Like, It's So Totally Gnarly, Dude

Where were you 20 years ago? July, 1988.

It's an interesting thing to ponder, I think.

(I know that a couple of you who are reading this might not have even been born then, might not even have been planned or dreamed of by your future parents - although God knew you then. Even years before you were conceived of even in thought, God knew you.)

It's hard for me to comprehend that 20 years has gone by, since this period in my life. I had been a legal adult for less than a year. I had just completed my first year of junior college. I don't think I had been booted out of my house yet - maybe I had. If I'm not mistaken around this time I had just had my first kiss. I had not yet met Robert. (Disappointing, isn't it, that my first kiss was with Ro?) I hung out with my friends at local movie theaters and the skating rink.

I was a geek.

It gets better. I really loved rap music. But you have to understand that the rap music of 1988 is not the same as rap music of 2008. I try to listen to today's rap and I just can't. Sorry, guys, I tried - but it's just not the same.

We would drive around in my sweet ride and listen to

Buttermilk biscuits, here we go; sift the flour, roll the dough.

Or

They're playing bas-ket-ball. We love that bas-ket-ball.

Or

Friends - how many of us have them? Friends - ones we can depend on. Friends - before we go any further, let's be friends.

Good rap. Somewhat clean rap. (I thought it was cleaner than it really was, having just re-listened to some of Sir Mix-a-lot's old lyrics. I guess I was just naive and ignorant back then! Still, I have to say that it was a lot cleaner than what's out there currently, generally speaking!)

And often we'd listen to other pop artists, like Michael Jackson (he was cool then, or at least cooler than he is now), Janet Jackson, Expose, Tiffany... (ugh, remembering some of these is making my stomach a little icky, like when you eat too much sugar.) Check this out to rekindle your memories. Uh, gag me with a spoon!

Okay, I do have a point here, and my point wasn't just to simply take you down memory lane. I already did that not long ago.

So, although I listened to a lot of sickeningly sweet music sprinkled with some "good" rap, every once in awhile some rock songs would play on my bitchin' (that's an 80's word) AM/FM cassette player in my silver 1980 Toyota Celica. One band hit it big in 1988 with a ballad called "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" - Poison. Remember that?

So I remember Poison from the late 80's. Recently Bret Michaels (of Poison) was in our town, performing at a local bar. I was surprised to see his name on the marquee, actually. I asked my (much younger) friend if she knew who he is. "Yeah - from Rock of Love." Indeed, even C's 12yo friend knows who he is because of that show. It seems as though Poison, although they are still performing together, is becoming better known among the current generation these days because of Bret's TV show. (Incidentally, Poison also performed at the fair in nearby Greeley a few weeks ago, which is probably why Bret was in town to hang out at our local bar.)

ANYWAY... all this to say... Ro sent me a very interesting link with a video this week that tells about how the band's guitarist, CC DeVille, has become a Christian. It's a pretty short read and an interesting video, if you can get around the "style" of the cameraman (not the best shots). Check it out - I found it encouraging.

~~~~~
So, since you were just pondering where you were in your life 20 years ago, it just seems fitting to think about where you are right now.

I am nowhere near where I want to be (except geographically, tee hee). I feel like I still have much to learn, much to see, much to fix, MUCH to change, and much to scrap.

But when I consider where I was 20 years ago, I am amazed.

I am not the same person I was then.

I still have some of the same tendencies - the tendencies toward laziness, toward spending instead of saving, toward selfishness.

But I can see how far God has brought me, the changes that He has made in me.

Although I considered myself a Christian 20 years ago, I can say that I definitely did not know God in the same way I do today. I guess that's the biggest change. Although I wish that I knew more and was wiser and did better and honored God in every moment of every day, I can see that there has still been growth in the last 20 years - significant growth.

I'm just not finished growing yet.

And to go from being a know-it-all 18-year-old with no real responsibilities or desires outside of herself... to evolve first into a wife, and then a mother, and then a mother of 2, and then a mother of 3, each time chiseling away a little bit of that selfishness that abounded in her (although, as I said, I still tend toward that)... and to see the difference... wow.

It's been a heck of a ride, these last two decades. I can't comprehend it all. I can't understand how 20 years is nearly half my lifetime, how I've spent nearly half my lifetime now with Robert. When did I become this person I am today, from the person I was in 1988?

A little bit of change, I guess. Every day, for 20 years.