If you grew up in the 60s, you know how much fun kids had! We’d yell, “I’m going outside!” We’d open the door and head for a day of adventure. Sure, now and then in some rural part of the globe, maybe near AREA 51, a kid might disappear, but with all the aliens replacing them…who was complaining?! Parents were happy to have someone mow their lawn.
But a great part of the 60s were comic books! You’d hide them from teachers and old librarians who’d look at you over their gold-rimmed glasses with that big-bad-wolf face letting you know, “Young man, that ain’t readin’ material…”
The best part of the comics, wasn’t when The Green Lantern saved the day, or where Spiderman flung from a bridge to scoop up a lost girl and return her to her parents, nah, it was the page with all those goodies for $.29-$1.00!
What kid didn’t dream of having a whoopie cushion to use on grandpa? He’d sure enjoy it. Or, the fake dog poo, or fake blood, and big spiders, among other goodies? But the best, best, best item there, were those expensive ($1.00) X-Ray Vision glasses! You’d see the drawing of the old-looking young man with wide-opened eyes staring at his skeletal hand. Gosh, he could see right through it!
Fourth grade classmates, George V. and Freddy R. had their pair in red with the black & white spiral drawings on the glass. They’d pop them on and the girls would begin screaming as they ran for cover from them who’d say things like, “Wow, I can see what they’re wearing” and, “They sure look good!”
Man, I wanted a pair! I waited two years for my set. At first, I was a bit concerned, I mean, I didn’t want to get into trouble for being able to look through the wall that separated our apartment from the neighboring 18 yr old twin sisters….so I figured it be safer to look through my little brother’s head to detect brain activity, or lack thereof…yep, little brothers have always been useful! The glasses were fun! Turns out you really couldn’t see anything, but they were fun to own!
Having vision is super-important in our lives. We need to have dreams and ideas and visions of things we’re setting goals for. God agrees. He says in His word, “Where there is no vision, the people perish… “(Proverbs 29:18). He wants us to succeed in life and to entrust Him with it.
Even better than what life was like in the 60s, God wants us to enjoy His presence. He walked daily in the garden of Eden and rapped with Adam & Eve (Genesis 3:8). And He wants to fellowship with you too. He wants us to read His word and soak it in. His word, like real X-Ray glasses sees through to our hearts. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
God doesn’t need X-Ray glasses to see through us. And we don’t have to scream and run away from Him, or even hide as Adam & Eve did (Genesis 3:8). Might as well say as Samuel did: “Here am I,” and, Speak, for thy servant heareth” (1Samuel 3:4, 10b), because He knows where you are and what you’re doing.
You might be all dirty from sin, but you’re beautiful in His eyes, no matter what.
God Bless!
Sam