It's time to grow young

My youngest son had his 8th birthday earlier this month. His friends gave him all kinds of great gifts and as his parents we thought we'd give him something he could hurt himself with. We bought him a Ripstik. It's basically a fancy skate board, that has just two wheels but are both on swiveling casters. The board pivots in the middle and rather than pushing with one foot to move forward. The rider swivels their hips causing the board to pivot, swiveling the casters, propelling the rider and board forward. It's really pretty amazing and is looks very smooth. Do a quick YouTube search and you can see you one in action.

I'm sure you're similar to me and pretty much too busy most of the time, to slow down enough to have some simple fun. Then yesterday, I found myself with about 20 minutes of time before I had to run off to my next "thing" and there sitting in front of me was a Ripstik not currently being used. Every thought that makes sense passed through my mind but I didn't listen to any of them.

I spent the next 20 minutes, out in our driveway, swiveling my hips, trying to master the Ripstik. For the most part, not to brag, I did pretty well. I managed to figure out how to start, which was not an easy task. Jump off when I started rolling faster than I could control. And the one time I fell off and landed on my back, I didn't hurt myself (luckily) and from what I could tell, none of my neighbors were looking out their windows at that moment.

Probably not my wisest choice of the day. Nothing all that great was accomplished through my attempts. There was not one life or person in need that benefited from my little "return to Junior High" experiment. To be honest, it was my favorite 20 minutes of the day. For 20 minutes I wasn't worried that this weeks message would make sense Sunday morning. The dishes that needed to be washed weren't calling my name. The television wasn't sucking life from my brain. Bills that wanted to be paid sat on the counter and I didn't care. For 20 minutes, I was young again, it was incredible.

There's no part of me, that wants to go back to being 8 years old. But for that short time, it was exactly where I needed to be. I'm not sure how you can grow young from time to time but if you can figure it out, don't miss the opportunity. Maybe not the most spiritual advice you'll every get from me, I still think you should give it a try.

Brent