Somewhere Between Two Steps

It was somewhere between
  the time that his left foot pushed off the lower step
  and his right foot landed on the next step
that she came around the corner
 and she caught sight of him.

It was raining           
 and they were both running.

He was running up the stairs toward shelter
  and she was running after him.
They had been chasing each other
  for the last five months—
he walking her home,
she buying him a favorite book,
she holding the look an extra moment,
he holding an embrace a little too long,
  and both of them afraid of all this.

She was still going to marry another man in March
  and when she saw
this 
man in mid-air between two stairs
she suddenly saw herself as she had been
these five months: running for shelter.
And she saw herself as she was now:
  somewhere between two steps.

And before he returned to earth,
his right foot hitting the concrete,
  she had stopped running to watch him leave her.
When he was out of sight, she turned and ran for home.

Counting my shirts

A few weeks ago I re-read the Gospels. Obviously there is a lot of richness in those four books on Jesus' life, but what forcefully struck me was just one passage:

"John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, 'You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.'

'What should we do then?' the crowd asked.

John answered, 'Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.'” [luke3.7-11] 

How many shirts do I have? Well, I haven't counted, but it's more than two. And how many jackets and coats do I have? More than two. That means I have enough to spare.

I finally heard what the Bible had been saying all this time, what John had been preaching for two millennia--- and Jesus convicted me to radically change the way that I spend money on clothing.

(Now that I'm willing to simply hear Jesus speak this message, I hope I'm enabled to better receive the Jesus of the Message.)

Click again?

well, Tumblr is better for a few things.

Posting audio files is one of those things.

So if you're feeling click-adventurous and interested, then

check out

my musings

on Tim Gillespie's "Jesus and the Church."

love and power and continents

Emily's post on Waving Flag

made me think thoughts.

"love is the answer, that's what they say, but look how they treat us, make us believers, we fight their battles, then they deceive us, try to control us..."

what misguided love we give sometimes, what false love we give sometimes.

I read a book about a year ago with the very boring title "

The Family.

" The title is boring and the book kind of was too, but the authors are Christian social scientists and the paradigm they outlined of the family-under-grace was one of empowerment. They said that people struggling in their families are often struggling for power, as if when I have more you have less and if you have more then I have less. No, no: Instead, they said, the family-under-grace knows that when someone with power gives power to another member, both are more empowered.

I wish all the continents and islands could come together as one family-under-grace, giving power and real love to each other.

And even as I voice that wish, it occurs to me that that's exactly what Jesus has promised will happen when He comes back:

"My righteousness draws near speedily,

   My salvation is on the way,

   and My arm will bring justice to the nations.

The islands will look to Me

   and wait in hope for My arm"

[isaiah 51:5]