Life Lesson from The Twilight Zone

The Twilight Zone: Alien Invasions, Martians, Spaceships. The Twilight Zone has all of that, but what about life lessons? One thing that draws my interest to the old black and white episodes of the Twilight Zone are the positive messages of religion, politics, and life in general that Rod Serling wrote into each episode.

Let’s take a look at one his character, Mr. James B.W. Bevis. There’s one lesson we can learn from Mr. Bevis: There’s a price to pay for conforming to what the world thinks you should be. From Serling’s opening monologue in this episode, we know this about Mr. Bevis:

“His tastes lean toward stuffed animals, zetter-music, professional football, Charles Dickens, moose heads, carnivals, dogs, children and young ladies. Mr Bevis is accident-prone, a little vague, a little discombobulated, with a life that possesses all the security of a floating crap-game.”

Because of his oddities and aloofness, Mr. Bevis loses his job, loses his car, and is evicted from his apartment. Over the course of a drink (or 6) at his local watering hole, Mr. Bevis encounters Mr. J. Hardy Hempstead, the guardian angel that has been assigned to him. This guardian angel of sorts promises a mulligan on the day to Mr. Bevis, if he will only change one thing about his life, and that’s EVERYTHING. If Mr. Bevis would only take life more seriously and stop being so friendly to everyone, he could have his job back, a snappy sports car to replace his 1924 Rickenbacher, and his apartment back. But that means no more playing ball in the street with the children, no more zetter-music, no more moose heads in his house, no more hiring Christmas Carolers to sing at his office. In other words, change who you are and you can have success. Change who you are and you will be accepted. A small price to pay to fit into society.

Sound familiar? I know a few people that come to mind that struggle with this, which is why I felt compelled to share the story of Mr. Bevis. Though Mr. Bevis’ character may have debuted in the Twilight Zone over fifty years ago, in some way we all struggle with the seeking others approval at the expense of living a miserable life. Serling ended his monologue for this episode with these words:

“But this can be said about our Mr. Bevis: Without him, without his warmth, without his kindness, the world would be a considerably poorer place. Albeit, perhaps, a little saner.”

When you toss aside your individuality in favor of acceptance from someone else, the world loses your warmth and kindness and is a much poorer place.

Advice to Me, Twenty Years Ago

Time with Amber’s family on Christmas night made me realize one thing: I missed out on some great stories when I was younger.

From the last of the older generation, we heard  stories about Christmas traditions of a different time. A time before we had plastic pre-lit trees and big-box stores to supply us with all of the Christmas cheer that American Express would let us buy. A time when “appropriate” holiday decoration trends weren’t determined by Southern Living, but instead a time you spent with family making the decorations by hand with whatever you could muster up from the closet and kitchen. They were probably a bit crude looking and rough around the edges, but the end product was decorations you were proud of because you made them, and made memories with your family.

The stories we got to enjoy were short, and most were about the traditions of their German ancestry and the Christmas traditions they brought with them to the Melting Pot of America many years ago. I was intrigued. Perhaps it was my love of history, or maybe it was the fond recollections of Christmas traditions from my own childhood that kept me listening. But it made me think a little harder: What were the traditions of my ancestors?

My great-grandparents were from England, and other ancestors from Germany. But what were the Christmas traditions that I missed out on because I was more interested in the wrapped up boxes under the tree, and not the “I walked up-hill barefoot both ways in three feet of snow to school” stories. As a child, if I could have looked ahead twenty years and sent myself one piece of advice from the future, it would have been to pay attention. Listen to the real-life stories of the older generation because one day they won’t be here to share those stories, and you’ll regret not listening and asking questions.

Today, I regret not listening and asking questions.

“Get Back on Those Skis…”

“Put your skis back on and get back up this hill.” For the past several days since our weekend ski trip every time I move one of my sore leg muscles those words echo in my head. I can hear the voice of Bruce, our (very patient) ski instructor at Cataloochee looking back at me yelling out those words. I was ready to throw in the towel and claim defeat. I’m getting old and I’m definitely out of shape. “Maybe skiing just isn’t for me” I kept mumbling. “I’ll stick with pursuing my pilots license, at least I can sit doing that…” Thanks to our ski instructor Bruce, not only did I finally catch on to sliding down a snowy slope on two pieces of slippery plastic strapped to my legs, but it made me realize that I do in fact need some direction some times.

You see, I don’t like reading instructions. They’re a waste of time. Rubbish! My worst nightmare is a cardboard box with the words “some assembly required” on the side. It means there’s an instruction manual inside that I’ll ignore at first, but end up reading in defeat after trying to do it on my own. Luckily, we didn’t try skiing on our own first and sought after some instruction from someone experienced. I’m convinced both of us would be in a double room at Mission Hospital in Asheville wrapped in a full body cast had we tried to go out on the slopes without a ski lesson first.

Perhaps I can apply this in more areas of my life, including my spiritual life. I’m always too busy to sit down and study the Word, but I convince myself that listening to the messages from Greg Laurie and Chip Ingraham are enough. Listening to Christian music is good enough. That’ll do. Right? Wrong. If I don’t crack open the bible every once in a while for some instruction, I’ll end up in a spiritual body cast. There are some great lessons between the pages of the instruction manual from God. It’s time to stop trying to just get by and doing it on my own like I have been.

“And the Word Came…”

One of the more obscure books, not often mentioned in Sunday sermons is the book of Jonah. However, one very important lesson lies in this book. Obedience.

The book of Jonah starts out “One day long ago, God’s word came to Jonah…”. It wasn’t just God’s word, it was a command. God had some important work for Jonah to do. Feeling incompetent and unprepared for such a task Jonah ran away from God, setting in place a hefty price that not only Jonah would pay, but those in Jonah’s company.

Nothing could strike closer to home than right now. Incompetent and unprepared describes exactly how I feel with what God is calling for my family right now. The laundry list of reasons why I’m “not the right one” is long, and the check list of reasons why “now is not the right time” seems just as long. Rubbish. How small of me to think that I know more than God. 

-           I feel unprepared, but God doesn’t call the equipped. He equips the called.

-          I feel unworthy, but He has forgiven me.

-          Is now the time? “Mortals make elaborate plans, but God has the last word.” – Proverbs 16:1

This lesson from Josh Walters at Seacoast came not a moment too soon this morning. Sitting, listening to every word and scripture as though it was prepared specifically for my family was the confirmation I was looking for this morning. Call me, and I will answer. Bring it on! What do you have in store for the McDonald family?

Closing One Chapter…

At some point in your life, you’ve been forced to make a hard decision. Whether it involves a relationship or job, it wasn’t easy. Several months ago, that’s where I found myself. Tipping the scales at the heaviest I have ever been, and working more hours than I have ever worked brought me to a decision point. It’s time for something to go. But what? Running my business pays the bills, I didn’t really have any hobbies. Heck, I’ve had no TIME for hobbies!

The only thing left was the radio show. Working from 5am until well past 8 or 9 in the evening some nights had me grabbing  junk food on the run and heading right to bed after walking in the door at night. Certainly, a huge contribution to the many pounds I’ve put on over the last year and a half. I’m not throwing a pitty party. It was my choice to maintain that schedule. And several weeks ago, I made the choice to leave the morning show. Friday October 14th will be a bitter sweet day as my time on the “Magic Morning Show” comes to an end. To make that decision even more difficult, it was announced on Wednesday that after steadily increased ratings over the last year and a half, the morning show had reached the coveted #2 position in the market. Still, I remain at peace with this difficulet decision knowing that even greater things are yet to come. 

So what’s next? Of course my business consulting with credit unions around South Carolina continues to grow, but I don’t feel as though I should hang up my headphones just yet. I’ve said before “I’m done with radio…” and you see how that turned out. Aside from that, I have a “bucket list” prepared that I’ll start working on Monday. I’d like to share several of those with you, so you can hold me accountable:

- Lose 30 pounds and run my first 5k by this time next year and reverse the damage I’ve done with my unhealthly habits. My inspiration for this, Drew Carey. He’s down about 90 pounds in a year, just from making better decisions.

- Get my pilots license, something I’ve been wanting to accomplish for awhile now. There’s just something so relaxing about soaring several thousand feet above the earth. Looking down at the Bi-Lo Center while it’s the size of a penny really puts into perspective how small we really are compared to God.

- Read one book per month. I have several I’ve purchased that are in the queue, and still others that I need to purchase and add to the list. I have several Charles Dickens books ready, that I was just “too smart” to read in high school, and I would be remiss to not mention Pastor Greg Surratt’s book ir-rev-rend.

- And most of all, get back to giving away my time. I used to spend every Tuesday night at the “Food for Life” ministry in Greenville. I always looked forward to me time there on Tuesday nights, many times learning more about myself and my faith from the homeless men and women we serve than Ihave anywhere else.

Monday morning, it’s a brand new start for me.