Galveston., Galveston (March 26-27)

We went to church at Stonegate in Port Arthur. Nice mix of ages in the congregation. I estimated attendance of 250-300 in a building that could seat 500-550. Regular preacher was away – the person who spoke is graduating this spring and will be joining them fulltime in July. He is a history major and spoke on the comparison between the Rome Paul was dealing with when he wrote the book of Romans and the US to-day. Interesting although I guess you’d have to be a history buff to fully appreciate the comparisons made. The main point was that Paul’s exhortations to the Roman Christians were very applicable in 21st century US Christians.

In the afternoon we had a leisurely drive following Hy 73 to Winnie – 124 South to 87 and then 87 to Galveston. Less than 100 miles - - took us about 2 ½ hours including another ferry ride from the Bolivar peninsula to Galveston Island. This is the land of ocean beaches and oil rigs – curious juxtaposition of pipes, pumps and derricks with the (finally undamaged from hurricanes) beach front homes on stilts.

I tried to find a hotel where I could get a wireless INTERNET signal – stopped a half dozen places along the Seawall Blvd. but no louck. Also we didn’t call the kids since there was no phone close at the campground. We’ll do that Tuesday when we hit San Antonio – if not before.

We stayed in Galveston State park – lot right on the ocean just back from the beach. All evening there was a strong (maybe 25-30 mph) wind blowing. We had a front row centre view of the surf pounding in and the roar of the wind was quite intimidating at times – rocking the BBB -- However, I slept like a rock and watched the sun rise over the ocean Monday morning.

We stayed “on the beach Monday and enjoyed some “down time”. We went for a long walk on the beach. and talked with a guy who was surf fishing – with some success. He had moved here from Indiana last fall. Spent a lot of time reading some novels. I finished the one I’d been reading at bedtime since beginning of March and made it half way through another one. Interesting plot about an atheist geneticist who is searching for a cure for his daughter’s cancer and becomes involved with a group called the “Brotherhood of the Second coming ”supposedly commissioned by Lazarus to watch for and locate the second Messiah and prevent him from being killed. All fictional without any claim to b historical – unlike the Di Vinci code which is pure fiction but purports to be based on historical evidence.

Lots of Ontario people here. Met a couple from near Parry Sound and another guy from Sarnia.

It is strange to behaving time to “veg out” after 3 weeks of fairly steady pace working in Pascagoula. It made me appreciate more than ever the commitment of those who are doing that day. Of course there are those who devote that kind of energy to their jobs but this somehow seems like a different level of commitment – perhaps because it is serving others without expecting anything in return. So David, John, and all the others at Pascagoula – we pray for you --God will bless you.

To-day (Tuesday) we will travel the 250 miles or so to San Antonio. We are looking forward to seeing Chris, Tammye, Hunter & Camdyn and spending the day with them to-morrow. It will be good to be back in touch and to be able to call Melissa and Kevin. (We do have cell phone contact here but we are too “cheap” to use it for visiting

p.s. I'm doing this postingfrom the KOA at San Antonio. I'll have more about our trip here in my next post. Haven't connected with C&T yet, I've been busy catching upon John Dobbs' "Hope Remains" blog and on the 70 or so emails that have accumulated since Friday noon.

God Bless
Charlie & Linda