The Rest

Posted on by
Reply

Mark 6:30-31 (NIV)
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. [31] Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”

He fingers the cheap rhinestone nose ring. Asks me about it. I say, I got it when you were a baby after something really bad happened. I got it to remind me that even when bad stuff happens, God is good.

My definition of quiet rest.

Savage Paradoxes in a Broken World

Posted on by
Reply

Mark 6:29-30 (NIV)
On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. [30] The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.

When I write, when I look at the pairing of words, I look at the incongruities–the disciples are cruising around healing people while…the last OT prophet is imprisoned and murdered?!

Why not storm Herod’s palace? Kick some apostate butt?

😦

God sees the big picture. I don’t. I just have to keep my eyes on him, on the Cross.

He died. For me. For you. For John.

The Big Picture: Calvary.

Elizabeth the 1st and Sally Hemmings

Posted on by
Reply

Sometimes we must revise the focus of history. Sometimes we accept as fact things we should revile as facts:

Both of these famous women were rape victimsby modern FBI definition.

Both women were molested by older men who had all power over them.

If we are to heal the breaches of our own abuse stories, we must take away the power of their rapists, and give these women a new designation–

brave survivors

Blood Feast

Posted on by
Reply

Mark 6:26-29 (NIV)
The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. [27] So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, [28] and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. [29] On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

Brutal.

The terrible excess, the exploitive relations, the complete moral collapse in this story is so hard to face.

An innocent man is butchered like a pig.

And then the quiet grief–his followers come and retrieve his body.

Make no mistake beheading someone is a political act of tremendous violence. And the grief that follows is heart wrenching.

John’s disciples. Where did they go? To Jesus. Another man on his own path towards a brutal death.

Surely, these guys were losers?!

Not in the end,
In the end…
they were right.

Twisted Lines

Posted on by
Reply

How did they get tangled?
The long lines reaching out and up to the scaffold
Not cloudless but wind-fierce
Like blue could be fire.

I ask my son to count
Them, he gets the number wrong–says six for seven
When number eight shuttles around in a lost circle
Infinite forgotten

I watch this man
Patiently untangle them
Cords missing air balloons
Lines, ropes, braids

Carrying clumsy morons like me

I ask him about the scars along his knuckles
Painful looking
He tells me his story
…one more way to be brave

I am not

I can tell you exactly when I knew
I was a coward
The day I let go of the rope

Forever as you swore at me loudly in this crowded terminal
The people raise their eyebrows perhaps

I only remember the pain, you
A promise
Never to rise again
with the white noise and anger

Airplanes pressing physics
across this merciless deep
Sky

Sex and the Super Bowl

Posted on by
1

So the Super Bowl is a magnet for sexual slavery and child abuse. What can you do about it?

1. Pray. God honors our prayers.

2. Contact the NFL. Tell them you are going to skip the commercials.

3. Contact the sponsors Let them know that you plan to watch the game but boycott their increasingly violent, sexualized ads.

4. Tell your friends. I did not even realize this was an issue until a friend posted it on a social media site.

5. Contact the teams directly. Tell them you are concerned about forced sexual slavery in New Orleans surrounding the Superbowl.

6. Contact the NOPD Ask what they plan to do to fight sex trafficking during this event.

With the exception of prayer (free and universal), most of this personal activism can be made through online email forms or social media.

Just imagine what it would look like if we all raised our concerns on Facebook or Twitter to say let’s stop the abuse of children and the vulnerable this year at the Super Bowl.

There is an awful lot of money at stake. But one child saved is worth every penny.

And please….spread the word.

Midland Standoff

Posted on by
Reply

Right now around Midland, AL families are shaken, two are in shock, one praying for their stolen child, the other mourning a hero.

My heart and prayers go out to these families, knowing one clings to hope, the other has lost a loved one.

I don’t know anything about Mr. Poland but I know he was brave. I thank God for him and all the others who stand to protect little ones…when it costs everything.

To Mr. Dykes I would say, please, let the boy go home safe and now.