Halloween Fun

Last night was Halloween. It was an occassion to reminisce over past Halloweens -- and to experience some new things. We found ourselves at Myrtle Beach for the day, and the evening. It was a new experience. Previous Halloweens have found us at parties for church or celebrating quietly at home. We're not big horror movie fans, so it was touch'n'go for a while to find something interesting to do for the big night. As we wandered around, we checked out the movie theatres to see if there was a good movie that wasn't too scary. . .we found ourselves at Broadway at the Beach. Suddenly, we were spectators for an unparallelled Halloween parade. As it turns out, Broadway invited trick-or-treaters to tour the shopping center for safe trick-or-treating. So, we encountered vampires, Hannah Montana, hobos, Bat Man, Spider Man, witches and ghosts of every shape and size, Dorothy, scarecrows, Harry Potter, and all manner of ghastly creatures. . .We even saw the Mario Brothers, complete with mustaches, overalls and over-sized yellow buttons -- how cute! The theatre was giving away free popcorn to the little monsters and some were riding the rides at Pavilion Nostalgia park. One poor little guy was trudging along, dragging his jack o'lantern...bless his heart. It was great fun just to watch them all traipsing along. -- some were very excited, others were just being drug along by parents -- some were living a dream, and others were living their parents' dream for them. Actually from the looks of some of the older trick-or-treaters -- they were living a nightmare! It was fun to watch them all -- Shane and I were talking about the tradition of trick-or-treating and how it has changed over the years. Interesting how it has evolved. . . fear and hidden dangers have prompted these new forms of trick-or-treating, and I think it is really great that we find ways to save the tradition. I know some Christians have a problem with it, but to me, if anything, for Christians it says, "We do not have to live in fear of you, Satan, or your servants. We're going to turn what you mean for our fear into fun and fellowship -- so there! And so I am really happy that church groups and school groups have started activities like trunk or treat or fall festivals or this safe shopping center trick-or-treating -- where kids still get to dress up and get treats -- it's not so much about the candy; OK, maybe for the kids it really is about the candy right now, but in retrospect it's not -- it's the mystery, the fun, the dressing up, not knowing what someone is going to place in the bucket. . .the chill in the air, the smell of all the candies mingling sweet and tangy and fruity and chocolate and peanut butter, the excitement!. And does it teach them anything bad?? -- I think not, except maybe a little childish greed. I think the bigger lesson that children could learn from Halloween is not to fear, and obviously God thought that was an important lesson, because James tells us "perfect love casts out fear". We have nothing to fear. . .so keep the Halloween fun coming!