Ministries
It wasn’t that long ago, so it seems, I was free-wheeling it down the road on my huge mo- torcycle with the mufflers doing that Harley-Davidson thing. Bikers would know what I mean. The wind blowing through my hair, hitting the open road with nary a care in the world. At least, that is how I imagined it as I rode my bicycle on FM 949 with card- board flaps pinned on my bike so the wheels’ spokes would hit the flap and make an awesome motorcycle sound. Of course, my hair wasn’t that long back then yet.
I confess. I was one of those kids who sat on the floor and made robot noises through a box fan. Lost In Space and Robot had nothing compared to the sounds we could make.
I was a lucky kid that my dad worked for the phone company. He had to have a private line in case someone called after hours and he needed to fix a phone.
However, I know there were party lines of up to ten people. It was fun to say goodbye to my future wife, Dianne, and hear all the clicks as they hung up. We would wait a few seconds in silence and then start talking again.
Kids these days would go into a super meltdown if they took typewriter classes on a manual typewriter like I did when I was a junior in high school. They don’t know the fear of misspelling a word and correcting it or changing out the typewriter ribbon.
I lived dangerously back then. I stayed outside until the cows came home, swam in a cattle water trough and learned how to shoot a BB gun without shooting out an eye. I even drank from a garden water hose and lived to tell the tale of it.
A bunch of us got wild on a cool weekend, held pasture parties on a Saturday night and hunted jackrabbits down a dirt road. We raised H.E. double hockey sticks and burned rubber. We got our refreshments from the Bernardo Youth Center and lived life like tomorrow didn’t exist.
Do I wish that I could live life like that again? Yes and No. I would slow down and enjoy the day I had. I would savor the moonlight and stars above. I would make sure that every minute of the day was accounted for. There are no do-overs. Time is fleeting.
Yes. I would like to live life like that again. Carefree and the only worry is if I have enough money for gas in the car.
I was blessed that I could do the things I did and live to tell the tales even if the tales I told were only in my mind since I didn’t want my kids to know the stuff I did. Let’s face it, they would throw that in my face the next time they did something dangerous or wrong with, “You did it!” Yes, I did it. Got the T-shirt and was able to wear it.
I have had a full life of “I don’t cares” and the thing is I should have cared.
No. I would not like to live life like that again. My not caring about many things wasted my time on this earth that was frivolous and not serving my Risin Saviour now that I know.
Memories and cardboard flaps are all that I have of my youth. We need to teach our youth to slow down and take their time growing up.
Psalm 90:12 reminds us, “Teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” The Living Bible puts it like this, “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.”
