...both

The following are some tips from Southerners for Northerners moving south. I do not know the author (but some of it sounds like it may have originated with Jeff Foxworthy):

1. Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later how to use it.

2. If you forget a Southerner's name, refer to him (or her) as "Bubba". You have a 75% chance of being right.

3. Just because you can drive on snow and ice does not mean we can. Stay home the two days of the year it snows.

4. If you do run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four wheel drive with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.

5. Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.

6. If it can't be fried in bacon grease, it ain't worth cooking, let alone eating.

7. Remember: "Y'all" is singular. "All y'all" is plural. "All y'all's" is plural possessive.

8. There is nothing sillier than a Northerner imitating a southern accent.

9. Get used to hearing, "You ain't from around here, are you?"

10. People walk slower here.

11. Don't be worried that you don't understand anyone. They don't understand you either.

12. The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper.

13. If attending a funeral in the South, remember, we stay until the last shovel of dirt is thrown on and the tent is torn down.

14. If you hear a Southerner exclaim, "Hey, y'all, watch this!" stay out of his way. These are likely the last words he will ever say.

15. Most Southerners do not use turn signals, and they ignore those who do. In fact, if you see a signal blinking on a car with a southern license plate, you may rest assured that it was on when the car was purchased.

16. The winter wardrobe you always brought out in September can wait until November.

17. If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the most minuscule accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter if you need anything from the store, it's just something you're supposed to do.

18. Florida is not considered a southern state. There are far more Yankees than Southerners living there.

19. As you are cursing the person driving 15 mph in a 55 mph zone, directly in the middle of the road, remember, many folks learned to drive on a model of vehicle known as John Deere, and this is the proper speed and lane position for the vehicle.

20. You can ask a Southerner for directions, but unless you already know the positions of key hills, trees and rocks, you're better off trying to find it yourself.

Our differences are great! But, through Christ, what we share in common is even greater!

"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation...." (Ephesians 2:14).

Paul was speaking, of course, of the Jews and the Gentiles, but what he said about them could be said of any two groups of people separated by gender, economic status, ethnic background, or location in relation to the Mason-Dixon line. We are not only reconciled to God -- we are reconciled to one another.

Thanks be to God for the opportunity we all have to be a part of that one body!