THE TURNTABLE
What a crazy title, you might be saying. Well, I guess it is, but I can't think of another one. It is what it is. But it all goes back to the early 1960s, when I was just a kid in Mom and Dad's house in Chappaqua, N.Y. Well, how many of you readers know what a "Turntable" is? if you are my age (72) then you probably know. It was another name for a "record player".
Everyone had one in their house back then. Mom and Dad had one in the corner of our living room. It was a square console with 4 wooden legs with rolling wheels. There was a shelf below the machine to keep the records. Mom and Dad had quite a collection of records, like Connie Frances, Lou Monte, Rafael Mendez, The Sound of Music, Harry Belafonte, and some classicals like "Night on Bald Mountain". My favorites were "Allen Sherman" and "Story songs from the Bible." So, there they were under the record player, just waiting to be played. Dad taught me how to turn the record player on and manage the special arm that could hold up to 3 records, and they would drop on the turntable one by one to be played. Wow, that was some smart machine.
The older folks remember the Victrolas with the large speakers. You would wind it up and would have to change the needle now and then. You had different speeds. 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm. The 78s for the older hard plastic records from the 1930s and 40s. Dad had a few of them from when he was growing up.
Well, one day my cousin John came to visit us. He lived in Flushing, NYC. Yes, his family had a record player too, and even a reel-to-reel tape recorder and player. We decided to play one of the records, so I put one on, clicked on the switch, and the plastic arm swung in place, and the diamond needle settled on the record. It started to play. I think it was Lou Monte's "Pepina, the Italian Mouse."
Now, we decided to be a bit goofy that day. We were eating something and we had some tissue paper and we put a bit in our mouths and made tiny spit balls, then we started throwing them on the record and watching them go round and round. We blew some from our mouths, others we blew through a straw. Soon, the record had a lot of spitballs going around on the record. One stopped as it ran against the needle. The recod continue to go around, but that little spitball stopped. It could go no further. It ran against the needle; it had to follow the needle.
Just then, my Dad walked in. "What are you two doing?" he asked. He came over and took a look. "This is NOT a toy, do you two understand? Yes, you, Jimmy? and John? What's the idea of throwing those into the record player? Look, go do something else and get away from here."
Dad was not a happy camper that day. He shut off the record player and collected the spitballs. That was that. Now, where am I going with this story?
Life itself is like a record going around and around, playing its songs, some sad, some happy, some exciting. We are like those spitballs just following the record, just taking a ride, going nowhere in particular, UNLESS we meet up with the needle.
The needle makes us stop, and just stay with the needle. That needle is our LORD and Savior. With him guiding us in our going around in life, our lives now have purpose. The main purpose is to "Follow Him" and study His Word. He wants us in tune with his song, his song of redemption, his song of commandments, and just follow in his footsteps. His presence is inside us all. We can go through life without an everlasting purpose, just a job, family, money, a house, and then death. But what about the future, after death? There is life after death. We need to invest in that life now.
So, if we are taking a ride on the turntable of life, let's look for the needle playing life's song. Let's stop at the needle and let the needle guide us. Jesus is that needle who will guide us. We are all on that turntable. Have you run into the needle yet?
What a crazy title, you might be saying. Well, I guess it is, but I can't think of another one. It is what it is. But it all goes back to the early 1960s, when I was just a kid in Mom and Dad's house in Chappaqua, N.Y. Well, how many of you readers know what a "Turntable" is? if you are my age (72) then you probably know. It was another name for a "record player".
Everyone had one in their house back then. Mom and Dad had one in the corner of our living room. It was a square console with 4 wooden legs with rolling wheels. There was a shelf below the machine to keep the records. Mom and Dad had quite a collection of records, like Connie Frances, Lou Monte, Rafael Mendez, The Sound of Music, Harry Belafonte, and some classicals like "Night on Bald Mountain". My favorites were "Allen Sherman" and "Story songs from the Bible." So, there they were under the record player, just waiting to be played. Dad taught me how to turn the record player on and manage the special arm that could hold up to 3 records, and they would drop on the turntable one by one to be played. Wow, that was some smart machine.
The older folks remember the Victrolas with the large speakers. You would wind it up and would have to change the needle now and then. You had different speeds. 33 rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm. The 78s for the older hard plastic records from the 1930s and 40s. Dad had a few of them from when he was growing up.
Well, one day my cousin John came to visit us. He lived in Flushing, NYC. Yes, his family had a record player too, and even a reel-to-reel tape recorder and player. We decided to play one of the records, so I put one on, clicked on the switch, and the plastic arm swung in place, and the diamond needle settled on the record. It started to play. I think it was Lou Monte's "Pepina, the Italian Mouse."
Now, we decided to be a bit goofy that day. We were eating something and we had some tissue paper and we put a bit in our mouths and made tiny spit balls, then we started throwing them on the record and watching them go round and round. We blew some from our mouths, others we blew through a straw. Soon, the record had a lot of spitballs going around on the record. One stopped as it ran against the needle. The recod continue to go around, but that little spitball stopped. It could go no further. It ran against the needle; it had to follow the needle.
Just then, my Dad walked in. "What are you two doing?" he asked. He came over and took a look. "This is NOT a toy, do you two understand? Yes, you, Jimmy? and John? What's the idea of throwing those into the record player? Look, go do something else and get away from here."
Dad was not a happy camper that day. He shut off the record player and collected the spitballs. That was that. Now, where am I going with this story?
Life itself is like a record going around and around, playing its songs, some sad, some happy, some exciting. We are like those spitballs just following the record, just taking a ride, going nowhere in particular, UNLESS we meet up with the needle.
The needle makes us stop, and just stay with the needle. That needle is our LORD and Savior. With him guiding us in our going around in life, our lives now have purpose. The main purpose is to "Follow Him" and study His Word. He wants us in tune with his song, his song of redemption, his song of commandments, and just follow in his footsteps. His presence is inside us all. We can go through life without an everlasting purpose, just a job, family, money, a house, and then death. But what about the future, after death? There is life after death. We need to invest in that life now.
So, if we are taking a ride on the turntable of life, let's look for the needle playing life's song. Let's stop at the needle and let the needle guide us. Jesus is that needle who will guide us. We are all on that turntable. Have you run into the needle yet?
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