If I Were a Snowbird (yada yada yada)

Yes, that's me in the picture, taking on a wave. Megan and I are in southern Florida at a hotel in Deerfield Beach near Boca Raton for our How Kids Think research project. Apart from a couple of rainstorms at night, it's been beautiful, with weather (and water) at 85-degrees - nice.

Though it would have been fun to have brought the little ladies, it's been good to hang out, just the two of us. We've had some in-depth meetings with folks about God's World News, eaten at some tasty places, played in the ocean (probably only an hour total - you can only get pummeled by so many waves before it gets redundant), and gotten a lot of work done in the hotel.

We also took an uninterrupted nap for two hours on Saturday, which hasn't happened since the Clinton administration.

Southern Florida seems different from southern California; there is much more of a concentrated New York influence because of all the snowbirds. True to Seinfeldian stereotype, many snowbirds are of Jewish descent, which reminded me of when my friend, Lori (who is Jewish), once asked me if I knew what her favorite Jewish wine was? Shrugging my shoulders that I didn't, she squinted her eyes and answered in a whiny voice: "I wanna go to Miami!"

I've not rubbed shoulders with as many cultural Jews as I have on this trip; theirs is a fascinating world to me because of all the teaching I do in Bible class that involves their lineage and people. I've talked with my Jewish friends and read enough Chaim Potok (whom I love) to understand what the issues are as to why cultural Jews believe as they do (or don't); honestly, I'm envious of their cultural heritage (compared to my ingrafted Gentile "goy-ness"), and marvel that so many do not embrace the Savior sent by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So, as we walked into yet another restaurant full of Jewish snowbirds last night, I prayed God would have mercy on his initially-chosen people, and that he would somehow open each of their eyes to Himself in the midst of all the glitz and glam of their southern Florida playground.

"I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!" - Romans 11:1a

Let it be so, God.