All the water under the bridge. 25 years ago the device I’m typing on probably wasn’t even in anyone’s brain yet. “Dark mode” that I use on my notes app to have a black background and white letters was simply thought of as DOS. Many of the ADULTS in today’s world hadn’t even been born. The wonderful nurse who did my blood draw today for part of my check up is 24. In her own words, she “wasn’t even a thought yet.”
As a senior in high school at the time, I only dreamed of what college would be like, of who my husband would be someday, and what it would be like to be a mom and a teacher. And yet, 25 years later, I don’t even need to close my eyes to remember the images I saw that morning. The views not only on the tvs at school, but of my teacher’s faces. Them whispering to each other, trying not to scare us… but feeling such raw and scary feelings. The questions we all felt. We had no idea where the world would go the next few days, weeks, or years. We turned to great advisors like Mr Rogers, and looked for the helpers. Communities came together as they had during previous tragedies. Oklahomans who had felt the sorrow of the Oklahoma City Bombing in ‘95 (when I was in 5th grade) knew it was possible for beauty to come from the ashes, without ever forgetting the pain. And we felt deeply for all those involved. On that day, sitting in those desks as a high school senior in Oklahoma, I had no idea how many of my friends would use it as a call to enlist in the military to help preserve our freedoms. I had no idea that a few short years later I’d be mourning the suicide of a dear friend who found that serving the military in the way they were requiring was too mentally painful for him to continue. His sacrifice was ultimately too much. I’ll forever wonder what his life could have been if time had marched forward differently.
But there I was, a kid who was just in shock. Those visions would forever be engrained in my memory- laser etched like the cds I listened to in my car. Now, 25 years later, my own daughter is in high school. Not a senior, but rather a sophomore, creating her own path- blazing her own trail. We can’t begin to know where any of us will be in another 25 years. I wonder if she’ll be following her career aspirations, if she’ll have a family of her own. I wonder what life will be like for her and her siblings. I wonder if I’ll still be here, or if God will have already called me home.
None of us can possibly know how one single action by a total stranger will impact our own daily life, or the path that we end up following. All we can do is pray that we choose the path that God wants us to follow. As I looked at my students this week, and taught them information about how A.I. works and how to be safe online, and how to balance screen time with real life, I realized that 25 years ago my current job was entirely different than it is today. Oh to be a technology teacher back then… when life was so much simpler and students didn’t have to question everything they see and weren’t bombarded by social media every day. Kids weren’t dropped off in the car line at elementary schools by mothers scrolling Facebook who didn’t even bother to say ““I love you,” or “have a good day,” or even a simple “bye.” (Yes, I seriously opened the door for a precious girl this week whose mother was actively scrolling Facebook while driving in the car line, and didn’t say a word to her daughter much less me when she got out, or when I said “have a good day, mom!”)
And yet, thinking through all these things, I’m reminded of one of my favorite Billy Joel songs, “We Didn’t Start the Fire…” yes, technology has changed in 25 years and taken us to a place where we now know everyone and their scary, horrible business. But really, this fire has been “burning since the world’s been turning,” and we just do the best we can to raise our children to understand how to combat it. Hope and Faith still exist. And I find it a great honor to help kids ages 7-12 understand that school CAN BE a safe place, and that teachers DO CARE, and that they are each and EVERY SINGLE ONE important to the world. In an age where some might look back 25 years and say that 9/11 started the world falling apart, it’s been falling apart since the day a dear, sweet creation of God decided to make a choice to listen to a serpent. In that moment, the decision of a stranger would change the lives of EVERYONE in the world to come. And it’s been happening ever since.
So on this day, as I think back 25 years, I’m actually thinking back further than that. And realizing that as her uncle Mordechai once told Esther, I’m here for “such a time as this.” God has me teaching technology right now, right here, for a reason. He has given us these three kids for a reason. And He led me to Cody Hinnant for a very wonderful reason. Sometimes strangers we’ll never know or understand make choices that will rock our entire worlds. But He also provides us with the people in our lives who will be the close friends who will carry us. YouVersion’s verse today is from Galatians 6:2, and reminds us that no task or toil is too heavy when we are yoked with our Lord… and sometimes He gives us physical reminders in the form of these amazing humans to come alongside and pull us through. And of course no matter WHAT some stranger does or has done, the ultimate sacrifice was made to clear ALL of the pain away, wipe away all the tears, and remind all of us the despite our brokenness, He has made us whole again. And because of that, we can look past all the horrible and all the scary, and we can simply have HOPE. Because Grace and Mercy bought our Freedom, and give us Hope. Yes it was horrible. No matter which horrible “it” situation you say, from throughout history. But redemption is worth so much more. And THAT hasn’t changed in 25 years. Or 250. Or 2,025. And it never will.
Butterbees and Bumbleflies 