There was a time when stores were closed on Sundays, and some that were
open could not sell certain items. Blue Laws, they were called, prohibited the
sale of clothes and other items, still don’t understand that one, but they would
be covered with bags, so you couldn’t even look at them. A far cry from
ordering on Amazon who even has Sunday delivery. But stores used to close on
Sunday, staying open late meant till 10 pm, and remember the term “keeping
banker’s hours?” meant between 9 and 3, no ATM’s, or online banking. On line
meant in line, which were much longer on paydays, before direct deposit, and one
job I even had paid us in cash. 7-11’s were so named because they were open
from 7 am to 11 pm, earlier and later than grocery stores, and if you wanted a
midnight snack, you better have it in house by 11. Stores, businesses, school,
and even governments opened and closed having regular hours. And Sundays were
for church, resting, or taking a motorcycle ride. Life was simpler, and we were
simple, just not simpletons.
I had a job once working the late shift at a gas station, with only a radio
for company. And how the late hours radio was much different than daytime
radio. We had mystery theaters, talk shows about aliens, Bible preachers
telling us about fire and brimstone, and on clear night some obscure stations
would come through. Maybe things haven’t changed so much. But one thing that
has is TV. Before cable took over our viewing world, we had ABC, NBC, and CBS,
with maybe a few independents thrown in depending where you lived. And for even
the biggest stations, broadcasts would begin at 600 am in the morning, with a
flag flying on screen, and the national anthem. Then we were greeted by such
shows as the news, The Little Rascals, Bertie the Bunyip, and Bwana Don in
Jungle La. Tommy 7 and Sandy Becker, then off to school. And after a long day
at school, and finally coming in after being called the third time for dinner,
by the tone of the voice we knew it was serious, it was homework, then more TV.
For my parents and many others it was The Merv Griffin Show, a talk show that
signed off each night with “it’s ten o’clock, do you know where your children
are?” After 10 on school nights was late, you didn’t want to sleep in and miss
Spanky, Buckwheat, or Alfalfa. But for many, TV went on until late, CBS had The
Late Show which was old movies, The Tonight Show was on until after midnight.
And for those who were real night owls, old movies, infomercials and 800 numbers
were a few years off. And then around 2 am, TV stations would shut down for the
day. And a test pattern, accompanied by a loud whistle would appear for four
hours, until 6 am, and the national anthem. A whistle that woke many up who had
fallen asleep with a TV Guide in their lap, or from the movie. Before DVR’s we
had to wait until it was on again,which could be years, to see how it ended.
But there was that test pattern...
Which in the old days of tubes, was used to fine tune the screen. Remember
setting the vertical and how the horizontal hold stopped moving the picture?
How the TV buzzed when a car drove by? How you had to set the brightness and
contrast sometimes for each station? That was what the test pattern was for,
and each figure or set of lines on it had a purpose. The most memorable was an
Indian chief, whose face and headdress you used to fine tune the picture. The
lines you lined up, and soon you had a picture that today we take for granted.
And with no remote you had to get up and do it yourself, hoping it would hold
until you got back to your easy chair. The test pattern, which if you watched
before the seventies you may remember, which then was replaced by colored lines,
now you know why they showed up, and after 2009, when digital took over, they
faded into history. How many nights was the last thing you watched on TV a
story about that Indian?
Just as we have test patterns for our viewing, the holy spirit has been
given to us for insight, to fine tune our lives. And he doesn’t sign off,
although we do. It is the spirit who revealed Jesus to us, and who reveals the
mysteries of him to us today. Our imaginations may give us vivid dreams, but
nothing compared to what the spirit can reveal in us and to us. Paul tells us
that nothing but the spirit of man can understand the things of man, my dog may
try, but to her a test pattern is just another picture. We can reach out and
down to plants, animals, and our rides, but they cannot reach out to us. Only
God can, for the greater can only respond to the lesser, and by his spirit,
given only to man when saved, can we respond to God. For God is a spirit and
must be worshipped as such.
Yet some still look at him as a test pattern, trying to tune in their
lives, but finding their horizontal hold failing, the skew lines askew, and
faces green and grass orange. Yet when we are in tune to the spirit, he makes
the adjustments, many times without us aware of them. Yet some search and not
finding deny his existence. They explore the natural forces and find them
vacant. It is only when God reveals himself to us, when we forego the natural
for the spiritual do we see God and he is fully revealed. You may have been
saved for many years, but denied the presence of the spirit at work, trying to
dial in your life on your own. And still coming up empty, knowing there just
has to be more.
So when wondering what is God like, or if someone asks, you can tell them
he looks like Jesus. By the work of the spirit he will “take the things of mine
and make them evident,” John 16:14. You may read the gospels, memorize the red
lines, but without the spirit they are just words on a page. It takes the
spirit to make them come alive. It is the spirit that brings life, color,and
makes the colors vivid, and in which we can see Christ as never before. By his
spirit. Who is alive 24/7, awake, when you are, awake when you are asleep, and
there when you wake again. Watching over you, giving you visions, wisdom, and
comfort at all hours. And when we finally sign off the air here on earth, will
be there to welcome us to heaven. All by, and only by his spirit.
An old radio show asked “Who knows? The Shadow knows.” But who knows all,
the spirit knows. And you can know the spirit. And be in the spirit. Ask him
into your life today, and enjoy on earth as it is in heaven, as Jesus told his
disciples in the Lord’s prayer. Why wait for tomorrow to watch what is being
broadcast right now? You can now be returned to your regularly scheduled
program. But only the spirit knows what’s really on.....please stand by.
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com