Stacy the Sentimentalist

I guess I get a little sentimental. I think it's a flaw personally. We sentimentalize (did I just make up a new word?) everything in this country. Probably because we so brain dead that we'd rather "feel" than think. But in any case, I'm sentimental. I've been on facebook now for a week and a half. In that time I have heard from friends I haven't seen in 19 years. When I see their pictures I remember very special times for me. Like when my great uncle died while I was on a mission trip. He was like a grandfather to me and I loved him very much. Some of our group was at a laundromat when we got the news and when we got back to the church we were staying at, I collapsed on my pallet on the floor and began crying. A girl named Regina bent down and gave me this big hug and held me there while I was weeping. She cried with me because, well she was simply my friend. I've never forgot that.

I've chatted with a friend from college that I haven't talked to in a long time. He was a very big help and comfort through one of the most difficult times in my life.

I've been able to catch up with some of the kids from my youth group when I was a youth pastor and see how their lives have been progressing.

I've gotten messages from an old pastor who's teaching and preaching challenged my faith and my theological structure. He was a big influence in my life.

I've even heard from a couple of my best friend's ex-girlfriends from high school that I had a good friendship with.

And I get to watch how sweet and beautiful my wife is even in cyberspace.

This process has brought a lot of nostalgic feelings to surface. I try to fight it, but it comes out anyway. Now some of you are going to say, "Hey, there's nothing wrong with that." And to an extent you'd be right. The danger is that I want to stay there in those memories and feelings. I don't want to leave because they are comforting to me. But that's not where God wants me to live. There are so many people in my church that always speak of the "Good 'Ol Days" when our congregation reached 500 people on Sunday morning. I hear old car salesmen talk of the "Good 'Ol Days" of selling. The problem with the "Good 'Ol Days" is that they probably weren't that good. There was grumbling and complaining and heartache and struggles like there is today. Our human tendency, or maybe our cultural tendency, is to romanticise yesterday. But God has so much more in store for us today and tomorrow than we could ever hope to have gained from yesterday. If Paul forgot what was behind him and pressed on to take hold of God's better covenant with His people, then I can do no less. Of course what he was talking about was a little different than the context here, but can't the same principle be applied?

I love the times that I had in my life that God used to show me His Grace and Mercy and Love through the people I've reacquainted myself with on facebook. But, given my flaw for staying in yester year, I want to press on and strive to know the One in whose right hand are pleasures forever and ever.