New Normal

Things I can't explain:

1. Fashion. I'm sure those who DO understand fashion look at me and know instantly that I do not understand it. But I am comfortable with fashion ignorance. Especially when I hear the experts talk and see the way they dress. Hair color from Baskin-Robbins. "Men" who accessorize. Women talking for three hours about a pair of shoes I won't even notice. And what about fishing and hunting fashion? Where is that? Can't the fashion networks provide at least one token hour of programming to Larry the Cable Guy or Bill Dance?

2. On a similar note -- Clothing that fits. Is it just me or do we seem to have trouble admitting our waist size? The large want to wear the tight so tight that you feel sorry for those asphyxiated fat cells. The young among us want to wear grown up pants six sizes too big and keep having to pull them up. Someone should tell them they wouldn't have to walk so funny if they bought the right size pants.

3. Reality shows. Apparently, in some parts of the country there is a shortage of one or the other of the opposite sex. One woman has fifty guys lined up who want to date her and vice-versa. I say we put both sets of fifty on the same island without cameras and be done with it!

4. Government. I could write a 6,000 page document on what I don't understand about the government, but I'm afraid no one would read it and congress would immediately pass it without ever acting on it. The government couldn't fix a flat on a unicycle without debating over which side of the tire was flat or questioning whether there was really only one tire. The government thinks it can fix our economy by taking from us and giving it back to us after they've done something with it that no one can explain. No thanks. I'll change my own tire.

5. A living God at work among His people, touching and changing lives, and leaving a fragrance of peace everywhere He goes. I can't explain it. But I'm so thankful for it. How do you explain peace to a soul that has never experienced it? I wish I could explain the peace that comes from knowing and walking with Christ. But Paul already said it. It truly is a "peace that passes all understanding" (Philippians 4:7).

Some things defy both explanation and experience. Having them explained to you and experienced by you would only solidify your confusion. You could explain fashion, reality shows, and politics to me and never reach me. I could try to wear checkered sweaters and shorts that fit Shaq. I could sit on the set of a reality program. I could listen to the chatter of White House aids. As soon as those things were over, I'd run as fast as I could back to my clothes, my reality, and my common sense.

Other things defy explanation and experience. But once experienced, you will never go back to the old normal. The peace of knowing and walking with Christ is like that. Though it defies explanation, I will spend the rest of my life trying to explain to others what I have experienced until they experience it, too.

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Perry Crisp