“Ms. Clairborne, please remain seated. Do not leave your room. All hospital personnel have been alerted to your presence. Do not make this harder on yourself than necessary.”
Liz ignored the voice from speaker on the desk and finished getting dressed. She stepped over the male orderly who was sleeping soundly on the floor, a victim of the hypodermic he had intended to use on her.
“We have forgotten — or perhaps never really understood — what it means to trust that God is in control.
Politics matters.
But we have forgotten that good political leaders were supposed to be our gift to the world.
Now we think they are something the world has to give us, so we can truly practice our faith — or feel good about ourselves.
So whenever we see a leader — inside or outside the church — who doesn’t seem to honor our truth, we are filled with anguish; and act like God has abandoned us… ”
Music Playlist: The Agony of Hope
Round the Bend is a Nevil Shute novel about Tom, a British airplane mechanic who moves to the Middle East after his wartime marriage ends in disaster.
In our online book club, I had a long but inconclusive discussion with my father about why Tom did that. This vignette is my attempt to explore that question via an alternate reality.
Continue readingGod’s Kingdom is Coming
But not as they expect
Or I expect.
I am at another startup
We have just gotten a new interim CEO
Everyone is skeptical
Especially the Engineers
Because the CEO
is actually the (former?) mayor
Of a nearby town
(Small but with a large population)
Everyone is expecting him
To be a slick extrovert
With no substance
Or Intellectual depth
When we are in pain, we shrink.
We pull away from other people
Or our connections become
One-way tunnels
Focused on our needs
Or a misguided attempt to control them.
MIT is being renovated.
I am leading a tour group.
Like I used to do.
We come from the East.
The standalone buildings on that side
Are most functional.
But the large complex in the heart of campus
The Infinite Corridor
Is completely surrounded in yellow tape.
In fact
The large buildings in the center
Are partly demolished. Continue reading
I am in a cavernous store, the size of COSTCO.
It is basically a tourist trap.
Actually part of a series.
In a resort.
In the mountains.
This one is a candy store.
Each day they take us to a different one.
I wasn’t interested so I wandered off.
When there is nothing constructive left
To learn, think through, or repent
I must do the work of an intercessor
And trust God for what happens next
It is a hot day.
I leave my dog in the car.
My friend and I are hard-luck kids
In Sunday School
He’s dying of cancer.
The teachers try to take an offering
Of the bright yellow candy we both like
But rarely get
The fear of God should “pressure” me
To prioritize treating my family
With the fruits of the spirit
Even over accomplishing
What I thought He told me to do.
There is a story within the story
One story is a fairy tale.
Sort of like Beauty and the Beast.
We are passengers on a lost flight
Or maybe we knew someone who was
Or maybe we are just pretending. Continue reading
It is easy to love when you walk in the light
When everything’s clear, and the future is bright
And all can agree on what’s wrong and what’s right
Continue readingI am in an Arena.
At least in the building.
I’m backstage, on the edge of the Court.
Watching a man go out to be arrested.
A former basketball player.
He was going to blow the place up.
I helped turn him in.
I’m hoping he forgives me.
That he knew what he was going to do was wrong.
And is glad someone stopped him.
But more than that.
I’m hoping he doesn’t feel alone.
That he doesn’t think I hate or despise him.
Continued from Part 10
I stand in the Box of Hades
Holding the hand of Eve.
While the Multitude tears Adam to shreds.
Over and over and over again.
Time seems to stop.
Or perhaps speed up to infinity.
We are frozen somewhere between horror and awe.
By the depths of his sacrifice.
Somehow, thought resumes.
Something snaps me out of my reverie.
Was it a shout from Adam?
Some movement from Eve?
I remember his final command, to save his Bride.
My Mother.
Who suffers no man to rescue her.
From whence no mortal ever returned.
What could a Son of Adam like myself possibly do?
Especially having surrendered the Master Key of Peter!
And then I realize.
I do know one who is neither man nor mortal.
And I’m pretty sure she owes me a favor…
I stare at the Multitude gathered before Eve, here in Hades’ Box at the End of the World.
Waiting to tear us limb from limb.
And worse.
Ernie: Father, forgive me. I didn’t know what I was doing. I am not able to drink this cup.
Adam: Fear not, my son. I did. I AM!
Father and I have been taken prisoner by female guards.
I have no idea what is going on.
I wonder if we were betrayed by Hades, when he opened the Box in his Office.
Then I see Adam.
He no longer looks like a truant Child.
He looks like a Man who has stared Death in the eye.
And Death knelt at his feet and called him Master.
I hope he doesn’t do anything stupid.
Then I realize stupidity is inevitable, whenever Man sees Woman.
So instead I start to pray.
Pray he does the Right Stupid Thing.
As expected, the Office of Hades is locked.
I use the Master Key to open it.
Adam and I enter.
The snappily dressed figure at the desk grins.
He looks surprisingly relaxed.
Maybe he did take that vacation after all.
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