Come to me and fill me up
And take away this guilty cup
Wash my heart and make me clean
And fix my eyes on holy things

From Yeah, Yeah by Jacob's Hip

Station No. 6

It was a long time after that brief encounter on the porch before Rosa saw Charles again. The weather had turned warmer and late spring turned into summer and Rosa and Charles were rarely at their respective homes at the same time. In part, Charles had seen to it that he avoided Rosa on those few instances where he noticed she was around, but months passed and not so much as a “hello” passed between them.

Rosa had been busy with visiting relatives and enjoying the outdoors, but she thought of Charles often. Charles was trying hard to forget Rosa, the things she said that day on the porch and his pain which nipped at his heels, as well as his heart, like a mad dog insistent on a bone.

Some days were better, or worse, than others for both Rosa and Charles regarding what had passed ever so briefly between them. Charles was often able to shut out the uncomfortable memories and wash down the bad taste it had left in his mouth with endless activity with his two kids. Rosa usually tried to focus on her crossword puzzles. And there was the distraction of the derisive looks of the conductor and passengers on the train when she fumbled through her purse for her transit pass.

Rosa spent a good deal of time at the azalea garden in a very scenic part of the city. Charles, wanting to be a supportive and adventurous father, agreed to try in-line skating with his kids and wound up in the emergency room with a broken arm. His pain was for a good cause, however, and in a strange way it brought him closer to his son and daughter. It was common that summer for Charles to sit around the kitchen table with John and Jess, reliving the whole event over a bowl of ice cream, each time one or another aspect of the story being exaggerated for comic effect. There hadn’t been that sort of laughter and happiness in the house for a long time.

Rosa could sometimes hear the sounds of Charles and his family as they laughed, floating in through the open windows. She would look up from her book, a faint smile would form and she would say a prayer for the family. Rosa knew from experience that laughter was good medicine.

One of the most talented songwriters and performers of the last 25 years and most certainly to be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this coming spring is Elvis Costello.

His distinctive voice coupled with the rapier wit of his lyrics has been a potent mix, and he has been ahead of his contemporaries his entire career. Not one to be confined stylistically, he has worked in genres quite diverse from the rock and punk which were his beginning.

Is this a sign that the Apocalypse is upon us?

In one of those strange moments of rememberance, something this morning triggered my mind to go back to something i learned in chemistry ages and ages ago. There is something called Triple Point, which is the point at which all three states of matter coexist. For example, water, ice and steam simultaneously coexist. i thought about The Trinity. It's refreshing to see ways in which God has spoken to us through the natural order of things which science continues to discover.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

It was a real treat this summer driving around the Philadelphia suburbs and seeing the dogs placed randomly about by The Main Line Art Center. The project, called Art Unleashed, ended with an auction on Sept. 22.

My whole family was constantly on the look out for more and more dogs, and my kids and i stopped to take our pictures with a few of them. As i was driving to work this morning, i passed spots where dogs used to sit, and i realized i rather enjoyed seeing them each day.

i will miss them.

Gen. 1:1-3 tells us 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was [1] formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God has been speaking order into chaos ever since, bringing humanity collectively, and men and women individually, into the Light. He also calls us to speak order into chaos.

Some years ago, Dr. Larry Crabb wrote The Silence of Adam, exploring Adam's failure to speak in the Garden when Eve was tempted. Recently i recovered the old audio tapes of the book and listened again. Crabb's words are as personally haunting today as when i first heard them. Yet, he is ultimately encouraging, and even as i am convicted, i am strenghtened to live in His Light, listening to His Voice and following Him.

Station No. 5

It was not over a pot of tea, however, when Rosa finally summoned the courage and ventured into the unknown territory of asking Charles about the tragedy which had made him a single father. The door opened much more naturally one day when Rosa saw Charles sitting on his porch enjoying a book. However, the interaction was not the conversation Rosa had hoped it would be. The book turned out to be a collection of poetry written by Chin Li, a Chinese poet who had fled his country and settled on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia.

Rosa inquired and Charles handed her the book, opened to a poem he had been contemplating.

The warm, orange glow faded
to a blue chill, and i
drove into the night.

The twilight breezes that soothed
my face turned to night winds
so sharp they brought tears to my eyes.

Sun-drenched days and bronze complexions
returned me to where i wanted to be.

i only wished for her companionship.

“You miss her,” Rosa said, touching his elbow softly, in that way only a grandmother can.
“Terribly,” Charles said, sniffling and wiping the tears that had started to well. In that moment, Charles had not paused to ask Rosa how she could have the insight to say what she had said. He had not told her he was a single father, but in that moment, his raw heart craved an understanding soul, and Rosa had filled those shoes.

Several days earlier, she had heard Charles talking on the phone with a friend while sitting on his porch in the late spring evening. Rosa could hear enough of Charles' comments floating in through the window to discern that Charles was talking about his wife's death. She got no details, but was able to piece together a few aspects of the situation. It had been five years, the result of a car accident, a drunk driver. And the anniversary of her death was that same evening, hence the call.

Charles’ normal lack of emotion was replaced by a brokenness and a neediness, but only for a moment. Grabbing the book of poetry and rising quickly from his seat, Charles cleared his throat and announced that Rosa would need to leave and he excused himself to go inside.

Rosa wondered if Charles would be alright that evening, and more than once came close to dialing his number. Each time she stopped herself before actually picking up the receiver, and sat instead, reliving some of her own pain. She knew something of tragedy. Her son Jack had been taken suddenly. Rosa had spent her hours unable to stop her sobbing in the days immediately following Jack's death, wondering what else could have been done to treat his cancer.

i was talking with a brother in Christ yesterday and in part of the discussion I Pet. 5:8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour came up. We began talking about the sad fact that so many times, the church at large fails to see our enemy as a roaring lion for fear that doing so will result in giving him too much emphasis. So, as a reactionary move, the church often minimizes the reality of the enemy's work and the struggle in which we find ourselves.

But, my friend and i discussed, what a difference it makes when we see our lives as being lived out in the midst of the larger spiritual battle, knowing that the resurrection of Jesus had garnered the victory, which will be ours if we endure.

Putting the pursuit of Christ above the pursuit of all else is counter-cultural in our time, and every time for that matter, but it is the only way to stay sober minded and alert.

Station No. 4

As it turned out, Rosa was as fond of the Three Tenors as Charles, and the seeds of a rather unlikely friendship were sown that brilliant autumn day. Conversations between the two started out as chats in which Rosa stayed inside only to poke her head out a window on occasion, then progressed to longer interactions where both stood on their respective porches.

Eventually, Rosa had Charles over for tea. Charles was not aware of it, but Rosa only invited to tea those people for whom she had developed a fondness. Rosa, a grandmother, and Charles, a single father, found before long that the Three Tenors were just the beginning of their similarities. By the end of a pot of oolong, perfect for the afternoon, they both realized they shared an interest in crossword puzzles, poetry and English gardens.

As far as Charles was concerned, he was quite aware that Rosa, as kind as she was, was not someone he would normally choose as an afternoon companion. He thought of her as a very maternal figure who would have little to give him which he actually needed. He thought often of how people in her age bracket seemed always to have something to say to younger people such as himself which really was of no value. He was a grown man of the world, and was quite sure this somewhat awkward and disheveled woman was like all the other women of similar station he had met: Rather inconsequential. Friendship with her was almost more for humor or sport than true camaraderie. And so it was with skepticism that he viewed her and this new friendship, all the while being drawn to it without clarity as to why. He was even willing to put up with Rosa's insistence on calling him Charles, rather than his preferred name of Chuck.

Rosa saw in Charles something of a son, and was lonely for a relationship to replace the one she had lost years earlier. She was increasingly excited to spend time with Charles, and it had taken her focus off of her infirmities to have her new companion.

Charles was finishing his second cup of tea and pouring his third when Rosa came close to mustering the nerve to ask about Charles' departed wife. After five years, Charles was now finally getting used to the questions people would ask, and he had figured there were many questions related to Amanda's passing which were burning in Rosa's mind like fires she could not have controlled even had she wanted to. Charles lifted his tea cup and caught Rosa's eyes which seemed to hold a knowing yet anxious quality about them. The two regarded each other, yet said nothing. Both sensed there would be other conversations on other days.