BORING OR BUSY?

SERMON STORIES: LAUGH & LEARN
#32: BORING OR BUSY?

Some young people were engaging a septuagenarian about his postwar generation. “Did you have iPhone then?” He replied, “If course not, we didn’t even have phone, not till I became an adult.” 

“What about cable TV? You know, we can watch anything on Netflix and YouTube.” “Oh yes,” he replied, “we had TV, but black and white at first, then colour, but only a few local channels.”

The young people were beginning to feel sorry for the old man. “I don’t suppose you have Internet, and social media.” “Oh no,” he reminisced, “we used to write letters, and wait for days before they arrived.”

After a few more questions and answers, the young people were looking at the old man with pity. Finally, one of them said, “No iPhone, no cable TV, no Internet… life must be pretty boring then. What were you doing?”

“What were we doing? We were busy inventing all these things which you now enjoy!” 

East Asian civilisations have extolled filial piety as a core value, so does the Bible. Elders are to be respected and honoured. Though they  lived through hard times, they made sacrifices to provide a better future for their children and grandchildren. In their old age, they deserve our gratitude, esteem and care. 

“You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.” Leviticus 19:32 ESV