greetings!
how do you like my nifty little bookshelves?
hit the little "next" button at the bottom and you can see some more...
NO, i am not lying about those books -- i either have read or are reading them...
and YES, they are AWESOME!
and, reading is much safer for us old codgers than mountain biking, etc.
just want you to know that i set up the bookshelves all by myself [with a little help from leah] -- there is techie hope for me yet!
i have so much in me for tonight [after my drive over to tampa bay to meditate at the sunset on Jesus' triumphal entry into jerusalem] that i literally don't know where to start [and its coming up on midnight]...
so here goes...
i was visiting with mr garcia this week...
it was early in the morning and he was just getting up...
he is a COPD patient [the new fancy term for emphysema -- simply put, he can hardly breathe now -- he gets short of breath while we are simply talking]...
by the way, he does a very convincing commercial for DO NOT SMOKE PERIOD!
during our visit, he lost his breath and could not breathe...
they call it an exacerbation [a respiratory crisis]...
i was getting edgy, but...
mr garcia never missed a beat -- he knew just what to do...
we prepared his nebulizer treatment and he was soon breathing in the medicated mist...
we could not talk during his treatment so i was scanning his single room in a family member's house...
he had a crucifix hanging on his wall in plain sight...
i was transfixed...
it was a different cross...
not a protestant cross, but a catholic cross...
two crosses -- one faith...
it is a cross like the one on my new rosary [yes, i am still OK with God -- probably better than i have ever been]...
the rosary gives me a feeling of connection to the ancient...
and, i am remembering some foundational elements of my faith as i pray through the beads...
the cross has Jesus on it...
still hanging there!
mr garcia's crucifix has Jesus on it...
all my protestant crosses do NOT have Jesus on them...
mr garcia startles me back to reality when he shares his nebulizer mist with his BIG cat -- the cat doesn't like the noise or the mist so it begins to "box" and "paw" at the mist...
mr garcia is delighted -- it is funny...
when the cat settles back down, i ask mr garcia about his crucifix...
are you catholic? why is Jesus on your cross? why are there two crosses? how many more questions should i ask before i let you answer?
he smiles and says -- i was born a catholic -- now i am a baptist -- i am just covering all my bases -- i am dying you know...
he laughs...
he wants to talk about other stuff...
so we do, but i am still hung up...
two crosses?
i love the protestant reminder that Jesus has been resurrected and he is NOT on the cross anymore -- good reformation [and biblical] theology...
BUT, i like the catholic reminder that Jesus suffered on a real cross and died there so that we might live...
that is good experiential [and biblical] theology!
at least in my world, i need to be reminded of the suffering...
it is very easy for me to zoom past the passion of Jesus to his glorious resurrection [and it is quite typical of my expediency to gladly forego suffering in order to claim all the blessings that are surely coming my way]...
i want my life [and my crosses] to be free of this grim reminder of suffering...
but, Jesus still on the cross screams LOVE to me -- i remember his broken body and his spilled blood...
my heart is stirred and strangely warmed...
love of another kind...
i was listening to michael card sing of Jesus' irrational love for us on the way back from the bay: "he could not love us more and he refuses to love us any less!"
holy week is a journey of extravagant love -- being stopped in our tracks by what matters most -- Jesus' INCARNATION, DEATH and RESURRECTION are the consummate definition and in-your-face expression of authentic love!
keep thinking this week about...
two crosses...
i shared this because i wanted a simple start to our holy week together...
shalom...
guy
let's focus our readings of the events of holy week around luke's gospel and john's gospel -- OK????
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