I was traveling to a vacation destination and sitting in the breakfast area of a hotel in Jackson, Tennessee, reading and sipping hot tea. A group of workers were eating breakfast and one says, \u201cAre you redeye?\u201d Another replied, \u201cRedeye.\u201d All at once, a flood of memories swept through my mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My parents were long time child evangelists. At our \u201cKid\u2019s Crusades\u201d my dad, to get everyone\u2019s attention to something we were about to do, would yell, \u201cArrrrre \u2026 youuuuuu \u2026 REDEYYYYYYYYYEEEE!!!\u201d The kids would scream like the roar of Niagara Falls, \u201cREDEYYYYYYYEEEEE!!!\u201d Then he would do something silly like fall back or drop the mic, or wipe his face and say, \u201cWho spit?\u201d He was so good at interacting on that level, and naturally after then antics he would have their undivided attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I attended Southwestern Assemblies of God College in Waxahatchie, Texas (now SAGU), I was eating lunch with some friends in the cafeteria. When we were done I said, \u201cAre you redeye?\u201d It was an instinctive phrase ingrained in me. A girl at the table exclaimed, \u201cWhat did you say?\u201d I repeated, \u201cAre you redeye?\u201d She said, \u201cWhen I was a kid this man came to our church and would say that!\u201d \u201cTHAT WAS MY DAD!\u201d I replied excitedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, thirty years later I\u2019m reminded again of what a rich history God has given me. I\u2019m not stuck in the past, I\u2019m growing ever forward. A tree, over time, grows big and strong. It\u2019s vast network of branches sprout lush green leaves and fruit or nuts pop out in season. Birds find rest and shelter. Squirrels romp and play. A low strong limb my support a tire swing where children laugh and play. The shade produced cools a picnic table where families can gather. All of this is only sustainable if it has a significant root structure, not only spreading out close to the surface, but going deep. When the winds blow and the storms rage, its ability to stand depends on how deep its roots are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m thankful for my familial roots and the legacy I was handed. More importantly are the roots I continue to develop in my relationship with God and my meditation on His Word. In these I find real strength and power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blessed is the one
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither\u2014
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0whatever they do prospers.<\/p>Psalm 1:2-3<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was traveling to a vacation destination and sitting in the breakfast area of a hotel in Jackson, Tennessee, reading and sipping hot tea. A group of workers were eating breakfast and one says, \u201cAre you redeye?\u201d Another replied, \u201cRedeye.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/redhammer.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tree.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajfeR-dH","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":851,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849\/revisions\/851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redhammer.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}