In the early 1960ʼs our family would take vacations to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and usually, because we were coming via my grandparents’ home in North Carolina, we would go by South of the Border. Here is the current Wikipedia description: “South of the Border is an attraction on Interstate 95 and US Highway 301/501 in Dillon, South Carolina, just south of Rowland, North Carolina. It is so named because it is just south of the border between North Carolina and South Carolina and is themed in tongue-in-cheek, faux Mexican style. The rest area contains restaurants, gas stations, a video arcade, and a motel, and truck stop and a small dilapidated amusement park with no operating rides but a mini golf course still in commission, shopping and fireworks stores. Its mascot is Pedro, a caricature of a Mexican Bandido”.
It didn’t have all the amenities described in the Wikipedia article in 1963, but it was certainly an attraction to a nine-year-old! Beginning a few miles away there would be those little road signs that would say things like “It’s coming”, “Just ahead”, “Pedro’s waiting”. We usually stopped for gas, or a quick snack. Just as you pulled back on the highway headed to the beach, there was the 25 foot high statute of Pedro holding a humongous South of the Border billboard. And then the road signs began again, ”You Missed It”! It makes me think about the spiritual road signs that are staked down for us, so we don’t miss what God wants us to experience of life. I remember, more clearly, the times we didn’t stop at South of the Border. Sometimes it was because we were in a hurry to get to the beach, or we took a different (in my mind, the wrong) highway and did not pass Pedro. One time, late at night, I awoke from my slumber just in time to see the “You Missed It” sign. The wonderful thing about God’s grace is that if we keep our spiritual eyes open, and watch the signs to make sure we are on the path God would have us to travel, we won’t awake from our spiritual slumber to see “You Missed It”.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
February 2021
Categories |
Starkville Presbyterian Church PC(USA) Starkville, MS | Ron's Reflections |