December 22 – “Three – not a bad night”

 

 

Quick appropriate note for the day (meaning that there are only three days left before Christmas of course).  The other day Randall's had a sale going.  You could buy two cartons of cokes (which of course means Pepsi, Dr. Pepper, Root beer, any of the big ones) and receive three cartons free.  That's an interesting marketing combination.  Worked out well for us, though, or at least for our kids.  We ended up with ten cartons.  Should be enough for the holiday visitors from San Antonio and LaMarque.

 

We had a pretty crazy day between us yesterday.  Chris and Mom went to a Wednesday Club party at noon.  Nathan is borrowing our truck until he can get his fixed, so while they were gone I walked over to the Dollar Store to pick up some white elephant gifts.  It was the first time I have been in this one.  I expected it to be a lot like that Tuesday Afternoon or Evening or whatever time of day that store was I went to the other day.  But it was like walking around in a much smaller, much cheaper version of a Super Target.  They had some food stuff, and everything was rounded to the nearest dollar figure.  I imagine that meant rounded up in most cases.  While there I got a phone call that a guy from our church, David, was in the hospital being tested for a possible heart attack.  His wife said they had pretty much ruled that out, though.  He had some kind of abnormal rhythm they were tracking. 

 

Chris dropped Mom off at Libbie's Place for her party there, and we went to get some groceries at WalMart, always a fun experience.  Afterwards, she started in on preparing some food for last night's party and I went up to the hospital to check on David.  That left us just enough time when I got home to grab a bite to eat and head for the youth white elephant party at church.  We came out pretty well this time.  In years past the gifts have been interesting at best.  One year a girl brought some donkey poo.  Yep.  The youth pastor got that one, and for some reason no one attempted to steal it from him.  This year I ended up with a tiny little Angry Birds key chain.  Chris got a free pass to the local movie theater and some popcorn.  Mom got a couple of spoons and a gift certificate to an ice cream store.  Not a bad night. 

 

Isaiah 40:12-14 says, "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?  Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in a balance?  Who has understood the mind of the Lord, or instructed him as his counselor?  Whom did the Lord consult to enlighten him, and who taught him the right way?  Who was it that taught him knowledge or showed him the path of understanding?"

 

Father, thank you for not requiring us to understand you before we can love you.  Amen.

December 21 – “Four”

 

 

Four days to go. 

 

We went into Texas yesterday.  I had to get a blood test to make sure the rheumatoid arthritis medicines aren't destroying my liver.  Always a pleasant thought.  I did get some samples of the only medication that so far has done any good at relieving pain, Celebrex.  It is no longer covered by my insurance company, though, because it is not generic.  I have to say after taking one last night, it may be all in my head, but I really think it helped. 

 

We stopped to do some shopping on the way home.  Have to have that travel list with us whenever we leave the Island, you know.  I think we're pretty close to done as far as Christmas shopping is concerned.  I know Chris mentioned last night after she addressed the last of the Christmas letters that now she can start wrapping stuff. 

 

Yes, the Christmas letters will be going out today.  All but nine of them.  We ran out of stamps.  So if you are one of the nine, sorry.  I'll try to get some more today, but Nathan has the truck and Chris and Mom have a Wednesday club party as well as Libbie's Place party.  I'm not sure when I'll have transportation.  I wonder if the Dollar Store sells stamps?  I can walk there. 

 

And, yes, the gifts will be wrapped soon.  That will be a relief as well.  Our oldest son mastered the art of sneaking through closets to seek out hidden Christmas gifts, and he did his best to pass it on to succeeding generations.  I'm not so worried that our grandkids will snoop, but each of their fathers still has a history that they have yet to repent of, so we have to be careful when they come over for a visit during the Christmas season.  They just might have ulterior motives.

 

And now to work on the Christmas Story for this year.  Have to come up with something to tie in with the carving for this year.  Not too obvious, though.  Hmm.

 

Isaiah 40:10-11 says, "See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him.  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.

 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young."

 

Father, I have high hopes for this medication, but I'm remembering to reserve my highest hopes for you.  Amen.

December 20 – “Five Days”

 

 

Five days until Christmas.  Just trying to instill some of that holiday spirit, that anticipation, that excitement.  Didn't use to be that hard to do back in the day, back when we were kids and all we had to think about once the Christmas holidays started was how many days were left until Christmas.  I guess children have always "gotten it" when it comes to the whole Advent season.  Maybe that's where the idea of Advent came from.  Some guy hundreds of years ago was watching his kids get excited about anticipating something, and he decided to use that to reignite in people the idea of anticipating the coming of Christ.  Then again, maybe not.

 

Chris went to Bay City yesterday to wish her two Dads a Merry Christmas.  Everything went well for her this time.  She even got to go to lunch at some Chinese food all you can eat buffet with one of them.  The total bill for the two of them was only eleven dollars.  That's pretty cheap for any all you can eat place.  Glad she was with him and not me.  All that Chinese food makes me queasy.

 

While she was gone I went to a funeral.  A long funeral.  The pastor seemed like a very nice guy, and he obviously had a close relationship with the guy who died, but he preached two separate sermons.  Just seemed to last a long time.  Three of the guy's nephews did eulogies, and they were pretty broken up.  All of them cried quite a bit as they made their way through the presentations.  It was heartwarming to see how much they loved their uncle.  I just wish there had been more of a sense of celebration.  They guy was a Christian, so he's doing fine, but he was just 48 years old.  It'll just take some time for his family to get over the shock.  Tough way to spend Christmas.

 

I also spent a lot of time on sermons, since I have to put together two this week – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Then I spent some time working on Chris' Christmas present.  Not the carving.  I finished that already.  This was a last-minute brainstorm.  We'll see how it pans out. 

 

Headed over to Texas in a few hours for a doctor's appointment.  Actually it's just a blood test, but it looks like I'll be able to pick up some samples of Celebrex.  That's been the only medication that seems to work at all with my rheumatoid arthritis.  Problem has been that it's not covered by insurance because it is not generic.  But maybe it'll be a relatively pain free Christmas, anyway.

 

Isaiah 40:9 says, "You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain.  You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, 'Here is your God!'"

 

Father, I guess Jamaica Beach is my Jerusalem.  Help me communicate those good tidings to them as well.  Amen. 

December 19 – “The Imagination Zone”

 

 

I entered the Imagination Zone (Not to be confused too much with the infamous Twilight Zone, although there are many similarities) with Cailyn yesterday at the church playground.  We had dinner on the grounds after church, and after we ate, while Nani talked with friends, Cailyn and I headed outside.  It was just the two of us.  Or so I thought.  Little did I know that a host of others awaited, making that little playground a teeming metropolis before Cailyn got through.

 

It started out simply enough.  I was just another Grandad out watching his two-year-old play on the swings.  She was laughing and enjoying swinging back and forth on the teeter-totter swing thingie we have out there.  In fact that became her little girl's chant of the day – "Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth."  The battle cry of the swinging teetertotter.

 

But then it happened.  Imagination kicked in.  At first I became her Daddy.  That probably happened because she wanted me to slide down the slide, and she didn't expect DadDad would be able to do it.  So I became Daddy, and magically my power to slide came out.  Kind of fun, actually.  Except for the part where I get stuck on the second dip and have to give myself an extra push.  Then her imagination swept past me like I was standing still and left me breathless.  Meaning, of course, that I could hardly breathe when I tried to keep up with her. 

 

Tyrone was dancing when he first showed up.  Yep.  That's the same kid that showed up at the table while we were coloring and cutting paper the day before.  By the way, we asked her parents where she got the name Tyrone for an imaginary friend.  April grinned.  She knew that one right away.  It seems that Tyrone is a character in the cartoon called Backyardigans.  A moose or a pig or a penguin or an aardvark or something.  I remembered watching that show one time with Josiah.  Strange looking creatures.  That just made playing with imaginary Tyrone a little bit creepier to me.

 

Well, yesterday Tyrone was on a roll.  He was nothing but a little trouble-maker.  "Tyrone gonna get in trouble," Cailyn would cry.  "He won't listen to me.  He's gonna get ouched."  Watch out, Tyrone.

 

He wasn't only friend out there, though.  At one point I was informed that "My friend Lexis is swinging now."  That source I knew.  Lexie is her cousin in Corpus Christi. 

 

Sadly, she didn't have much time to play with Lexie.  Soon she declared, "Have to chase Tyrone," and took off running.  She hollered over her shoulder, "Tyrone is running from me.  He's not coming to me."  I asked why she was chasing him, and she cried back, "He has my toy."  Of course.  Why didn't I see that.  I encouraged Tyrone to give the toy back so they could take turns.  He didn't listen to me any better than he did to her.  She chased him out into the field and back under the school building.  They ran in circles around the pilings until I got dizzy watching them.  They did get distracted from running long enough to play around in the dirt.  Without missing a beat Cailyn informed me, "I like dirt.  I like beaches 'cause they have dirt.  Tyrone likes dirt, too."  I told him, "Good for you, Tyrone.  Dirt is fun." 

 

When they needed a break we all returned to the playground structure where Cailyn Tyrone started watching television.  Apparently the only channel he was allowed to watch had the broadcast letters DFG.  He was reprimanded several times for switching over.  I think he finally wore himself out and fell asleep.  But that wasn't such a good move, either.  When Cailyn reralized he had dozed off, she slapped the floor and screamed, "Get wake, Tyrone."  That didn't completely do the trick, though.  So she got him some chocolate milk to help him wake up.  Always the consummate hostess, she got some for "all these guys" as well.  I hadn't noticed when they all showed up, but there must have been quite a few of them, and they all wanted some chocolate milk.  May have to make a quick trip to WalMart if they come back to the house with us.    

 

As the last of the guys was finishing up his chocolate milk, Cailyn suddenly whipped around toward the school building, looking up at the deck.  I followed her gaze and of course saw nothing.  But she lit up like a Roman candle.  This was obviously what she had been waiting for all day.  She smiled a smile that took up her whole face.  She literally jumped down from the playground structure and squealed in delight.  Everything else stopped.  Her eyes never left that one spot on the deck.  She pointed up and said excitedly, "He's here.  I have to go see him."  As she took off running for the ramp, I unwound my old DadDad knees and called out, "Who's here?"  She delightedly called over her shoulder, "It's Boy.  I go run with him now.  Come on, DadDad."  Ah, of course.  Boy.  Who else could it be.  And what better way to end a perfectly wonderful afternoon than to jog around the school deck with Cailyn and Boy?  I never got invited to play with Boy back when he visited my sons.  But I was the parent back then.  Now I'm … younger?

 

Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

 

Father, thank you for making it possible for me to get old enough to to see things with young eyes.  Amen.

December 18 – “Go in peace”

 

 

Yesterday began at a football game.  Jachin's team of 7 and 8 year-olds played in the cold again.  He scored a touchdown and an extra point, so we had something to cheer about for sure.  They lost the game something like 28 to 8, but who noticed?  Our grandson scored.

 

While we were way up in Texas anyway, we did a little bit of shopping.  Funny thing, though.  The first place we went was to a WalMart.  And a Target.  The only two big discount-type stores we have on the Island.  We are so predictable.  We did get a great lunch, though.  Spring Creek Barbeque.  We used to go there when we lived in Mansfield.  Free hot homemade bread.  Mmmm.  And the barbeque is not bad, either.

 

Cailyn spent the night with us last night.  Once again she amazed us with her command of the language.  Once when she had to go to the bathroom she wanted DadDad to turn on the light for her.  It didn't matter that Nani was right there.  She wanted "DadDad do it."  So what did DadDad do?  DadDad do'ed it, of course.  The funny thing came right after the light came on.  I asked if she needed anything else, certainly the appropriate thing a servant would ask of the princess in any self-respecting royal establishment.  Her answer?  "That's OK, DadDad.  Go in peace." 

 

I met Tyrone while we were coloring and cutting with scissors.  A new imaginary friend.  This girl has made quite a few friends from that realm.  He was sitting next to Cailyn at the table.  Very nice guy.  He was even very cooperative when I told him we would be going to bed in about five minutes.  Cailyn said she would help me put him to bed when the time came.  Now, Tyrone did just fine going to bed.  Not so much for Cailyn.  First, she told me her Mommy was under the bed.  Quite a surprise.  But she managed to get her Mommy's hand and pull it into the bed with us.  Kind of spooky, if you ask me, but she was happy with just the hand.  Chris and I ended up tag-teaming a few times to try to wear her down.  On my last turn Cailyn suddenly realized that Tyrone didn't have any covers.  Now that was a major crisis.  And she was inconsolable.  Enough to bring Nani back in to settle her down.  That last outburst of energy was all she had left, though.  She and Tyrone sank into Dreamland about the same time (I guess.  I couldn't see Tyrone's eyes from where I was sitting).  Nani to the rescue … again.

 

Isaiah 40:6-8 says, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them.  Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."

 

Father, keep folks safe on this home stretch to your birthday.  Amen.

December 17 – “Stopped at the border”

 

 

I got a call the other day asking if I could send out an email requesting prayer for some missionaries we support.  They used to live and work in Mexico, but they were forced out of the country a while back because of the rising unrest and anti-American sentiment.  The local pastors insisted that they leave for their own safety.  Since then they have been doing ministry in Louisiana and have gone back into Mexico off and on with supplies and to encourage the pastors and people. 

 

The other day they were on their way back in with Christmas basket supplies when they were stopped at the border.  For some reason the border patrol agents were refusing to let them enter the country.  They had been at it since 5:30 a.m. – several hours.  They tried a different checkpoint.  This one indicated that they could enter only if they declared everything in their van and paid import taxes on it.  That process would take literally days.  It would mean emptying out and itemizing every single thing they had.  And they didn't have that much time to spare for this trip.  And besides that, they had not near enough money to cover it anyway.  They were on their way to a third checkpoint when I got the call from the missionary's sister asking for prayer.

 

I assured her I would send out the email right away and add my own prayers as well.  I also reminded her that this might just be God's way of protecting them by changing circumstances.  It's possible he was just slowing them down so they would miss a possible rendezvous with evil, or preventing them from entering at all, like he did with Paul when he wanted to go further into Asia and ended up influencing Europe with the Gospel instead.  Either way they would probably never know how God's hand was involved in the situation.

 

I finally received word back through a text about ten o'clock that night as we were heading to bed.  George and Polly had made it into Fresnillos and all was well.  There it was.  God did it again.  I think that counts as Him at work.  Way to go, God.

 

Isaiah 35:8-10 says, "And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.  The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it.  No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.  But only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return.  They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."  

 

Father, keep your watch over George and Polly and the others who risk their lives in your cause every day.  Amen.

December 16 –“White elephants and a Grinch”

 

 

White elephants invaded our house last night.  Crunching over our hardwood floors, clomping on the tile in the den, munching at all the great food on the table, rumbling forth a perpetual noise, creating such a din that it was difficult at best to hear one another speak Christmas greetings.  Little ones frolicking about in their own world of fantasy and fun, older ones observing the commotion with a sly grin and a secret – or not so secret – wish to join them in their unrestricted glee.  Laughter and groans merged into one grand gesture of joy as friends and family celebrated together with unbridled – well, perhaps slightly bridled – mirth.

 

Such was the white elephant party at our house last night.  Lots of fun exchanging goofy gifts and sharing the sustenance God has dumped on us this last year.  The noisy flashlight was by far the biggest hit of the evening, as far as presents go.  It included various animal sounds, and as the sounds got louder, so the light got brighter.  Fascinating to the kids of all ages that attended, though for some the fascination was in why someone would create such an obnoxious invention, obviously designed to annoy.  If that was indeed its purpose, then it immediately fulfilled its potential.

 

Another fun experience was the reading of an unusual poem put together by one of the guys.  He called it How the Grinch came to Jesus.  I'll share it with you here, understanding that he offered apologies to Dr. Seuss.

 

How the Grinch Found Jesus

By Eric Geswender (with apologies to Dr. Seuss)

 

Every Who down in Whoville liked Jesus a lot

But the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville did not.

 

Don't ask me what for, no one quite knows why

Neither did Grinch, so he made up a lie

 

"Jesus is far too important, you see,

To care about trials of little old me.

 

If he cares not about me, then why should I him?

The Grinch didn't know he was covered in sin

 

That sin would take him faster than a sled

To a horrible place when he finds himself dead

 

I've said once before, without having a reason

That Grinch hated Jesus and his birthing season

 

The Grinch set about with malicious intent

To steal all the things on which their money was spent

 

While stealing everything from the home of a nurse

The Grinch turned and saw it, a small Bible verse

 

"The thief comes to steal, and kill, and destroy

I come and bring life and abundant joy"

 

These small simple words caused him great consternation

But they didn't stop him from taking their elation

 

On to the next house and more of his stealing

But Grinch found it was not now quite so appealing

 

During his looting something caused him to look

At some words written in a tiny book

 

For all have sinned in their time on the sod

All have fallen short of the glory of God

 

This made the Grinch think, "I sinned, I sure did"

But that didn't stop him stealing from the next kid

 

Just so he cannot just sue me for libel

He did, in course, find another Bible

 

For the wages paid for sin, you die

Except for the gift of God, no lie

 

The Grinch was really starting to worry

He read some more of the book in a hurry

 

But God commendeth his love toward us

In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

 

The story of the Christ caused him to tear

Was it possible for him salvation was near?

 

If thou shalt confess the Lord Jesus Christ

And believe he was raised from the dead with God's might

 

And if by mouth your confession is made

Splash, flip, boom, bam – and right then you are saved

 

And what happened next?

Well, in Whoville they say

 

That the Grinch's small heart

Grew three sizes that day

 

The reason was that his heart now played host

To the giant and wonderful, Great Holy Ghost

 

He gave everything back and healed up the chasm

And they all cheered for him at his baptism.

 

Isaiah 33:22 says, "For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; it is he who will save us."

 

Father, thank you for chances to laugh.  Amen.