Sweet Potato Queen Day

Stephanie Bell Flynt and I had a blast being transformed into Sweet Potato Queens last Friday on the WLBT 4pm newscast. Being a "fire engine red head" was definitely an experience! If you didn't see the show, you can view it in parts on the WLBT website. Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.



I had the opportunity to speak at Lakeshore Church in Byram Saturday night at their ladies dinner. The men did a superb job serving everyone dinner and the ladies were such fun to be around and talk to. I spoke about the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the things that we are missing out on if we aren't allowing the Spirit to guide us every day. I even shared with them some of the emails I get from viewers which had them cackling. I received an email from a viewer named James just this week:

"For some reason, you appear white as snow. I thought it was my tv, but I looked at more sets and it is the same. You seem even brighter when you're at the desk."

This evening was for the ladies, but when I got home, I received an email from one of the servers who was at Lakeshore that night.

"You know, most of us take you “personalities” for granted. You’re in the entertainment world – not the “real” world. You don’t have feelings to get hurt like we do. You are incredibly wealthy. You live in gated mansions and are waited on by a staff of uniformed servants who attend to your every wish. Now we have the luxury of impersonal e-mail to communicate with an impersonal personality. It doesn’t occur to us that you are a loving wife and mother who, like us, has a house note, a car note, who has to wash, cook, clean, pay bills, and take the garbage out in between the hundreds of other little tasks that make up your job description under the title, “Wife, Mom, Professional.” Like most others, I also tend to communicate my complaints and dislikes on a ratio of probably 10 to 1 to the “attaboys” and “attagirls.” Human nature? Laziness? Regardless, we are guilty.

It was 1957. Dad had “Bud” and “Jim” - the two best English Setters who ever hunted for quail. My brother and I were old enough to recognize that most of our schoolmates had television and we didn’t. Money was scarce at best, but a friend of Dad’s had some to spare and he wanted Bud and Jim badly – bad enough to pay enough to buy a nice new black & white TV. We were near Tylertown – almost exactly half-way between Jackson and New Orleans. We could get excellent reception on WLBT and poor reception on a couple of New Orleans stations, so we sort of “grew up” with WLBT.

“Woody” (Assaf) was a household name. We depended on Woody to know when to plant, when to cut hay, when to paint, kill hogs, etc. It was a daily necessity to hear Woody complete the sentence, “The Weatherman says…………” Frankly, I really never thought there’d be another “Woody.” I was wrong.

There are a lot of good “meteorologists” out there. But you know, I’ve noticed over the past few years that I never hear anyone say, “David says it’s gonna rain,” or “Eric says we may get hail.” But “Barbie says…..” has become as common as “Woody says…..” once was. Are you THAT much better? I really don’t know, but tonight I think I realized WHY. The guy who said you “looked white” makes perfect sense to me now. When I see you, you have a “glow” about you. No, you don’t look “white,” but you come across the screen with a radiance that can only come from a true follower of Jesus Christ.

I pray that God will richly bless you and your family in ways you cannot imagine! THANK YOU for a wonderful, inspiring and enlightening evening. Signed, L.H.

What a sweet group of people! Thank you, Lakeshore!