” I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked;…”

There’s been lots of news so far and there will be more in the coming days about the impending Facebook IPO.  As the larger stories about the company’s financial capability get written we also see the stories about the team and the “human interest” stuff.  The one that caught my eye yesterday was the fashion story of Mark Zuckerberg and his “hoodie”.  It appears that he decided to wear his hoodie to the investor meetings and that caused some stir among Wall Street.  One investor went as far to say as it was “disrespectful”.  I chuckled.  I was always taught that you dress like the customer and if you followed that rule you’d be fine.  In this case, on the surface, it would seem that the Wall Street guy was correct, but when you get down under it, with the over-subscribed demand for Facebook IPO shares, the table has been turned and Mark and Facebook are the customers with all of the money guys wanting/needing their share of the action. If they don’t buy into Facebook and the company gets the $104B market valuation, then they have egg on their face.  There is no doubt that the Facebook team are going to go through growing pains but for the moment, until Friday, they are still the young turks, in control of their own destiny and acting so.  There will be a moment soon when it won’t feel that way and they will need to grow up.  More on that tomorrow…

Jesus had an exchange with Peter about growing up and foretelling what the end of Peter’s life would be about.  It was a good word for all of us in our spiritual journey.  To know what it is to grow older and wiser in our walk with Christ we have to be willing to give up those things that we did when we were “young” and maybe not so wise.  The same can happen to us each day.  We grow older and wiser with each passing day and each moment of decision.  If we think about this regularly, we will find that we can stop for a moment and think before we act or before we speak and apply the filter of what would I have done before and what should I be doing now…later when I know more.  Today, we are going to be faced with decisions that demand us to think backwards before acting forward; decisions that force us to face up to who we are and also who we want to be.  Let’s consider each moment and decision in that light today and see if we are growing older and wiser and more like who Christ wants us to be.

Reference:  John 21:18 (New Living Testament)