Have you ever heard an old-timer speak of the "good ol' days?" He'll go on for hours talking about the way it used to be; a time when he understood the rules. Having crossed the forty five year threshold a few months ago, I find myself thinking like those folks more and more. Hey, I'm half-way to NINETY; I'm slowly becoming an old geezer!
As children, we're not so conscious of time passing; the world seems to be crawling along at a snail's pace. I recall our family vacations growing up in Michigan; a five-hour journey up-north in that old '74 Chevy Suburban seemed like an eternity. While we're young, trying to make sense of our surroundings, it feels safe to assume that the world as we know it is consistent; unchanging; unmoving. I think we're wired to look for something stable; something solid under our feet (more about that later). We draw comfort from knowing how things work; from being able to predict the consequences of a given behavior. From day one we begin to search for the boundaries of our world and if our parents did their job properly, they helped us find them! As the years pass, our perspective begins to change; the world is not as stable as we once believed. We're surrounded by a culture that despises restraint; it loathes the boundaries which were put in place generations ago to keep order and provide for the common good. This generation has become like an unruly mob pressing against a barricade; unconcerned with the consequences of their behavior; willfully and gladly ignorant of such matters. The world is moving rapidly toward its appointed demise.
When I was a young man; in my teens and early twenties, I spent a lot of time with my Grandma; she never seemed to run out of projects for me to do around her house nor was she ever in want for a story to tell me from her childhood. Grandma had been widowed just a few months before my birth; I entered the world as her first grandchild at a time when she was still grieving the loss of her husband. However pleased she may have been to have her own handyman at her beckon call, what she valued most was the opportunity to share some treasured moments with her grandson. I'll always cherish those memories, especially all the midday lunch breaks we shared together in her dining nook. It was during those meals that Grandma would share her memories with me; painting a picture on the canvas of my mind. She gave me a glimpse of a very different world than the one I knew; the world she had grown up in. I remember one particular such occasion: Grandma spoke of her childhood; growing up on a farm in Saginaw with her two younger sisters. A daughter of German immigrants, she was raised in the Lutheran church and attended a Lutheran school where she sang hymns, recited creeds, and read scriptures; all in German. Their mode of transportation was a horse drawn carriage or sleigh. She vividly recalled the cold sleigh-rides to church on wintry Sunday mornings. On that day while she was telling me of such things, we were watching the television coverage of the very first space shuttle launch! To this day, I'm profoundly struck by the stark contrasts! I remember wondering what sort of world my own grand children may live in one day.
Grand children are still a few years off for me but I'm astounded by the differences between the culture of my youth and the one in which my children now reside. Please indulge me as I put forth a few contrasting examples:
When I was a youngster, an unbeliever was an atheist or agnostic. Today, an unbeliever is one who rejects man-made global warming. When I was a youngster, homosexuality was an abomination. Today, it's a virtue. When I was a youngster, a teacher having sexual relations with one of her students was unheard of. Today, it's becoming commonplace. When I was a youngster, we were sent out in the hall for shooting spit-balls. Today, we have Columbine High School and similar atrocities. When I was a youngster, the television networks aired movies and programming which honored the beliefs of Christians during Christmas and Easter; The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ben Hur...Today, we're treated to a plethora of baseless garbage designed to rebut and undermine the faith of Christians; when a holiday approaches, you can count on the television networks to trod out such antagonistic bilge as The Davinci Code, Jesus - The complete story and other documentaries based on false writings such as the Gnostic gospels. When I was a youngster, newspapers and magazines devoted space to stories extolling the virtues of our faith. Today, we're treated to an endless stream of pseudo-science admonishing us about the carbon foot-print we're leaving by plugging in our Christmas lights! I could go on endlessly but then I'd start sounding like that old geezer again!
Today we live in a post-Christian culture; profoundly ignorant of sound doctrine and increasingly intolerant of our faith in Jesus.
Our nation was founded upon the rock of Biblical truth. Therefore, God has blessed us with great wealth and power and has done so in a relatively short segment on the time line of human civilization. Yet, the underpinnings of this country are weakening; the foundations are crumbling and the structures which rest upon them are cracking. In the forty five years I've been leaving my smudgy finger-prints on this world, the changes I've witnessed have been astounding. All the marvelous technological advancements not withstanding, we're declining as a people. A few years back, Judge Robert H. Bork put it rather succinctly in titling his book; Slouching Towards Gomorrah. Personally, I've never read that book but its title speaks volumes!
So why am I writing such things on Christmas Eve? Not to discourage; to throw a wet blanket on the holiday season. Rather, this is about hope. I mentioned earlier how a child is naturally in search for stability under his feet. Put another way, he's looking for something he can have faith in. Is your faith in the United States of America; its constitution; its economy; the virtues of its people? If so, your faith is not well placed. As wonderful as our nation is, it is not the salvation of the world. No institution of man, however well-crafted it may be, can save man from his own depravity. Eventually, everything constructed by man is doomed by the entropic forces of this fallen world. It will collapse under its own weight. If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to return to that child-like faith; well placed in the only unchanging, unmoving force there is; Jesus Christ. We're not commemorating the winter solstice; this isn't the festival of lights. Jesus' coming is what we're celebrating this season and it is His return we long for!
May you and your family have a memorable Christmas celebration; may your faith be strengthened in uncertain times; may you know the peace that passes all understanding throughout the coming year!
Please read Mark 10: 13-16
As children, we're not so conscious of time passing; the world seems to be crawling along at a snail's pace. I recall our family vacations growing up in Michigan; a five-hour journey up-north in that old '74 Chevy Suburban seemed like an eternity. While we're young, trying to make sense of our surroundings, it feels safe to assume that the world as we know it is consistent; unchanging; unmoving. I think we're wired to look for something stable; something solid under our feet (more about that later). We draw comfort from knowing how things work; from being able to predict the consequences of a given behavior. From day one we begin to search for the boundaries of our world and if our parents did their job properly, they helped us find them! As the years pass, our perspective begins to change; the world is not as stable as we once believed. We're surrounded by a culture that despises restraint; it loathes the boundaries which were put in place generations ago to keep order and provide for the common good. This generation has become like an unruly mob pressing against a barricade; unconcerned with the consequences of their behavior; willfully and gladly ignorant of such matters. The world is moving rapidly toward its appointed demise.
When I was a young man; in my teens and early twenties, I spent a lot of time with my Grandma; she never seemed to run out of projects for me to do around her house nor was she ever in want for a story to tell me from her childhood. Grandma had been widowed just a few months before my birth; I entered the world as her first grandchild at a time when she was still grieving the loss of her husband. However pleased she may have been to have her own handyman at her beckon call, what she valued most was the opportunity to share some treasured moments with her grandson. I'll always cherish those memories, especially all the midday lunch breaks we shared together in her dining nook. It was during those meals that Grandma would share her memories with me; painting a picture on the canvas of my mind. She gave me a glimpse of a very different world than the one I knew; the world she had grown up in. I remember one particular such occasion: Grandma spoke of her childhood; growing up on a farm in Saginaw with her two younger sisters. A daughter of German immigrants, she was raised in the Lutheran church and attended a Lutheran school where she sang hymns, recited creeds, and read scriptures; all in German. Their mode of transportation was a horse drawn carriage or sleigh. She vividly recalled the cold sleigh-rides to church on wintry Sunday mornings. On that day while she was telling me of such things, we were watching the television coverage of the very first space shuttle launch! To this day, I'm profoundly struck by the stark contrasts! I remember wondering what sort of world my own grand children may live in one day.
Grand children are still a few years off for me but I'm astounded by the differences between the culture of my youth and the one in which my children now reside. Please indulge me as I put forth a few contrasting examples:
When I was a youngster, an unbeliever was an atheist or agnostic. Today, an unbeliever is one who rejects man-made global warming. When I was a youngster, homosexuality was an abomination. Today, it's a virtue. When I was a youngster, a teacher having sexual relations with one of her students was unheard of. Today, it's becoming commonplace. When I was a youngster, we were sent out in the hall for shooting spit-balls. Today, we have Columbine High School and similar atrocities. When I was a youngster, the television networks aired movies and programming which honored the beliefs of Christians during Christmas and Easter; The Ten Commandments, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Ben Hur...Today, we're treated to a plethora of baseless garbage designed to rebut and undermine the faith of Christians; when a holiday approaches, you can count on the television networks to trod out such antagonistic bilge as The Davinci Code, Jesus - The complete story and other documentaries based on false writings such as the Gnostic gospels. When I was a youngster, newspapers and magazines devoted space to stories extolling the virtues of our faith. Today, we're treated to an endless stream of pseudo-science admonishing us about the carbon foot-print we're leaving by plugging in our Christmas lights! I could go on endlessly but then I'd start sounding like that old geezer again!
Today we live in a post-Christian culture; profoundly ignorant of sound doctrine and increasingly intolerant of our faith in Jesus.
Our nation was founded upon the rock of Biblical truth. Therefore, God has blessed us with great wealth and power and has done so in a relatively short segment on the time line of human civilization. Yet, the underpinnings of this country are weakening; the foundations are crumbling and the structures which rest upon them are cracking. In the forty five years I've been leaving my smudgy finger-prints on this world, the changes I've witnessed have been astounding. All the marvelous technological advancements not withstanding, we're declining as a people. A few years back, Judge Robert H. Bork put it rather succinctly in titling his book; Slouching Towards Gomorrah. Personally, I've never read that book but its title speaks volumes!
So why am I writing such things on Christmas Eve? Not to discourage; to throw a wet blanket on the holiday season. Rather, this is about hope. I mentioned earlier how a child is naturally in search for stability under his feet. Put another way, he's looking for something he can have faith in. Is your faith in the United States of America; its constitution; its economy; the virtues of its people? If so, your faith is not well placed. As wonderful as our nation is, it is not the salvation of the world. No institution of man, however well-crafted it may be, can save man from his own depravity. Eventually, everything constructed by man is doomed by the entropic forces of this fallen world. It will collapse under its own weight. If you haven't done so already, I encourage you to return to that child-like faith; well placed in the only unchanging, unmoving force there is; Jesus Christ. We're not commemorating the winter solstice; this isn't the festival of lights. Jesus' coming is what we're celebrating this season and it is His return we long for!
May you and your family have a memorable Christmas celebration; may your faith be strengthened in uncertain times; may you know the peace that passes all understanding throughout the coming year!
Please read Mark 10: 13-16
Our youngest child, Nathan is experiencing
his first Christmas this year.
his first Christmas this year.
Merry CHRISTmas!!
ReplyDeleteOh to view life through the innocent eyes of a child!
I am an "old geezer":-)