As
some of you are aware, I have returned recently to social media.
I
blog, have a page on Facebook, and will be podcasting soon.
I
have found the experience so far to be fun but also a bit disturbing.
I
guess that I was taken aback on Facebook by how old everyone is.
It
is no small thing to ‘jump’ 30+ years into the future and see your friends with
grown kids that also have kids of their own. I feel like one of those frozen
astronauts that have been thawed out after years in space.
Of
course one major exception to that sci-fi scenario is that, though I have aged too, it has been more gracefully.
But,
to stay with that time-elapsed theme for a moment: Why all the cat videos? Has
the world gone insane while I was in cyber-sleep?
I
suppose that had I started with everyone else that phenomenon would seem
natural by now (meow) and would have affected
me too (meow) but I think I’m okay
since I haven’t been on social media but (meow) just a few weeks.
As
you might have imagined being gone for so long and then suddenly appearing
after all these years has surprised some of my old friends and acquaintances
and they in turn have contacted me.
Just
the other day I got a call from one of the teens that was in my youth department
back in the early 80’s. This fellow whom I have not seen in 32 years called me
up and we talked a bit about the ‘old days’.
Now
I have to tell you, as he talked I was scared. Back in those days when all this
impressionable youth was under my spiritual care I had tons of zeal but little
knowledge. I was out to save them and to save the rest of the world too. I have
always wondered how badly I might have messed up those poor, unprotected,
middle-class, white, American Christian teenagers. So, as he talked, I listened
for clues for damage assessment.
We
talked for a while and as the conversation was wrapping up he made a statement
that caused me to break out in a cold sweat. “Laurence,” he says, “I remember
two things that you taught us that I have never forgotten.”
Oh
no! I thought. I am so sorry, Lord! This kid, this now 40 Something, is going
to share with me two ideals or two principles or two heretical statements that
I impressed upon him with all the thermonuclear earnest I had back in those
days!
He
had gone to college, gotten married, worked for 30+ years, had children of his
own, raised them to adulthood, his kids have had kids…how might I have screwed
this all up?!
I
was cringing as he continued, “You told us”
I
listened in the fetal position…
“That
if we guys shaved while in the shower, then when we got out, we were all done.”
Can
you imagine how relieved I was?! Thank you Jesus! I almost started laughing and
crying hysterically.
“You
also taught us…”
Oh
no, right, there were two things…two things that he had always remembered. I
had influenced his life, his family…they in turn have influenced others…what
have I done…what have I done!
“…to
never wear white socks with dress clothes.”
SAFE!
I
came away from this encounter with a greater awareness of how we influence one
another. Sometimes the intentional isn’t as strong as the peripheral but there
is always some type of effect. No one ever leaves our care, our teaching, our
friendships, our parenting exactly the same. And our influence, both
intentional and peripheral, is a responsibility given us by our Lord and He
wants us to always do well by others.
Still
I am a little ticked that that was all he had ‘remembered’.
All
that time? Seriously? Is that all he got out of those years of my giving all my
heart and soul and…and life?
But
hey, maybe I have made the world a bit more beautiful. There is at least one
guy out there wearing socks that match his slacks. Maybe he taught his boys
that too and maybe they influenced others.
Come
to think of it, I cannot remember the last time I saw anyone wearing white
socks with dress clothes!
If
only I would have also said something about cats on film
