Southern Observations

There’s nothing better to a Southern girl than a biscuit. Southern girl=Southern biscuit. I’ve never met a biscuit I didn’t like. As I travel today to Montgomery I am reminded by so many southern things I love and cultural things I don’t. Did you know there is a MAC makeup counter at the Houston Hobby airport? How convenient, lipstick is very southern. My mom never went anywhere without lipstick. I never understood why she had to apply it before we went into the grocery store. I happily marched myself to the makeup counter t at 7am to get a summer lipstick and had the most biblical conversation with the sales associate. As I applied and purchased the lipstick we somehow quickly and with great ease stepped into the bible. I mentioned that if the devil couldn’t get to us, he would try to get to our children. She laid out how the enemy pursued Solomon because he couldn’t capture King David the way he wanted. I agreed and asked if she thought King Solomon went to heaven. She said yes, she thought he did and that many of the betrayers/idol worshippers are enjoying eternal life. I mentioned my favorite radio evangelist, Dr. Magee, who once said that we will be surprised at who we see in heaven and who we don’t see in heaven. That thought always comes back to me. We talked about Adam & Eve’s eternal place and even Judas who betrayed Jesus. I think we all imagine Judas went straight to hell; although he threw the 30 silver coins back. Judas took his life before he could go further. We don’t know what else transpired in his heart. Don’t be quick to judge the position of someone else’s salvation.

God gives us opportunities every day to talk about Him, His goodness, the trials He does allow us to walk through, how they shape and transform us, how it makes us lean on Him even harder and to let Him carry us through it. Exercising your faith muscle makes you stronger.

On the first leg of my journey I sat next to a couple. The female was happy and talkative to her boyfriend/husband while he was clearly agitated. The flight was short and as we landed, he looked at his phone and said, Jesus, Holy Christ. I wanted to say you are right, Christ is Holy. I wonder what year in time humans started using the words Jesus and Christ, etc. as phrases of adverse expression and frustration. The man sitting next to me would not have been happy with that statement and I did not want to appear on the TODAY show the next day so I kept quiet. Airplane probs……..

I ate my way through the Atlanta airport which is why I mentioned the biscuit above. The Atlanta airport has it going on! They have a Food Network Kitchen, The Varsity, they have everything. I had to just see what a Food Network Kitchen was like and that is where I ran into the CHEDDAR BISCUIT. It was a head on collision and love at first sight. Perfectly warm and no garlic.

The flight to Montgomery was a non-event, I changed into my dress in the Montgomery Airport, noticed that the lipstick I bought didn’t look near as lovely as I thought and totally inappropriate for a southern funeral, I wiped it off, retrieved the rental car and made haste to the funeral making it within 5 minutes of its beginning. WHEW!!!

I was immediately thrown back into my Alabama life, sweet life, and my dear friend Julie’s precious family all of whom I love. All of them. She lost her mother only 2 days before. I remember the first time I met her mother and 3 aunt’s. We were on our way to a Joyce Meyer conference in Birmingham and stopped to meet all of them for lunch. It was a wonderful time and I was in awe of how these sisters openly talked about their faith and the working of the Almighty in their lives. I had never really experienced that with a group of siblings. It spoke volumes to me.

Share your faith like everyone else knows what you’re talking about. You know the quote “Dance like no one is watching,” I feel the same way about God. If we don’t tell, who is going to know? Share it like everyone knows and is in agreement.

Praise the Lord! I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright and in the congregation. Psalm 111

Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I’ve got—wherever good people gather and in the congregation. The Message

I enjoyed Julie’s precious family until 8:30 pm last night, eating up her little nieces and nephews as they stole my heart. The innocence and carefree ways of little people are refreshing to a mom of teenagers in a big city like Houston. Or really any other city for that matter. Teen problems are really the same across the map, it doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, the essential problems are the same. When you’re kids are acting out they are reaching out for help. They may just not know it. Love them consistently through it and always point to Jesus. The most important thing you can do for your child and your child’s friends is to always point to Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. If you don’t feel like you have an opportunity to share that with them, be an opportunity maker yourself.

I am the Way the Truth and the Life. John 14:6

Flying home today I talked with a dad who had children ages 22 and 25. I asked him if it was great to have an “empty nest” as you know I am about to send one off to college. He looked at me with sweet eyes and said, “Sad.” Oh no, that was not what I wanted to hear, I wanted to hear, “Great, it’s so great……….” He said he loved being a dad especially when they were little, he loved road trips with them. He said they visit often, but when they leave he and his wife are a little sad. My heart sank a little.

LOVE, LOVE is always the answer. How hard do you love? Our heart has an amazing capacity to love. You know the verse in which Jesus says that in His house are many rooms—

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? John 14:2

I am beginning to think that for me He is saying that in my heart there is such a place of abundance, love you can tap into, places that you can go you did not know existed. Sometimes we don’t love God’s people because we are fearful of disappointment, non-reciprocal love, don’t want to touch the unlovely, etc. The list goes on. I dare you to love, love hard. Ask God to open up your heart to something you thought you couldn’t love. Don’t let the behavior’s of others around you affect you in a way that makes you think you’ve lost some love for them. God can replace that with an over abundance of His undying love. It is free and yours for the taking.

Come to think about it, I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like, or a chili-dog, biscuits and gravy, krispy kreme donut, chicken fried steak, deviled egg………….(why does it have the word devil in it anyway?!!)