BY DAVID HOLSTON |
I have a birthday in a few days. I often like to take that day and reminisce. Recently, I was thinking about my 16th birthday, the day I got my Driver’s License. Three months later, my Dad bought himself a new pick-up truck. I went with him as he walked the lot and looked over the selection. He settled on a two-tone Ford. I remember how happy he was, but I had my own happiness that day. I got his hand-me-down, a white 1972 Ford Maverick. After he finished the test drive for the truck, he handed me the keys to “my car.”
I drove that car for miles and miles. I wish I still had it, that Maverick would now be a classic.
Some of my best memories from high school are with my friends in that car. I know this is not a lesson in safety or an endorsement of unsafe practices. I went to high school in Southern Davidson County but attended Home Moravian. On Saturday evening, after a couple of “long-distance” telephone calls, we would meet or pick up each other, and do something; fast food or a movie. We even went a few times to the Thunderbird Drive-in when they had their “carload specials.”
David sitting on the back of his 1972 maverick during a “snow day” in the winter of 1980, when he was 17 years old. Photo provided by David Holston.
Then on Sunday morning, we would all sit together in the balcony of Home Church. We would participate in Youth Activities: Hand Bells, Youth Choir, and Youth Fellowship together.
I owned that Maverick for less than two years. To be more specific, that’s the length of time we have been in this Pandemic. We forged friendships in that length of time, and we grew, personally and communally, both socially and spiritually. We attended Camp, were counselors for junior campers, played hand bells, and sang in the choir during worship. We even led worship on Youth Sunday. We served on boards and committees. We became part of the Church.
Times have changed since those days and that 1972 Ford Maverick. One member of that group has now entered the Heavenly Kingdom, and some have moved away. We are still friends. Some of us still attend Home Church.
One of my greatest fears is that we have lost much of what we learned in those days during the Pandemic. Mainly, that the Church is people and relationships, with each other and with the Holy Trinity. Paul said it in this way: “Each of us will be a blessing to the other” Romans 1: 12b (TLB).
Like many of you, I have been on many Zoom meetings, and while it has been a blessing to have the technology, we are missing the real connections. I am the first to realize that regaining our time together needs to be done with caution. I am looking forward with anticipation to the time we can be together again as we were in the past.
That time now seems like a blessing that we all took for granted.
About the author
Photo courtesy of David Holston.
David Holston is the Executive Director of Sunnyside Ministry. Sunnyside Ministry is a non-profit organization that provides food, clothing, and emergency financial assistance to families in crisis. All funding for our assistance programs comes from donations and grants. In 2014, Sunnyside Ministry provided $1,883,040 worth of services to families in crisis situations. Grocery orders were provided to 17,634 people and clothing to 15,483 individuals.
Contact David Holston at [email protected].
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