February 9, 2025
Recently, a high school friend of mine has been posting some videos of our marching band and I have enjoyed watching them as they bring back memories of a more pleasant, simpler time. It’s really hard to believe those videos are over forty years old. It’s even harder to believe that the kids in those videos are over forty years older than they were when those videos were shot. It’s even harder to believe I am one of those kids who are forty plus years older! In so many ways it really doesn’t seem that long ago. Old man nostalgia aside, as members of the Marching Cougars, we worked hard to march and play at the same time. I know it sounds easy, but to march smoothly so as not to distort the sound (musical tone) and to stay exactly between the two people marching on either side of you (maintaining your intervals) while stepping in perfect unison with the musical pulse or beat (staying in phase) isn’t as easy as you might suspect. The marching arts have changed a lot in forty plus years. Drill design today is much more complex than it was forty years ago. There is way more body movement and dance concepts into today’s marching band shows. Today’s groups incorporate electronics, amplification and many other concepts we didn’t have in our shows forty years ago. But you know what, at the end of the day, success still comes back to marching and playing at the same time. While the product may have changed and will continue to change, the fundamentals stay the same. Let’s take this same concept and apply it to spiritual things. No matter what sign hangs in the front yard of your church building, for most of us, church looks and feels different than it did in our grandparent’s day. The way we “do” church changes. Society in general is way different that it was forty years ago. Today’s world changes with alarming speed, but do you know what hasn’t changed? Just like the fundamentals of marching band haven’t changed, neither have the fundamentals of being a Christ follower. The basic definition of a Christian is “being Christ-like.” That has never changed and never will change. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are loving God and loving each other. That was true in Moses’ day, in Paul’s day, and is still true in our day! Be blessed and go be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy
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