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I take out my phone at the airport to scan a code, then pull down my mask before I can go through the metal detectors to board my plane. It’s just normal. Though none of this was normal for the first two-thirds of my life. In the past, plane tickets would be mailed to you or you would check-in at the airport and pick them up at the front counter. Whoever brought you to the airport would be parking the car and then--if they had the time--accompany you down the terminal to wait with you until you got on your plane. No mask, no metal detector just friends and family hanging out with you until you got on your plane.
Yes, things in life change. Grocery shopping has changed. I like going into the store to make sure I find the type of item I want, at the price I want; however, you’d never have to set foot in a grocery store again if you prefer that. You can grocery shop online and someone else picks the items off the shelf and boxes them up for you. Then by pulling up your car to the store and popping your trunk open, these groceries are loaded in. Or, you can have them delivered right to your door. And speaking of your door, there is almost nothing you can’t get ordered and delivered to your home, including your favorite food. It’s not just the traditional pizza delivery anymore. Most restaurants will deliver, and if they don’t then one of the many delivery services will gladly bring it to your door. Yes, things have changed.
Some changes we may like, some. . . not so much. I’m not sure when I will again grace the inside of a movie theater. Why would I when most movies are released on one of the streaming services for half the price it would cost me and Holly to go to the theatre together? And though some movies are now being released “only in theaters,” give it a month or so, and if not free through one of the streaming services, it will be available there for less. (I kinda do miss the movie theater popcorn though; it’s tough to beat that!)
So as things get back to normal, we may need to realize that “normal” has changed. If you look the word up you will find the following definition: The usual, average, or typical state or condition. So when does the different become the usual or typical state? I think the key in that definition is the word “average.” That which is a middle ground over a period of time. So over a period of time, we get back to normal, or what the new average way of doing this is. This becomes our “new normal” as some say.
We have been working at the new normal for the past year and a half here at 21860 S. Pontiac Trail in South Lyon. We started meeting with chairs in pods, scattered around the gym as we picked up the prepackaged communion supplies on our way in. We slowly moved into rows, spaced the recommended distance apart, and brought the communion trays back out. Though even with the trays, we now have the bread placed in its own little cup, so no one touches another piece. A long way from breaking a bit of the cracker off as it is passed down the row. Oh, yeah, the new normal doesn’t have anything passed down the row. Instead, the items are carried by masked men—well, they have dropped the masks now.
I say all of this to point out that we are moving forward as we move back to where we were. Moving forward on some things; others will be forever left behind. I hope you take a second to check the monitor by the welcome desk. You see we may not be back to the old normal, but as we go forward we need to start being who we are meant to be in the Kingdom. We need to move forward, continuing to be mindful of others and aware of potential problems, but also continuing to advance the Kingdom and being reminded of why we are here on this Earth. Enjoy the different slide shows--like ones we had in the past--as we move toward our eventual eternal normal.
Because He Loves,
Randy
Certain dates just resonate with us and we remember what we were doing on that day. I remember turning on the TV on the morning of September 11th twenty years ago and seeing what was happening in New York. I remember just standing there in my living room that Tuesday unable to pull myself away. Or another event about fifteen years previous to that always stays in my memory. There I stood in front of a TV and saw the replays of the Challenger blowing up. It was at the student center at Abilene Christian University an hour before I was to go meet three professors and take my oral exams for my Master’s Degree. And going back over fifty years, I remember my family was at some friend’s house, watching with millions of others on TV, as Neal Armstrong made “one small step for man.” Certain dates just have significance to us.
I remember November 4, 1982, like it was yesterday. I got up and walked the four to five blocks from my apartment to my office in the Atmospheric Science department at Texas Tech University. I had my class that morning and then taught an undergraduate meteorology class that afternoon. I went and visited with a guy named Charles for a couple of hours on my way back to my apartment before having dinner with my roommate, Paul. It was a Thursday night and there was a JV football team of sorts for the university that was playing that night, so a fellow sports nut and graduate meteorology student from upstate New York and I headed off to the game. I can recall a lot of details of this day, that I don’t remember specifically for other days.
Then something happened at the football game. No, it wasn’t a bolt of lightning that struck me, though it was involving weather. A “Blue Norther” came through. It was what they called a rapidly moving cold front with much colder air behind it. That night it came roaring through Lubbock. We decided, hey it is just a JV game, not worth staying out here being cold, so we left and I ended back at my apartment. After I got home from the football game, I decided to do some reading.
Now, reading wasn’t surprising since graduate school seemed to involve a lot of reading. But this reading was a little different from my normal studying and I remember exactly what I read. The guy I had visited with earlier, Charles, had suggested that I read it. You see, he was the campus minister of the student center I had walked into a couple of months earlier and after our visit, he suggested that I read the first twelve chapters of Acts. Since I was home early from the football game, might as well take the time to read.
After reading this, I called Charles up, it was around 9:30 that night. A half-hour later I met him along with a couple of dozen students, most of whom I did not know at the time, at the church building. I had my sins washed away in the obedience of baptism and changed the course of my eternal destiny. I remember the date well, and the day like it was yesterday, so I celebrate it yearly. Think back to the day you made your commitment to Christ and take a minute to celebrate!
Celebrating the date,
Randy
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