WACKY WEDNESDAY WISDOM: The Rocky Horror Picture Show and My Personal Time Warp

      It all started the first semester of my freshman year in college at Appalachian State University. One of my first weekends on campus my new buddies convinced me to venture to the midnight show at the "$2" theatre near the Red Onion Cafe in Boone, NC. I had never seen the Rocky Horror Picture Show before and was skeptical when they told me it wasn't really scary but was a lot of fun to attend because members of the audience provided most of the entertainment. 

     By the time the monster-sized red lips on the screen finished singing the opening title song, I was hooked. Everybody there that night seemed to know what was going on except me but I enjoyed observing and listening to the audience participation. For the next several months, you could find me at the Friday midnight showing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the $2 theatre next to the Red Onion Cafe in Boone. 

     Before long I knew all the moves. I sprinted down to the front near the screen to dance the "Time Warp" at the appropriate moment. (It's just a jump to the left, and a step to the right, etc.) I brought a water pistol to spray my fellow movie-goers when it rained on the screen as part of the movie- along with a newspaper to put over my head as a makeshift hat to protect my head from the water pistol squirts of others. I, along with some friends, made my way to the front to help "spin the globe" when a giant earth globe on the big screen was spinning as part of the movie. I yelled fill-in words when the actors paused between lines. The more we went, the more crazy stuff we came up with to become part of the performance during the movie. 

     It's hard to believe now that an accomplished actress like Susan Sarandon would be in such a ridiculous movie. There was very little plot and the movie itself was confusingly unimpressive. I'll admit most of the stuff the audience yelled back at the screen was tasteless and not rated G. Sorry fans, but the Rocky Horror Picture Show had very little if any redeeming value. 

     Which is probably one reason some of our other college friends were curious as to why we kept going to see it. To us they would ask- "Why do you go to see the same thing over and over?" And we replied by informing them that every time we saw the show, we picked up something else new. The more we went, the more we knew how to react during the movie. Every time we were exposed to it, it seemed fresh and exciting. The more we accessed it, the more familiar it became and the more we gleaned from it. In other words, the deeper we dove into it, the more we wanted of it.  

     I can't help but think now that I wish I would have had the same attitude then about the Bible lying on the corner of my dorm room desk all those Friday nights in the fall of 1982. It was only later I discovered how accessing the Word of God could also lead a person to want to return to it repeatedly, even after reading some of the same passages over and over. 

     I would live to discover that the more I accessed it, the more the Bible seemed fresh and alive in my life. The more familiar I became with it, the more I gleaned from its pages. The more I dove into it, the more I wanted of it. 

     Hebrews 4:12 says "the Word of God is alive and active" and 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us that "all scripture is God-breathed", which means He speaks to us over and over again through His Word. No matter how often we read it, the Bible will speak to us in new and exciting ways if we allow it to. And unlike the Rocky Horror Picture Show, its redeeming value is timeless and eternal. 

     I don't think about the Rocky Horror Picture Show much these days. I've got better things to occupy my mind and time now. And even if I wanted to venture back into the theatre to give the "Time Warp" dance another go, I don't think I'd make it- nowadays I'm fast asleep well before midnight.