The Way It Used To Be

I believe it was comedian Steven Wright who said, "Nostalgia just isn't what it used to be." As I age I begin to think so much about the way "it used to be." I have a friend who told me he just wanted things to go back to the way they were. I somewhat agree with what he said and I'll explain.
I loved it when we could ride our bikes all day long without worrying about traffic or people who had evil purposes. We never locked our doors. We didn't have to worry about what was on the television. Around my house, the most vile things on TV were the beer commercials between innings of the baseball game...and we had to turn the sound down so we didn't hear them. By the way, this was the day and age before remote controls so we literally had to get up out of our chairs and turn the sound down. On Monday nights we watched Andy Griffith and on Tuesday we watched Red Skelton. Many of the channels went off the air after the news. You knew when you heard the national anthem the station was about to shut down for the night.
In the summer, our curfew was when it started to get dark. My parents just wanted to know where I was and they seldom worried what I was doing. I spent my time playing sports. If I had no one to play with, I would make it up. I could play a nine inning baseball game with a pencil for a bat, a marble for the ball, and my baseball cards for a team. I would cut up bases out of cardboard and retire to my room to play a game. I could play basketball with a ping pong ball and a basket (once again made from cardboard) taped to the door. I played football in our yard (once again, by myself) with a softball. I could pass and catch the ball on the same play. And I could tackle myself. My team always won. I remember playing wiffle ball with friends for hours. Remember the imaginary runner? Oh, I loved those days.
Don't misunderstand me. I love my computer, my cell phone, and my microwave. I'm glad I've grown up and had a family of my own. I think what we're talking about going back to our values; going back to the days of God being important in the lives of our nation. Being concerned about praying for our country, our world. Living in a town where evil was rare and perverted and not accepted and pandered to. And being people of good character who look to the Bible for moral direction and not despise the Word as ancient and out-dated.
We can return to that, you know. How do we do it? One person at a time. You can change yourself and I can change myself. A single candle lit in the darkness makes all the difference in the world. In the next to the last chapter of the Bible, the new Jerusalem makes its appearance and God makes a statement that should give us a renewed hope of what we are talking about. God says, "I am making everything new!" He can do that....He's God. He can take a torn scattered life and make it brand new. He can take a nation that sues over everything, that rejects the very image of the cross, and that fights over the most insignificant things in the name of political correctness and make us whole and new again. We can go back to the way it used to be. Let's start praying today. I hope your day is a good one! JW