Old Television at the DAV Thrift Store...

I just returned from the DAV Thrift Store just down the street as I had some items to drop off. While unloading the stuff from my car I noticed an old (I mean "really" old) television setting in the parking lot. People had gathered around it admiring this piece of antiquity! They searched through some bins to find the "rabbit ears" that surely must go with it! I was amused at first, but then I wondered about the eyes that had viewed this unique piece of furniture.

I wondered when some technician assembled this video antique, probably in the early 1950s, did he ever think that his piece of equipment would end up in a parking lot in Williamsburg, VA? Probably not! The technician is probably long gone and any dreams or goals that he had are now history. He may have taken a great deal of pride in being among the very first people who worked on televisions, but his efforts ended up in a parking lot!

My thoughts went to the number of children that must have laughed with Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob Smith and Phinias T. Bluster, the mayor of Doodyville! How many little boys had watched the Lone Ranger (and his faithful companion, Tonto) capture the bad guys and save the community once again? Did those folk thrill seeing "Father Knows Best" or "Ozzie and Harriet" as much as I did? Most of us boys had a little crush on Cathy and we never could figure out what Ozzie Nelson did for a living! Oh, what memories!

But, there it sat in the hot sunshine awaiting its fate! No more would it bring laughter and tears to a family gathered around it in the evening. No more sounds of Dennis James callling out the exploits of professional wrestler, Don Eagle. It was doomed to be put in the big old truck and hauled off to be priced and sold...maybe!

Such is life! We are so real, viable and alive, but there comes a time when we are passed over by the newer and more highly technical gadgets of another generation. Our joys, motives, and dreams were all so very real, but now are forgotten and many of our dreams left unfulfilled!

Unlike that old television, we have a wonderful destiny ahead of us if we believe in a heavenly Father! The one that gave his one and only Son for us! If we give ourselves to Him through faith and obedience, we will find our future is much brighter than our present and more glorious than our past!

"Lock your keys in your car?"

Have you ever felt the sense of helplessness by locking your keys in your car? The moment you hear the door shut there is a clear signal that the keys did not exit the car with you! What if you locked the keys in your car, left the motor running and the CD player blasting today's newest songs? Now, consider how you would feel if this were your mother's car and she was coming out of the store to go home and her keys were the ones you were using! Got the picture?

This morning as I left my Saturday morning hang-out... Cracker Barrel...a young man was standing between my car and a blue Chevrolet. His countenance was suggestive of someone who had just lost his best friend. He was trying to run a stick down between the rubber and glass in one of the car's rear doors. As I approached him, he asked, "Mr., would you happen to have a coat hanger in your car?" Now, in a moment of stupidity, I asked, "Lock your keys in your car?" My first thought was of the answer given by one of the "Blue Collar" comedians, "Nope, just washed it and I want to hang it up to dry! Here's your sign...!" Then, I checked through the stuff in the backseat and under my golf clubs in the trunk, but no coat-hanger! I told the young man that I would go to my office and get one and bring it back to him. "It will only take ten minutes and I will be right back," I added.

Ten minutes later, I pulled back in the parking lot and there was the blue Chevy, but another person had been added to the scene. Yep, his mother! Her expression was one of disbelief that a son of hers could be so foolish as to lock her keys in her car! The words were scarce between them as the young man was sitting on the front bumper and his mother was leaning on the trunk lid. I gave them the hanger, wished them well, and made a quick exit!

I wonder what the conversation was like on the way home? Did the son remind his mother that it was Mother's Day weekend and he hoped she had a wonderful day tomorrow? Did he load her favorite CD? Was their a mutual laugh at the son's expense? Will either of them share this story with the husband/father, so he can remind them of their stupidity for years to come?

Oh, well, I will never know! One thing I do know is that I feel a bit better for having taken a few minutes of my time to try to help out a friend! A friend? Yes! You see, I think a stranger is just a friend that I have not met! It was only a few minutes of time, fifty cents worth of gas, and a little inconvenience, but I have the rest of the day to enjoy the blessings of helping someone who was stuck in Cracker Barrel's parking lot!

It is a goooooood feeling!

Where is "Presidents Park?"

One of the more recent additions to the historical flavor of our area is "Presidents Park." I must admit that I have never visited this site, but have driven by it dozens of times and have admired it from a distance. Within the park are busts of all our presidents from the first to the current, Mr. Bush. They are made out of concrete and stand 25-30 feet tall. I am told the likenesses are very close and that the sulptor did a marvelous job!

The reason I mention this today is that I overheard a person trying to explain to one of our tourists how to find "Presidents Park." It was the usual turn right, go three lights, turn left, go straight for about two miles...," but then the local guide said, "Or, you could turn left, go four miles and then turn right, on and on." The guide's final comment was, "Either way you are going to end up in the same place!"

I wondered to myself how many times that is the approach to one's relationship to much more important matters in life! What if one were to say, "You date this person and then that one and a couple more...on and on! It really does not matter because you are going to end up married to someone!" Or, what if we were told, "Try out this car and then that one because they are all about the same and will not last too long anyway!" No doubt we would balk at such suggestions regarding a lifetime relationship or six years of car payments, but why are other matters of much more importance taken so casually?

What of one's relationship with God? Are we to assume that finding God is like the "hunt and peck" style of using a computer keyboard? You know, you will get the email written anyway, so what makes a difference how you type it! My good friend, seeking God is much, much more important than sending an email to a friend!

The Bible says that there is only one way to reach the Father and that is through Jesus Christ! It is said that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life!" There is no other way to God, except through His Son, Jesus Christ! No other way...none! Searching for God is not a matter of guesswork or unplanned action...it is a conscious search for divine leadership!

You may be able to get to "Presidents Park" a dozen different ways, but there is only one way to God!