What's old is new again...

So I was up particularly early this summer morning to watch LifeWay author Jen Hatmaker on the Today Show.  Now honestly, it wasn't really early, but it's summer.  And I'm home alone.  And I didn't go to bed til 1:30am because (did I mention?) I'm home alone this week.  Just in case you don't know me, I need you to understand that it's a big deal that I'm home alone!  I haven't had an extended "home alone" time in 15 years so my plan was to sleep late, stay up late, work at the store during the evenings, and write.  Up at 7:45am was not on the to do list, but anything for LifeWay I guess.  Oh wait, I'm home alone so I'll just take a nap this afternoon!  Sweet bliss!

Jen did a great job, of course.  Her funny but sarcasticly insightful blog post about being the worst end of the school year mom ever hits the nail on the head in so many ways. Read it here: http://bit.ly/JenHatmaker, but promise me you'll come back and finish this post!!

As I snuggled onto the couch with my coffee in anticipation of Jen's segment I turned on the show only to see about a bazillion teenage girls "on the Plaza" there in NYC screaming bloody murder over some young pop star.  I consider myself fairly "with it" when it comes to pop teenage culture, though the use of the term "with it" probably means I'm not actually.  Believe it or not, I had never heard of the young man Austin Mahone.  Cut me some slack here though because my daughter is only four years old and she thinks Phineas and Ferb are cutting edge.  So, like any "with it" adult, I googled the cutie pie!  I even went to Itunes and sampled a song.  I'm cool like that.

Turns out, cutie pie Austin Malone remade that old Biz Markie song, "Just a Friend".  See I told you I was "with it".  You remember it if you are a child of 80's, otherwise known as best decade ever!  I'm singing it right now out loud in my kitchen because, did I mention, I'm home alone!!!

         "Oh baby you, you got what I need!  But you say he's just a friend, you say he's just a friend.

I'm not saying you should necessarily download it but it's a catch little ditty, huh?  In fact, I can't wait to show it to my teenage sons.  I'm sure they'll immediately love it and download it because I'm the role model for them when it comes to music.  I'm pretty sure our Ipods have identical music, right?  Surely they have all of the Travis Cottrell albums.

Then it hit me, I was one of those screaming girls about 30 years ago.  My mom took me to the Hot Springs Mall to see Bo from Days of our Lives at the apex of "Bo and Hope" Days!  We waited in long lines, took a bazillion photos with our Polaroid, and made the exact kind of posters those sweet little girls made for Austin!  Oh, and there was a lot of screaming and crying and promising to never wash that hand Bo touched again!

My mom tried to act like she didn't enjoy it, but I think she did.

And honestly, I think I've been a part of a group or two like this at a LifeWay Women's event. Haven't you stood in a long line to get great seats at Living Proof Live, just hoping Beth Moore will get close enough to bless your heart or at least figure out where she bought that cute jacket? My BFF and I have a system when we go.  She gets in one line and I get in another.  Our strategy is whoever gets in first RUNS down to the floor and saves two seats.  It's not pretty (or very Christlike) but it works. And if I've rudely elbowed you at some point in one of those lines, I'm sorry, but a girls gotta do what she's gotta do to see Beth's jacket up close.

And then I remembered Psalm 78, an unforgettable Psalm about learning from the past.
     
"...for I will speak to you in a parable.  I will teach you hidden lessons from our past...so each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles and obeying His commands."
Psalm 78:2, 7  (NLT)

So much about life doesn't change at the core. There will probably always be teenage girls screaming over cutie pie boy heart throbs.  So much about me doesn't change.  I will probably always have to ask God to give me right motives and completely pure desires even at a women's conference.

But HE never changes.  We will always be enamored with the world, it's trends, it's promises, it's fleeting fun. We can even engage culture to teach our children about the faithful love of our Father in Heaven.

James 1:17 says it so well...
Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.  HE NEVER CHANGES, or casts a shifting shadow.

Thanks Jen, for getting me up this morning to experience some encouragement in my ministry as a mom and some fun music!  I'm cool like that!  Now I'm taking a nap.