My dad said something to me over two quails, BBQ wrapped shrimp and sweet potato fries on Saturday night and it’s weight on my heart surprised me. “Bend is no more beautiful than Abilene.” Given a different conversation and a different time, I might have argued with that statement.

Bend Sunrise

I knew what he meant and I knew he was right. God created the WHOLE world and everything in it. This summer I made a lot of jokes about my soon-to-be home. The truth is Abilene is beautiful. And the other truth is that my jokes gave light to a deeper heart issue.  As excited as I was to come here, I felt I was leaving someplace great to go to the middle of nowhere.  But my vision is skewed. My sight imperfect. In the Father’s eyes, there is no nowhere and there is no such person as a nobody. And that’s the beauty I do see. The beauty of the people.

Dad and I drove 1100 miles across the Southern United States and along the way we met the most fantastic couple in Las Cruces, NM. They were hospitality at its finest: doing whatever they could to make their guests feel welcome and at home. Even if it meant coming out in their house clothes, at 10pm, in the rain to unlock the giant chili. They were quirky, and their clothes didn’t match, but they were beautiful.

The people in Abilene talk different, but they’re beautiful. It’s a little sticky and mostly hot, but it’s beautiful. And wherever God’s goes or stays, that’s where I want to be.