"National Get Over It Day"

National Get Over It Day

March 9, 2016

Early yesterday morning I was on my way to Billings.  It's 120 miles from Lewistown, and being Montana - a relaxing, picturesque drive.  However, I was thinking I was going to be late for the start of a church member's surgery, so I might have been traveling rather quickly...even by Montana standards.  I tend to measure the Billings ride in segments; thirty miles to Grassrange, then another 45 miles to Roundup, and finally another 45 miles to Billings.  I won't say how fast I was going - I know too many people involved in law enforcement.  Let's just say the 75 miles to Roundup was a new personal best.

In our part of Montana, there are a lot of wide open spaces.  You can measure that by the absence of all things people on such drives.  There are more cattle than people in Montana.  For that matter, there are more deer than people as well.  You can drive for miles and miles before coming across another vehicle.  Which is one reason why fudging on the speed limit is so common here.  Did I mention that I was driving the church van?  Imagine if one of those cars had been a patrol car which had stopped me with "First Christian Church of Lewistown" emblazoned in large letters along the length of the van.  Actually, I did pass one heading the opposite direction, but neither of us slowed down for the other.  Yet another incentive to consider highway speed signs as "Suggested Speed" rather than "Speed Limit."  The latter sounds harsh and demanding compared to the former don't you think?  Well, these wide open spaces, with very few people along the way also means that technology is sometimes limited.  I know this might be a shock to some, but there can be gaps in cellular coverage.  Inconceivable!  Furthermore...you might want to sit down for this one...there are sometimes gaps in radio coverage between towns.  Let me explain.  It is possible.  No, better said, the reality is that you can drive for miles and hear nothing but static from your car speakers.  The seek button becomes your friend when you first arrive here.  I can see it now, the Millennials are sporting a puzzled expression.  They wonder, "Bluetooth, MP3, CD player, surely there's an aux jack?"  It's a church van - used, good condition - NO frills.  We don't live in a stone age community.  Get over it.  Well, that seek button helped me to discover KLMB - 88.1 on the FM dial in the grand metropolis (1800 people) of Roundup, Montana.  I LOVE that station.  It's only good for about 75 miles on the Billings route, but it is fun.  This is no exaggeration at all - I have heard Deep Purple's Hush, followed by Patsy Cline I Fall to Pieces, a prayer and devotional some minutes later then Three Dog Night and The Show Must Go On.  I've even been entertained by rebroadcasts of old radio shows.  Oh my, now I've got some real splainin' to do, Lucy.  Kids, when your grandparents and great grandparents sat down in their living room to relax and be entertained for the evening they listened to the radio.  They didn't have TV!  Let's wait a second or two for the younger generations to pick themselves off the floor.

Waiting....

Waiting....

I'm tempted to stop at the radio station in Roundup and try and convince them they need to catch up with the 21st century and simulcast on the web.  It's really a selfish desire.  I can't receive their station in Lewistown, and when I say I LOVE listening to KLMB.  I truly mean it.  If they were on the web, I would listen to them on a regular basis.  Perhaps you think I'm making fun of them.  I have to admit that my description makes them look hokey.  Well, I held back really.  The radio personalities are...unique for radio.  I truly do love that station.  I look forward to crossing the hill at mile marker 35 and finally tuning in 88.1.  About that time, YNOP, the Christian station out of Havre with repeaters throughout the state starts to static out.  It only happens when I drive the church van.  Our car has satellite radio.  I never know what will greet my ears when the radio is tuned to 88.1 on the FM dial.  Look at that, even my terminology betrays a past now gone.  In my youth, we turned a dial on the radio.  Now we tune, type in, punch buttons, seek and search.  I love KLMB because listening takes me back in time.  On a late night Monday night drive home, I'm taken back to a time when farmers and ranchers came home, at supper and gathered with their families to listen to actors using sound effects, voice and the art of spoken story to propel listeners to another time and place.  I love KLMB because I can listen to songs of my youth, and in the next five minutes to the songs of my grandparents' youth.  I am moved outside my comfort zone to experience, and with adjustment on my part, to even appreciate the tastes of someone unlike me.

I wondered one time, as I tried to drive, while jotting down notes about the variety of songs played by that station, why?  What would drive a business owner to do such incredible things?  But then the thought came, "How does the only radio station in a community serve everyone?"  Don't make a mistake in reading that last line.  I did not say, "make everyone happy."  There is not even an attempt to make everyone in town happy.  The politics are one sided, religion - particularly Christianity brings division by doing nothing more than entering the room, and surely folk are aggravated that they do not have an hour in which only "their" music is aired.  It finally dawned on me that the love inspired in my heart for a tiny radio station, in a tiny town in remote Montana has a mission to SERVE.  They can be admired because they attempt to serve, not placate, not make happy, not satisfy, promise, or cajole.  The politicians of our day could learn something.  For that matter, Christians, well - everyone could learn a little something here.  It reminds me of what Paul had to say to the Romans, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." (Rom 12:18 NIV). 

It should be noted that Jesus served, and even He managed to get people upset.  If you remember, they had Him killed for stepping on toes.  To that segment of society, to those perpetually upset about someone, someplace, something.  There is a day set aside for such as you.  It is celebrated on March 9th each year.  It is your day, made special by you, and for you.  It is National Get Over It Day.  Oh look, today is your day!