Dealing With a Changing World

A friend and I were talking politics the other day. We had better things to do, but we took the bait and swallowed hard. Then he spoke the immortal words, “I think we need to get back to the good old days.” I don’t think so for two reasons: 1. Nothing seems to change. 100 years ago, comedian Will Rogers said, “Be a politician—no training necessary.” 2. The good old days weren’t so good. We had no airbags in the car, just your mom’s arm if you stopped in a hurry; there were no heated seats, unless you lit yours on fire. No covers on electric outlets, no childproof lids on medicine bottles. Did you ever see pictures of the first bicycle ever built? They found the smallest wheel on earth and put in on the back. Then they took the biggest wheel on earth and put that up front. That is why the average life expectancy was about 23 back then. I was personally born in a hospital without my dad present, and there was no doula. Mom put me to sleep on my tummy in a crib covered with bright coloured lead-based paints for me to lick.

They used to wear Burlap potato bags. They made them into underwear. You’ve seen old pictures where no one was smiling? That’s why. Burlap underwear. Those were the good old days.

We rode bikes – no helmets, no shin pads. Four friends would share one can of Coke. Coke killed germs anyway, because it dissolved nails, so you were safe. We drank Kool-Aid which was 20% dye and 140% sugar. Kool-Aid had all the nutritional value of a pair of pliers. No one was able to reach us all day on our phones. And we were fine.

Steve Erickson had the world’s coolest go-cart, glossy blue and chrome but it only ran long enough for him to plough it into a tree. So he’d work on it for another week, then run it into a telephone pole. This was the early seventies, just before the invention of brakes. The good old days.

Here are some actual quotes from the ‘50s. That’s the 1950s.

“I read the other day that scientists think it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century.” Ha, as if.

“Can you believe some baseball player signed a contract for $75,000 a year? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’re making more than the President.” By the way, this year’s highest paid baseball player is Shohei Ohtani. He makes $48,000 an inning. And has no children to feed.

Here are more quotes from the 1950s:

“Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?”

“If they think I’ll pay 50 cents for a haircut, they can forget about it.”

“If things keep going the way they are, it’s going to be impossible to buy a week’s groceries for $20.”
Well, times change, don’t they? How good to know that in the midst of certain change, God’s faithfulness never changes. He remains steadfast and certain.

Hebrews 13:8 (NIV) says,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.”

 

In Psalm 103, David wrote,

“…from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children.”

 

For each generation, God remains the same and can always be trusted to keep His promises! Deuteronomy 7:9

”…the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

 

Max Lucado wrote, “Our moods may shift, but God’s doesn’t. Our minds may change, but God’s doesn’t. Our devotion may falter, but God’s never does. Even if we are faithless, He is faithful, for He cannot betray himself. He is a sure God.”

If you’ve seen the price of haircuts lately, you know what a comfort that is.