NASCAR and Jesus
The She Speaks conference I attended took place in Charlotte, North Carolina. We decided we would use this as a springboard for our family vacation at the beach. So, a weekend in Charlotte, and then a short drive to the beach for the week was the plan. While I was busy at the conference, my husband, Gabe, would entertain our four daughters.
When we got to our hotel, I asked Gabe what he and the girls planned on doing.
“We are in NASCAR country! We’re going to tour the race shops.” He said.
To which the girls all yelled, “YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
One of my daughters asked me, “Are you sad you are going to miss the racecars, Mommy?”
Ha!
I told her that as excited as she was to see racecars, swim at the hotel pool, and hangout with daddy, that’s how excited mommy was about her conference.
All the next day, I received pictures of their adventures. Donuts with bacon. Swimming until their toes looked like raisins. And yes, NASCAR. Then towards the very end, as I was wrapping up a session on “Storytelling on the Page and the Stage”, I got this text from Gabe: “They all got something from the gift store. Kiki got big 88 earrings. No talking her out of them.”
It was shortly followed by this picture:
My 6 year old daughter was now the proud owner of giant, dangly, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. earrings.
Heaven help me.
She was PROUD and I wasn’t about to tell her differently!
So I got back to my room and oohed and aahed and told her how fun those earrings were and how beautiful she looked.
She turned to me and said, “I know, Mommy. Now I look like you.”
Y’all.
I do NOT own a pair of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. earrings! Or any NASCAR driver for that matter.
But my daughter bought those earrings because she thought it made her look like Mommy.
Something in her words made me love those giant 88 earrings as well.
It was the smallest reminder that those little eyes are watching. My hope and prayer is that we don’t just pass along Gabe’s love for NASCAR or my love for big dangly earrings, but we would mostly pass along our love for Jesus.
When Jesus calls them, I pray they yell “Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” When they see Him for themselves, I pray there will be no talking them out of Him. I pray they will wear Him PROUD. And when He calls them beautiful, I pray they say, “I know, Jesus. Now I look like you.”
