Time Flies

A few weeks ago, I attended my 50th High School Reunion. It has given rise to a great deal of reflection. I’d like to share my musings with you.

I attended El Dorado High School from 1966 until 1972. If you calculate correctly, you’ll notice I went to EDHS for six years. The new junior high in our area had not yet been built, so I attended “high school” from 7th grade through 12th grade. That quirk in history allowed our graduating class to become extremely close-knit.  Fifty years later, this made our reunion particularly meaningful.

I was Student Body President my senior year. But since I have lived most of my life many miles from Southern California, I was not able to attend most of the other reunions that were held in the past. A few years back, I began sensing a prompting from God that I should step up and help to lead with the organization of our 50th Reunion. I cannot describe it any better than that—it was a nagging unshakable prompting. However, I kept putting off doing anything.

Until Scott Smith died. Scott was a childhood friend from Boy Scouts, swimming and water polo. We camped all over Southern California and swam more laps together than you could imagine. One of my most treasured photos is one with Scott and two other dear friends from our final swim relay race in high school. We called ourselves “the nostalgia relay” because we knew it was the last time we’d ever swim together.

When Scott died unexpectedly about a year and half ago, it shook me into action. I realized if we didn’t have a 50th reunion we may never have another chance to see the people who had meant so much to us when we were young, and full of vision and full of naiveté.  So, I looked up some folks on Facebook, others joined us along the way, and we began meeting monthly via ZOOM for the past year to organize the reunion.

I do not know why God placed this prompting in my heart. But I’m certain it came from God. Now that the reunion has come and gone, I still don’t know why the Lord wanted this event to happen. But I’ve realized some things that I feel are important to share.

First, life on this earth is very, very short. 50 years went by in the blink of an eye. The last time I saw most of the people who attended the reunion was when we were young and virile. I had brown hair, no wrinkles and the best of life was ahead of me. Like many of my classmates, I was going to conquer the world. Now, 50 years later, most of us are grandparents. Some are even great-grandparents. And all of us have aged remarkably. Some look older than others, but none of us are in the “spring of life.”

A wise person will reflect on this. I have. I hope others at the reunion have also taken a moment to reflect. This life has an expiration date. I can see this more clearly after having been with my high school friends. We had a memorial board at the reunion that listed more than 40 of my classmates (including Scott Smith) who have died.

Most of those reading this blog know at least a portion of my spiritual story. When I was 21, I had a profound encounter with Jesus that changed the course of my life. That encounter also gave me bedrock assurance regarding hope beyond the grave. That hope becomes more meaningful as I see more and more wrinkles in the mirror every morning.

A second observation from this journey is that time has a way of leveling the playing field. In high school there was a rigid class-system. A few were “really cool” kids, most of us were not. You were either “in” or “out” and if you were “out” you knew you were “out.” However, with the passing of years, and the many hard knocks that life inevitably brings, I noticed the class-system had largely disappeared. We were all EDHS graduates. No one was “cool” anymore. We were all just happy to still be alive, and to see each other.

A third observation is that the process of putting the reunion together was one of my greatest joys of this past year. Most of my life I have called people into action and built teams to move toward whatever goal was ahead of us. This happened again with the reunion organizing team.

But this team was special. I can’t put my finger exactly on why. Except to say that we connected in a visceral and deeply profound way. The monthly ZOOM meetings were much more than simply attending to the tasks at hand. They were moments of significant personal connection. It was beautiful. And rich. And unforgettable. I hope it doesn’t sound “weird or hokey” but we grew to love each other.

A final observation is that sometimes we never learn “the why.” I still don’t have a clue why God prompted me to help organize the reunion.  I kept my eyes open for “the reason” all evening. Certainly, I had several significant spiritual conversations. But nothing stands out that might be “THE reason” the Lord kept nudging me.

That’s okay. I suppose God could have simply wanted to bless the aging EDHS graduates with a wonderful evening of connection. That may be enough. I’m not sure. But I am grateful that I listened, got off “my duff” and began moving.

With that in mind, if God is prompting you to do something, I hope you respond. I would hate for you miss an opportunity. I’m glad I listened. The EDHS 50th Reunion was a night I will remember for the rest of my life.

Warmly,

Steve