PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
This past month, my family took a trip to Dollywood. Maybe you might be asking;
why would we leave the land of a thousand theme parks and drive twelve hours
to Eastern Tennessee? For those of you who have been there, you know
Dollywood is a nice diversion from Orlando. The drive is pretty simple until you
leave Interstate 40, and you take country roads to Pigeon Forge. As we exited
the Interstate, my wife fired up her cell phone and connected to Waze to guide us
the rest of the way. As we got closer, we were instructed to make a left turn at
the next traffic light. I did not feel right about turning this soon, so I expressed my
concern to the phone. It didn’t care. We drove along until the four-lane divided
road became a two-lane road. I got to thinking that this is not right, and again I
expressed my concern about going this way. I really got nervous when the two-
lane road became narrower and narrower. Then the pavement turned into
gravel. I started seeing little wood houses with all kinds of old cars littered in
their front yards. The front porches were occupied by men folk sitting in rocking
chairs holding something in their laps. I knew we were lost, and Waze had led us
astray. Just then as we rounded the bend, the Dream More Resort appeared just
down the hill. I thought, how did she (the voice on Waze) do that? I would have
preferred another route. Several times I have disagreed with Ms GPS and thought
we should have gone another way. When I did try to stray from the course it set,
it recalibrates with grace and promptly redirects. It is good to know someone
knows where we should be going and that they can direct us there. It is the same
on our journey in life.
When I was the Superintendent of the Southeast Conference, for sixteen years my
job required a lot of traveling. In fact, I am a “Million Miler” with Delta Airlines,
and they also bestowed on me the title of “Flying Colonel”. These were the days
before our cell phones could direct us by satellite. It always felt good to safely get
to my destination. What felt better was always coming back to our home in
Tuscawilla. This is my starting and returning point on each journey. With the GPS
there is a higher power guiding us to our destination. To successfully navigate
this world, we need guidance. We need someone to safely guide us on our path.
Last summer, we were taking my son to a camp in the Northwoods of Wisconsin.
As we got closer to the camp, our phone signal got weaker and weaker. In fact, I
had to resort to the old-fashioned way before GPS. I stopped at a gas station and
asked a nice lady for help. She was familiar with the camp and gave us directions.
My eyes glazed over after she got to the sixth turn. We headed out and by some
miracle we got there. After registration and goodbyes, we headed out. With no
signal and a lot of forest roads that all looked the same, we got lost. It was getting
dark, and deer were running across the little roads. Finally, I stopped at a place
where several men were loading a truck and asked for help. We all need some
sort of Global Positioning System or we are going to wander and maybe never get
where we want to go. My GPS is my faith, my family, and my home here in
Tuscawilla.
“Flying Colonel”
Dr. Kurt Miericke
THOA President
Publisher, Tuscawilla Today
Tuscawilla Homeowners Association
Tuscawilla Homeowners Association PO Box 195666 Winter Springs, FL 32719-5666 US
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