The Southern Accent and God is Doing a Nu Thang

Two things I love: the Southern accent and watching God work.

More after el jumpo:

First one, you’ll remember from my musings of being a misfit lightning bug (His tailpipe done burned out!) on the Southern accent and my personal lack of one of my own.  Well, I bring this up today because dovetailing into the second thing I love (in this post at least), I’ve had to call down to the NC DMV a couple times to hash out an issue with my automobile.  The first time I called I spoke with two ladies: a Ms. West and a Peggy.  And I tell you what, my ears swam in the splendor of their Southern twang.  I did not realize how much a person could miss something so…what?  Mundane?  Minor?  It’s not something you normally think about, but then when it hits you it really does a number on you. 

Nothing against Ohioans, please, don’t think I’m dissing Ohio.  I’ve made some really good friends here I anticipate knowing until we all reach the other side.  But my word…

Now, I do have some family and friends I keep in steady contact with from the Old North State who have the accent.  But I’m used to it coming from them.  It really makes a difference when you speak to someone outside of your realm of experience – it just makes it that much more real, y’know?  I guess it’s kind of like a “totem” were I in a dream, a la Inception. 

So, the second thing…  I believe I’ve talked about this too, in previous posts.  But He just keeps on going.  This stuff with my car, for example; I was afraid I’d have to surrender my plate for 30 days (pay your insurance bills on time!) and there’d be a $500 fee or something outrageous like that.  Turns out, I only have to get an oil change, fax in a couple things, pay a fifth of what I feared and boom, shaka-laka – problem solved! 

Another thing: I just recently moved into a new abode.  There was a problem with the fittings for the washing machine – they leaked.  At first it looked as though it was due to an oversight on my part – however, upon closer inspection, the valves themselves were leaking.  So, I did what I needed to do.  I didn’t make a phone call, I didn’t write an email.  I put on a nice collared shirt, a pair of my khaki pants, my dress shoes and went over to the office to discuss the issue with the property manager.  If there’s one thing I’ve learned from life and have been applying like crazy lately is: if you want a problem to be resolved, you’ve got to show up to take care of it; and if you want to be taken seriously, you have to dress the part.

When I got the first “no” response from the Navy I could have packed it in.  When I got the second and third negative responses, I could have given up.  That’s what I’m used to doing but I had some encouragement and I stayed the course.  And now I continue to do that – prayerfully, going in faith that this is all what God has for me to do.  After all, though the apostles were a bunch of yellow-bellied fools at first, eventually they grew into bold men.  They continued to act like a bunch of gits sometimes, but they were gits in faith, and God lovingly corrected them (albeit harshly sometimes – sometimes that’s what it takes).

So that’s encouraging to me.  Where I would once throw in the towel because something got too difficult I’ve buckled in and kept trudging.  Where I would have once been discouraged because I thought I had arrived and then screwed it up with some indiscretion, some pig-headed, bone-headed mistake, I just say, “Shucks…”  And I take it to the Lord in Prayer…sometimes in tears and shame…not always as quick as I’d like, but He is always there – shoot, He’s always here waiting. 

And then He makes everything better by reminding me of where I’m headed.