January 2010
5 posts
The Purple Room
I was living in the purple room. It was the front room, the one with the cracked window I could hear gunshots out of in the night- that the girls lived in before they got married. Naturally though, I wasn’t interested in any of that marrying nonsense. It wasn’t a thinking about marrying time. No not for me, certainly not twelve months ago.
It was a hard time, a dark time, a mad at God time. My...
December 2009
8 posts
Redhead Jose
He looked like a Zachary or maybe a Douglas. He didn’t look like a Jose. No, not with his red spaghetti hair and constellation freckle face. His deep chocolate eyes gave him away; their softness, their soul. The armor he put on in front of the rest of the class was exhausting for such a little boy- despite premature muscles and a rock hard demeanor he was gentle, a sensitive. Jose paraded around...
The King and the Maiden
A beautiful story by Soren Kierkegaard:
Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden. The king was like no other king. Every statesman trembled before his power. No one dared breathe a word against him, for he had the strength to crush all opponents. And yet this mighty king was melted by love for a humble maiden who lived in a poor village in his kingdom. How could he declare his love...
“When you befriend your true self and discover that it is good and beautiful, you will see Jesus there. Where you are most human, most yourself, weakest, there Jesus lives.”
-Henri Nouwen (The Inner Voice of Love)
Black & White
Let us turn our hearts to Him: When the sky is dark and all around us goes black. When we’re hard pressed and our bodies ache from the fall. When the hole that we’ve dug swallows us up and stones come our way. When relapse comes on thick and the mask slips off our face. When no one understands what it’s like and our vices take control. When our mouths curse all in sight and fear keeps us numb....
Except God
We don’t need another sermon, a new song to sing, a different book to read, or one more challenging conversation. We need God. We desperately need him to come and to give life to our broken hearts and tired bones.
For far too long we have depended on the accessories of God to falsely satisfy our hunger for the real thing. When we’ve needed God alone; to sit and be with him, we...
Popsicle Lips
Giggling wakes me up. Sweet and innocent unfiltered giggling. Shivering from the lack of heat and freezing temperature, I throw on my warmest sweater and reluctantly peek my head out the door. Standing there are three small children, smiling and waiting patiently for me to come out.
Their teeth shine brightly up against such dark skin. Chapped popsicle lips fit their faces perfectly. Both...
9 (Privilege)
sitting on this table upside down on my life watching clothes go ‘round and ‘round and ‘round a puffy skirt, a favorite flannel lights flicker as i watch the mirror never thought i’d see myself here sitting on this table eyeballing machine number 9 life gets grim though for some, bleaker everyday and when push comes to shove well, sometimes i just don’t push back life isn’t void here...