It’s true that there’s days when it seems
That I’m cursed with impossible dreams
But maybe that’s when I must see
“I AM” can do all things — with me!
Tag Archives: hope
Mrs. Jesus 5/7: Wood Friday
StandardContinued from Mrs. Jesus 4/7: Thor’s Hammer Day
Prologue
Jesus wraps his arms around me and lowers me to the mattress
“I’m scared,” I whisper
“I know,” he murmurs, kissing my brow
“Don’t worry. I will always be with you, even if you can’t see me.”
For the comfort of my body
Jesus placed a small cot by the Tree of Life
I gaze up at it as he fastens two roots to the holes in my wrists
My body is not what I’m worried about
The sensation is what I imagine dialysis fees like
Or a blood transfusion
The lifeblood of the tree fills me
As mine pours into it
As my consciously slowly wanders off
The Ex-Wife
Continue reading1/6 Poem: Sans Ballast
Standard“When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.”
Nehemiah 2:10
When we live our life without ballast
Our hearts feel that they must be calloused
12/31 Poem: New Year Sieve
StandardAs we come to this New Year’s Eve
I’m wondering what I should leave
12/30 Poem: Nearly New
StandardWhen worldly woes make us feel blue
We must recall we’re “nearly new”
Dream: False Alarm
StandardWe are on vacation.
I am walking our dogs:
- Qhuinn the “red” cocker-spaniel (grumpy)
- Frolic the chocolate lab (friendly)

12/10 Limerick: De-Tired
StandardThe secret to getting de-tired
Is letting our hearts be inspired
When we face our pain
Christ rewrites our brain
By giving us what is required
Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest — if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
12/8 Limerick: Content Farming
StandardThe secret to being content
Is living in light of advent
Both better and worse
Help reverse the curse
By making room for His descent
Dream: Zomb Vator
StandardWe finally fight our way to Central Building
This 33-story skyscraper is the heart of the infestation
There’s plenty of zombies elsewhere
But if we can destroy this nest
It will be easy to mop up the rest
I am confident we will succeed
Now that we know where the enemy is
And have made it past her defenses
We have just enough forces left
To contain her
So we can methodically destroy her
We don’t know long or costly it will be
But the outcome is no longer in doubt
I’m waiting on the lobby for an elevator
I’m one of the last to arrive
I see Joe and Bill get out of an elevator and hurry toward the door
Escorting a terrified woman
I’m glad they’re still finding some survivors
I get into the elevator they just vacated and head towards the top
For some reason the car stops at six
The doors open
I push the button to close them
despite knowing they’re usually a placebo
I glance outside.
Before the doors close
I see Joe and Bill hurrying into another elevator
With a different terrified woman.
I takes me a few seconds
To process what I just saw
Joe and Bill can’t have gotten back to the sixth floor
Before I did
Therefore, that is not really them.
The hive brain must have captured and cloned them
The women must be the carriers of the nest’s core memories and DNA
She is using my friends to propagate herself
Before we kill her
This… is bad
If we don’t stop her in time
She could establish herself in a new location
Wait decades to build her strength
Then launch another invasion
When we least expect it
In fact
She may already have reached
Critical mass
Somewhere else
Though I could probably find it
By following Joe and Bill
There is some good news
This is an act of desperation
And while her brain is split between locations like this
Her attention will be distracted
By that same token
She doesn’t like multiple locations
In theory she could split herself up into three or more pieces
But none of those would have enough critical mass to be “her. “
And she would never go for that
The whole point of her existence
Being to propagate her sense of self
By enslaving others.
She has no higher purpose
Transcendent calling
That she would sacrifice herself for
That is the one advantage
We have
Over her
I punch a button on the elevator
To stop the car at the next floor
Pull out my knife
And get ready
To join the fight…
Poem: Imitable Love
Standard“Treat your enemies the way
Luke 6:27 (paraphrased)
You want them to treat theirs”
Saving the world
Is really quit simple
If we learn to be
More imitable
Poem: Toll Taken
StandardThe world takes it toll
On the road of our soul
It oft hurts like hell
When we hear that toll bell
Sex 204. Loving Hiss Elf
Standard[Not what you (or I) expected. From the same series as Sex 202. Loving Terrorsaur]
I walk into the office and pull out the Elf on a Shelf that has been there since Christmas two years ago. I set it on a chair and sit down across from it.
Me: I feel ridiculous talking to a stuffed toy.
Him: Hey, you do this all the time with Greek Gods and animal totems.
Continue readingPoem: Faith Work
StandardThe work of Faith
Is the risks we take
To carry Hope
On hearts that break
Exceptionally Interruptable
StandardJesus didn’t see Bartimeus
As an interruption
Because He was always looking
Always hungry
Always hoping
For the exceptional
Ruth The Day
StandardCitizens of Better
StandardWe need better narratives
Starting with our citizenship
The Quantum of Solace
StandardLord help me to see
Problems as
Possibility
Hope Grieves (How to Forgive)
StandardUnforgiveness
Is a sign of what we value
So much
We dare not capitulate
We reject a “logos”
That says this community
Or relationship
Or status quo
Is more important than what we lost
Especially
When we envy those
With the power
To impose that logos
To our own hurt
But what if
We are both wrong?
Dream: The Agony of Hope
Standard“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 and Back Again
StandardRound 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.
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