Where Is Your Home?

Where Is Your Home?

It seems like such a simple question. Where is your home? I was born in a pretty little town in the foothills of North Georgia. I love my hometown and don’t get to go back nearly as often as I’d like to. My immediate family lives here in FL with me now but I have Aunts, Uncles, and cousins by the dozens that live in Georgia.
Once upon a time I had my “Georgia Accent”, but years of school in Florida seemed to make me lose all of that, but give me several days with my family and I’m saying “home” in two syllables!
When I go to visit I always go to the home where my grandparents lived. There were many, many hours of stories, laughter and hugs there. I can close my eyes and I’m there again with family.
On our last visit there this summer, my mother pointed out important places of our life while living there. The place they were married, their first home, Mama’s favorite spot to skate as a child, her school, and don’t ask me of what importance this is, but she had to show me the place she use to go and wash my diapers!
Each time I visit becomes more precious than the last because many of my relatives have passed away. I usually stop at the cemetery where my grandparents, aunts, and uncles are buried. On this last visit as I stood at their graves, I remembered what my Aunt Virginia said to me once. She said, “I don’t live in a very big house, but I’m so glad this isn’t my HOME. I’m headed for my home in Heaven!”
So again, I ask the question, “Where is your home?” I love my Georgia hometown and I love my Florida beach, but I’m not HOME yet.

John 14:2-3

In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

New Treatment

I’ve received many emails asking about my health. God has given me so many great family and friends. Thank you for being concerned and I’m sorry it has taken so long to respond.
Since November, my specialists have been trying a series of medications to resolve my condition. We were all praying that one of these would be the cure, but it seems I am now down to one of the lesser desired treatments to avoid surgery to remove part of the colon. I will be starting a chemo pill in the next week. I did not know you took such a thing if you didn’t have cancer, but for my type of colitis, this is one of the most powerful choices aside from surgery.
There are a few nasty side effects, but we are praying that they will be minimal. Our hope is to only be on the meds till it goes into remission. At that time I would like to try more natural ways to deal with it.
So, the next couple of months will be interesting for sure. Please also pray for my family as they are understandably a little concerned.
Any questions- just ask me. I’ve been pretty open about all of this.
My prayer is that the Lord will use me to encourage others who may have to go through this.

Jesus is no security against life's storms, but He is perfect security in them. Author Unknown

Happy Mother's Day Mama

I wanted to dedicate today’s blog to my mother or as I have always called her “Mama.” I have a hard time putting into words what she means to me, but I will try. Mama did not have an easy childhood. Though she loved her family dearly, her family would be considered “dysfunctional” in today’s standards.
She accepted the Lord as her Savior when a friend invited her to church. Her friend from Rome, Georgia puts it this way, “Shirley was as pure as the driven snow.” In other words, she stayed out of trouble.
After high school she went to Tennessee Temple University where she met my daddy. I have so enjoyed reading their “love story” in letters. She had kept all of them since 1956. She and Daddy were married in 1959 and have never even considered divorce. Murder maybe, no, just kidding .
Not long after I was born, she realized that something was wrong with my eyes and a Dr. in Atlanta told my parents I had Ocular Albinism. They were frightened and sad I’m sure. They had a baby and didn’t know if it would ever be able to see well enough to get around. Their faith must have been strong and they depended on the Lord to give them strength to endure this trial.













Memories of my mother’s love and care are too many to name. Some of the most vivid though are taking time each night to tuck me into bed and say my prayers with me and getting up each morning with my brother and me to make sure we ate breakfast. She always put our needs before her free time or her career. Although she did work full time so we could go to Pensacola Christian, she never complained. She tells me stories of dropping us off at school on mornings when I didn’t want to go and got out of the car crying. She said she would then cry all the way to work because she was sad for me. She also cried all the way to work when she would have to leave us with babysitters because she wanted to stay home with us.
She was at every PTA or PTM meeting, every play, every program, and every piano recital.
When times were hard for me in school she would encourage me. From shucking corn on the back porch to our family trip to California, she taught me life lessons along the way. She invested time in my life that I could never repay.
The most important thing my mother ever did was take me to church every Sunday to worship and learn about the Lord. I don’t think I would have survived some of the things in my life if she hadn’t taught me to trust in the Lord for everything.
When I strayed away from the Lord, it was my Mama who was on her knees praying and helped bring me back to Him.
Lately I have admired her as she has become my father’s caregiver. It is a part of her life she would have never wished for, but she takes care of him with such love. Next week they will be married for 51 years! When I asked Daddy how many years this will be for them, he said 10. My Mama is going through this with a grace and dignity that inspires me.


I know there are many great mothers out there, but to me, my Mama is the GREATEST. I love you Mama! Happy Mother's Day

Deborah

What did you do most Friday nights as a child? I can tell you what I did without blinking. I spent it with my cousin Deborah. Our dads are brothers and our moms were best friends. We had the blessed opportunity of being raised in Christian families. Something I took for granted back then.
Almost every Friday evening our families would get together and the parents played Rook while the four of us kids played together. As the years passed, playtime faded and a wonderful “talk time” developed with my cousin Deborah.
She is two years older than me which I know isn’t much but when you’re in the eighth grade and your best friend is in tenth, then it’s a BIG difference in the mind of a middle school kid. I’m sure I drove her insane some nights. She was my hero! We sat together every time the church doors were open at same church and school and at Pensacola Christian back then, the middle school and the high school was together. I would try to get to school early just so I could hang out with HER and all her “cool” friends like Victor and Neva and the rest of you Class of ’79 bunch. Bless her heart; she was patient looking back now.
One of the saddest days I can remember was the day she went away to college. I think I was “in mourning” for weeks. lol I remember sitting in church for the last Sunday night together and thinking”It will never be the same after tonight”. I was right, things were never the same. We grew up and had to move on.
Through the years both of our lives have experienced extreme happiness, fear, sweet surprises, and heartache. The only “Constant” has been the Lord’s care and love.
We live twelve hours away from each other and never get to spend as much time as we would like to together.
At the moment she and her husband are going through the pain of his cancer and I just want to be there to help and talk to her, but the Lord put me in Florida and her in North Carolina. She knows how much I love and miss her. (Personally I think she is out of the will of God until she moves back down to Fl.)
Tomorrow is her birthday. Though I can’t be there with her, I just wanted to thank her for all she has meant to me through the years and pray that she and Steve can have a wonderful day together.
I love you Deborah!

Pensacola Christian Friends

Last night I had the opportunity to have dinner with about half a dozen of my “old” classmates from Pensacola Christian School. Most of us have known each other since kindergarten and that is a special bond that the years just can’t take away.
We all went into different areas of work. One is a nurse, one works in radiology; two are teachers, and one golf professional. We also all have VERY different personalities! (They know which ones I put the exclamation point for J ).
Time has changed us of course; we all probably have more pounds to love and less brain cells to spare. Some of us have been through sad circumstances with the death of a spouse or father or mother. For others divorce or financial strains have stretched their faith muscles to the brink. We have lost three of our classmates just in the last year.
We do not all agree on every political or moral issue. Things even got a little “heated” in some of those areas! There were moments last night that I had to bite my tongue. Some times I should have spoke up but didn’t.
As I sat looking around the table at each one of them, I remembered what we all looked like as children and wondered if the things in their lives came to pass like they thought they would or did some of our lives take turns and twists and “triple loops” that we didn’t want or didn’t plan to take. Which situations made us bitter or angry with God? Which ones could we have avoided? Which ones can we change with the Lord’s help? For me, my life did not take the perfect path. Some things I brought on myself and some things God allowed to happen to make me stronger.
One of my classmates called me a “SAINT” at one point in our conversation! This is too funny on so many levels, but I was thankful at least that she could see I was trying to live for the Lord now.
Yep, our table was a very wide variety of people, but what occurred to me was that each one of us God created. He loved each one and placed in our DNA His blueprint. He knew before time began that we would be friends.
Thank you Lord for my friends from long ago. Please keep them close to You and Your will. Through the years I ask that you work in their children and grandchildren’s lives. May they accept Your gift of salvation early in life. Amen

Surrender

I have been through a battery of test in the last couple of months for a condition that is attacking the body and will not stop. The result show that the problem is MY OWN BODY is attacking itself! My immune system has gone haywire. It thinks that part of me is a foreign object and is trying to kill it off! Don’t worry, I’m not contagious.
The thought of that is just crazy to me. Why would it want to hurt itself? It’s like banging your head over and over again against a brick wall. Wouldn’t it want to protect its own?
Have you ever made a conscience decision in life knowing it would NOT be a good one and would probably end up hurting you and those around you in the end but did it anyway? Yep, been there and done that. It’s worse than watching a train crash, because you are not only watching it, but you’re also the driving force.
The solution to my health issue is that I am on mega doses of steroids. In order to stop the body from killing off itself, the medication has to make the body drop its defense system and this will go into remission for what we pray will be a long time.
In order for this medication to work the body will have to lay down its “guns” and surrender. The bad side of this is that I have no immunity during this time.
My body has two choices to make. Ignore the meds and continue its battle or surrender and be healed. It seems like such an easy choice doesn’t it? How many of us though, after banging our head and knowing it will hurt, still go back and do it again? What THING do we do over and over and over again and feel the pain each time. It seems it would be so much smarter to just lay it down at the Savior’s feet and say “I surrender all”.

My Papa

Yesterday in Pensacola someone quietly turned 80 years old. His name is George Watson but to his family he is our “Papa”.
Now the catch to this is that he is not my father or my father-in-law, but is my “former father-in-law” and he is also my next door neighbor. You know it’s the type of thing they like to put on Jerry Springer. I’m afraid people would be disappointed though if they want to see a fight, for I love him very much and he thinks of me as one of his own still.
I met Papa when I was 13. He owned the ‘Friendly Plumber’ here in Pensacola and on Fridays I would get the opportunity to go to their house for steak and a discussion of the week they had with business or politics. The one thing as a teen that I always remembered about him is although he DID complain about our local government, he also seemed willing to help change it and he truly cared about the people of Pensacola and for the well being for his future grandchildren.
He told me his story of coming out a rough area of Texas and although he had every opportunity to take the wrong roads in life, he had a desire to succeed and boy did he ever.
He later sold the Friendly Plumber which did very well and started a group in Pensacola called TRIM which stood for Tax Reform in Motion. He was applauded by many in Florida and other states for his role in attempting to cut wasted tax money. His grandchildren knew from toddlers that their grandfather was contributing his time to help our government.
A few years later they were able to observe how an election as they helped their Papa win a seat on the Escambia County Utility Board. He served honorable for many years.
He is now retired and though he struggles each day with lung problems he still enjoys life and spending time with each of us and the love of his life, Grams. On Saturdays, ALL of us meet at their house and have lunch. It warms my heart to hear him say the blessing. He has taught me so many things in these last thirty plus years and we are praying for many more with him.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Carolyn

It was fall of 1976 I was in the eighth grade and minding my own business in the gym for PE. (if you are legally blind like me – that also meant trying to stay alive and avoid being hit in the face by stray objects) On that particular day- I was NOT successful. I don’t remember the sport we were playing but I had been hit enough times that the teacher though it might do me some good to rest a few minutes on the side.

The girls in my PE class were always kind to me and since I didn’t talk much about my sight or lack thereof they didn’t really know how to treat me at times, but they were never mean to me. Most of them had been in school with me since kindergarten.

My life was happy and made sense - UNTIL that moment when I was helped to the sidelines and the NEW girl walked over and sat next to me. I had seen her earlier that morning on my bus. She looked over at me and so I did the decent thing and looked back at her and she screamed, “WHAT?” NO ONE had EVER screamed at ME at school before. Everyone else took care of me and the infidel had waltzed in and screamed, “WHAT!” at me for NO reason! I was offended at the least and on the verge of tears. I was wearing a mood ring which was ‘the thing’ in the mid ‘70s. My cousin Deborah had let me borrow it for the day and this NEW girl wanted to see it. I did not know her and had already decided I DID NOT much like her so why would I take my cousin’s ring off and hand it to HER?
At that moment the teacher left the gym and the mean girl was ticked off that I hadn’t handed over the ring so she punched me in the arm! I stood there in shock! I could have her suspended for that and DID want to just start bawling my eyes out but I knew she would never let me live it down so after standing there for a minute I said, “What is YOUR problem?” I had never said that to anybody before… and couldn’t believe it came out of my mouth! I was the mousy little quiet one who had never stood up to ANYBODY!
She answered, “My problem is YOU- everyone treats you like a little angel and acts like you’re going to break. She then asked, “What’s your deal anyway?” Hum, that was the first person who had ever asked me what my ‘deal’ was. I said “Do you mean my sight?”, and she looked at me as if to say, “Duh”, so I began to explain the condition to her. “You are still a regular person silly”, she said to me and then walked away. After I told her everything I was still in fear because I though she might use it against me when I least expected it! Lol
The next morning I dreaded riding the bus because I knew SHE would be there. When the bus door opened I gingerly stepped in and when the sun is out I can’t see people, just their form so you had to call out my name for me to sit with you or I just sat wherever I could make out an empty space. That morning someone said, “Come sit here.” I recognized the voice at once. It was HER but she sounded nice this time. I sat down and she said, “My name is Carolyn James” She went on to explain she had just moved here from Puerto Rico.
Thirty plus years later, I still remember that as a turning point in my life and will forever be grateful to my ‘sis’ Carolyn for showing me that I’m just like anyone else. She toughened me up a little that day and through these many years she has made me step outside my “comfort zone” when I needed it.
We have been to each others’ weddings and births of children and sadly, deaths of family members. We have helped each other through horrific circumstances that are still hard to talk about.
The Lord knew all those years ago that I needed a punch in the arm and a friend for life. I love you Carolyn!
Happy Birthday

I had the opportunity of taking a night flight out of Raleigh this last week. It is always interesting to see the city view from up above it all. As we left the runway clusters of lights from area homes began to come into view and I began to think. In each one of those homes represents lives in the process of going on with their daily routine and duties. In some cases there was joy over a new job found. In some there may be sadness due to divorce. In the family of the home I had just said goodbye to lives a Colonel and his dear wife, who also happens to be my lifelong friend and cousin, Deborah. They are struggling with the news of cancer right now. Please pray for Steve as he begins chemo treatments next Wednesday. Another sweet cousin Dana and her husband Troy live close by and are dealing with the loss of Troy’s dad last week.
As we lifted higher and higher into the sky there were so MANY dots of lights from homes that they could not be counted. It made me smile to think that God sees each one of those lights but even more importantly He sees each soul in each of those homes and He loves and cares for them all. He hears each prayer and sees each tear that falls.
Soon clouds overtook the view and though those homes could no longer be seen , the Lord never lost sight of them and He protects each one of His own under the shelter of His wings.