As a father, I never had anything in my heart that made me think, I'm going to beat this kid's brains out. I'm going to rip her head off. Now, later I thought that about Jodi's boyfriends, but never her.

Speaking of Jodi's boyfriends, I remember one of the boys who came over one day. That was the ugliest boy I'd ever seen! His head looked like a hatchet. It was shaved on both sides and only had hair growing in a stripe on the top and back. I didn't want my grandbabies to be chopping wood with their heads! I looked at that boy and said, "You've got to go, son!"

I'm telling you, that boy had the ugliest face. And his head was big, too. If he faced you straight on, he looked like a fish, with eyes on the sides of its head. I thought, Boy, your mamma must've had a hard time delivering you!

I looked at that boy and said, "You have got to get out!"

I ran him off, man. Then another time a different boy came to the door looking for Jodi, but he didn't look too much better than "hatchet-head." Jodi came downstairs and said, "Daddy, was that for me?"

"No," I said, "that was definitely not for you!"

Now, it was probably wrong for me to do that, but then, he didn't marry her either. Glory to God! I didn't want them to fall in love because love is blind. And although love may be blind, sometimes it wakes up 20 years later and says, Gaaaaa! I can't believe I married this person!

Let me tell you something else about love. You don't pick who you fall in love with. You don't pick your spouse. How many single people are out there right now trying to pick their own spouses?

If you're single and you see a good-looking girl or guy, you want to get that person's attention. Now, how do you get their attention without looking like an idiot or saying something stupid? You want to be cool and confident, because you want to form a relationship.

So you try and find somebody who will introduce you to this good-looking person, when you really want to just walk up and say, "Hi. I've got to meet you."

When a guy sees a foxy lady, he doesn't want to just rush up and start blabbing. He doesn't want her to think he's a fool, too forward or plain dumb. So there is a little fear there. Think about it.

He just wants to get close to this mamma. He wants to act cool, like, "What's happenin', Mamma?" But he doesn't want to say the wrong thing or sound stupid. So there is a little fear there, but once he makes that step, he decreases the fear.

You might go somewhere and get a Coke, for example, or go hang out with a bunch of people. That's how relationships are formed. You begin to talk to one another, and you start having dates. At this point, let me tell you what the boy is thinking. He's thinking, Should I kiss her?

Now, don't lie, guys, because that is a fact, and you know it. You're waiting for the end of the date. You don't care what happens before the end of the date. You're waiting to get to that door. "Come here, Mamma! I'm going to lip-lock you tonight!"

There's no use lying about it, because that is simply the truth. That is human nature. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.

But notice, as you begin to form a relationship with someone, fellowship begins to takes place. This is when you can really let that girl see you the way you really are. Or, ladies, you let that guy see you the way you really are - without the makeup. He sees you without the sweet-smelling stuff. When you finally see each other then, you think that person is someone else completely. What happened?

You get to that point at which you're honest with the other person. You don't try to hide things. For example, the woman might think, If he doesn't like me the way I am, bless God, he can go somewhere else. He can take what he gets. This is it, Jack!

It's called marriage! That beautiful girl you married might someday get up wearing a housecoat that a dog wouldn't sleep on. And her breath could knock a maggot down, boy. I'm not kidding you! That's reality! When you get to this point, you're living in reality.

You start saying things like, "What do you want, honey?"

"I want you to fix me breakfast?"

"Fix it yourself, baby."

That's called reality. But if you're in love, that's called fellowship. See, then it doesn't make any difference what you look like to each other, glory to God. You're being yourself, the way you really are.

You have to see God the way He really is too. You will get to a point in your relationship with God when you're not hiding anything from Him. You know you can be totally honest with Him, because He's seen you at your worst, and He still loves you. He's not going to reject you now. If He were going to reject you, it would've happened before this point in your relationship!

God's Word says in Hebrews 13:5 that He will never leave you nor forsake you - no matter what!

Source: Jambalaya for the Soul by Jesse Duplantis
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers