Naomi and I drove up to Augusta today to do a service at the veterans' hospital there.  With Naomi graduating in nine weeks, I treasure the times we have together.

The service went very well.  We did our program during the sermon time.  Since the current chaplain is an Episcopal priest, the service is rather structured, and what we did was out of the ordinary to say the least.  But it was well received, and definitely not the only out of the ordinary moment of the morning. 

During a responsive reading, the chaplain began, in very formal tone, "The Lord God is Spirit."  Before the congregation could respond, an ex-marine in a wheelchair up front shouted out, "And a damn good one, too!"

For my. final routine I did the card castle trick, in which I spontaneously create a four foot house of cards.  Due to the nature of the apparatus, I had to leave the house of cards on its table center stage.  So when the priest was closing the service, and genuflected to the altar table, the card house totally blocked everyone's view of the altar.  He appeared to be bowing to our card castle! 

In the end, though, the Gospel went out, and I'm confident it will not return void.  That's all that matters.