Musings from Cozumel

13614964_10155007290549942_3177479085578712833_nI am old before my time.  Years ago I had a pager. I was working as a Youth Pastor and attending Seminary.  Talbot was an hour plus from the Church so a pager was needed.  Well, to be honest, I really used it when I was bored in class. I would beep myself and have to be excused.  My professors must have thought I was dealing with serious at risk kid emergencies.  You know, all those drive by situations in the Golden Ghetto of South Orange County.  I have had cell phones and currently use an i-pad.  My phones are always getting dropped, drowned or even tossed out the car window by my little girl. I drove down here really without a working phone, gps or any cool gadget.  In retrospect a cool gadget would have been nice. In truth, I am now almost 10 months without a phone.  My buddies wish I would get one, but then I would have to use it.  Gia knows where I am and we live on an island, some emergency happens, everyone knows and passes it on. “Bald gringo with ugly feet and really brown back, struck by moto…tell Gia!”  My point of this..yes, I have a point, is most of us have forgotten how to get by.  If something is broken we buy a new one.  If we need to add or subtract, we use our phone. We need directions, gps.  Have a question? Google it.  Turn the pages of a Bible, well no pages. Everything is clean, easy and fast.  We are upset at a delayed flight and forget the marvel of it all.  A slow bagger at a grocery store upsets us when we just purchased fruit that ten short years ago, we had never even heard of it.  We have forgotten the joy of flipping an old Bible open and having it land on a marked passage that spoke to you many years ago. The smell of it on your face as you fall asleep, minor prophets knock me out. The pause as you put your memory to use to find Philemon.  I still use my Seminary Bible. It is a Ryrie NASB. My first Bible was stolen at the frontera in Tecate, 25 years ago.  This Bible has a Molokai Poi Company wrapper holding the bindings.  It has my name written in the different languages of kids in my groups. A picture of Gia and my wedding prayer is the flyleaf. It is marked, sandy, a little bloody (whatever) and hard to turn some pages. This bums me out because I am a speedy Bible page finder and this handicaps me.  I feel people are looking at me thinking ( geez, with a Bible like that you think he could find Psalms faster). Kind of like a huge guy walking in a gym and benching 135,  I kind of wanted to see more.  Some things stand the test of time.  I could never love my I pad like I cherish my Bible.  I cannot turn it in for a newer model.  So, end of sermon.  Find your Bible,  bring it to Church, nothing makes a pastor happier than the sound of Bible pages turning.  Well, a good pastor.  Sorry, gotta go, just got paged.

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