Sunday, June 16, 2013, Location “J”
- Day 9
TD Jake's ministry at The Potters House
in Dallas, TX was our destination this morning. It seemed out of
place for me to enjoy a Father's Day celebration without any of my
favorite daddies. No special husband, no dad, no brother. Not even an
uncle or male friend. Nevertheless, it was a powerful service in
every aspect.
If you ever find yourself looking for a
church to visit in Dallas, consider going here at least once. But
come an hour early (8 AM) to get a parking space. If you sign in at
the registration desk, you will be given a baggie of surprises
including a recording of Bishop Jakes. And be sure to go to the new
visitor area for a cup of coffee or juice and a snack. Sit in the
comfy chairs provided for a short orientation about where the
bathrooms are located and then, the gracious and friendly hosts will
lead you to a special place to sit.
After service, we made our way out of
Dallas into the hills of Oklahoma. We were surprised there were that
many hills. We needed a pit stop but there had not been any signs for
a while. So we took a chance and got off I-35 and found ourselves on
a country highway with nothing to go to. We went left, around winding
turns. One place had bathrooms that were out of order. Another had no
public bathrooms. We kept going and going. When a heaven sent
blessing appeared after camps and tourist cabins sites. The white
sign with red letters said: Fried Pies. This Fried Pies place had a
gas station in Arbuckle Mountain area in a clean, simple cabin. Not
rustic but not contemporary either. Past issues of Southern Living
covers hung on the wall. Apparently this place got national
attention. All they made was fried pies. Cream filled, fruit filled,
and breakfast filled. Plain. Clean. They did one thing and one thing
extremely well. The place had a line to its counter, in the middle
of know where. Of course we had to sample the local fare. We were
using their facilities after all and we were THERE.
I spoke with a family coming through
from Kansas to Dallas. They stopped there whenever they were in the
area. They were friendly and let me know how much they enjoyed these
pies.
We got back on the
road and headed to Oklahoma City. The skies were bright blue with
puffy clouds suspended in it. But suddenly the skies turned grayer
and grayer .It looked like rain up ahead. In true Andy the weather
man fashion, I checked the local weather channels and saw that our
hotel in Norman was not in the stormy area.
As we got closer to
Norman, I began to text my old friend I met before Elementary school
in Fremont, California. I named my daughter after her and we have not
seen each other since 1999 or so. She lives in Shawnee, OK now and
agreed to meet us for dinner. She suggested a casual place in Norman,
The Mont, and invited her friend Allison to come and meet us too.
She got a table big enough for all of us out on the patio but it
began to rain gently, so we moved indoors.
It was so good to
see her and meet our new friend, who invited us to come to her home
in Norman. I knew all my girls were tired but they came anyway.
Allison showed us her cool frequency research equipment that she has
that I expect to have in my clinic one day soon. She let us sample
them and kept remarking how surprised she was that someone besides
her knew about this technology. I was more than delighted by my
Father's Day presents to me: A TD Jakes CD, a new friend, an old
friend, an Oklahoma treat and The Activate teams' sacrifice for me.
We retired after
midnight. Today we will be going into a tornado area. The ground is
wet and it looks as though the clouds will break. Stay tuned.
