Home Safe

A 10 day stay is a long time
especially when one doesn't sleep at night.
I've felt like the walking dead for several days now
after tossing and turning
in my kingsized bed at the Hawthorne Suites
all night long,
then rising at five a.m.

Today my intensive ended
my fabulous intenseive with Lucia Capacchione
and I made the drive back home to Houston
from the Rio Grande Valley.

It took hours and hours and hours.
I stopped for diet coke
and again for cheetos,
then water,
then the police stopped me
for not having a front license plate.

I became sleepy
and veered to the other side of the highway.
A concerned truck driver awakened me
with a big blast of his horn.

Nothing kept me awake very long.
I finally stopped in Ganado
at a convenience store parking lot,
reclined my seat
and went to sleep briefly.
It was enough.
I coasted into town
around 8 PM.

El Rocio

I'm at El Rocio this week
getting certifed in CJEA.
Whatever is that?
It's a method
originated by Lucia Capacchione
to bring healing to one's life
and th world.
It is learning to listen to th inner voice
and living and moving from that quiet, centered plac
in a busy and frantic world.

All manner of voices clamor for my attention.
CJEA helps me process them
and discern which one belongs to the Spirit of God.

The pace hre is relaxed
a little too relaxed to suit me.
It's hard gearing down to the gentle rhythm.
I keep thinking, "Pick up the pace!!"
Now!!
This is only the third day,
the third of ten.

May the Spirit help me turn loose and relax,
rest my weary body and soul
and listen for the voice of God.

The Apostle's Creed - Max

Once upon a time...
Jesus died
and then he rose.
He ascended into heaven
and we will too.
That's what the Bible says.
But why do we say
the third day he rose again from the dead?
like he had been going up and down
any number of times.

Was he practicing?
Was it fun for him
and so he rose over and over?
Did he not get it right the first time?
Was heaven too full
or no one on duty to let him him?

Or maybe it was just fun to be part of the universe
like floating
up and float
then down again,
then up and float
and down
until the time had fully come.

One of my elders asked me once
why Jesus rose again from the dead.
How many times did he rise?
he said.
More than one
or it wouldn't say "again."
Was it forty?
and exactly what were the circumstances?

Who knows really?
We're Western - want to figure it all out like engineers
or people working a giant puzzle.
But most of faith is mystery
and the more we learn
the more we don't know.
Some questions have no answers
this side of the veil.
Jesus rising again may be one of them.

(Note: Forrest knew the answer - Jesus rose again is like saying Jesus was alive again - no difference. So that clears it all up. My fancy theological degrees didn't help one bit, but it was certainly fun to think about!)

Josephine

Aunt Josephine died last week.
They waited until today to have her memorial service.
She was one of the quiet people,
hidden
and invisible.
No one knew what to do with schizophrenia sixty years ago,
and so she stayed in her room
tended by her mother
until too many mini strokes did her in.

She had four children
and always wanted to be a good mother,
but it eluded her.
No one knows what happened to her three daughters.
They won't be here today.

In the end she was mostly forsaken
visited only by her nephew's wife Alba
who loved her
and talked to her
and fussed over her.

She lived in a nursing home
that smelled bad when you entered it.
It was full of other people like her,
too poor to go anywhere else
and crying out for someone to love them.

The great hunger in the world isn't for food,
said Mother Teresa.
It is for love,
for someone,
anyone to care whether we live or die.

Josephine, who never had a birthday cake
or a celebration in her honor
will have one today.
There will be music
and kindness
and food to eat.
Alba will speak of loving her
and I will give witness to Jesus
who loved Josephine her entire life
and loves her still.

May the angels rejoice in her homecoming
and may we all do a better job
of honoring
and loving
the invisible people who surround us.

Nights in Rodanthe

This is a spoiler, so don't read if you haven't seen the movie or want to.

Anyone who lives on the Gulf Coast
knows what a hurricane is like
and the kind of preparations we have to make.
They were clueless about all of that
in Nights in Rodanthe.
For one thing
you don't build your house in the water.
The storm surge will topple your home
in a New York minute
not to mention the winds!
Every business in Galveston over the water
crumpled like a recycled aluminum can during Hurricane Ike
except the Flagship Hotel.
I'm not sure what happened to it.

And the morning after
you don't get up and walk on a pristine beach.
There is debris
and clutter everywhere!
And it stinks.
In Galveston there were fish
stuck in the chain link fences.

Anyway, Nights in Rodanthe is
about two people going through personal storms.
They end up in a beach house bed and breakfast,
ride through the storm together,
and fall in love in the process.

He is a doctor who has become hardened and cold
and learns the power of confession and redemption.
She has lost herself in a troubled marriage
and finds it again because of his love and support.

The sub plot involves a simple woman
who held all the love and kindness in the world
within her heart.
We never meet her.
She died unexpectedly
during cosmetic surgery
performed by the doctor who is the star of the film.

I'm not sure that she's a Christ figure
because she died inadvertently,
not willingly.
Her sad death
and its profound impact on her family
remind us of Romans 8:28
"We know that all things work together for good
for those who love God,
who are called according to His purpose."
The doctor, his son and his artist lover
may never have found healing had she not died.

It's a little sappy,
but the movie ends with hope,
a reminder that we should look for
and expect wonderful surprises
from our loving and giving God.

Forgetfulness

Jenny's power went out in the hurricane.
No tv for her
or coffee in the afternoon.
She had a freezer full of food,
full and brimming over,
and she worried
alone in her hot house.
Someone loaned her a generator
or she bought it - I forget which.
She plugged it in
and the noisy thing
kept all her food cold
and frozen
safe for a later time.

For two weeks she lived in that hot house
sweating in the daytime,
leaving it at night for cooler quarters
and the loud machine
kept all her food cold.

One day out of the blue
electrical power came back on.
Just like that
in an instant
with no warning
all the machines
went humming in her house.
Joy to the world!

Happily she unplugged that squabbling generator
and went out and about on her merry way
sleeping at home again
watching all her favorite shows
sparkling and happy once more.

A few days later she noticed the smell.
All the food was bad.
The freezer was plugged into the surge protector
but the surge protector was not
plugged into an electrical outlet.
So she emptied her freezer of rotting food
and put it all in the trash.

It's the little things that trip you up in life
like forgetting to plug something in
or not remembering to turn the coffee pot on before bedtime
so the coffee will be waiting in the morning
or mailing the payment in the nick of time
without a stamp on the envelope.

Is it age that makes us forgetful
or are we inundated with too many things to remember?
Help us to be gentle with ourselves
as we struggle not to make stupid mistakes.