LOOK UP

I stopped in for an oil change this week and noticed something. After spending too much time visiting with the service person as he checked me in and got all of the paperwork set up for the oil change and tire rotation, I grabbed my backpack and headed off to the lounge to get some work done on my laptop. As I walked into the lounge, someone else was sitting socially distanced from the chair that I chose to sit in. The TV is usually on, but it wasn’t this day, though that isn’t what was catching my attention.

What struck me as I sat down to pull out my laptop was the computer on his lap. No, it wasn’t the same brand as mine or even spectacular in color or form—a simple black laptop open with him intently looking at the screen. I glanced over a couple of times to see if he would look up from what he was busy with, but he never did. So, I grabbed my laptop out of my backpack and opened it up, inspired to write this article.

It is amazing how disconnected we are in our socially connected society. We know how everyone is doing through the different social media forums—well, we know all the good things that are happening in their lives and the made-to-look-good-things. We will send heart emojis and thumbs up, or click the “like” button; but, do we ever communicate on a personal level? Are we really connected or just looking good on the different forums as we keep our distance from being open and real with each other. Are we really socially connected or “socially distanced?”

I looked up every minute or so, just to see if he was looking up from his screen. I tried on several occasions to make eye contact, but with no luck. It could have been that he was doing the same and our timing was just off. It almost became a challenge! As I was doing this every few minutes, someone else came and occupied the third chair in the waiting room--and yes, they also had a laptop. This laptop I recognized since it had the same fruit on the top as mine does. Without looking like a totally creepy person, I kept glancing toward her until she glanced my way. I quietly said “Hi,” and she cautiously replied “Hi” back, then opened her laptop and looked down as her fingers started working the keyboard. I still glanced over at the gentleman, without even a momentary glance back to which I could say “Hi.”

Oh yeah, did I mention that all three of us had our phones out, also?

I am not suggesting we become creepy people as we travel this earth, just that we make the attempt to look up from our busy lives to at least try to engage others. Sometimes, simply saying hello can make someone’s day, especially when it has become so rare to hear it. Who knows, that hello may turn into a conversation, and then into a discussion about God, and then a soul knowing of God’s love. Nah, that will never happen! It may not, but I know for sure it will never happen if we don’t decide it’s time for a change in the way we see those around us.

Looking up to say Hi,

Randy

THE FOURTH

Ah, the fourth. On a calendar, it would just be the fourth day of the month. There are twelve of them each year, pretty insignificant. But this fourth has special meaning because it deals with something significant, something greater than just the day of the month between the third and the fifth. This fourth is special.

It deals with freedom, something we all want. We want the freedom to do what we want. Freedom to go where we choose to. Freedom to be free. Freedom to choose one of the 737 different kinds of cereal there are in the breakfast aisle of the grocery store. Ok, maybe we could do with fewer choices of what to eat for breakfast. But, we do like our freedom.

To me, the fourth is a day I celebrate every year. Some may not see it as special as others. I guess Paul deals with this in his letter to the Romans, so maybe it is a personal decision that should not be looked down upon by others. I personally don’t go overboard but do celebrate it with Holly.

I would never have thought November fourth would become such a significant day, but it has. For over thirty-eight years now I have remembered it and in my quiet little way, I have celebrated it. Some have a different day, I know to Holly it is the twelfth, and it just so happens to be the same month. Her celebration has been going on about ten years longer than mine. The twelfth of November and the fourth of November are dates that will always be remembered in our household.

It was on that night almost forty years ago that freedom was obtained. It was in the evening on a Thursday night and I remember the college students gathered around, though at the time, I knew very few of them. They had gathered after a series of phone calls informing them a celebration was about to happen. They had stopped what they were doing to come to celebrate with me the freedom I was obtaining in Christ. The freedom received as my sins were washed away in the water of the church baptistry.

This weekend there will be a lot of celebrating. Fireworks will go off, gatherings will happen. Picnics will take place, weather permitting, and some even get a day off work to celebrate. Parades are slowly coming back as we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence by our forefathers in this country. A day, as a country, we remember and we celebrate.

In the midst of this celebrating, this remembering, reflect on our greater freedom. The freedom that was achieved when our Savior hung on that cross. The freedom that was realized when you accepted His grace and were baptized. A celebration that will carry on long past the ones that we enjoy this weekend.

Celebrating the Fourth,

Randy

THE RAINBOW

As the years have crept up on me, I find myself on the living room floor each day. No, I don’t fall coming down the hallway, and no, I’m not sliding out of bed and crawling to the living room. I have just found out that laying on the floor and stretching is a good way to get the day started. So I have a routine that I follow most mornings. Does this routine of stretching help? I don’t know. But I am not going to stop and see if I feel worse!

Our front door has prism glass in it, or at least that is what I call it. Glass cut at an angle that allows the sun to reflect through it and form tiny rainbows on the floor, couch and wall. As the year goes by the placement of these tiny rainbows changes with the shifting of the rising sun in the morning. It has been shifting in one direction for the past six months and now it is starting to make the trek back.

I was thinking about those mini rainbows the other day. And the larger ones we are blessed to see in the sky. They don’t have a pot of gold at the end of them, and if you want to get technical they don’t even have an end. (Yeah, I could get all nerdy on you again.) What they do have is a promise from our Heavenly Father. And though we don’t see the larger rainbows too often, almost daily I see the small ones that move across my living room.

As I was thinking about rainbows, it brought my thoughts to what they now seem to represent in our society. Not a promise from God anymore. “The various colors came to reflect both the immense diversity and the unity of the LGBTQ community” (britannica.com). Then my thoughts went to a comment I’ve heard from the Christian community, that we need “take back the rainbow.” An interesting concept--taking it back.

After thinking about this puzzling concept of taking back the rainbow, I thought, “Did we ever lose it?” Even more importantly “Was it ours to ever lose?” I mean it isn’t mine or ours to start with, it is a gift from God. If we believe God’s word, He created it and thus it belongs to Him. Just because someone else uses it does not mean that it is any less of a gift, a promise from God.

So, when you see the rainbow flag, or a building lit up with rainbow colors, don’t focus on something you may not agree with, but on the promise from God that He is there for us. That His Son died for us. And that death was for everyone, even those you may not agree with. When we realize that, then we can not only share the rainbow with others but also the love of Jesus.

Sharing the Rainbow,

Randy