Old Things

Today is December 5, 2025, only 20 days until Christmas, and 11 days of school until Christmas Break. I hate to say anything about anyone's favorite movies, and I do not set out to offend. As a child I loved "The Wizard of Oz" even though seeing the movie has succeeded in making sure I never read the book. I hate the fact that I will never read the book, because books are always better than the movie.People have loved "The Wizard of Oz" so much they keep making movies based on it like The WIZ and this new one that's out now. Sorry I have not kept up on all the history. For years "The Wizard of Oz" has been played on TV every year, and people still love to watch it. I don't think I have it anymore. I got tired of it years ago, and as the decades go by, I have become more and more obsessed with getting rid of things than getting more things, and movies I don't plan on watching anymore are a category of those things. I grew up with Fantasia, Cinderella, Snow White and Bambi, for example, but the last time I watched Bambi I couldn't get past the part where the mother is killed, so I gave the movie back to the thrift shop. I haven't really loved any of the Disney movies since. It's just a whole new generation of Disney movies that I have had exactly no interest in. I don't even want to talk about all the Disney movies that have come out in the last 50 years. And speaking of thrift shops, I still watch VHS movies on a VCR, althoughI haven't found any VHS movies in many thrift stores lately. I am mildly resentful that the library and many thrift stores have stopped selling VHS tapes. The reason is that I do not like DVDs. As soon as they came on the market, I knew they were just going to be more expensive and that technology was just going to get more and more expensive and complicated, and that is exactly what has happened. I had a little portable DVD player once and when wore it out I never got another one. I could play DVDs on my laptop but I'd rather watch movies on a television screen. I sometimes watch videos or listen to CDs, but very rarely. The more complicaed the system, the less interest I have in it. If I could go back 50 years in time and live then, I would. In fact, I would go back 100 years if I could. Today with kindergartners, I was teaching them "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes." They even have a fairly recent animated music video of it out on the Inernet. But one little boy said he didn't like it, and later he said it was because it was "too old." Now who told him it was "too old"? Anything that has stood the test of time is not "too old." It's classic. The young para with the class said that would have been his answer when he was in Kindergarten. You see, young people in this day and age just can't seem to appreciate such things as anything that has stood the test of time. Most of the kids liked the song, by the way. I love some Shirley Temple movies. I used to have about 14 of them. I was not born when Shirley Temple was making those movies, but when I discovered them, I wanted to watch them. I still have a couple of them: "Bright Eyes" and "Curly Top." I so just want to get rid of stuff. I feel like I used to be smarter and stronger and more creative, but if God wants me to do anything smart or strong or creative, he will have to help me and guide me, because I seem to have lost my imagination. I hope I can recover it again, but I have no idea how that might happen. I have been following Jesus for 45 years, and the only answers I have are in the Bible and by the spirit of God. If he gives me wisdom to know what to do, I will do it. Meanwhile, I know God gave me this job 10 years ago and I can still do it. There are challenges, but there's a community there, a support system, and maybe I'm even part of the support system, though I'm not sure who might see me that way. I am a servant, and that's okay. Jesus calls us to be servants. I want to be better than I am at everything I do, but I know that will only happen as I apply myself to what God is leading me to do. Today I read out of Hosea and Proverbs 5. Proverbs 5 is all about the unfaithful woman and how not to get involved with her. (Hosea also involves an unfaithful woman.) Proverbs 5 has never been one of my favorites for obvious reasons or not so obvious reasons. I know that having a roving eye is a malady that sweeps over our nation and world and destroys many lives, many families and many children, and one of the reasons I wrote "Don't Let the Devil Steal Your Song" was because I wanted people to know what it felt like to be a child when your parents split up. Today it's so common, but just because it's common doesn't mean it doesn't still destroy lives. We can all overcome such things, but it does no good to day they aren't harmful and hurtful, and that we we don't need God to overcome the damage that people do, and the damage that we do. I have read Lamott's chapter about perfectionism and I don't want to fall into that trap. This is not a treatise, this is just a "web log." I'm still one of those trying to find out "what we're supposed to be writing," as Lamott puts it. She doesn't seem to be writing fiction anymore, for example. Fiction made her famous, but now she writes about faith and life, but it looks like if you just write about faith and life no one will pay attention to what you are writing, that people mostly just want to read fiction. Maybe people like to read fiction and go to movies to escape the "dailyness" of their lives. I don't know. I just wish that my fiction writing would return, because I loved the freedom of being able to write fiction. Just sit down and make up a story. What happened to that? It's gone somewhere. Does it matter? I don't know. We all love stories. That's why we read fiction and go to movies. There's something for everyone out there. I am in the stage of my life where I'm supposed to be giving back to the younger generation. I'm doing the best I can to do that. I don't know how well I'm succeeding at that, but God will be my judge. I'm going to keep trying to allow God to finish what he started in my life. I am signing off now. I hope something I said might have helped you process some things in your own brain. Goodnight.