I went to the cashier. I ordered what I always order. “I would like the Ranch Hand.”
She starred at the cash register. She looked up at me. “What is that?” I was afraid of that exact response. The Ranch Hand has not been on the menu for a number of years. It used to be on the menu, but someone decided that it no longer measured up and deserved a spot on the regular posted bill.
I have a vague sense of what is on the burger, but it is only that, a vague sense. It had Ranch dressing on it. That is the “Ranch” part of the “Ranch Hand.” It has bacon on it. I remember that. It was not just “Ranch,” it was “Peppercorn Ranch.” I remember cheese. The cashier at the next register waded into the conversation. She described a burger, but it was not my burger. A supervisor came next and immediately read off the description of the burger, “bacon, peppercorn ranch and cheddar cheese.”
No, that was not by burger. The cheese was wrong. It was Pepper Jack Cheese! I got the order correct and then waited for my burger. It was perfect.
I order my life with choices and love that some of those choices are already made like what I order at one of my favorite burger joints. I don’t like that they have taken my burger off the menu. I don’t like that it has so fallen out of the consciousness that the cashiers don’t know what I mean.
I have become one of those old people who like the, “Good old days.”
The burger that got me here is not the burger that is going to take me forward. I looked at another burger on the menu. It has goat cheese. That is what I’m going to order the next time. It is time for a change.
We are in a story that is changing. I want to be in the stream. I want to see what is downstream. Jesus says, Behold I make all things new (Rev. 21:5).