I spent a few days last week in the Tampa Bay area, where we spent about four years of our lives. We've lived away from Florida for about ten years now, and every time I go back, I am amazed at how much things have changed.
There are new apartment complexes and new neighborhoods being built. New hotels and restaurants and shops. Buca di Beppo, a favorite Italian eatery, is now a burger joint called Ford's Garage. There's a new Fresh Market just a few doors down from Stein Mart. I rode through our old neighborhood, and the house where we once lived has been painted a different color.
Fewer orange groves and more apartments. Different supermarkets. More traffic. New restaurants. There now seems to be a Starbucks on every corner. A lot of things have changed.
But some things haven't changed. It was a little cool, by Florida standards, and people were bundled up in coats and scarves. After all, the temperature had dipped below 50 degrees! And, just as I remembered it, people were wearing socks with their sandals in that "frigid" weather.
This is strawberry season in Florida, which means I got to enjoy fresh strawberries while we were there. That has always been one of my favorite things about this season in Florida, and that hasn't changed!
My very favorite thing about traveling to Florida, no matter what the season, is time with friends and family, and this trip was no exception. My list of favorite things, as always, includes lots of grandson hugs. That will never change!
Change is a fact of life. Seasons change. Political winds blow one way or another. But there will always be some things that never change. Among them, this truth:
"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." (Isaiah 40:8 ESV)
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