For Jane Hines, upon retiring

It’s a Generational Thing,
by Steve Young

Jane Hines and I have been friends for almost 20 years, having met one another when I began attending Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville in the late 1980’s. One of the great things about that church and about my friendship with Jane is that the friendships one makes are so natural, generational differences aren’t even an issue – except once in a while.

As the years passed, I moved to Franklin, TN and became a member of Historic Franklin Presbyterian Church, while Jane remained at Second. However, because of my involvement with the Synod’s mission project, Living Waters for the World, Jane and I had the opportunity to stay in contact and maintain our friendship. We have even had the opportunity to take some road trips together – from traveling to Monroeville, AL to watch the late Mort Macmillan perform the role of Atticus Finch in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, to most recently, an incredible trip to Scotland. However, it was a trip two years ago, to attend the joint meeting of the Mississippi, South Alabama and Florida presbyteries that provides the setting for this memorable example that sometimes, generational differences do become apparent.

The meeting had concluded and Jane and I stopped to eat at Felix’s Fish Camp on the Causeway across Mobile Bay. Ask anyone – Jane Hines knows every incredible restaurant in the Synod and this was one of them. As we sipped (or in my case, slurped) the best crab bisque I’ve ever put into my mouth, our conversation turned to the early days of our friendship, and to catching up on some of our mutual friends from that time. In those days at Second PC, I had been a youth group leader, and the sons of Tom Borland, then pastor of Second, were in the youth group. Both boys were musicians – both studied classical guitar – and were definitely free spirits, which made those meetings interesting and fun. A few years later, the Borland family moved to Jacksonville, FL as Tom accepted a call there.

“Whatever happened to the Borlands?” I asked between slurps.

“They’re still in Jacksonville from what I understand”, replied Jane between sips. “Wes (the oldest Borland son) has had some success with a rock combo he started.”

“Oh – that’s nice – I wondered if he would stick with his music. Does he actually make a living at it?” I asked.

Without missing a beat, Jane replied, “I think so … their group has a funny name … Limp Bizkit”.

At this point, crab bisque caught in the back of my throat, causing me to cough and sputter as I managed to get the word “WHAT?!” out of my mouth.

“Limp Bizkit – have you heard of them?”

I’ll leave the rest of our conversation to your imagination. For those of you who count yourselves among Jane’s generation, Limp Bizkit was then, and still is, one of the most successful rock groups in the world, and I would imagine Wes’ net worth is such that he definitely “makes a living at it”.

Jane and I have laughed many times about that exchange, as we have laughed many times about many things. And that’s the wonderful thing about Jane’s friendship – it’s genuine, enjoyable, educational, and always, interesting.