Never Obsolete
I interact with a lot of elderly people and am starting to find that all of those old-people problems are contagious. I am starting to struggle to sleep at night, getting aches and pains, and finding it hard to decide what is the best way to hold my glasses while trying to see more clearly. If I keep it up, I imagine I will eventually make regular trips to the doctor, invest $3 in a snap-top pill dispenser, and even … what was I saying again?
The other day while listening to an old rancher talk about horse powered hay stackers, tractors, and doctors I could not help but realize that there is a profound difference between old ranchers and old ranch equipment. The difference is that old ranch equipment is obsolete. For instance, they do not use horse powered hay stackers anymore. They were developed, manufactured, and used for a little while. But within a few decades they were replaced by hay balers and tractors. Not only are they no longer used, horse powered hay stackers are not even made. They are obsolete. Likewise, tractors keep changing. Those old tractors need to be maintained every year and have parts replaced, but they no longer make those same models. Those old tractor models are obsolete. In a matter of time, those state-of-the-art models that are being sold today will become obsolete as well. They will probably be replaced with AI driven robotic machinery equipped to do whatever the rancher programs them to do.
And that brings us to one great thing about an old rancher. He may be old. He may be broken down. He may be going to the doctor for too many problems. But he will never go obsolete. He was made in the same style and fashion as his parents, his grandparents, and his great-grandparents. Going on down the line, his children, his grandchildren, and his great-grandchildren will be made in the same style and fashion as him. The human model was designed perfectly and will always be in production by God. The human model, no matter the date, will always have the same 46 chromosome blueprints, be patterned in the image of God, and have the same purpose, to glorify God on this earth.
Equipment, machinery, tools, and buildings will be made to serve man for a little while, grow old, and then go obsolete. But old ranchers – and old people in general – no matter how old they get, will never go obsolete.
“So God created man in His own image; in the image
of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1:27
