Elvis is everywhere!

I’m back from my vacation in Ohio, a nostalgic visit to the area I spent the first 20 years of my life. Even though I spent a whole week there, I didn’t manage to visit with all the aunts and uncles still living there, who would have been delighted to see me. I do always manage to spend time with my brother, and with my cousin Scott who grew up like another brother with us. These two knuckleheads were really why I went back to the old home town in the first place.

While I was there, I went to a couple flea markets. One of them, the one just outside of Rogers, is so huge we spent a considerable part of the day and still didn’t see it all. I love flea markets, because in a way it is a reflection of the culture of the area. I imagine a flea market in Florida would have lots of fishing gear and sun hats, while the Mile High flea market in Denver had skis, sleds, and dinosaur bones. I hear the ones here in New England have lots of antiques; I wouldn’t know because they always seem to be on Sundays and I am kinda busy on that day. But the ones we went to in Ohio were very Midwestern.

What did we see at the market in Ohio? A lot of farm tools, lots of Amish stuff (and Amish people, too!), and lots of antiques. But something else we saw a lot of: Elvis. We couldn’t get away from Elvis, he was on velvet, he was on ashtrays, he was on posters, plates, and shirts. All sorts of trinkets, of all different sizes and shapes. I don’t remember seeing so much of him at any other flea market I have ever gone to. The clincher was Sunday morning, when we woke up and had breakfast in our room. The sports dome in Indianapolis was demolished on Sunday, and CNN was showing it live on T.V. Did they talk about the Pacers having played there? Any of the other famous teams? A little, sure, but the caption on the screen as the building came down was: “Site of last concert of Elvis Presley”. What was important to them?

I never was all that excited about Elvis. I don’t think he sang that great, or was a great actor or orator. I know some people still get excited when you mention his name. My dad once told me of a preacher who at a gathering asked “Do you know how much money Elvis left behind when he died?” Several people excitedly asked how much, and the preacher said “All of it.” Yes, I thought about this as we drove home on Sunday. How people still today know so much about Elvis. I thought about all the people we have had step into the limelight, people that we think surely the world will never forget. I thought of Lincoln and Washington, of Elvis and Brittany. Of Prescott and Hale. Of Perry and Jones. Of Edison and Gates. Of Carnegie and Mellon. Of Martel and De Soto.

Do you know all those people? Probably not, but many were much, much bigger than Elvis ever was and known by people all over the world. People forget, eventually, but there are some things, a certain book in particular, that is never completely forgotten. And I thought about this, and took comfort from it, as we drove home and watched the names go by on the signposts. Towns with names like “Lord’s Vineyard” or “Promised Land”. Philadelphia, Salem, Goshen, Sharon, Damascus, Patmos, and Palestine, just to name a few. I wonder where those names came from…? (grin!)

People will forget Elvis. But the bible, it goes everywhere we do. For thousands of years people have drawn inspiration from it, named their children (and towns!) using it, and patterned their lives by its guidance. No one will ever forget The King. See what I mean?

Philippians 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

John 12:31-34 Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

I John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

I Peter 1:18-25 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.