Cowboy Christianity. A Bible and a gun.

I never realized I was southern until I left the south. It is true though. I miss sweat tea, and the instant availability of it. I miss Truett Cathy and his holy baptist chicken sandwiches. I even miss the one fingered solute we so freely give each other on the highway. I cannot lie. A part of me misses home. A part of me hurts that I am not with my family, nor am I with my friends. Although this part of me exists, my soul knows that this is where I am supposed to be.

Two years I walked into Algebra 1101 and sat down in my chair nervously, looking like the awkward freshman I was. Today I did the exact same thing. This time was different though. This time I was walking into this classroom because I desperately desire what the instructor has to offer us. I want to learn what he has to say. I need to learn what he has to say.

I am not going to lie. It was overwhelming to hear my second instructor tell me that if I missed one assignment then I would fail the entire class. The same instructor later gave the entire class the previously mentioned salute in order to prove a point and that killed some of the tension. I am like any other human. I have quit many commitments that I have made, but I am unwilling to do that on this one. I have been given an amazing opportunity and I want to live it to the full. They weren't kidding when the said this was pre ivy league.


Southern is a man made thing. A culture that we have created and learned. Like other cultures, we can unlearn it. It only exists if we let it. I feel like I have had a hologram in front of me that I have been fighting to catch, and when I pass through it I turn around and start the chase again. I would like to say that when I found out it was just a hologram I stopped, but like a little kid in a 3D movie, I kept reaching out for it. In this way, I was also finding my identity in man made things. Something that I learned but can unlearn. Something that only exists if I let it. Today I felt God turn off what was projecting the hologram and allow me to chase what truly matters. Him. And like a dad playing tag with his son, he makes it pretty easy to catch him.

To live is Christ and to die is gain. A simple concept, but not an easy concept.