Imagine being an American, but born in a foreign land. Imagine being raised in that foreign land. You know about America, you hear about it. You see it on TV, you read about it, but during your youth you only get there for very brief visits.
Well, for me, replace America with the South.
You see, my family on my mom's side was from North Carolina, near Charlotte. My kin had been there since around the 1740's. My heroes as a child were R. E. Lee, and Stonewall. My nanna, who had been raised by her grandfather, a veteran of Lee's Army had been probably the second most important person in my life. And she told me stories of home.
Even though I rarely got home, I knew Andy Griffith and Billy Graham were from North Carolina, and I was proud of them. When Billy Graham came to New York, and did a service at a filled Shea stadium in the late 1960's I watched him on a small black and white with my nanna. And I was saved. Imagine a Catholic boy being saved...but I was. I am still Catholic, but I was saved by the words of Billy Graham and the Holy Spirit of that day.
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