Boys Toys

We had our Senior Sunday last night. It's when we, as a church family, take a little time to recognize and honor our graduating seniors who are going off to college and leaving the Youth Ministry they've been part of, some for all their teen years. It's nice to share this experience and make it clear to them that they are part of a bigger family. We care about them, we've helped them learn about and draw closer to God and Jesus, and we want them to know that we'll always be there to help and encourage them. Still, as I watched the expected slide show with pictures of each graduate from diapers to diploma, it was fun, but no one has the same feelings as each of the parents who are just barely able to grasp what this change means for their family. Each picture that appears isn't just an image, it's a skip to a scene on "Life's" DVD. You remember the sounds and the laughter. You're taken back to a time that will never happen again and it saddens you - but fills you with joy because it's a wonderful memory. Mostly, it reminds you that seventeen or eighteen years just zoomed by - never to be repeated, never to be edited, and never to be done better. What's left - well, it's all ahead. How long? How many changes? How many Power Point slide show-reruns and flashbacks? How many new memories yet to be made? Hey, tomorrow it will be your adorable baby watching a graduation Power Point of their how-did-they-get-so-big-so-quick-child being honored at a church Senior Sunday.

Some people think about stuff like that and they go buy the Harley or the Corvette they never got to own when they were young. Me, well I just bought an Arctic Cat 400 4x4 ATV and went riding through the woods and corn fields. If I'm not back in time for the grandkids' Senior Sunday, it's because I got it stuck somewhere and I'm kicking myself for not having a wench on it yet.