Remember the Past and See God

I had a remarkable experience yesterday. During the process of writing my book that is nearly ready to publish, I met incredible people in the radio broadcast world. One, who was actually an integral part of my book, died recently. His son, having discovered I had written a book which featured a section on his dad Ted, invited me to the house as he was settling the estate and preparing for its sale. Ted had been a part of a historic radio club and many of those people were also invited, as well as people who had worked in the radio business. Ted had an unbelievable collection of historic radios, and they will be sold at auction eventually. The son wanted the radio club and his dad's friends to have "first dibs" on his father's collection. The house, along with a workshop and garage was filled with historic radios. It was like being in a museum. Or maybe more like being in a cathedral - there was a worshipful quality to the collection. This had clearly been Ted's devout passion in life.

His son had set aside 4 carousels of slides for me. In and of itself, that was a miracle. The slides were of my book subject (which I am not yet ready to divulge). Up to that point, no one had any pictures that I needed. I had not known the pictures even existed. And his son was bequeathing them all to me.

One old-timer at the gathering took me under wing, and explained every historic radio, its history, when it was made, and why it was relevant. I was fascinated. I had planned to pick up the slides and leave, but was having far too much fun to cut out. I asked many questions, which he patiently, even gleefully answered. He told me the value of each radio and I was stunned.
"That's all??" I exclaimed. Beautiful, working, perfectly preserved relics from the 1920s...and he was quoting prices of $100, maybe $200.
"No one cares about history any more," said the man, sadly, "They use their computers and their smartphones with no concept of how communication developed...and they don't care."
It is the same refrain I have heard over and over from elderly folks - from the Aviation Museum docents I interviewed, from the WWII veterans I interviewed...and now from the radio collectors.

I think it made him happy that I cared, or at least, that I took the time to listen.

How much wisdom, knowledge, insight, and worthy endeavor is squandered, neglected, and then lost forever! One of the men, a former radio station chief engineer, told me much of this stuff was thrown out in the trash to make way for the new. He and Ted used to grab it before it was carted away to the dump. Ted's son didn't want that to happen to his father's collection. He wanted it to go to people who knew, who cared, who would cherish it as his father had.

I suddenly have a whole new understanding for how hard it is for my dad to give away his collections of books, coins, cameras, and telescopes. He has often said they must all go to someone who cares...to someone who understands, to someone who remembers the past.

God Himself proclaims to Isaiah, "Remember the past!" In knowing what came before, one can better understand what is and what will be. God revealed Himself over the ages, bit by bit. His promises all spoke of a future, where evil would end, a Savior would arise, and we would be redeemed and returned to perfect communion with our Creator. It was all faithfully recorded, the past carefully recounted, so that we would be able to look back and see that God was faithful then, and is faithful now and will be faithful tomorrow. Remember the past! It is the key to trusting in the future.

*****************

Remember the past ages. For I am God, and there is no other god. There is no one like me. From the beginning, I announce the last things, and from the start, the things that have not yet been done, saying: My plan will stand firm, and my entire will shall be done. (Isaiah 46:9, 10 CPDV)







-save a dog- hollowcreekfarm.org
http://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Kaseorg/e/B006XJ2DWU