Do Not Ask the River

an update, a prayer request, and a poem about a turtle I saw in a dream

I’m a little more than a week removed from my shoulder surgery, and recovery has proven to be every bit as difficult as I was warned it would be. Turns out (to exactly no one’s surprise), I am not God’s toughest soldier. Thankfully, Jewels has been here to take good care of me—she is God’s toughest soldier. Pray for her (for obvious reasons). And pray for me too. I’m supposed to travel this weekend and teach a class next week, so I need to show some serious improvement quick.

While I have you and your sympathies, I did want to share this poem that began to come to me a few days ago in the wake of a dream that happened right after a long, challenging discussion about handling difficult passages of Scripture. (We were talking about the horrors at the end of Judges and the betrayal of Judas, mostly.) I’ve not had the proper time or clarity of mind to really work on the poem, but I think its rough shape is good enough for now. I take it as a kind of parable on the matter: