Years ago I was a youth pastor in Kansas City and I had a commercial drivers license…yep…hard to believe. We were taking a group of students to a retreat weekend at a conference in Nebraska and as I was pulling into Omaha there was a strange sound from the engine. The bus didn’t stop, but there was a slight change in the power and a check engine light came on. I pulled up to the event, dropped off the students and leaders, and then parked the bus. I was sure when I would get back after the opening session it wouldn’t start…but to my surprise it started up just fine.
That night, I didn’t sleep because I was busy trying to diagnose what was the problem online. Now, I know I look like a mechanic…this may come as a shocker…but I am not.
My kids have a friend that we will call “Hank”. After hanging out with “Hank” they will come home and tell us some outlandish story that is obviously not true. We’ll ask some clarifying questions about where they heard this, and they’ll often say,
“‘Hank’ told us”.
We all know a “Hank”
We all grew up with a “Hank”.
We may have been “Hank”.
We may be “Hank”.
I don’t think “Hank” is trying to tell lies or lead people astray intentionally…I think he wants to fit in, he wants to be accepted, he wants to prove a point, or appear a certain way. As we all know, even if it is unintentional, telling lies, misleading others, and manipulating things so we appear in the best light will take a toll on us.
Years ago I heard the soup, salad, sandwich theory. If you are not aware of this, it is simply that every food finds itself in the category of soup, salad or sandwich.
There are various versions of the theory that can destroy your afternoon if you decide to chase them down this rabbit hole…but essentially it is as simple as this.
Soups are liquids.
Salads are things tossed together.
Sandwiches are food contained within an edible container.
When I was a kid we had the media cabinet in our living room with a record player, a cassette player, and sometime in the late 80’s or early 90’s, a CD player.
Records were obviously the mode of sharing recorded music for over 100 years, hitting the scene in the late 1800’s and held that position confidently. But as all know, dealing with vinyl records is time consuming, they are delicate, things need to be handled with care, and you need a good record player to truly appreciate them.
When cassette tapes were invented in the 60’s it would still take a decade or so before they would come close to toppling the preferred listening mode. In 1984, they finally did it. Cassette tapes were how you made mix tapes, how you recorded stuff with your friends, how you could copy and redistribute music and recordings easily from your home.
What we gave up for this convenience…was audio quality.
My oldest son, Foster loves fishing. Regularly, he’ll say,
“is everyone else thinking about fishing right now?”
“No buddy. Nobody is thinking about that. Just you.”
He loves it. He loves the calm and quiet. He loves the excitement when you get a nibble. He loves being in nature. It is his passion right now. He’s new on the journey, but he is jumping in, head first trying to learn everything about fishing that he can.
I was really more of a music, theatre, and dance kid. I went fishing with my dad a few times growing up. I love people. I like nature. I don’t love extended periods of quiet waiting…so fishing is not really my thing.
So, I’m not a great leader when it comes to guiding my son in his fishing pursuits.
This past week we went to Disney World. Sarah and I both hadn’t been in about 25 years or more. I remember the wonder and magic, the rides and more.
It’s grown, it’s changed, and you no longer stand in incredibly long lines.
Don’t worry, there are still lots of strollers, lots of Mickey ears, lots of tears and exhaustion…and some kids are crying and exhausted too, lots of hopes and expectations, and lots of credit card debt.
But now there are also virtual lines, and lighting lanes, and queue groups, and magic genie plus on a Disney World app that tells you wait times if you do stand in line, and gives you directions to where you want to go, and ability to make reservations, and mobile order food and it was my room key and more.
In some ways, this feels almost nothing like the park I went to 25 plus years ago…and yet in other ways it is oddly familiar. It’s just grown up.
