DEVOTIONS
The morning dawned with a soft breeze that blew across Galveston Bay. The smell of salt water mingled with the cry of gulls and pelicans as they followed the shrimp boats out to the fishing grounds. At the Coast Guard Station, the crews mingled about the docks preparing their small vessels for the day’s patrols, but for a brief moment, all stopped their work and gathered on the dock overlooking the boat basin. There, gathered in a small group, was a family bearing the ashes of their departed father and mother. The matriarch and patriarch of their family, who had been brought to be laid to rest amidst the waters of the Gulf. He had been a coastguard, and she was a former army member who then became a stay-at-home mom. He had passed in 2007, she had passed just a few weeks prior. Now, after many years of waiting, they would be put to rest together at sea. The boat crew, who would soon ferry this family out into the ocean to bid farewell to their loved ones, stood in solemn respect, and scripture and words of blessing were read over the family and their departed loved ones. Once a final prayer was conducted, they all made their way to the boat for the next portion of their journey, all the while the gulls and seabirds danced and dove with their familiar cries.
I was not able to join them on that boat, but I was honored to offer simple words, truthful scripture, and a modest prayer. Instead, I got into my truck and made my way to another location, removed from the sandy coastline of Galveston, and into the urban sprawl of Houston, Texas.
