The saying, "everything old is new again" is so true. More true than I every imagined. You might be asking...what on earth is she talking about? Well, here goes. What does that saying even mean? I take it to mean that things of the past come back around again. Things that have been tried or lived out before, often come back around. Actually, this is partially what it means to me. I will get to the deeper meaning, the more important meaning, in just a bit. This saying came to mind as I was on my way home from sin city. Yes, Las Vegas. The trip was to be 5 days long and I was with my dear husband. He had a work conference to go to. We had been to Vegas a few times in the past and were looking forward to the trip. Several days of sleeping in, nice hotels, shopping, yummy food....alone time. As a busy mother of three, this is like heaven. All you mom's know exactly what I mean! Even though anyone with a pulse knows Vegas is the capital of all things "ungodly"....I was excited about lattes at 10 am, warm weather, fancy restaurants and spending some time with my husband. The thought of actually completing a sentence without having to stop midway to wipe a tushy is what makes for a good day in my world. I was excited about the possibilities. I was fine with overlooking the "sins" of the city. Well, as we made our way to the hotel, I could not help but feel overwhelmed. Truly overwhelmed. The lights, the sounds, the views....shoot....the crazy cab ride to our hotel was throwing me into panic. It was sensory overload. Now, I am not saying bad or good....just SO MUCH! Watching the people going to and fro (I've always wanted to use "to and fro" in a sentence! hehehe). The people-watching was the greatest. Where were all these people going? Why were they here? Do they live here? Visiting? Is that guy independently wealthy or is he spending next months mortgage payment at that blackjack table? The entire city is something to behold. If I could sum up what I was seeing in one word, I think it would be excess. Everything was excessive! There were zillions of hotels within a few mile radius, each hotel had thousands of rooms, every hotel had several restaurants, every restaurant had prices that could save a third world country, each lobby had something significant in it which set it apart from the other hotels ( like a 50,000 gal. fish tank, replica of the Cysteine Chapel, an indoor rain forest...ya know, the usual), and the stores....how many handbag stores does one city need! These were just a few of the mention ables. As the sun fell, the crowds increased both inside and out. However, whether is was 10am, 10pm or 3am, the basic flow did not change all that much. One thing that was noticeable was the attire being worn and the "informational brochures" being handed out along the sidewalks. And by "informational brochures" I mean pornography. I had been to Vegas before and knew that people were allowed to pass out fliers, cards, etc...basic advertising....on the street to people passing by. This advertising was essentially, baseball card-sized pictures of women in various "positions" with contact information on the flip side. People passing these out were in no way obtrusive but the streets were littered with small pictures of naked women. I could not help but overlook that fact that these women, mostly very young women, were also someones little girl. It made me sad. How did they end up on the street, in this way. The skies were lined with house-sized billboards of topless and bottomless women. (Having a string on/in your tush and stickers on your boobies, does not count as being clothed in my book.) Also, as the "clubbing" crowd started to emerge, I found it hard to tell the "ladies of the evening" from the girls just out to have fun. Truly...this was remarkable. Again, very sad. I thought to myself, "apparently, some girls think that if you don't SHOW your breasts, boys will think you don't have any." What does this have to do with "everything old is new again" and my blog which is Christian at it's core? Good question. Most of my words up til now are definitely filled with critical, sarcastic and somewhat judgemental tones. One might even throw hypocritical tones in there too. As I think back to my "bar" days, my early 20's, my pre-coming-to-know-God days (important note: I always BELIEVED in God...I just never KNEW him til my 30's), these people I just described were MY people. I was just like that. Maybe not as extreme as many of them but similar in many aspects. The descriptive words I used were done to be humorous even though some might not "get" my humor. Please hear me....humor was the intent. In reality, all that I witnessed was seen through eyes filled with sadness. I wanted to know WHY these girls were dressed like this? What was their home life like? Did they have children? Were these men married? Were they here just having fun or was this their 3rd straight day at the blackjack table? Were their wives wondering when they were going to come home? Was there a worried wife/ves somewhere that is sure her husbands entire paycheck was just lost in one hand of poker? I did not know. But I could guess....yes. The excess was so extreme that I could not help but think....our world is going to H- E -(double hockey stick) in a hand basket. Most likely, it seemed that the hand basket was a Gucci clutch that was waaaaay over priced. Again, back to my "everything old is new again". Our world is going in the wrong direction but it is nothing new. As I have become familiar with scripture, I have learned so much about the time when our Lord was on this earth. More specifically, I have learned lots about what big cities looked like, what the people were like in these cities. Let's take a look at two cities from biblical times. Corinth and Ephesus. You may or may not know about these places. They might be more familiar to you if you heard them like this....Paul's letter to the Corinthians and Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Paul, a disciple of Christ, writes letters to the people of these two cities. Corinth was know as a city of complete debauchery and moral depravity. This was the depiction of Corinth by people who believed in God AND those that were considered pagans (ones who did not believe in the One true God). The craziness was carried out by all. There was a huge temple to Aphrodite, the goddess of love. This temple had thousands of priestesses who were basically "religious" prostitutes. They lived and "worked" in the temple and came into the city at night to offer their services to men living in and visiting the city. Incest was also a big thing in Corinth. So, by just this brief description, one could say this was quite a party town. Ephesus was not much better, just a bit different in it's murkiness. This major city was full of religious hypocrites that did not follow scripture and thrived on myths and superstitions. There was also a huge temple to the Greek goddess Artemis or Diana. Human sacrifices were common place in this temple. Sounds great huh! After learning scripture, the happenings of Las Vegas in 2009, don't sound so "new". The truth is, Las Vegas IS nothing new. All this "debauchery" has occurred before. Nothing that is happening, can happen, will happen in our day and age is new. Everything old is new again and everything thought to be new is old. God is never surprised by our humanity. He is never shocked by the actions of those that know Him AND those that do not know Him. Scripture tells us that God is the same yesterday, today and always. This brings me much joy. I take comfort in knowing that the God I love, has seen the scenes of Vegas before. He loves every single person there...no matter what he/she is up to. He wants them to come into His fold. He thought the same way regarding the lost people of Corinth and Ephesus. Without their obedience to His word and the spreading of the gospel during those times, my knowledge of Christ would not look like it does today. It is truly an amazing God we serve. He reaches down and gives me comfort by showing me He has seen all this yuck before. He gently tells me not to worry. He kindly instructs me to love Him and show others in MY world, His love. I can do that!! I can do that. Being aware of my inadequacies, my sinful nature, my shortfalls, I find it humbling that God trusts me....even counts on me to show His love to others. With this, I can enjoy my trip to Vegas. I can enjoy the "recharge" of sleeping late, eating yummy food, enjoying the uninterrupted company of my husband and do my part, however small, in showing kindness to whomever should cross my path. No matter how scantally clad or intoxicated they may be.
Now, to the OTHER meaning of this saying... "Everything old is new again". (this kind of blows my socks off. Bear with me and excuse my giddiness. God rocks! He really does.) In Revelations 21, we are told that Christ makes all things new again. It talks about how Christ will wipe every tear, he will take away all pain and sorrow. He will make ALL things new. Wow!! Let's think about this for a bit. God promises us, He will take all the things of this world...all the pain, all the loss, all the sorrow, all the hurt...and take it away! All that is old will be new again. (Selah) I challenge you to try and think of something in your world...in your life...that this scripture does NOT speak to. I will be bold and say that I think every human being has something...something...that Christ can get a hold of and "MAKE NEW AGAIN". Without Him, it is all just old and it has gone by. It can not be renewed. Christ challenges us to give it to Him so he can do what he does best. He can dry every tear and make all things new again. Amen? Amen.
(you may have noticed I used the word -Selah- in this blog. I love this so you may see it often. It is a Hebrew word that basically means: pause and ponder a while. It is used throughout scripture when we might need to think on something a bit. You will find it often in the Psalms)
