A Far Different World

When I think about growing up in east Texas back in the sixties, seventies, and eighties it seems like a far different world. I lived in a neighborhood where I road my bike all over the place. We built forts, played whatever ball was in season, When I rode the bus home from school a couple of years I actually had the job to stand by the bus driver and open the door to let people off or on. Can you imagine that.

When I got off the bus after school,  a local convenience store owner watched my bother and I until Momma got off work. We got a snack everyday. I got Nacho Doritos and a bottled RC Cola to drink. We played with stick horses at home which were nothing more than a broom handle with a make shift nylon rope for a bridle. We rode those stick horses all over the yard.

When I was older I either walked home or rode my bike to and from school. I loved the independence. Instead of waiting on the crossing guard to safely walk us across two busy streets I cut across a field crossing on my own much to his chagrin. I can still see him shaking his sign angrily at me to this day.

The first football game my grandfather took me to felt like attending a professional game. The crowd appeared huge. The whole experience was overwhelming. We sat on the first row. I actually shook hands with the quarterback who led our basketball team to a state championship with a game winning shot at the buzzer. I had never experienced anything like that Friday night. How could I have known I would one day play in that same stadium and more importantly meet Jesus as my Savior in those same stands.

We played outside until dark. That was my one hard fast rule. Be home before dark. I played outside until the streetlights came on and then hightailed it to the house just in time for dinner.

I remember when McDonalds came to town. That was a big deal. I remember being in high school before I ever tried a fast food burrito. I had never even heard of one before. A friend shared one with me. It was love at first bite. I recall pulling up to an old fashioned drive in with car hops called Ray's. They had and still have the best burgers and steak fingers I have ever eaten.

I mowed yards, raked leaves, collected aluminum cans, and ran paper routes to earn money. I had to save for things I wanted. They were not just given to me. I worked for seven weeks to buy  a stereo record player. Seven weeks at $5 a week to get the $35. My boys earn that in one day mowing with me. Times have changed.

In high school I was equally at home with my black teammates as well with white guys.  I could talk their language. We hung out. They were my friends. Race did not matter. The world I wake up to today is far different. Racial tensions are escalating. Black Lives Matter dominates headlines. I wonder how my high school brothers feel about that. Would we still be friends today.

My kids have been given more than I ever had at their age. Two of my boys have nicer trucks as their first vehicles than I had until I was forty years old.

As a child I never thought about the media being dishonest. I endured the news the adults watched until I could get to a program I wanted to watch. Whatever they said was truth. The same with newspapers. Now I distrust mainstream media. I question what they report as the truth. I never thought about terrorist attacks as a child. Now in the back of mind I wonder when an attack will happen at a large sporting event or a mega church worship service.

This is a far different world than I grew up in. For those older than me I cannot imagine how different it is for them. The one thing that is constant is God still rules. For most of my childhood I did not have a relationship with Jesus. I intellectually knew a few basic tenants of the faith. I did not fear the dangers of a life without Jesus. Those thought seldom crossed my mind. I was lost.

Jesus met me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God. He revealed Himself to me through a local youth minister. That divine encounter changed everything. My whole life changed that night. Though I wake up in a far different world today the same Lord Jesus rules. He ruled back in my younger years and He rules today. No matter what chaos rages in our world Jesus is still in control. My life and future are in His hands.

I praise Him that one day I will go to sleep in death and wake up in a far different world. I will wake up with Him in a world I cannot fathom. It is a world I long for increasingly as things come more unraveled on this planet. World leaders manipulate and maneuver to gain dominance and power that is fleeting. Jesus is Lord forever. He is the King of Kinds and the Lord of Lords. He will win the day. He will have the last say. And one glorious day this will be a far different world.