Mentors, Friends, and Fried Pies
Ray and I are grateful for the godly mentors and friends God has placed in our lives over many decades. Visiting with them is one of the benefits of our traveling with Notgrass History. Our trip to the Oklahoma homeschool convention took us to mentors, friends, and fried pies. Let me explain.
On Tuesday, we had our great visit with my Aunt Dot and Uncle Preston that I wrote about last week.
On Wednesday, we visited with David and Joyce Chadwell. David was the first minister Ray worked with when he went into full-time ministry in Oxford, Mississippi, in 1977. When we went to Oxford, Ray met with David every week, and I talked with Joyce almost every weekday. They were profound influences for good in our lives.
I wonder if Notgrass History would have ever existed if Joyce Chadwell and our friend Glenda Hendrix had not developed their own curriculum for their 1st and 2nd grade Sunday School class. It wasn’t long before Lillie Fay Hayden (now Young) and I were developing curriculum for our 4 and 5 year old class. I kept putting curriculum together for children’s classes for the rest of Ray’s time in full-time ministry. Then, in 1996, I self-published my first curriculum for homeschoolers. Someday, if God blesses me with the time, I’ll republish that. I have been itching to do it for many years.
On Thursday, we visited with the Cole family in Oklahoma City. They have used Notgrass History for years. Now they are precious friends and encouragers.
On Friday and Saturday, we visited with homeschooling families at the convention, including some of you. We learn much from your love for and commitment to your families. Wow! We met a lot of heroes and heroines.
On Sunday, we spent the day with Martin and Lillie Fay Young (the Lillie Fay with whom I developed Bible class curriculum in Mississippi). We met them at church at 8:00 a.m. and finally pulled ourselves away from their house after 10:00 p.m. Martin and Lillie Fay are dear old friends. Pardon the old-fashioned expression, but we watched Martin woo and win Lillie Fay. We saw them marry. They were our friends when we had our first child and then another and another. Their house was three houses down from the first tiny house we ever owned (along with the mortgage company).
Yesterday we visited with Daddy’s baby sister Emily. Just a year and a half older than I am, she was my first playmate and my first best friend.
We left each visit wiser than when we arrived.
One of my prayers for our children is for God to provide them with older, godly mentors and with godly friends. I believe that Christian parent-mentors are the most important mentors children can have, but we want our children to have other Christians who love, mentor, and have fun with them, too.
Every person needs people. As Proverbs teaches us:
Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another.
Proverbs 27:17
Conversely:
Do not be deceived:
“Bad company corrupts good morals.”
1 Corinthians 15:33
Two of our jobs as mamas is to train our children who to befriend and how to handle the influence others have on them. We also need to help them prepare their hearts and minds to listen and pay attention when they have the opportunity to receive godly advice. When children — or grown-ups — are insecure they sometimes find it difficult to listen to anyone. They are too busy trying to prove that they have it all together and don’t need any help. Proverbs also teaches:
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.
Proverbs 12:15
Sometimes listening to counsel can be just plain fun. Our Notgrass associate Donna is wise in very many ways, but there is one area of life where I know I can always count on Donna to be spot on! And that is in where the best places are to eat! As we were preparing to leave the convention on Saturday, she and her husband Phil told me about a great fried pie restaurant that was on the way to our side trip to Dallas to see the Youngs and my aunt Emily.
We pulled into Arbuckle Mountain Fried Pies of Davis, Oklahoma, about an hour before closing.
The exterior was fun . . .
. . . from the dinosaur and rooster on the roof . . .
. . . to Ray’s encounter with Bigfoot.
The real attraction is inside where we chose from a dozen and a half kinds of sweet fried pies (we chose a pecan pie fried pie) . . .
. . . and a half dozen savory ones (we chose Polish sausage and potato). You can get a drink out of the cooler near the counter, but otherwise you only have one choice at Arbuckle Mountain fried pies. Which variety of fried pie do you want? There’s nothing else on the menu.
We decided to wait five minutes for ones hot out of the fryer.
It was worth the five extra minutes.
From my seat in one of the three — count ’em, three — dining areas, I had a perfect view of this wooden cross high above the tables and chairs.
What to have for dinner is far from the most important question in life, but who and what we hear and follow, that one is right on up there.
Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
That you may be wise the rest of your days.
Proverbs 19:20
Note: One of you recently posted a heartfelt question on my blog site. I had not yet answered it, but was planning to do so. Yesterday I noticed that it had disappeared and I feel bad because I wanted to encourage you. Now, I’m not positive who posted it. I don’t know how it disappeared. If you are the one who wrote it, could you please ask me the question again? I want to help.
Well, rats. Here I am in OK and y’all were right here and I missed my chance to meet you! Next year, if y’all will be back at the OK convention, I will plan to attend. I have never been, but would love to go if I can meet dear Charlene and Ray!