High School Fiction

These high school halls are not hallowed halls but they are unsurpassed in the scheme of life lessons….Truth and Fiction …

Remember that boy with the unfortunate eyebrows hurrying down the hall as if afraid or embarrassed? He was.

Remember that girl passing a note to her “steady” guy declaring her undying devotion because he said he “loved” her? He did not.

Remember when you thought a certain friend’s family seemed so perfect? They were not.

The stereo- types still linger in these tales of fiction. Fifty years later and I can name them all by heart.

We all wanted to be (well most of us) to be prettier, cuter, thinner, funnier, taller, shorter, darker, lighter, a better singer, a better dancer, the beauty queen, the sports star, the math genius, or the valedictorian.

I guess it is like the “Breakfast Club” and the “Big Chill” movie all rolled up together. (we did have the best music though). I always felt like the adults in my days of high school tried to minimize the harshness of the unspoken boundaries. There are many people that I admired from afar and would have like to have known better but there was also a nagging burden of exposure.

Ends up that about ninety-nine percent of High School Fiction left some of us hurt and even wounded and that is where reality steps in. No, we had not yet let our tender souls relax in the discovery zone of finding there is no such thing as perfect. How could we know that what lay ahead would require a lot more truth and a little less comparison?

Just saying…

When Trials Come…

When hardship comes your way, will you tell yourself it’s a tool of God’s grace and a sign of his love, or will you give in to doubting his goodness? Paul Tripp

When the road seems shorter than before.

Wherever you turn there is no open door.

Your life is in convulsions like vomit on the floor.

All the paperwork of your life is yellowed and rotted.

Is the God’s grace of love or is it cruel?

Who do you worship and let rule you?

Will you head for the hills of Babylon?

Look for ways to numb your sorrow?

Will you turn to the One who made you?

Will you cry out and hang on to your pew?

Will you doubt God’s goodness in the dross?

Will you walk away or toward the cross?

High Desert Winter

High desert winter.

White-out blizzard coming soon.

Laura Nyro on my stereo.

She warns me of the heartache coming on.

Wood burning stove keeps me warm.

Laura’s voice does the rest.

We got the blues and got it bad.

Wrapped in my Navaho blanket

Still shivering to my soul.

Henry Bridge (We Belong to the Day)

Sitting on the Henry Bridge watching the river run.

A little boy is skipping river rocks beneath the glitter of the Sun.

Autumn breezes gold and ruby red decorate the beaver’s dam.

A little girl hold her baby doll making sweet life plans.

We belong to the day free to be living in a symphony.

Walking of of the night no more darkness to see.

We belong to the day.

No sorrow left to see.

We belong to the day.

Observation of a Friend

She walks like a warrior, straight-backed and crown high. Yet, humble.

Her avian eyes propel with the speed of light. Yet, no guile is found in her.

Her strong and steady hands caress a heated brow or wield a sword.

She walks like a warrior. Her sword discreetly at her side.

She is wise and does not invite chaos into her life.

She equips herself with helmet and shield, both righteous and redemptive.

She walks like a warrior. She is keenly aware of the night.

She nimbly opens the lantern that guides her path.

She walks with a quiet understanding of how this goes. Yet, she delights in Hope.

And every day she wakes and walks like a warrior.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness…

Ephesians 6:10-12

Finding Courage…

Finding Courage…I sat by my window. It was a trial this summer with many days in distress and concern. I would love to tell you I handled it so spiritually but at times that is not the case. I cried. I prayed. I talked to the whole tribe of medical people but of course the most important thing is that I went to the Lord and God’s Word.

My heart was longing to have courage but I really wasn’t sure what Courage looks like. So, to the Bible I went. Then I went to prayer. I told God I don’t really know what courage means and asked him to help me find some.

In the many weeks I was housebound I began to read about men and women in the Bible who took and had Courage and as I read I realized that none of these people had courage of their own. They had Courage WITH them. Courage is not only a verb but it is also one of the very definitions of God himself. Courage much like grace, mercy, and love are not earned they are GIVEN and who is the giver of all thing? God of course, through Jesus!

People who have Godly Courage have it because the Holy One saw fit to send His Son to be born, live, die, and rise again, and then send His very on Spirit to live in us and give Holy gifts!. Courage is God’s gift to us as His children.

Oh, don’t get the idea that Courage is especially beautiful. This gift might be torn and tattered. It might be beaten and bleeding. It might be weeping until dawn. Courage is the opposite of Fear. Fear is never a gift from God. He does not give fear. Fear tells you God is NOT with you. Fear says you are weak and frail and alone.

I sit by my window. I am gaining my strength as summer is drifting away with a thunder in the heavens.

I sit by my widow. God’s presence abides as faithful and as sweet as ever and I have found his gift of Courage.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17).

She Took Her Love

person soaking on body of water

Photo by Victor Freitas

She took her love to walk awhile beneath a crescent moon

While they gazed upon the quicksilver in the stars

She told him she had lost her way among the sandy dunes

But the tide had brought her back again from somewhere very far

She took her love to sail awhile upon the indigo night sea

While they caressed the salty thick spray upon their faces

She told him she had found her way among the sand and sea

And that God had made her his own among these ocean places