West Cocoa Chat

Hope everyone had a good weekend. We made it back from our road trip to Jacksonville in one piece and we thank God for that.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon to see part of Jacksonville’s annual “Air and Sea Show.” As we drove from I-95 to Jacksonville Beach we were “buzzed” a couple of times by the “Blue Angels.” The “kid” in me gets a big rush at that kind of display of military power. Apparently we just missed a simulated “amphibious assault” on Jacksonville Beach. More oohs and ahhs.

This was a “rite of passage” for our boys in several ways.
1st, after dinner at Carrabba’s Italian Grill, we allowed our 4 boys to walk from the restaurant to our hotel which was about a mile away. A couple of years ago our wives (and they still might) would have thought we’d lost our minds for allowing such an act of freedom.
2nd – We let the boys stay in their own room without any Dads. It didn’t matter that the Dads were in the next room, they still thought they were hot stuff.
3rd – The boys sat in their own section of Alltel Stadium. This was out of necessity due to the fact that I couldn’t purchase 9 tickets in a row. I was able to purchase 4 tickets for the boys and then 5 for the Dads. The boys were one section from us and seemed to have a good time.

The best part of the weekend was all of us sitting in the hotel room watching Miami crush “Va.-Tech.” I root for the other Florida teams unless they're playing FSU who picked an awful bad weekend to let N.C. State beat them.

On the way into the stadium we came across a gentleman who was unfurling a banner that read “Jesus Saves. Surrender all to Him.” He was positioned in front of one of the main gates into Alltel Stadium. We asked him if he did this at every home game and he said “no.” Ron said to him, “God bless you sir for your courage.” He seemed to draw a little strength from Ron’s encouraging words. I wondered if I have the same kind of courage.

Have a good week blones.