New Tech, New Me

I’ve seen kids on television lately talking about how rough they have it, what with all of the technology they have to learn to deal with, and the fast pace of the world they live in.

To that I can only say, “Poo!” You think you have it rough with technology? Here’s the tech I grew up with:

Televisions only came in two colors, black and white. I’m not talking about the cabinets, I’m talking about the screen. I can remember when TV Guide put a little “C” next to shows so you would know they were in color. One of my neighbors said he had a color TV, but all he had was a glass thing that clipped in front of the screen and turned everything weird colors. A car could go from being blue to green to red in seconds.

We didn’t have cable or satellite, we had antennas. If the wind shifted or there was a tilt in the axis of the earth, you had to adjust the rabbit ears. Sometimes standing with one leg in the air and holding the antenna worked. Your family would yell, “It’s perfect, don’t move!” Don’t move? I’m standing behind the TV with my right leg parallel to the floor and my left arm holding onto the top of one antenna and the other antenna resting inside my right ear!

We didn’t have remote control, either. Well, we kind of did. Our remote control consisted of my mom smacking me in the back of the head and saying, “Jerry, change it to Channel 2.” SMACK, “Jerry, turn it up.” SMACK, “Too much, turn it down some.” When we finally got a remote control, I ducked my head every time somebody changed the channel! And we only had 7 channels! We had to wait for a whole week to see if Batman made it out of his weekly predicament.

Computers? There were only two computers in the world when I was a kid. Eniac, which took up floors of a building, and the little blonde girl next to me who I swear was plugged in somewhere. Desktop publishing was crayons and construction paper. Gaming consisted of baseball and football, depending on the time of year. We played on real grass, mind you, not Nintendo!

I know I’m supposed to look wistfully at the days of yore and pine for a simpler time. Not me, I love the technological leaps since I was a kid. I fully embrace the changes. I’m typing this on a MacBook Pro in the comfort of my living room, watching the Olympics on my high definition widescreen television, which is receiving its signal from somewhere out in space, beamed to my satellite dish. Why on earth would I want to go back to a 19 inch television with a black and white screen and a black and blue skull?

In the same way, I embrace the changes that God has made in my life over the years. I’m not the same as I was when I was twenty, or thirty or even forty. You can say that the changes are because I got old and grew up. My wife would beg to differ with you! I may have gotten older, but I definitely haven’t grown up. No, the change is because of the effect of God’s blessings and guidance in my life. You see, over the years I have learned to quit relying on my own strength and my own efforts. Once I learned to quit struggling and let God work in me, my life got better. I don’t have to dig myself out of holes as often, and I have more peace than should be possible when things are bad.

Why on earth would I look back wistfully on the days when my mouth got me in trouble and my temper often caused troubles to get deeper, not better?

Unfortunately, there are many people who decide their way is best. They think they’re having a good time, but it inevitably leads to heartache and sorrow. They complain about their lot in life, then go right back to it. Proverbs 14:12,13 says, “There's a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell. Sure, those people appear to be having a good time, but all that laughter will end in heartbreak.”

I’m not going back to the old tech, and I’m sure not going back to the old me.

Using the remote without ducking… Jerry