Held.

Hebrews 10:33-39 KJV
[33] Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. [34] For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. [35] Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. [36] For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. [37] For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. [38] Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. [39] But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

https://people.com/mom-allegedly-called-police-chilling-confession-12182103

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/austin-bennett-tice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawit_Isaak

Many of us shudder at the idea of imprisonment for even a few hours. The idea of the loss of freedom or being held by an untrustworthy opponent is chilling.

So then, what happened to countless victims of child abuse, Dawit and Austin and others is even more unbearable to think about.

We can forget that the entire history of this planet has been a hostage story.

Our ransoms, and the ransom of creation was paid and delivered on the Cross of Jesus the King.

He said, it is finished.

Soon we will all see what he really meant by that.

“Don’t you worry about me!”

No stranger to public displays of affection,

I sit down next to the entwined and ask them

What is your favorite Jesus story?

The boy-man deflects

What is your favorite Jesus story?

I tell him a story about the Son of Man raising Lazarus from the dead after four days only to walk willingly into the maw of his own brutal crucifixion

Face the shame

Face the sin

Face the grief and

Wrath of the Holy God

3 days later—rise again

I ask them how I can pray for them and she says,

I’ve got lots of people praying for me! Don’t you worry about me!

An audible conversation

I wait hours to talk to him after

“Errors occur“

And hold music good enough to dance to in the

Hallway of the doctor’s office

He is so kind at 3 am India time

Helps me untangle my returns

Asks me if I am ready for Halloween?

I tell him I celebrate fall

He says he does as well and

Hindu holidays strung out like lights on a wire

He asks me about the weather?

I tell him that it has just cooled off in Texas—beautiful and cool and he

Tells me it is beautiful where he is today too—rain so joy-filled that beauty is not enough

I tell him I think he must be a poet and he tells me I must be a good guesser

We bless each other with words

And suddenly the detour feels worth it.

Intentional “is”

Sample litany—

I cannot generate my own oxygen or rescue plan

The world is a victim of sin and rebellion on a path of steady entropy and eventual destruction

Jesus is my sure Rescuer

I need him for both oxygen and Salvation

His word, his way—his life is fully available to me through the Bible and the power of the Holy Spirit

I need to give him my time and attention and relinquish the illusion of autonomy.

I need to obey his injunction to

“(Take up your cross and)

Follow Me!”

Rayleigh Scattering

We have to rethink light

not limited by our limits—rods, cones, our presbyopic narrowing

The purple in the sky, there

Regardless of “us”

Ghosts in the peripheral

surround nonetheless

Perhaps we will be judged by them

So great a cloud of witnesses

The invisible spectrum always at our shoulders

Dust to dust

eternity

Scattering

in all direction

The Cardboard Person

I once knew a brave and beloved person who lived in a cardboard house.

I was recently reminded of her

Because I heard a story about a

1. Tea party

2. Bunco game

3. Bible study

4. All of the above

Where a group of humans made a single human feel

The terrible sadness of Loss

As though a person could be rendered inert through the impulse of “two or more gathered in my name”

That is the part I marvel over as I stare into the eyes of the Lonely Lamb

As the wolves do

What wolves do

When donkeys aren’t around

The Leaves

It has happened several times now—so many that

Accident is impossible

1. A flock of leaves flew upward

Featherweights in unison

Flight

2. Flurry of them cascading downward in a strong wind (like)

Snowflakes in a storm

And three—

a solitary leaf

Even with the horizon becomes

A giant butterfly? A small bird?

Flying, not falling, defiant of physics and limitations

Each sent by the Holy Wind

Who goes where he wills

And will let the leaves speak for him when we

fall silent.

The Translation Sequence

https://coddy.tech/tools/morse-code-translator

A room full of high school students hammer away on electric typewriters

The bride sews her wedding garment-/stitch by stitch, pearl by pearl

The staccato sound of teletype bleats out an insistent warning

We do not hear or comprehend

In the background, in a barely audible whisper

The voice of God sends out

A message for the perishing hope and admonition

About a man born in a manger

The Word took on flesh and dwelt among us…

Telegraphing light

Until all that is left is

Him