His whisper , “This is strange.”, is so ardent that I believe him, and her whisper,
“Yes.”
is the same.
“We just grew apart.” — Cliché, but the only explanation available to him.
She nods.
Neither, though, realizes their error. Their exchange proves otherwise. But for their intimacy, they could never let each other go as if nothing
“It’s the only way I can…”
— and yet everything —
“…be happy?”
— depended upon it. Their last sentence falls like a butterfly fading on wind, fluttering once more before it falls and fractures, its pieces tumbling across the earth, finding their own ends.
Amidst what would otherwise be tragedy, the couple exudes the ess, the artist’s curved line and point where motion changes direction, redefines itself, traps the eye. It is in the way they step about one another and choose their words, always mindful.
The judge calls them forward , “Do you swear to tell the truth…” ,with me, and I express their wishes. The judge asks questions he’s asked of so many before, but he pauses, looks over his glasses as if I could’ve saved them, spared him. He signs the documents, declares them divorced.
The next pair is called.
We exit.
Before the doors behind me have even closed they’ve each shaken my hand and walked away.
She drinks her canned water held in her hand.
He’s out the revolving door.
Air wafts up from behind me, moves around and past, and the new silence tells me the door is now closed. Tomorrow I think I’ll be able to save the rest.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
The guest pastor
After a few of the usual Sunday evening Hymns, the church's Pastor stood up, walked over to the pulpit and before he gave his sermon for the evening, briefly introduced a guest minister who was in the service that evening.
In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was on of his dearest childhood friends and the he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.
"A father, his son and a friend of his son were sailing off the pacific coast." he began. "When a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized."
In the introduction, the pastor told the congregation that the guest minister was on of his dearest childhood friends and the he wanted him to have a few moments to greet the church and share whatever he felt would be appropriate for the service. With that an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit and began to speak.
"A father, his son and a friend of his son were sailing off the pacific coast." he began. "When a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to the shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright and the three were swept into the ocean as the boat capsized."
The old man hesitated for a moment. Making eye contact with two teenagers who were, looking somewhat interested in his story. The aged minister continued with his story.
"Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life: to which boy would he throw the other end of the life line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out. "I Love You, Son!" He threw out the life line to his son's friend. By the time the father had pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beneath the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered!
By this time, the two teenagers were sitting up straight in the pew, anxiously waiting for the next words to come out of the old minister's mouth.
"The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus..
Therefore, he sacrificed his son to save the son's friend.
How great our heavenly father sacrificed his only begotten son that we could be saved. I urge you to accept His offer to rescue you and take a hold of the lifeline he is throwing out to you in this service. With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room.
The pastor again walked slowly to the pulpit and delivered a brief sermon with an invitation at the end. However, no one responded to the appeal. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story." Politely stated one of them, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his only son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian." "Well you have a point there," the old man replied lancing down at his worn bible.
A big smile broadened his narrow face. He once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up his son for me.
You see.... I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend."
You see.... I was that father and your pastor is my son's friend."
Did he actually make it?
Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his Evil angels, he said,
"We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do: distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day."
"How shall we do this?" shouted the angels.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice of God. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes. Even intheir recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on the beauty of God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead."
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their love with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon, they will be working on their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."
It was quite a convention in the end. The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy, and rush here and there. Has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge.
B eing
U nder
S atan's
Y oke
The dictionary defines busy as: "Crowded with activity, cluttered with minute detail to the point of distracting attention from the focal point."
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death;
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
"We can't keep the Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding relationship with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they can't gain that relationship with Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do: distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day."
"How shall we do this?" shouted the angels.
"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered. "Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work six or seven days a week, 10-12 hours a day so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice of God. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their homes. Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services, and false hopes. Even intheir recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature to reflect on the beauty of God's creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead."
"And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotions. Let them be involved in soul-winning, but crowd their love with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon, they will be working on their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."
It was quite a convention in the end. The evil angels went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy, and rush here and there. Has the devil been successful at his scheme?
You be the judge.
B eing
U nder
S atan's
Y oke
The dictionary defines busy as: "Crowded with activity, cluttered with minute detail to the point of distracting attention from the focal point."
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death;
1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.