Well, I finally took time to put my 64-bit PC back together so I can work on this sight again… I built it last spring, and for the most part it is fine… it’s just that 64-bit is still all ‘beta’… which means that there are very few drivers for it, and when you have a problem, you’re pretty much on your own figuring it out! I have several Macs I’m rebuilding, and two regular PC’s I’m putting together for friends, but this 64-bit I built for me! And so, I work out the bugs as I have time…

Anyway, this article is from the September 2004 newsletter…

 

 “It was the best of times… it was the worst of times…” At least that was always how Septembers seemed to me as I was growing up.

‘The best of times’ was because it was (and still is!) the month of my birth, and so was the month that I got such things as my first new bicycle (8th birthday), and my first driver’s license (16th birthday… duh!). However, it was ‘the worst of times’ because it was also the month that school started back each year… and I hated school!

Now, don’t get me wrong… I love learning! I have always loved reading and studying about all sorts of things over the years that have struck my fancy at any given time. And I can never seem to get enough of going to various museums and zoos and such to see, study, and learn all that I can about the different exhibits and animals and so on… whether it be a historical museum, with artifacts and history of the local area, a natural history museum, with skeletons, stuffed animals, rocks, and plants from all over the world, or a science museum, which usually combines historical scientific breakthroughs and history with current and on-going studies and findings. Yes, I truly love to learn… I just hated school!

Now, some people might say that all of that was caused by bad teachers (possibly), poor curriculum (it was the ‘50’s and ‘60’s!), or just a ‘bad attitude’ on my part. And the truth is, each of these things probably played a small part in forming my opinions about education. But mostly, the truth is that it is just the way I am… free thinking and proud of it! And I didn’t appreciate somebody trying to tell me what or how I was supposed to think and learn… I wanted to do it for myself!

In Fritz Lang’s 1926 futuristic masterpiece, the black-and-white silent film Metropolis, the ‘workers’ of the world have all been conditioned to think, act, and behave exactly like one another. In one of its most striking scenes, the masses are all marching in perfect step and unison as one set marches in to work and the other marches out. All are dressed alike… all act alike… and all have that same bland, empty look on their face… there is nothing more to their lives than the job that they have been taught and conditioned to blindly do and accept. They have no freedom to think for themselves, and thus have all but lost the ability of free thought! And what really bothers me about watching this film are the comparisons that I see coming to fruition in our society today!

If I were a youth attending school today, I would probably be sent to various counselors, doctors, and psychologists to determine just why I wasn’t conforming to ‘expected norms’! And if I were to continue behaving ‘abnormally’ I would probably be treated with various drugs and ‘behavioral counseling therapies’ until I did come to behave like a ‘normal’ person!

And you know what? All of that scares me, no end, for I have to wonder whose idea of ‘normality’ is being used! I am so happy that none of that ever happened… because if it had, I would not be who I am today!!!

God has made each and every one of us to be special! He never intended for any of us to be ‘conformists’… at least not in the way that many people seem to think today. That’s why He gave each of us a mind to use as freely as we wish… that’s why we each have the freedom of choice to do His will or not. And yes, that’s why we are sometimes assailed with doubts and fears and questions about life, how we are to live it, and why things are the way they sometimes seem to be.

But that is the beauty of God’s plan. For, how we deal with those doubts and questions helps form the basis that our relationship with God is built on… we learn and are strengthened in these trials and uncertainties… and if all goes well, we become better Christians and servants of God!

God wants us to think for ourselves! He does not want us to all be ‘perfect little Christian machines’ all marching in step and turning together at His beck and call. We are not forced to attend services on Sunday morning… we are not commanded to believe in and follow Christ… but we are each given the opportunity to do so!

And after each person takes advantage of that opportunity… after each accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior… what we do can be as different as each individual mind might make it… to a point!

Because, when a person takes advantage of the opportunity for salvation that Christ has given us, each also accepts these three directives…

             1: Love the Lord above all else…

             2: Love your neighbor as yourself…

             3: Go out and make disciples for Christ…

You see, even though God has made each of us to be as unique as our fingerprints, and expects us to make use of that uniqueness to His glory as fully as we can… He also expects us to accept His Word as law!

For, if we truly love God above all else, we will accept His Word as He has given it to us… we will not modify it in any way to make it more acceptable, or more ‘politically correct’… we will do all that He wants us to do! Not because everybody else is doing it… not because we are commanded to… but because we want to!

And isn’t true individuality about doing what you really want to do?