All right, already! Enough is enough! I can’t take any more questions! Even my WebMeister, Grant, recently asked me when I was going to explain the term, “Moccodies” to those who faithfully read “Inside Out”. I promised him that I would do so in the near future. Well, welcome to the Near Future! The following E-mail note will illustrate the kind of inquiry that frequently comes into my PowerMac, Moccodies II (there’s that strange name again!)

“Okay…. I give up. I’ve read four of your devotionals and Grant’s “Random Acts of Kindness” and I still have no clue what “Moccodies” is. I’ve tried it backwards and “inside out”. Maybe it’s because it’s late (LATE…. past my bedtime, but I was really curious….) and I still have my contact lenses on and my eyes are blurring. I’m pretty good at puzzles. I even threw in my PC Study Bible to see if it was in the Concordance. No such luck! I’m on “pins and needles”, but I won’t say “Have a Nice Day!” or “I understand”, ’cause I don’t.”

(The last sentence is obviously a reference to the last “Inside Out” named “Bumper Sticker Theology.”)

Now, back to Moccodies. I took our now 19 year old granddaughter, Jessica, on a trip up the Blue Ridge Parkway when she was 14. We had the neatest time together. I came into her life when she was about 18 months old when Pat and I got married.

I have Native American blood in my genetic pool. Knowing this, she decided, as we drove through Cherokee, NC, home of the Cherokee Indian Tribe, that we needed to give each other made-up Indian-style names. She gave me the name “Moccodies”. I gave her the name “Tonchitong”. They both stuck. When I asked her what “Moccodies” meant to her, she said, “I would explain your two nicknames this way: ‘Papa’ represents the protective, grandfatherly, loving, humorous, and funny part of your personality. ‘Moccodies’ represents the more mysterious, thoughtful, meditative, and deeper thinking part of you.”

When Grant invited me to become part of his vast Graceland Empire, I needed to come up with a title for my column. Thus, “Inside Out” uses both names. “PapaJ” will help you laugh and not take yourself too seriously. “Moccodies” will challenge you to think, deeply, at times, and not settle for surface truth or understanding. Now, this may be a bit too esoteric, eh? (the “eh” is for my Canadian friends and buddies). Well, if it is, that’s Moccodies talking to you. Please address your responses to him at: PapaJRay@aol.com. The fun-loving, laughter-producing PapaJ will forward any mail so addressed to him.

A very dear friend with whom I went to school at Moody Bible Institute during the tail-end of the 50’s, has reduced “Moccodies” to “Mocco”. I love it! By the way, I rediscovered him in Kansas through a phone book site up on the Internet. I sent him a letter and waited. In record time came his reply. Our friendship was back on track.

I believe that all of us have many different sides to our personalities. Have you ever met someone whom you perceived to be very serious and totally lacking in the humor department? Have you then found out that beneath that serious exterior was a little bubbling fountain of humor, laughter, wit (granted, often a bit dry) and enjoyment of life?

When we make snap judgements about people, we often forego perfectly delightful possibilities by writing folks off before we really get to know them. I have a few very close friends whom you would never match up with me. Perhaps it’s because of our differences that we get along so well. I’m not really sure, but really don’t care all that much. When we slip into over analyzation about why friendships work, we often lose the mystique and mystery in the process

If you hit it off well with someone, just appreciate the relationship, treasure it, enjoy it, promote it, fight for it, and thank the Lord for it! I’ve noticed in my communication with all the new people whom I meet through the Internet, that there are a few who just leap right out of the E-mail at me. There is an immediate sense of comraderie. I want to get to know them better.

I don’t know how you explain your multiple parts or whatever you call them or if you call them anything. There probably isn’t another “Papa/Moccodies” combination in the whole wide world. That’s all right with me. Just understand that there’s more to you and me than meets the eye at first glance. Take the time to investigate, learn, and appreciate each and all of those parts.

What Life Lessons come to me
through this piece?

• Understand the differences that exist between any two of us.
• Recognize that each of us has many different facets.
• Be slow and careful in judging folks without doing your homework.
• Acknowledge and cultivate any budding, growing signs of potential friendship you recognize in another person.
• Lighten up.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously.
• Learn to Laugh.
• Remember, none of us is going to get out of this life alive! (Unless He comes back soon!)
• Finally, if you come across a mysterious word which you don’t understand, just, individually and collectively, bug the fool out of the word user until he/she comes up with an explanation. In the case of Papa J and the Moccodies, there is plenty of fool left!

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