.  Altuve was … Altuve.  Things seem to be coming around.  Keep ‘em coming …

Proverbs 22:4 says, “Humility is the fear of the Lord; its wages are riches and honor and life.”

Father, thanks for friends and family to share fun events with.  Amen.

October 22 – “Willy, the Wood Thrush”

We had an unexpected visitor yesterday.  I was watching TV and blowing my nose for the umpteenth time.  Yep, allergies.  Still.  Or maybe it has morphed into an actual Fall cold.  Chris was working on a quilt at the table.  Suddenly she heard a distinct bump near our all-glass back door.  I didn’t hear it.  Said extended allergy attack has made my hearing even worse than it was before.  All I heard was the hum of the TV.  No idea what was on.  Sneeze.  Snort.

So Chris was the one who rose from her seat and walked over to the door.  And what should she see lying still on the ground near the door?  Yep.  A bird.  Now it’s not all that unusual for birds to make the suicidal attempt to join us in the house.  It has happened before.  Occupational hazard in the daily life of a city bird, I suppose.  But ever since our resident hawk has moved on, we have begun to see more and more bird life in the back yard.  Add to that the fact that migration season has begun for many more species, and you have country birds who are trying to make their way through Galveston to greener pastures much further south. 

I joined Chris at the back door to check out the latest attempted interloper.  Poor thing was lying on its side.  I went on back there to check on him.  Chris held on to Freddy to keep her curiosity from being the death of the poor little critter.  I gently scooped him up in both hands.  He made a feeble attempt to flutter away, but was unsuccessful in even getting to a standing position.  I checked him over for any obvious signs of serious injury.  Now I’m not a vet, so I didn’t even know what I was looking for.  There was no blood anywhere though. 

Chris joined me and began taking pictures of the beastie.  He remained very groggy, but consented to nestle closely into my hands.  As is her expertise, Chris began googling to see just what kind of bird it was.  Our best guess was Wood Thrush.  And with that we had a name … Willy Wood Thrush.  Look it up.  His picture is right there under google images wood thrush.  I have no idea why they call that species “thrush,” though.  Isn’t that also some kind of disease you get in your mouth?

We decided to put him on the table out back to keep him off the ground and away from Freddy’s curious eyes.  By this time he was able to stand on his own, with just an occasional list to one side.  That was his preferred position for the next hour or so.  Chris discovered on the internet (And how could it be wrong?  They only allow verified facts on the internet, right?) that the best thing to do was give it a few hours to recover.  In the meantime, we played some videos of the wood thrush song for him to make him feel at home. 

Meanwhile Chris went to get Cailyn who texted us after school begging us to come get her.  Cailyn did her due ooh’s and aah’s when she arrived.  Then later we happened to notice that Willy was no longer on the table.  He had hopped down to a chair.  Guess it was more comfortable.  And then we didn’t see him on the chair, either.  Supposing he had recovered sufficiently to fly away, we went outside.  Whoops.  He was still with us.  He had just made his way to the ground.  Cailyn grabbed Freddy and I once again gently picked ol’ Willy up.  This time, however, he was alert enough to understand that a potential predator had him in its grasp.  He started twisting and turning and frantically singing his wood thrush song.  I slowly released my grip, and (Are you ready for it?) … I freed Willy.  He flew across the yard and over the fence and into the open sky.  So long, Willy.  Happy trails, my friend.

2 Corinthians 7:1 says, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Father, thanks for giving little Willy a new lease on life after his run-in with our door.  Amen.

October 21 – “just a heart …”

We had a good group of folks at church yesterday.  And for the first time in a very long time every one of them had been to a service at least once before.  It was like speaking to a group of reunion attenders or something.  And we did another of what has become one of our Seaside ministry things.  We passed around a “Thinking of you” card for the people to sign so we could send it to Ed, whose wife Pat died last week.  Again, that’s not unusual.  We send a lot of encouragement cards.  But this time we had to get two cards because the first one was already full before church even got started.  You would think someone was loved …

We got started into the book of 1 Peter.  Lots of word studies in this one.  But yesterday for some reason I ended up telling a lot of personal stories as well.  They just seemed to fit with the message of the first few verses.  Story-telling married with verse-by-verse exposition.  I’d probably flunk out of a seminary preaching class …

Lauren apparently got hold of a bushel of bananas.  She made a huge batch of banana bread loafs and brought them to church to share with whoever wanted one.  That little personal ministry project went over quite well.  Thanks, Lauren ….

I invited everyone to join us at our house for the Annual Halloween Outreach Party.  We usually bring in some pizza and then set up a ring of chairs for the children to walk through the gauntlet.  We give away candy, of course, but also DVD’s of three movies about Jesus.  And this year our friends in the biker gang that loves Jesus are coming back to give away biker-themed New Testaments.  Not that the words are different, of course.  They just have a cover acknowledging the motorcycle ministry.  Hey, come join us.  And bring along some candy or trinkets to give away.  OK, commercial over.  All that to say, after I made that invitation, a gentleman very quietly came over to me and handed me a $100 bill.  He said, “It’s for the party.”  No fuss.  No fanfare.  Just a heart for ministry …

Hebrews 10:23 says, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Father, thank you for the many hearts for ministry over at Seaside.  Bless them.  Amen.

October 20 – “Doggie Dance Partner?”

I had a bit of a rough night last night.  Combination of sneezing and not-breathing because of my allergies.  Flare-ups happen every time we go to Waco and bask in the wondrous smell of the cedars and invisible flittering of the dreaded ragweed, both of which were registering in the “high” end of the spectrum.  And of course we were there to watch some soccer, a decidedly outdoor sport.  Lovely.

It wasn’t so bad when we were up rooting for the Astros.  It didn’t bother me so much when Chris left the room just in time to miss Osuna blowing the save.  It was OK throughout the home-run-going-to-the-World-Series dance following Altuve’s walk-off home run.  A dance rivaled, by the way, solely by that of Ed and his doggie dance partner.  I was sent a video documenting that one.  No video evidence here.  You’ll just have to take my word for it.  My celebratory racket did bring Chris back into the room, though. 

Nope.  The problem came when I tried to gently ease my head onto the pillow.  Nope.  Stopped up.  Could not breathe.  I had already taken a Benadryl to stop the sneezing, so I really couldn’t take a decongestant on top of it.  Just had to grin and bear it.  Trolled FaceBook some to read the hilarious posts by Astros fans.  One friend of mine from the East Coast had been intermittently posting “Go Yankees.”  After the home run his posts abruptly changed to “Go Nationals.”  Another funny one was whoever took the picture of 5’6” Altuve standing next to 6”9” Aaron Judge.  After the home run they miraculously transformed it to where Altuve was now a head or so taller than Judge.  Hilarious.  I finally dozed off sometime long after midnight, propped up on two pillows to facilitate the flow of oxygen through my desperate nasal passages.  Fortunately I had the foresight to set my alarm, or I may have stayed in that state long past my usual 6 a.m. internal wake-up call. 

More about the Saturday Soccer Stuff tomorrow (if I remember).  Time to go over sermon stuff for church today …

Isaiah 60:3 says, “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.”

Father, please help me to stay focused (and breathing) through the teaching today.  Amen.

October 19 - “Revisiting an old adventure”

We left the friendly confines of Galveston for yet another foray into the wilds of Texas yesterday.  Several reasons.  We left pretty early first so we could revisit an old. Adventure in Glen Rose, Texas. We wanted to check out the old antique store where I bought that stash of baseball cards.  Maybe look at a few other things as well.  As it turned out the old guy running the store is going out of business.  He was anxious to get rid of his inventory, so now guess who has another several boxes to go through.  I looked at one on the way to our next destination.  It was a bunch of cards of guys in the minor leagues.  Found Brad Ausmus and Mike Schmidt.  That was fun.

Next reason ... next week is Luke’s birthday.  Chris finished making his present.  She miraculously transformed an old raggedy pair of his favorite pajamas into a very cute stuffed whale, one of his favorite animals.  I for one was duly impressed.  He seemed to adore it as well.  He also like the light-up plastic football.  His comment there was, “A football ... finally.”

Third reason ... Caleb and Luke are playing soccer games today.  That was actually the overt reason for our visit.  Ah, did you sense a hidden nuance there?  You should.  There was also a rather covert reason for coming.  I can talk about it now.  The secret is out.

Fourth reason ... last night I was one of a group of secret super criminals who descended upon Waco. We were being sought after in the Waco mall by teams of pre-teen master detectives.  Josh called and asked if I would be interested in helping their children’s minister carry out the church event for Caleb’s age group.  Chris helped me fabricate quite the disguise.  I kind of looked like a guy who comes to Seaside some - Forrest.  Long hair wig.  Simple clothes.  Island shirt.  Cell phone in hand.  Head down watching the Astros game.  I was discovered by the first group within seconds of my arrival.  Came up behind me shouting, “PK!”  The other two groups found me fairly quickly as well.  Not so great at hiding, but we had a great time.  Good event, Shelley.

Isaiah 26:4 says, “Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord Himself, is the Rock Eternal.”

Father, thanks for the chance to see those youngsters I haven’t seen since camp back in July.  Bless ‘em.  Amen.

October 18 – “Back in hibernation …”

I started off my day yesterday by responding to a text request from the night before.  Kel texted to say that somehow Jachin had accidentally locked himself out of his own phone.  In a battle of technological access with his younger brother, Jachin suddenly found himself without access to the SIM card on his phone.  Kel did some online research and discovered that the only fix was to replace the SIM card, an effort only available at the AT&T store where he bought the phone.

Enter DadDad.  I drove over to the post office and met Kel.  He gave me the phone – along with the baseball card we ordered on ebay that completes the set I bought in Glen Rose.  Yeah for Orel Hersheiser (The guy whose card I was missing).  I headed over to the AT&T store right here by our house.  There were two tech reps on duty, and one was busy.  The other was seated at a table across the room.  I entered, expecting the usual cheery welcome and approach at the door, tablet in hand, ready to provide assistance.  This time?  Not so much.  The guy slowly looked up from his perch and said in a barely discernible voice, “Yes sir?”  Well, at least he said, “Sir.”  I sat next to him and explained the problem.  He never said a word, so I continued with the information that Kel had discovered about replacing the SIM card.  Still no response.  I listened carefully, because he never even looked up at me.  Yes, there it was.  He was breathing. But the breathing sounded like he was either snoring or had a severely restricted airflow.  I counted maybe twice that he glanced up.  Not at me, though.  ESPN was playing highlights from football games on the store television.  He had to check those out.  He finally asked for my ID so he could access our account.  But that was it.  Strangely enough, he suddenly rise from his seat and walked across the room.  OK, so he could walk.  I guess he’s not completely out of it.  And he returned with … a new SIM card.  Imagine that.  He replaced it, turned on Jachin’s phone, and it came right up.  I thanked him, and he nodded in my general direction, returning once again to his head-bowed, slumped over position at his table.  Back in hibernation, I suppose. 

Now all that happened in less than five minutes.  I guess when you don’t waste time on incidental things like customer relations, you can speed things up.  Anyway, I was able to get the phone back to Kel before he even left the post office to make his duly appointed rounds.  Enjoy your awesome Captain Kirk flip phone for another three years, Jachin …

2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we live by faith, not by sight.”

Father, thanks for the quick access to Jachin’s phone.  And would you watch over that tech guy?  I’m still kind of worried about his health.  Amen.

October 17 – “Lazy Litter of Lamentable Lumber”

More than half-way through October.  My, oh my.  That means just a few short weeks left of Daylight Savings Time.  Chris will be happy to hear that.  She is having a harder and harder time with waking up to darkness still looming outside. 

Speaking of waking up … we woke up to rain yesterday.  Lots of rain.  It was just a bleary, overcast, blah day.  And it lasted all day.  This was supposed to be a nice strong cold front.  You know, the kind that gets rid of mosquitoes and more importantly gets the flounder run started.  But it was just yucky all day.  Chris got a lot of sewing work done, though. 

At lunchtime we watched some Lifetime.  Yep.  It’s October.  The Lifetime and Hallmark Christmas movies have officially begun.  Well, the network’s new movies don’t start until next week, but we have officially started watching some.  The one yesterday we hadn’t seen yet.  That’s a miracle in itself.  Of course our focus last year was Hallmark.  We are branching out to Lifetime this year.  Should get some new takes on the same old themes.  Yawn.  I’m getting sleepy just thinking about it.  Warm and cozy … cup of hot tea (or a cuties orange) … gorgeous lady at my side … and a terrible, sappy movie on TV.  Doesn’t get much better than this …

Unless of course there is an Astros playoff game on TV.  Last night’s game was postponed because of the threat of rain in New York.  I never heard if it actually rained or not.  They apparently had to make the call to postpone in the morning, though, based on the forecast.  That way all the people planning to ride the subway into town (that would be everybody who was coming to the game) could make other plans.  That game was moved to tonight.  Greinke on the mound for the Astros.  Regular rest.  Not sure about the Astros bats.  They have had plenty of extra rest.  Too much rest.  In fact they have missed a game or two.  Time to wake up, you lazy litter of lamentable lumber …

Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Father, thank you for the rain.  And the cooler weather is a pleasant change as well.  Amen.