Santa Redneck Is Coming To Town

Christmas comes early each year to our normally quiet community here in Homestead, Florida. Santas come by the droves, not in sleighs, but in RVs, and campers, and pick-up trucks. They come here each year to watch the last NASCAR race of the year; the one that decides the NASCAR champion, The Homestead-Miami Ford 400. These Santas, don't come with a bag of presents, but with pockets full of cash. It is a welcome influx of cash for the hotels, shops, trailer parks, and bars of Homestead, and Florida City.

My wife, who tends a bar in Florida City, looks forward to this big three day party every year. After bartending here the last five years, she knows that these folks love to drink, party, and lavish her with piles of dough; and there are few things she likes more than making lots of money.

The average NASCAR fan won't win many Nobel Prizes, or even spelling bees in their lifetime; but they remember her little bar, and they even remember her name, so it is like a big reunion for everyone. These folks may be a little grubby, and their smiles remind you of a gap toothed jack-o-lantern; but they are usually well behaved, and very generous. Just be sure that you have countless cases of ice cold Coors Light, Budweiser, and Jack Daniels, on hand.

With all the drinking going on, it is a wonder to me how they can even find the race track, let alone keep track of how many left turns their favorite driver Billy Bob Kyle has successfully negotiated but, they do. In fact, they really get into the race. Many of them rent out head sets so they can listen in on the communication going back and forth from the pit crew chief, and the driver. Crackle, static "hey, that was a real impressive left turn yew made back there, Jimmy Joe Don, now be careful, 'cus yew got another one coming up right quick" Crackle, pop "yeah Benny Earl Ray, the car's running real smooth right now, hold on, gotta another one of them left turns coming up." Sheer excitement!

I'm not really big on NASCAR racing; just five minutes of watching these guys going around in circles puts me in a trance. But, as long as they keep coming down here every year with pockets full of cash, we'll be glad to welcome them here. "Hey, Kenny Jeb Kirk, how the hell are yew? Its good to see yew agin! Did yew bring your sister?"

Loving For the Sake Of Love

Wouldn’t it be nice if we loved everyone the way we love our children? We all give our children unconditional love; it is natural to do so. Why can’t we give our mates, our siblings, our parents the same unconditional love? Why can’t we love everyone this way? Unconditional love means that you may not like what someone does, and you may not like them personally, but you love them anyway. If you don’t know what love truly is read what St. Paul has to say about love in 1 Corinthians 13. If everyone loved their spouse in this manner divorce would be rare because forgiveness would be natural. If everyone loved their parents and siblings in this manner there would never be split families because there would never be hurt feelings. If we loved everyone like this there would be no fighting or wars.

This is what I call loving for the sake of love. You love because that is all you can do because you are filled with love.

We all make mistakes, we all sin. We all do hurtful things, and we all say things we don’t really mean. We all do these things, but God still loves us.

We need to strive to be more like God and love everyone regardless of their short comings. The only way we can accomplish this is by shrinking our egos, and our feelings of self importance.

The best way to shrink the ego is to fill yourself with love. The best way to fill yourself with love is to learn how to love and accept yourself and your short comings.

Jesus said “Love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor.” This is very important, not only what he said, but the order in which he said it. To fill yourself with love you must first learn to love God, then you must learn how to love yourself. Only after you have accomplished the first two, will you be able to love others.

Try to find a few minutes each day to connect with God and to send Him your love. Sit quietly and fill yourself with love; you can do this by thinking about someone you truly love. This person can be Jesus, your spouse, your child, your pet, anyone that inspires love for you. Gently sing HU as your song of love to God. This highly charged spiritual word will help open your heart to receive God’s love. Over time you will fill your heart and yourself with love. You will love everyone simply for the sake of love. You will become a shining beacon of love showing others the way of love.

Loving For the Sake Of Love

Wouldn’t it be nice if we loved everyone the way we love our children? We all give our children unconditional love; it is natural to do so. Why can’t we give our mates, our siblings, our parents the same unconditional love? Why can’t we love everyone this way? Unconditional love means that you may not like what someone does, and you may not like them personally, but you love them anyway.


 If you don’t know what love truly is read what St. Paul has to say about love in 1 Corinthians 13. If everyone loved their spouse in this manner divorce would be rare because forgiveness would be natural. If everyone loved their parents and siblings in this manner there would never be split families because there would never be hurt feelings. If we loved everyone like this there would be no fighting or wars.


This is what I call loving for the sake of love. You love because that is all you can do because you are filled with love.


We all make mistakes, we all sin. We all do hurtful things, and we all say things we don’t really mean. We all do these things, but God still loves us.


We need to strive to be more like God and love everyone regardless of their short comings. The only way we can accomplish this is by shrinking our egos, and our feelings of self importance.


The best way to shrink the ego is to fill yourself with love. The best way to fill yourself with love is to learn how to love and accept yourself and your short comings.


Jesus said “Love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor.” This is very important, not only what he said, but the order in which he said it. To fill yourself with love you must first learn to love God, then you must learn how to love yourself. Only after you have accomplished the first two, will you be able to love others.


Try to find a few minutes each day to connect with God and to send Him your love. Sit quietly and fill yourself with love; you can do this by thinking about someone you truly love. This person can be Jesus, your spouse, your child, your pet, anyone that inspires love for you. Gently sing HU as your song of love to God. This highly charged spiritual word will help open your heart to receive God’s love. Over time you will fill your heart and yourself with love. You will love everyone simply for the sake of love. You will become a shining beacon of love showing others the way of love.

Loving For the Sake of Love

Wouldn't it be nice if we cared for everyone the way we do our children? We all give our children unconditional love; it is natural to do so. Why can't we give our mates, our siblings, our parents the same? Why can't we feel like this toward everyone? Unconditional love means that you may not like what someone does, but you love them anyway.

If you don't know what this feeling truly is read what St. Paul has to say about it in 1 Corinthians 13. If everyone cared for their spouse in this manner divorce would be rare because forgiveness would be natural. If everyone cared for their parents and siblings in this manner there would be no split families because there would never be hurt feelings. If we all felt like this toward everyone else there would be no fighting or wars.

This is what I call loving for the sake of love. You love because that is all you can do. We all make mistakes, we all sin. We all do hurtful things, and we all say things we don't really mean. We all do these things, but God still loves us. We need to strive to be more like God and love everyone regardless of their short comings. The only way we can accomplish this is by shrinking our egos, and our feelings of importance.

Jesus said "Love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor." This is very important, not only what he said, but the order in which he said it. To fill yourself with love you must first learn to love God, then you must learn how to love yourself. Only after you have accomplished the first two, will you be able to give love to others.

Try to find a few minutes each day to connect with God. Sit quietly and fill yourself with positive feelings; you can do this by thinking about someone you truly love. This person can be Jesus, your spouse, your child, your pet, anyone that inspires this for you. Gently sing HU as your song of love to God. This highly charged spiritual word will help open your heart to receive God's love. Over time you will fill your heart and yourself with love. You will love everyone simply for the sake of love. You will become a shining beacon of love showing others the way.

1 Corinthian 13