Monday, March 26, 2007

The Return Journey Day Five: Tulsa and the Monroes

We had breakfast in Oklahoma City at an IHOP -- how can you do a roadtrip and not visit and IHOP? I had their senior's omlette. Very cheesy. Could only eat half of it.

We headed east on I-44 to Tulsa, and I got to use the Trakfone I bought in Phoenix to call our friend Jeff Monroe, whom we went to Oral Roberts University with in 1984. We hadn't seen the Monroe family in over 20 years.

We met at a Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen (www.donpablos.com). It had a bright atrium in the centre -- a great place to meet! We feasted on delicious mexican food and an endless supply of diet cokes; I couldn't finish one before the waiter would bring another to my table. Needless to say, I remembered this fact when it came time to calculate the tip.

First Jeff showed up; then his youngest daughter Caroline whom we hadn't seen since she was in grade one; now she's about 29 and engaged. Later, we went to his house, and first his eldest daughter Wendy, and then his wife, Gail, showed up. It was quite a reunion. The Monroes took us for a drive and we revisited the old haunts -- ORU, Rhema in Broken Arrow, etc.

All the family is living for God; Gail is teaching at a Christian school, and Wendy has done missions work in Haiti and wants to return. So we thank God for the Monroes, and pray that He will continue to lead and guide them.

They attend a Foursquare church in Tulsa. The Foursquare church grew out of revival meetings led by Aimee Semple McPherson (a Canadian) in Los Angelse in the 1920's. According to their website, their name represents the four-fold ministries of Jesus:

Savior
"But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him..." -Isaiah 53:5 (Titus 2:14, Is. 55:7, Heb. 7:25, Is. 1:18)

Baptizer with the Holy Spirit
"For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit... you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." -Acts 1:5,8 (Jn. 14:16-17, Acts 2:4, Acts 8:17, Acts 10:44-46, 1 Cor. 3:16)

Healer
"He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses..." -Matthew 8:17 (Mk. 16:17-18, Mt. 9:5-6, Acts 4:29-30)

Soon-Coming King
"For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout... the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." -1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (Titus 2:12-13, Mt. 24:36-44, Heb. 9:28, Lk. 19:13, Lk. 12:35-37.)

See http://www.foursquare.org/.

We went out for dinner together to a place called Charleston's (http://www.charlestons.com/). I had -- get ready for this -- catfish! The menu said it was "lightly fried"; what this really meant was it was lightly battered and deep-fried! Regardess, it was delicious -- sweet, not a bone in sight, tasty. We also had a key lime pie that was a great success!

Key lime pie is one of those dishes that is different every place you try it; it's a bit like a Caesar salad in this regard. This one had an interesting nutty crust, the signature tartness that you associate with a good key lime, and, to top things off, whipped cream. Thank God for key limes!

We're spending the night at a Baymont Inn and Suites. At last I got to use one of the coupons from one of those discount coupon booklets you get along the interstates! We got a very nice room for $40 USD.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Of course, the catfish was delicious. I told you!!
If you go through Arkansas try catfish there, it's the best.

Betty G

BallBounces said...

You did indeed! I'm going to put Catfish - Arkansas on my list. We are in Missouri tonight.

"... nothing intellectually compelling or challenging.. bald assertions coupled to superstition... woefully pathetic"