Barbie Loflin

I loved going to the ocean when I was a child.

We did not have any money to speak of, but every year we would make the trek to Daytona Beach for a full week. It has been 28 years since we took such a trip, but I remember it like it was yesterday.

Mom would put us all to bed about 10:00 PM so we would be nice and tired. She would let us sleep until about 2:00 AM when we would smell the chicken frying in the kitchen. Mama always fried up some chicken for the drive. It took a lot of money to feed four girls and two parents, so we ate in the car along the way. We knew if the chicken was frying it was time to get ready. We didn’t get up, mind you. We didn’t do that ‘til it was time to go. But in my minds eye, I was already walking the gritty sand beach feeling the sun on my freckled cheeks.

We would all pile into the black station wagon at around 3:00 AM, still in our pajama’s; sleep still our closest companion, and the smell of warm chicken and the sound of Mama and Daddy’s muted voices would put us back to sleep. We’d awaken around 7:00 or 8:00 and the “are we there yet’s” would begin in earnest.

I did not know as a child that others had more than I did, or perhaps that I was even looked down upon because of my family’s poverty. I had no idea that my shoes were not supposed to be too big, or that all mom’s did not make their children’s clothes. I did not know that all trips to Florida did not end at the Thunderbird Hotel, or that the drive could be made in air conditioned vehicles with stops at actual restaurants… and it was beyond my comprehension that my mama’s fried chicken was not the food of kings.

Today I know the blessing of air conditioned cars and wearing shoes that I have chosen. I know the feel of silk upon my skin and the luxury of restaurants on long drives. Yes,
God has been extravagant in His provision for my family over the years. Still, in all of the change there has been a constant… My mama’s fried chicken is still the food of Kings.

The years of financial lack were nothing in comparison to the great wealth we enjoyed in that station wagon my daddy spray painted black. We would sing so loud the cars passing us would turn and stare… of course it could have been the spray paint, but we thought it was because of the beautiful music coming from within. We would laugh so hard we cried. Mama would pass out chicken and paper cups full of cold water. The wind blew through the windows and ruffled our hand made clothes, and my daddy would laugh a rich, throaty laugh as the passing drivers shook their heads in dismay.

And in those moments, the world was rich and wet and wonderful…
and we were fully invested.

Sometimes we have it all right in front of us, but cannot see what we have for all that we think we want.

A simple life in the Fear-of-GOD is better than a rich life with a ton of headaches. Proverbs 15:16 (Message Bible)