Sure they are cute now
Or you can try to convince yourself that through the lens of
both your my-and presby-opias
As long as you feed them, they will grow
As the house morphs around them
Into a fitting habitat for dragons,
Household or otherwise
I can see the little boy at least in pictures
Remember the intensity of his convictions
Not just about his uncut hair
More than that
some heroes were totally still there
When others had definitely been lost
What room is there in cartoon grief for the stolid belief in resurrection?
“We thought we had lost you…“
Strange to acknowledge the terrible loneliness
Touching the dying
Eschewing even the husk of the vine
I miss each of the children
Wish I could do something as simple as shave my head to
Bring them all back.
Numbers 6
Numbers 6:1-9 KJV
[1] And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, [2] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When either man or woman shall separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves unto the Lord : [3] He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried. [4] All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine tree, from the kernels even to the husk. [5] All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head: until the days be fulfilled, in the which he separateth himself unto the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow. [6] All the days that he separateth himself unto the Lord he shall come at no dead body. [7] He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister, when they die: because the consecration of his God is upon his head. [8] All the days of his separation he is holy unto the Lord. [9] And if any man die very suddenly by him, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration; then he shall shave his head in the day of his cleansing, on the seventh day shall he shave it.
Despite the short-term memory loss
Despite the IV sedative and anesthesia
I see the girl on the operating table, hear the steady whir of the electric clippers
Just the top and one side
Shorn with a surgical precision and harvested as a keepsake for the girl
Where the sound of the drill would soon follow
leaving a stigma, a hole
This operation one part carpentry and one part telemetry
She lived
And learned speak for the dead.
They rise at dawn
Balloon
Device
Telemetry
Parachute
Gas lighter than air
Pulls them
Up
And
Up
And up
Like a crazy near earth skydiver
Waiting for the moment when it all changes
The day
We become the weather balloons
Held aloft by the light
And the oil in our lamps
And the voice of the Bridegroom
We will
Rise
Whether permitting….
Matthew 16:1-3 KJV
[1] The Pharisees also with the Sadducees came, and tempting desired him that he would shew them a sign from heaven. [2] He answered and said unto them, When it is evening, ye say, It will be fair weather: for the sky is red. [3] And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?
A young man rides his bike in the driving rain across an underpass with two additional bicycles slung across his shoulder
My sons exclaim his notable strength
But I see poverty
Loneliness
The trees that have been hewn down here so that men cannot hide or sleep among them
Once I saw a man try to fit a motorcycle into the back of an SUV at a gas station
It would not fit, but still there were the pieces of a first world story—two men, two motorized vehicles, no rain that day.
The least I can do is….
The least I can do for…
The strongest man who ever carried the loneliness of the world in a storm
The God who rescues
Matthew 25:35-36 KJV
[35] For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: [36] Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
They were beautiful young women, one aisle over in ladies’ slacks, discussing a friend? A relative? She hasn’t taken it yet…really?!..isn’t she on birth control anyway?
There are words and contexts in between us—
me, the lady who does not know the girl who has not taken it yet, but wants to say this to them anyway—
If this is about a baby, tell her I will help her, any way I can help her with a child she should know, name, love, be transformed by
They—
knowing her, but not realizing how close we all came to Crazy Lady Town, pop. One.
Two, for now, if my guess is right
My regret, I hand to you
I should have done it
I should have brooked their discomfort
After all, we are treasure hunters here, aren’t we?
All across the world
The alarms are ringing
Dogs, wolves, coyotes howl
At the moon
And yet
The humans appear
Largely unmoved
As the Day of the Lord
Comes into view.
Matthew 5:3 KJV
[3] Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus was, is, and will be a physical reality of human history. His part in our story is so elemental that it cannot be said enough—Jesus means “God saves.”
By definition and reality, the Holy Spirit is more ephemeral. Our definitions of him are often more similes than portraits.
He is like a dove
He is like fire
He is the air in our lungs and our souls (not a metaphor).
Look for God, the Triune, interventional, rescuing God.
Ask him who he is
Ask him to show you
Ask him anything.
Joel 3:10-11,15-16 KJV
[10] Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. [11] Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. [15] The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. [16] The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
Acts 2:16-21 KJV
[16] But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; [17] And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: [18] And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: [19] And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: [20] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: [21] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Joel 2:1-2,30-32 KJV
[1] Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; [2] A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. [30] And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. [31] The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. [32] And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-9 KJV
[1] But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. [2] For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. [3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. [4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [6] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. [7] For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. [8] But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. [9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
