The Enemy Who Is Your Friend (I of III)

Compared to more recent blogging topics, this blog will be a breath of fresh air–but neither easy nor fun in any ordinary sense.

Recent months have not been easy. I was visited late last year by a thumb injury that by all appearances ensures that I will spend the rest of my life with one good left hand aided clumsily by another ham-fisted... well... ham-fist. I was once right-handed.

Events like these force difficult questions. Questions not unlike those posed by Jesus' immediate disciples.

John 9:2
His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

We like to think we've come a long way in understanding the mind of God. In those darkened days of primitive ignorance, it was widely assumed that if you were rich, it was because God loved you. And if you were sick? Diseased? A sure-fire indicator that you had sinned pretty badly.

Thus the confusion! If the guy was born blind, he hadn't had a chance yet to sin! So... did his parents screw up? We know someone earned this misery. But who? Jesus set them straight.

John 9:3
‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned,’ said Jesus, ‘but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

Yes, we all know that now, though these words shocked the disciples. What?? Nobody sinned??

Chuckle, chuckle. We know better, today. It was just a medical condition. And God wants it to be healed.

But let's be honest. We're no more enlightened than Jesus' disciples. All we have managed to do is exchange one half-truth for another. The disciples erred in thinking that only people God loves are blessed with health and material possessions. And us? We err in thinking that God loves people too much to take such things away from them.

Jesus sets us straight, too, if we have ears to hear what he actually said. "This happened". "So that". "The works of God might be displayed".

Let that sink in for a bit.

Jesus didn't say, "It was a random accident, but I'm gonna fix it." Jesus didn't say, "Things go wrong because of the fall, but God didn't do it." No. Jesus said it happened. So that. God's works might be displayed.

That's not a popular thought. And if you doubt me, try telling your friends this one: "I believe that God has orchestrated events so that my better hand will be maimed for the rest of my life."

A few of my closer friends nod and agree. But many do not. Some seem even to take offense at the notion.

So to those who are not ready to swallow words like these, let me ask. If God didn't do it, who else do we suppose made the man blind, for the purposes of God's glory? Who else had sovereign control over the events in that man's mother's womb?

All this came home to me again when I recently listened in my car to the book of Ruth. Ruth is one of my favorite books, bar none. So I've read it many times. On this last pass, I was struck again by Naomi's words.

Ruth 1:13b
No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!’

Naomi has been visited by unspeakable sorrows. She has outlived her husband and both of her sons. Her words touch all of us who have ears to hear: those troubled by sorrows as well as those free of major disappointments. But are her words true? Is Naomi blaming God for things he didn't do? Or is Naomi right in her finger-pointing? In short... Is God himself behind Naomi's problems?

To be continued...

But Not All Evangelicals Are Whores (V of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

In prior posts I gave a number of Evangelical Whores their due.

But there are heroes, too. Let's recognize a few.

A roaring thank-you to a local pastor, Skye Jethani. (He's not exactly world-famous, but he is known to people all over the world. So why do I call him local? Because he lives nearby and attends my own church.) Here's a great video link where Jethani explains why followers of Christ should not vote out of fear, but rather out of more Christian motives like love and self-sacrifice. Try to imagine voting for Trump or Hillary while operating under those principles.

Second, a roaring thank-you to a slightly more visible Russell Moore.
1) He stood against Trump (and even got some ire from Trump via personal tweet!).
2) He stood against all those aforementioned "Evangelical" whores bowing the knee to Trump.
3) At a SBC convention, he stood up to a xenophobe. Responding to the question "How in the world can [you] support rights for Muslims?" Moore responded, "Sometimes we have really hard decisions to make... this isn't one of those things. What it means to be a baptist is to support soul freedom for everybody."

(BTW, totally secular media such as Samantha Bee took note of Russell's unpopular stand. She exclaimed in response, "Now that is a shining city on a hill.")

Finally, a roaring thank-you to John Pavolvitz. I lifted thoughts from a blog of his when writing my jeremiads, and it brought my attention to other good blogs he has written. This man is after the heart of Jesus. That means he's not going to be popular with "Evangelical Leaders". (A strike in his favor, surely.) "Evangelicals" will take issue with his stand against guns, but they'll especially hate him for his thank-you note to Obama, penned in June.

For these three True Evangelical Leaders I am thankful, though it must be said that they'll have to come up with a new affiliation. The word Evangelical is about as useful as the surname Hitler became after 1940. Sometimes a word acquires more baggage than can ever be truly shed.

But again, to these men and to other men, women and children like them... Thank you. The world takes note when followers of Christ act like the one they follow: Jesus Christ.

Fear Turns Us Into Whores (IV of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

We continue here this "short" blog series. I had planned for a shorter list of blogs, but Mr. Eric Metaxas forced my hand when I found out that he too was present at that pagan ceremony where 1,000+ "Evaenglical Leaders" fornicated with Donald Trump. Here are Metaxas' own words.

"Not only can we vote for Trump, we must vote for Trump, because with all of his foibles, peccadilloes, and metaphorical warts, he is nonetheless the last best hope of keeping America from sliding into oblivion, the tank, the abyss, the dustbin of history, if you will. If you want to know how bad things are in America, and how far we have gone, read the previous sentence aloud over and over."

Well, Mr. Metaxas, I did read your statement several times. And your words became more clear with each reading. You're afraid. And your fear has turned you into a whore. A very frightened one, too. The below is more or less a cut-and-paste of some comments I threw onto Facebook earlier today.

So I just found out that Eric Metaxas wants us to vote for Trump.

Yeah, Metaxas wrote that book on Bonhoeffer. I own a copy.

For shame, Mr. Metaxas. Bonhoeffer stood up to Hitler and died as a martyr for Christ. He was safe in the USA but willingly went back to Germany to stand in the gap. Despite being a pastor and a pacifist to boot, Bonhoeffer risked his life in a plot to kill Hitler, and Hitler himself personally ordered Bonhoeffer's death. Then there's you, Mr. Metaxas. You're so afraid of Hillary that you'll vote in worse, and you want us to join you in your folly. Coward.

But why should I explain this? Let your hero be your judge.

"From this it would appear that folly is... a special form of the operation of historical circumstances upon men, a psychological by-product of definite external factors. On closer inspection it would seem that any violent revolution, whether political or religious, produces an outburst of folly in a large part of mankind. Indeed, it would seem to be almost a law of psychology and sociology. The power of one needs the folly of the other."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-45)

Did your eyes gloss over, Mr. Metaxas? Skye Jethani explains it in simpler words.

"But when people are afraid, they don't care about facts. They will grasp onto anyone promising to keep them safe, even if their ideas lack both evidence and common sense. We don't make good, rational decisions when we are afraid. Simply put, fear makes us *dumb*."

(Yes, Mr. Metaxas, he's explaining why people like you are latching onto Trump.)

One of the saddest facts about all of this is that both Donald Trump and the watching media understand "Evaenglical Leaders" better than they themselves do. Let's wrap this up with a few basic observations courtesy of the secular media. (Did we really need THEM to point this out??)

5. Trump Equated Christianity With Worldly Power, and His Listeners Agreed

Donald Trump is no dummy. He knows his audience better than they know themselves. Evangelicals are acutely aware of their waning cultural influence and shrinking share of the population. These religious leaders care about their principles, yes. But they care about something else even more: power. While not every evangelical leader is enthusiastic about Trump, many are starting to express warm feelings toward the candidate. Expect the cascade to continue.

In eight sentences Mr. Trump mentioned some variation of power six times, to a group of individuals who have professed their love and loyalty to Jesus, who in his most famous sermon declared, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and “Blessed are the meek,” who said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” and who was humiliated and crucified by the powerful.

Stay tuned...

Other Evangelical Whores (III of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

Once again I wince at my own chosen title for this blog.

And then I remember what these so-called church leaders have done.

So this blog continues on the heels of several other blog posts devoted to what our so-called "Evangelical church leaders" have been up to. Let's review the case from the perspective of Ezekiel. He referred to Samaria and Israel as adulterous sisters. Why? My study Bible explains.

Ezekiel 23:5
“Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians..."

Footnote for that same verse
"Prostitution here represents political alliances with pagan powers... the graphic language of the chapter underscores God's and Ezekiel's disgust with Israel for playing the worldly game of international politics rather than relying on the Lord for her security."

So that's what Ezekiel calls "whoring". Now tell me if the 1,000+ "Evangelical Leaders" are engaged in something different? Or the same thing?

First, they go to meet with Trump. Not the other way around. And why did they go? What do they want from Trump? Let's see...

James Dobson
"I am delighted to be here with the Gospel greats... Mr. Trump, we would like you to start your comments by answering that question: What will your administration do to help promote all of our freedoms — all of the Bill of Rights, and what it has meant to be an American — and protect us? Or do we have to fight another Revolutionary War to preserve them?"

Tony Perkins (president of the Family Research Council): "This is my question for you, Mr. Trump. What policies, if any, of the Obama administration will you reverse? And what steps will you take to restore our military and the rights of our men and women in uniform to practice their religious freedom?"

Kelly Shackelford (president and CEO of First Liberty Institute law firm):
...probably the key issue right now in religious liberty is the attempt to use gay rights to trump religious freedom...

Is it just me? Or are they looking to someone other than God for their reassurances? Ezekiel, my friends, called that whoring. Should we do otherwise?

Others present deserve recognition for their share of this whore-fest, including Ben Carson and Mike Huckabee. But sadly I must also give final credit to Franklin Graham, who presided over the event with a prayer.

Franklin Graham (president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association): (excerpted) Thank you... ...And as we look at who is to be the next president of the United States, many people are looking at qualities. And I’d like to take just a moment to look at the Bible.

Some of the individuals are our patriarchs: Abraham — great man of faith. But he lied. Moses led his people out of bondage, but he disobeyed God. David committed adultery and then he committed murder. The Apostles turned their back on the Lord Jesus Christ in his greatest hour of need, they turned their backs and they ran. Peter denied him three times. All of this to say, there is none of us is perfect...

So I would just like to open up with a word of prayer.... ...And, Father, we pray this election that you will give a man to be the president of this country who will honor life, who will respect our Constitution, who will respect the authority of the office... And, Father, we ask now that you would bless this meeting and this time together, as Mr. Trump is able to answer questions. And, Father, we pray that each one here today will leave this room with a new appreciation of this man and this family ... Amen.

I would like to introduce now a very good friend of mine. Jerry Falwell Jr., who doesn’t need an introduction.

Trat's true, Mr. Franklin. Falwell, Jr. does not need introduction. He's now widely recognized as the first "Evangelical leader" to bless Trump, and he spouted the same festering bovine scatology that you, Mr. Franklin repeated here: The ever-so-clear insinuation that Trump can be our Christian man-of-the-hour since, after all, other great leaders like Abraham and David weren't spotless either.

Really????

But let's end with something a bit more insightful. A comment from an outside reporter.

Todd Stearns
Just got back from Trump's "conversation" with Evangelicals. No mention of Jesus.

To be continued...

"Evangelicals" Whoring after Power (II of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

I've never titled a blog with such loaded terms, but let's be frank. Sometimes strong words are necessary. And sometimes things that need to be said also need to be said when children are not around to hear them.

The prophet Ezekiel used profoundly not-so-family-friendly language from time to time. In lurid terms, Ezekiel graphically described how Israel and Judah had whored after pagan nations and gods. Next to Ezekiel, who felt obliged to describe specific acts worthy of a whore, this blog post qualifies as squeaky clean.

Ezekiel had two basic targets, which kept the task manageable. If I were smart, I'd address the whores in my days as a single entity, but I yearn to give each of the 1,000+ "Evangelical leaders" who recently met with Trump their rightful recognition.

Not for the first time do I find myself wincing as I use such strong words.

And then I remember how these people are behaving: People who claim to serve Jesus Christ and to represent His church and (key) who really do have influence over many godly and gentle (and naive) Christian souls.

In my first blog post on this topic, I gave James Dobson most of the attention. Dobson has since back-tracked from his assurances that Donald Trump gave his heart to Jesus. Now Dobson is not so sure. Do I respond with laughter? Tears? Neither. Dobson's opinions don't merit the energy for either. Let's move on.

A digression. It must be said, others are saying the exact same things I am saying, and they have a bigger audience anyway. I'm just writing my echoing take on matters for personal reasons. I do it as a combination of personal therapy and so that my personal (and public) journal is on record as to exactly who I think Trump is and the state of depravity the American church must have reached for so many church-goers to be voting for him.

I imagine this journal being accessible to my children one day, and God help me if in the year 2016 I didn't speak out against the whore of Babylon and the whoring "Evangelical leaders" who whored after him.

And the other writers are just as blunt. Here's another blogger's post, and I feel that one comment in particular bears repeating.

One of the most startling ironies, is that these are the same self-professed “defenders of the faith”, who for the last eight years have ruthlessly persecuted a President who has not only repeatedly professed personal spirituality, but whose conduct, marriage, and family are everything they claim they’re for. This was never good enough for them to support or pray for him—or even call him a Christian. Yet Donald Trump, in all his philandering, materialistic, racist, bigoted, misogynist glory is somehow worthy of reverence because somewhere deep down (in a way that only these leaders see), he loves Jesus. If you believe that I have some swamp land in Alabama for you.

I am tempted to respond to those good words, but I dare not get too far off topic. Let's move on to the next whore I'd like to give his due.

Ralph Reed attended the meeting that Donald Trump called. You know, the one where "church" leaders seeking power and significance meet with a politician and work out a plan of action designed to deliver
a) power and/or significance to the whores in the church, and
b) millions of votes to the whore seeking election.

Yes, that one. Ralph Reed attended that meeting. So Ralph went in to be with the Donald, and at the podium Ralph had this to say:

As I sat there this morning—we just spent time with Dr. Carson and the next president of the United States, Donald Trump—I thought about two Bible verses. And I’m going to paraphrase just a bit. One is, “For such a time as this,” and the other one is this one, a commandment from our Savior, when he said, “Call unto me, and I will do great and mighty things that you do not know.”

I am guessing Ralph didn't recall that Esther (whose father-figure said to her that she had perhaps been called to power "for a time such as this") is a book that celebrates Esther's standing up against an evil man in power who hated underclass foreigners. After all, Donald Trump is an evil man in power who hates underclass foreigners. Or did Ralph slip into the wrong convention hall? Was Esther just down to the hall and to the right?

I'm guessing none of the other whores in the room caught a whiff of that irony, either. If they did have a nose for that, they wouldn't have been there with Trump in the first place.

So I stop wincing when I use the word whore to describe somebody who:
a) wants power
b) doesn't have a clue what the Bible is about, but who nevertheless
c) claims to speak for masses of Christians, and
d) misquotes the Bible atrociously in order to
e) advocate for the advancement of another evil man in order to
f) amass more "power" for pet church ambitions that are secondary (at best) to the church's true calling


But it takes one whore to like another, so this is a marriage made in Hell. Donald, after all, is the one who said "Nobody reads the Bible more than me" and yet refers to a passage as "Two Corinthians" like a first-week student of a new language. Ralph and Donald were made for each other.

But why stop there? Ralph's second Bible reference is at least as problematic as his first. He mis-attributes a passage from Jeremiah to Jesus. No matter. Both names start with J, right? That's good enough for a whore, if not perhaps what we'd expect from a Christian leader.

Jokes aside, it's no coincidence that Ralph attributed Jeremiah's words to Jesus. Jesus promised rest to those who came to him, but Jeremiah's words hint at power and powerful actions. Jeremiah's words were appropriate to the moment. That's not the problem.

The problem arises when Ralph quotes Jeremiah and think's he's quoting Jesus. Most importantly, given that those at the meeting were drawn to it by the scent of power, Ralph's reference to Jesus doing powerful things says nothing about God's heart but an awful lot about what's on Ralph's mind. A Freudian slip? Ohhhh, yeah.

That's about as much time as I want to burn on Ralph Reed. 998 other whores deserve their due, and I am afraid most won't get as much coverage.

But let us take a moment to reflect on the state of the American church, that men like these have approached the pagan temple of Trump. They have every right to do so. But to do so as proclaimed followers of Christ? Leaders of the church? That demands a response. In this blog series I intend to give at least a few of these whores their due.

Stay tuned...

Watching the Not-So-Mighty Fall (I of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

Seriously. Where to begin?

Let's start with this. About ten years ago I got a real schooling on just how much of the Kool-Aid otherwise sensible people can drink. Somewhere between 2006 and 2009 I got front-row seats to watch...

a) A senior pastor (seriously) suggest bridging a $200,000 budget gap with change jars on the television. ("Every time you turn it on, empty your pockets into the jar!") Yeah. Average church attendance? 50-75 souls. Including the babies.

b) An "upstanding Christian man" forge my mortgage documents and submit different ones to TICOR.

c) Another man call a home remodeling project "done and ready for sale" when, upon closer examination, I discovered that the sinks were not yet installed.

Somewhere in the process, my naiveté got brutally stripped away.

Layer by layer.

Oh, each person had their excuses.

The senior pastor literally stripped me (illegally) of my position on the church vestry and slated me for counselling. Apparently my refusal to believe that his budget plans would work constituted obstructionism and lack of faith.

The mortgage broker sat at the table with his boss and with me. Staring at the divergent documents. "I can't explain how that happened!" he exclaimed with amazement.

The home-improvement wannabe explained, "I was going to finish painting the walls before I pushed the sink unit into place."

For me, the consequences varied.

I fled the church with my family. The pastor, so far as I know, continues to rule his roost.

The mortgage broker cracked a few hours after the meeting and confessed. He's lucky he didn't go to jail.

The unfinished condo buried me financially for about four years.

Where am I going with this?

These experiences helped prepare me for the surreal world we now live in.

And how.

Imagine this headline...

But wait. You don't have to imagine. It's real.

I find it easier now to take in surreality on the global scale because I have digested in my own life the same meal in smaller portions. I understand better now how people tell such amazing lies. It's easy. The key to it is this: They lie first and foremost to themselves. And then to the world.

"I need Pilgrim out of the way in order to run this church effectively."

"I didn't steal anything, so forging mortgage documents is OK."

"I can say the project is finished now because I plan to finish it soon."

But back to Dr. Dobson. What's going on in his head? I can almost hear it. A series of thoughts coming in rapid succession.

"I cannot bear the thought of Hillary in office."
"I want a Republican to win the Presidential election."
"How can I endorse Trump, though?"
"Well, he tells me he believes as I do..."

At this point it gets difficult. Like trying to think like a hamster. I cannot pull of the mental gymnastics required to make Trump a good selection in the mind of the man who founded Focus On The Family.

Seriously, Dr. Dobson?

Thankfully, I learned years ago to be careful with my trust -- and that with people that I do know. For those I don't know I am even more cautious.

That's good. Otherwise I'd have been shattered, watching Dobson and 1,000+ other "Evangelical leaders" go to meet with Donald Trump. Apparently the meeting went well, by their reckoning. That headline is an outcome of that meeting.

How did so many good and wise church leaders get fooled?

Well, the answer is easy to arrive at, once you realize that none of the people who attended were godly or wise. Not while attending that meeting, at any rate.

Why do I say that? Simple. It's like a math problem that can be solved only one way. A cross-word puzzle with only one solution. We have to assume they weren't godly or wise. Now return to the question and it's easy to answer.

How did so many church leaders find themselves attending that meeting and/or endorsing Trump? In a few words? Idolatrous love of power. A commitment to the Republican party that clearly supersedes matters of faith. A hatred for Hillary. Sheer spiritual folly.

Those ingredients, in varying proportions, are what's in the Kool-Aid these folk have been drinking.

As I write this blog post, it sounds smug. Self-congratulatory.

For what?

For falling for a pastor/church combo that in hindsight was wretchedly screwed up? Part of the problem was that the pastor was a former senior VP from a massive multi-billion-dollar IT behemoth. I was fooled, in part, by his prior successes in business. Does that remind you of anything?

What else? Do I pat myself on the back for losing a huge pile of family savings on a loan to someone clearly unfit for the task? Good job, Pilgrim?

As for Dobson, should I be proud that I recognize what Dobson does not? That Trump is a boorish, racist, misogynistic and depraved narcissist? No. At least a hundred million people worldwide know that. It just so happens that Dobson is not one of them. Dobson and a thousand other "Christian" leaders.

But at some point one must point out that the emperor has no clothes. Any fool would know that Trump has none -- well, any fool who learned as I did (at that church) that having amassed piles of cash is not tantamount to being an awesome and good person, let alone a good pastor or presidential candidate.

No. This blog is not devoted to self-congratulation but rather to pointing out the surreal. That tons of big-name "Christian" leaders are so morally stunted, it would be a kindness to call them emperors without clothes. The prophet Ezekiel would have described them and their actions in more graphic terms.

I'll say it again. This blog is devoted to digesting the fact that James Dobson, Franklin Graham and a number of other big-name Christians met with Donald Trump and managed to not insult him by pointing out that he's a degenerate soul about to be weighed on the balance and found wanting. It's something Donald needs to be told, however lovingly.

It would be different if Trump went to meet any one of them individually. I'd allow Trump into my home, if he asked. That's Christian love and charity in action. (And audacious hope that Trump can still change for the better.)

But that's not what Trump did. He wants the "Evanglical vote" and so he needs the "Evangelical endorsement". In order to get that endorsement, he called for a meeting with the leaders of the voting block he wants to secure. They should have smelled the rot of his intentions — it reeks from coast to coast. Godly leaders would have stayed home.

But they didn't. These so-called "Christian leaders" responded to Trump's whistle like lemmings cross-bred with homing pigeons. Didn't they realize that even showing up was going to send a message? That Trump was a candidate who reasonable Christians leaders might endorse? But show up they did.

Even attending was huge mistake, but for many of them that wasn't enough. As can be seen from Dobson's assertion, many atttendees jumped into bed with Trump. Ezekiel would have said the same thing in more graphic terms.

So No, I'm not patting myself on the back for spotting the scam.

I'm just trying to figure out...
a) why "Christian leaders" are drinking sewer-flavored Kool-Aid, and
(more importantly)
b) why anyone else would want to drink it with them.

Stay tuned...

What Superheroes Cannot Do (III of III)

So to follow up on the last blog post and finish this set of reflections on superheroes, a final thought on Kryptonite.

As Koodaigirl noted, Kryptonite is great stuff insofar as it forces us to rely on God, instead of ourselves. Add to that one more thing: it also creates space for us to enter into community with others stricken by their own versions of Kryptonite.

Examples are too numerous for me to fully recount. Here are a few.

Sunday Soccer. Ruined. I am not permitted to play for a few more weeks. So I sit under the tree and watch others play. Two little girls wander over regularly to join our local game in the park. I meet their dad, who comes to watch. First week I learn of several bad finger injuries from rock-climbing accidents. A bum wrist. And too much back pain to play. Second week he shares the story that led him to where he is now: a single father raising two girls, only one of which is his own. I never would have gotten to know him so quickly if I had not been thrown into his orbit. The orbit that involves sitting under a tree, not hot-dogging on the field. We talk injuries. We talk life.

My next-door neighbor. Stricken by some MS-ish disease a few years ago. Never had a heart-to-heart with her on it. Never felt welcome to pursue such matters. Hung out with a few neighbors a week ago on their back patio. Got into a quiet conversation with her. "Do you sleep well?" I asked. She doesn't. But our eyes and hearts connected. We both have pains that interrupt our fitful slumbers. She gave me a phrase for our state of affairs: "The new normal". I've been using it a lot, lately.

Now is a good time to mention that when sleep went downhill... when typing began to hurt... when things don't get better... I thought of Koodaigirl. And understood better what she's known for decades. I had heard the words before. Knew she faced challenges. But now am facing similar ones with her. A deeper connection, even thousands of miles apart.

Daughter's soccer game. Watching with other parents on the sidelines. Questions about my cast. Another parent joins the conversation. He's struggling, too. Rotator cuff surgery. Not healing well. Vertigo after the nerve block wore off, on top of all that. He's a truck driver. Vertigo and driving probably don't mix well. But he and I shared a common bond before parting. Shared suffering. Heartfelt words of encouragement shared before we part ways.

At work. A co-worker asks how the hand is doing. Well... not so great. I describe the numb fingers. The ones that don't bend. Then he shows me his war wounds. A finger once cut off and re-attached. "Even touching a piece of paper is like a lightning strike," he says. Another bent up -- basketball injury. The man has tattoos all over his body and hair below his shoulders, but many tattoos are Bible verses, and his wife is at home awaiting death from cancer. I whisper to him as we pass in the hall, "But the good thing is, one day we're going to get new bodies!" To which he replies, "You got that right!"

On and on they come. Mostly the past few months have served not merely to make me jealous of those still blessed with perfect health (a regular occurrence, I confess!) but also to make me aware of the tide of fellow souls around me who are suffering with even greater burdens. I now enter into their stories with greater interest and compassion.

Kryptonite makes us mortals. And that's very useful if the goal is to love and share life with other mortals. To draw a rather crude parallel, God the Son had to down a bit of Kryptonite in order to be born as Jesus. Will we not share his cup?

Returning to the title of this reflection, here's one thing superheroes don't do well: Whisper. Kryptonite reduces us to gasping whispers, and it is at that level of quiet that we begin to hear the gasping whispers of others around us. They were whispering all along, but strong ears don't hear quiet whispers. Weak ears are better suited to that task.

God gives us Kryptonite so that we can hear other people's whispers. Hear, Yes. But also to whisper back. By God's grace, to whisper back words of that same Grace. And Love. Hope. Hope that does not require all things to be made well now. Or soon. No. Hope in a kingdom yet to come.

Revelation 21:5
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”