Sometimes transitions happen all at once. The death of Billy Graham this past week put a period on the chapter that was the 1900’s.
If you were born in Horry County and lived through the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc, this moment may have passed you with little fanfare.
In our minds, these moments live on as if they are still current events. The truth, however, is they are just memories. Great memories, but memories all the same that we can never re-live. Memories our kids and grand kids will never know.
No matter which era of the 1900’s you choose to highlight, each snapshot is now gone.
History demands that humans never build a monument to any one moment in its passing.
As a child of the 60’s and 70’s growing up along the coast, I tried to pour everything culturally of that era in I could. Listening to Billy Graham crusades with my grandfather and father, I also tried to pour everything Jesus (God) in my small adolescent container as well. Moments, experiences and information continually leaked out on all sides. This often left me frustrated. I couldn’t get it all in. The moment moved too quickly or it never lived up to what I imagined it would be.
Myrtle Beach and America are changing politically, socially, and physically with new buildings and structures going up constantly.
While we all enjoy going to a local Myrtle Beach establishment and talking about Myrtle Beach 1972, 1972 is a fond and past memory.
As I recently listened to an old Billy Graham message about surrendering one’s life to God, I remembered how I finally overcame my frustrations with God, time, and change.
I was never going to mentally or Spiritually understand God, life, nor change as long as I kept trying to consume it all by stuffing it inside my limited grasp of life. My container just wasn’t large enough. To move forward, I had to choose to throw my shot glass container in an ocean of endless water. My glass then filled and I was surrounded by all things fluid, full and moving.
Myrtle Beach is changing and will change, despite those few souls who attempt to demand it stay transfixed in yesteryear. Relationships and new alliances will also change with those growth spurts.
Looking forward to just ahead.
Written especially for my friends Matthew, Wayne, John R., Gordon, et al. – each one an outstanding person.