August 2018

While reflecting a lot recently on the life of an ancient prophet named Elijah, I found I could identify with him closely – a nearly-impossible success finally achieved…but coming down off the “high” to find an exhausted body and soul in a desert (of sorts). 

After reading Psalm 9:9-10 and chewing more on the aforementioned thoughts, I crafted the following short poem. If you or someone you care about is going through a trying or dry time right now, I hope the words might bring some comfort to your heart, and that you might find (or rediscover) the water that will truly fill you up again.

See how a river, mighty once, now runs: a fragile stream instead,

Enough to feed a single tree — to shade my drooping, sun-brunt head,

Inviting, careless: death, sleep, end — this sandy shelf becomes a bed.

Now comes a hand to pierce my dreams, a voice to rouse my weary soul,

Coals near my face releasing smoke, burned for the bread to make me whole, 

And water sweet to quench this thirst, to make both gut and spirit full.

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Oh, the joys and trials of being a homeowner!

When I did a final walk-through of the place I was signing on nearly one year ago, my realtor gave me several great pieces of advice. Among them she admonished, “And it’s a good idea to seal your basement floor, to keep cracks from forming and to prevent foundation damage.” A good idea indeed…though, I confess, the past year has gotten away from me.

Early last week, I made a trip to the basement for clean laundry and promptly ran back upstairs to call a local plumbing business. Turns out the hot water heater was dying. And though they replaced it, related issues brought them back three more times throughout the week. After half the basement floor was covered in water for many hours, places that had previously been completely smooth began to show small but steadily spreading cracks.

(The realtor had told me I could do the sealing work myself, but though I have happily done several small home repairs, I was nervous to take on a task of this size with such materials all alone.)

Enter handymen Rick Sr. and Rick Jr.

They came in to fill the cracks and seal the entire basement and garage floors, leaving both solid and beautiful. Saved me a ton of money over hiring a big company…and saved me a bunch of stress in figuring out how to use the various products and apply them all myself.

After I recommended the two of them to other folks on social media, the younger Rick told me, “You are a blessing in disguise.”

That made me think and chuckle. If we notice something good or redeemed and are thankful for it, doesn’t it cease to be a blessing “in disguise” and become, instead, a blessing plain as day? And if there are truly good things around us all the time, every day, how can we develop eyes and hearts that notice them more automatically?

Maybe it starts with a simple prayer, lifted up every time it comes to mind: “Help me be the blessing, see the blessing, pass the blessing on. Amen.”

 

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Last week I began teaching a new group of Asian students – those who were fresh off the plane and fighting jet lag to stay awake in class.

From the first day, I have tried to draw them out to actively participate, think critically, and ask responsive questions. Anyone who has worked with Asian students trying to adjust to American academic expectations knows all of this is quite counter-cultural.

At one point on that first day, a young man in the front row mumbled under his breath, “We have questions. But we don’t know how to ask them.”

How ironic: earlier in the same lesson I’d been trying to explain a new word – appropriate. And this student’s barely-verbalized thoughts so appropriately described the feelings of every person in the room.

This made me think about all the questions at every level that my students carry and may want to ask (from the meaning of an unknown word to things that run far deeper)…and even all the questions that average people around me want to ask – or don’t even know they have. Even my own questions: am I asking the right ones, seeing them clearly, speaking them aloud when necessary?

Ultimately, where will the answers to all these questions come from? Who is trustworthy to answer them? And Who is worthy of trust to lean on even when answers are illusive or beyond grasping?

That last question is, perhaps, the one that trumps all others.

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