New and Improved

April 17, 1964, was a warm day in Chicago.  The day prior was a record-setter when the mercury climbed to 84 degrees F.  In the Southwest Side neighborhood of Brighton Park, on 40th Place, the talk was of the new Ford Mustang which had premiered that day.  Jimmy Kane, God rest his soul was out with his skateboard on this early spring day doing what passed for tricks back in the day. Skateboard conjures up visions of young Olympians doing tricks on the half pipe. When I say skateboard, I mean a roller skate nailed to a board.  Even if we had the half pipe back then, there would be no way in heaven that the rickety gizmo called a skateboard would be able to take the pounding that the modern boards do.  Jimmy's tricks consisted of first remaining upright on the board and second going through a course of empty soda bottles without knocking them over.  He was pretty good at it. But skateboarding was not the topic of conversation that day.  The brand new 1964 Mustang had been revealed and it was the talk of all the twelve-year-olds in the neighborhood.  The car was pronounced "boss" by all of the boys and there were arguments as to how fast the car could go, which color was the best and promises that when we were old enough we all would have one of these beautiful new race cars.  As it turned out, I didn't own a Mustang until the 1980's and it was called a Mustang II.  As for Jimmy Kane, I was told he died some time back, drugs claimed him.  An aside here, Jimmy always had whatever Jimmy wanted.  He was one of the few neighborhood boys that actually made it on a Little League team at Kelly Park (not everyone automatically got to play in the 60's and 70's you had to try out) and his house always had fireworks on the Fourth of July, and if they ran low, his folks would get on the expressway and drive to Indiana and get some more.  There was a lot of good in the boy and he was a handsome red head and popular with the girls and he had lots of friends.  But I guess something was missing inside his brainbox that caused him to give himself over to drugs.  Anyway, back to our theme for the day. 

"So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away;

behold, new things have come. And all this is from God..."

When we have turned our lives over to Christ, we become a new creation.  Gone is the being that was controlled by impulse and greed and in its place, there is a person who knows that love and sharing are the most important things in life.  Well, maybe it does not happen that fast.  I know for me at least the process is just that.  When I was Baptized and died with Christ, there was presented to me a "new" soul.  It was the same as my old soul, of course, except it was now ready to be filled with the beauty of Christ and his teachings and his instructions on how to live life.  Knowledge of Christ is one thing.  I can know a lot about Christ but I have to delve into His teachings and make them a part of my life.

 I don't get too excited about the new models anymore.  But, I  am excited to be a new creation in Christ.  I just have to make an effort every day to remind myself that I actually am a new creation and that I should live in the world but not be of the world.  I have to make my life conform more closely to that of my Redeemer.  His love for me is such that if I were the only sinner in the world, He would have gone to the Cross for me. 

It seems to me that my first step in the New Evangelization should be to allow the glow of Jesus to shine forth by making kindness and mercy things that are I practice by choice every hour of every day.  This, of course, is a learning process.  My teacher provides lessons every day, I just have to keep an eye out for them.  It's a great school.  It has the world's largest classroom which is called earth. 

A new car model, even a 1964 Ford Mustang, is nothing compared to a person who has allowed themselves to become a new creation and who also allow themselves to be filled with the joy and hope that being a follower of Christ brings to life.   God Bless!