Past, Present And Future

Past, Present and Future

Jeremiah 29:4-7

A few weeks ago, Renee and I headed off for a trip down memory lane.

Have any of you ever returned to your old elementary school or other place from your childhood to have a feeling that it was different than you remember?

The halls seemed smaller or other impossible physical differences that make the place familiar but different?

Many of you know that about a month ago Renee and I attended my 30th High School Reunion.

Several things became relatively real to me as the event approached.

- I started remembering some of my dreams for my future. Going to NY or CA and working in theater or the movies on the technical side of the business.

- I planned to marry my High School Sweet heart and together we would fact the world, ultimately living happily ever after.

- I planned to be a success.

On about Wednesday before the trip, I started to realize how long ago it was that I was in High school.

I know that many of you in here have me beat. I am just sharing a personal apocalypse, an unveiling, a revelation of my past.

It was like looking at a snapshot of my life thirty years, over half my life, ago.

I started to get a little uncomfortable.

For me and for many people, High School was one of the big uncomfortable milestones in life.

While I stand before you today as a suave, debonair, popular, secure, accomplished man.

-- In High School I was generally considered ……I am not sure that I can recall the right word from the 70’s. A nerd.

In HS I was one of the few kids that drove a really new vehicle to school. It was 1977, I had a job which allowed me to drive have 1976 Ford. It had custom paint job, the colors would make a Georgia Tech Yellow jacket fan proud, yellow with thick Black stripes. It had a big V8 engine with 4 in the floor. I guess I was spoiled a bit because it did not cost me a dime.

Because of this I could carry several friends to school on a regular basis. In fact I could carry up to up to 66 of my friends to school. I was the School bus driver and I drove on a route from my home to school everyday. Nerdy!

I was the film projector set up person. I ran the technology for the microphones and lights in our auditorium as the leader of the stage crew. Nerdy!

I worked as an office assistant answering phones on the old manual switchboard. Nerdy!

- Those examples are just the tip of the ice burg of my nerd like tendencies.

-- Let’s just say that I did not run, play or hang out with the “popular” crowd.

At the time I knew this was true. I knew that there were some circles that I was not wanted or welcome in.

I was not affiliated with any sports team. I was only in 1 club the Thespian society (Theater club).

But, there was one group where I was widely accepted.

I was in the band. I was welcome in the band. I had lots of friends in the band.

Members of the band are not automatically nerds. However, if we were to calculate a scale of nerds per hundred people, the band held the highest ratio of any group in the school. One exception might have been the physics club.

In the band, I was in the nerd category which easily might be considered at least 50% of the band members. But, strangely enough, I was not the nerdy-ist of the nerds….

I was actually half way to being only slightly nerdy when evaluated with this group.

I had friends that made me look normal in comparison.

In band, I was free to be me. I was free to do the best I could, and not be totally shunned because of my personality and physical characteristics.

I could do the best I could with my instrument and not be kicked out of the group for not being perfect. For not wearing the right clothes. For working in the office. For being the Vice-principal’s pet.

Very few members of the band would consider themselves perfect in any way. Which from my recollection was different that what others groups seemed to portray.

So, band is the place where I had my best friends….My best memories. It was a group that allowed me to belong and encouraged me to grow as a person and musician.

Band was the group that gave me my roots and strength that allowed me to keep existing in a world where I did not readily fit in.