one day i hope to find her

she speaks quietly and confidently
of things important and things trivial
things of God and things of earth

she walks forthrightly
knowing not the ways of falsehood
in her heart is found no deceit

she delights in understanding
wisdom is her companion
seeking truths when others only ask why

she is my equal
across the expanse exchanging knowing looks
communicating profundity with the meagerest of glances

she is enticing in form
not gaudy or demanding of attention
once focused upon, her intricate beauty slowly unveils itself

she is a lover
her passion glows white hot
denoting intensity and purity

one day i hope to find her
and to join, as two flames that meld into one

Did You Hear The One About ...

Those of you who don't know me may well question the veracity of the telling of this event. Those of you who do know me, upon some reflection, will say "yeah, that sounds about right". But by and large, people will either scramble for a good punch line or just go "huh?".

I was on the east side of town heading out towards Fourchon. The exact location is not really that important ... it was at the corner of Clendenning Road and East Main Street ... if you must know. Not that I didn't want you to know ... I just deemed it not that relevant to the point of my story.

Well, honestly there is no actual point to be made here. This is just a (hopefully) humorous story ... well, not so much a story as maybe an anecdote ... and probably not actually that humorous to anyone but myself ... I laughed out loud ... but, I am easily amused and easily distracted ... and I digress ...

The exact locale, date and time are not central to the recounting of the pointless, marginally funny, thing that happened a few days ago. I think it was Thursday, but it could have been Friday ... there again, not important to the "plot" here ... I could think about it more and maybe look it up if you must know the precise day and time ... but, in the midst of my digression ... I further digress ...

As is my custom, I pulled cautiously up to the intersection. Just as all vehicles came to a stop two chickens dashed across the road. They were both hens I believe, but as with the other details here, it just doesn't matter. If I were the sort of person to swear, I would here swear, hand uplifted, that my very first thought at that moment, in no way searching for a punch line, my sincere question (being as one side appeared as pleasant as the other, and seeing no advantage to this risky maneuver) was ... why did they do that? Why did those chickens cross the road?

Only later did the endless barrage of juvenile punch lines start to assail my mind.

So be sure and stay tuned in. If I am ever in a bar (unlikely) and a priest, a nun, and a Rabbi walk in (equally unlikely) ... I will post a blog immediately!

My Christmas Conundrum

There are many Christians who have objections to different aspects of Christmas. For many years I and many other like minded Christians have decried the secularization of Christmas. It has become a holiday centered around Santa Clause and reindeer and frantic shopping and over extending one's self financially to meet various relatives', friends', and colleagues' elevated expectations. The only Christ to be found in most Christmas celebrations is in the name, unless of course it is spelled Xmas to remove even that last vestigial reference to Jesus.

If I may digress here for a paragraph, the letter X actually is an accepted symbol of Christ. This should probably be kept to ourselves though. I'm sure that the ACLU, who in rather Grinch-like fashion try to steal a little bit more of our right to public expressions of Christmas each year, would probably object to that spelling also if they were to learn this.

Then there are the very strict, fundamentalists Christians who make the point (a very valid point by the way) that Christmas, as most Christian holidays we celebrate, finds it's origins in pagan traditions. Neither our Lord nor any one else in our Holy Bible ever commanded us to celebrate this holiday.

As for myself, frankly I have not been that ardent of a celebrant. I mean I'm not Ebenezer Scrooge or anything, but I could take it or leave it. If we had all stopped celebrating it a few years ago I would have offered no protest over it. I would have looked back at some aspects of it with a certain fondness. I like the pretty lights and some of the tunes are catchy and sing-a-long-able and who doesn't like celebrations that include lots of turkey and stuffing and usually multiple deserts, but my life in general would go on and my spiritual life would not suffer the least bit in it's absence. I would still be just as grateful for Christ's incarnation as ever I was.

BUT ...

The attacks on Christmas now come from secularists. As secular a celebration as Christmas has become, as much as it's focus has shifted away from Jesus' birth, to the point where many Christians barely see it as a Christian holiday, the secular progressives still have a problem with this holiday. Even after it has been gutted of it's spiritual significance and left only a shell of it's former self, they still can't stomach an official national holiday with any trace of Christian tradition or symbolism - overt or implied.

What is the conscientious Christian to do? Do we defend this holiday that can at this point only minimally can be called Christian and that many us only lukewarmly embraced to begin with? Or, do we let the secular progressives win the day and take control of the public square whilst our ideals and traditions are impugned, trampled on and quashed?

Quite the conundrum ...