Station No. 23

John's eyes got large and he froze in his seat. "How did she know?" he said to himself. The look of astonishment was too difficult for John to hide and Rosa anticipated what he was thinking.

"John, you're not the only one who sees things," Rosa said, almost without any emotion at all. "i have been concerned about your father for a while."
"Why?" John asked, even more dumbstruck.

"Your father is in a great deal of pain, emotionally as well as physically, and he is running from it," Rosa said. She went on to talk to John about how Charles was unwilling to let others help him because of his pride. The conversation went for a long time, and John and Rosa covered much ground in talking about John's frustrations with his dad. John had been skeptical at first, but by the end of nearly two hours of talking, John was very much at home with Rosa.

John realized it was getting late and that his dad would want him home soon, and may have actually already started looking for him in the neighborhood. As John was leaving, Rosa asked him for help with a crossword. She had the daily crossword on the end table on top of her books and had been truly stumped. But her reason for asking John as he left was to provide him with a cover should Charles seem to be irritated at finding John had been at Rosa's house.

"What's a six-letter word for one who helps? Rosa asked.
John paused, looked off to a high distant corner of the room the way many people do when trying to access a certain part of their brains and think of something difficult.
"Sorry, can't think of anything," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"It's okay, John, just thought i would ask," Rosa said with a tone which feigned not even a great degree of interest on her own part.

Rosa rose to walk John to the door and he insisted, "No, please don't get up."
But Rosa waived her hand, casting aside his objection as if it actually were hanging in the air in front of her, and said: "Son, i'm not dead yet. It's just the right thing to do to walk one's guest to the door."

She put her hand on John's shoulder and he thought it was nice. An hour or so earlier he would have recoiled, but now, he liked it. John turned at the door and said good bye.

"Thanks, Rosa, thanks for being a friend."

Sometimes, reading a Pauline Epistle is exactly what i need. i love the way he goes for it in Galatians 2.

George Frideric Handel (1685 - 1759) composed the classic Messiah in 1741-42. The singing of Chorus: Hallelujah was, for years, a tradition in which i participated each Christmas. Nothing else says "Christmas" quite like it.

Station No. 22

Charles was trying to summon the courage to go back to the cafe and talk to Jason. He felt the desire to talk about Chin li's poetry and the questions it stirred in him, but he also feared having conversations about things which he considered non-rational. He never showed anyone that fearful side of himself, preferring to present to the world a persona, perhaps a caricature, of a man who was sure of himself in all respects.

He pondered for weeks how he might return Jason's book of poetry and avoid a discussion of the lines which Jason knew had grabbed Charles. If there were a way to stride into the cafe with poise and confidence, Charles would find it. Ironically, he was blind to the very fact that anyone could see he was wrestling with something much greater than himself which had surprised him in Chin li's poem.

Even as Charles schemed for a way to strike a pose, Jason was contemplating how he might get in touch with Charles because he knew the man was troubled. Numerous phone messages had gone unreturned, and the one time Jason made a spontaneous stop at Charles' house, Charles stayed upstairs and pretended not to be home.

In the midst of all the internal wrangling going on withing Charles, John was more and more trying to connect with his father relationally through initiating conversations. His attempts were being snubbed, and John was not able to tell if the cold response he was getting from his dad was intentional or the result of the way other, pressing matters can cloud a person's mind.

John took his confusion to Rosa one day, walking over to her house and knocking on the door quite without planning a visit. After some time of waiting without an answer at the door, John was turning to go, with a dejected look on his face to mirror the deep sadness of his soul, when he heard Rosa undoing the latch and calling: "Wait, wait a minute!"

The two sat in Rosa's living room with her depression-era chairs and sofa, which she insisted on calling a davenport — much to John's amusement. "Davenport?" he said to himself.

John was starting to feel a bit strange. It was one thing to talk to Rosa as they sat in the kitchen in John's own house. His house was familiar territory, but her place seemed so, well, old. But Rosa was a good hostess, and soon John was comfortable and enjoying a soda.

"What is it?" she asked him.
"What is what?" John responded, wondering if he had missed whatever it was that had spurred Rosa to ask her question.
"What's brought you here?" Rosa asked calmly.
"It's —" John hestitated, searching for the right words. "It's my —" he stumbled, questioning the wisdom of spilling his guts to Rosa.
"It's your dad," Rosa said, finishing John's sentence for him.

i had the pleasure of hearing Peter Kreeft speak during an out-door apologetic presentaion and dialog at the University of Massachusetts in 1991. He was compelling and clear in his presentation of the Gospel, and was not the least bit wrankled by the students who challenged him _ at times rudely. It was a charged atmosphere, as the Gulf War was on, and the campus' activist culture was heightened. The dialog turned more to shouting and name calling by the less-than-opened-minded folks who just couldn't tolerate an intelligent discussion about God and their own human hearts.

It is my pleasure to come across Kreeft's web site and also find an essay he wrote titled Sex in Heaven. It's insightful and provocative. Thanks also to Mark Shea for providing a link to the Kreeft site initially.

Incarnation

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

What profound truth we have in John's gospel, and in the Advent season. He is Life, He is Light. Paul picked up on these themes when he said we were once darkness but now we are light in Christ.

Joy to the world the Lord is come.

Sledding

i took the kids _ Noah (5) and Elijah (3) _ sledding on both Saturday and Sunday. There was plenty of fun, coldhand and toes, and comedy to go around. Elijah insisted on never getting out of the long sled the entire day. And, indeed, except for when i lifted him out to put him in his car seat to go home, he stayed true to his intent. He had plenty of issues with his boots, however, which continued to slip off of his feet, much to all our surprise. Noah was full of excitement and let out various roller-coaster-worthy screams as we went down a very modest hill.

Nevertheless, they are small and so the hill must have seemed significant.

On Sunday, Elijah was in the front of the sled (in which all three of us could fit), and Noah said he wanted to push the back of the sled in order to get more speed down the hill. i pushed in the middle of the sled and jumped in, fancying myself somewhat of an Olympic bobsledder. We were racing (not exactly racing, but it makes the story better) down the hill and i jumped in. i could hear Noah's yells but they seemed a little faint, so i turned around to look at him. There he was, hands still holding on to the back of the sled, but being dragged behind it face down in the snow. he had tripped as we were running and so he just hung on at full stretch all the way down the hill (remember, it's a modest hill at best).

his screams were all joy, however, as he still enjoyed the ride. i have to say, that made my whole weekend.