Visitors Remind me What Farms are For

This weekend I had a pleasant experience. Friends from my Miami days called and came by for a visit, bringing their 5 kids. My friend Amanda also came by, along with two of her sons. I think everyone had a good time. You can judge by the photo.

I think the one in the middle of the seat is my goddaughter, Gabriella. Can’t tell for sure.

The man driving the cart is Alonzo. I met him in about 2007, at Trinity Church. We were armorbearers. We both got disgusted with the leadership’s bad behavior. Alonzo moved to another church. I ended up at the same church, as readers of this blog know. Then the pastors at the second church imploded. They did what they pleased, answering to no one, and they rejected not only good advice, but the people who provided it. The husband is in prison now, and the wife is dead.

Alonzo and his wife Teri moved to Orlando. They had a hard time prospering in Miami, which is a Latin-dominated town. Cubans have serious problems with racism, and no one confronts them, because it’s only fashionable to confront white racism. Alonzo applied for 27 jobs in Miami and didn’t land a single one, but when he applied for three jobs in Orlando, he got three offers. They have never looked back. Like me, Alonzo hates Miami so much it makes him miserable when he has to go back for visits.

They live in Sanford now, which is not all that far from me. It’s near Orlando. As happy as they are to be away from Miami, they are thinking of moving to the Macon area. Disney World pretty much ruined Orlando, so it gets more like Miami all the time.

I may go to Tennessee. They may go to Macon. It may be that Florida is turning out to be a dubious area for Christians. Maybe God is moving people north.

Alonzo and Teri should hire themselves out as parent counselors. Their kids are about as close to perfect as kids get. They have great personalities, they don’t break things (much) when they show up. They treat adults with respect. They don’t whine.

Their oldest is 16, and she already has a college scholarship.

While they were here, I got a surprise call from my friend Tina. She’s a young woman who attended the second church I mentioned above. She got a scholarship from the University of Miami, so she had to leave her sister and brother-in-law in Coral Springs to go to school. They asked me if I could provide transportation to church, so I drove her for a couple of years.

Tina’s mother disappeared from her life, and she was raised by her sister. She competed in beauty pageants to support herself, and she got more than one scholarship. Once she made it to college, she worked very hard, doing very well in calculus and computer classes. She has a job know, but she’s also in grad school. She plans to develop software applications. I don’t know where she’s headed in life, but she is going to come out on top.

She’s still competing. She’s currently a “Miss” on the state level.

We used to talk while I drove her, and I gave her such advice as I could. She was very serious about Christianity. I don’t think college corrupted her. I mentioned the problems at New Dawn, and she started talking about the lack of accountability in the leadership. She was right on the money. How many kids fresh out of college even know what accountability is?

I thought she had forgotten all about me, but Teri posted a photo on Facebook, and Tina saw it, and she decided to call. She had lost my contact information.

I made a mess of my life when I was young. I can’t fix that, but it’s wonderful to see younger people I have had the opportunity to talk to. My revenge on the devil and the flesh is to help other people avoid what I went through.

I don’t know where I’ll be a year from now. I hope I’ll still be able to have a positive influence on someone here and there.

I spend a lot of time alone these days. It was nice to have people show up and remind me that I’ve made some investments. Investing in material wealth is a good idea, but the investments you make in people are more rewarding.

That poor cart. I don’t know how it survived the ride.