Lent seems to be doing me

In 2020, each attempt to step forward feels like dancing knee-deep into a bayou. The obstacles have run the gambit of my life, ranging from wild ironies of fate to subtle moments of honest reflection. Most of them have come with a solid pinch of pain or fear, (like having to write something twice because the first draft is buried in a pile of Post-it notes dedicated to inventing the world’s greatest personal management system. [Strike one to that idea, I guess.])What game am I playing again?That is what all these Lenten ordeals have served to do so well: remind me of my mortality in a most inspirational and gratifying way.Lent as seasonal experience of everything is amassing to preach to me in stark contrast the glorious songs of the road to Zion: the new land where Jesus has set his throne.What matter are the weeds and thistles now? They are but more faithful preaching of the fact that leaving this muck ain’t worth mourning over that much.

All this often makes me think of you…

You, my reader. You, my fan (hopefully.) You, my blood-bound brother or sister in the body of Jesus Christ.These thoughts fit well with the warm sunshine and cold breeze of a Friday afternoon in early March, just northwest of the Rock River in the land where the Illini roamed. Barren trees and last winter’s dead leaf piles dance with a Blackstone grill on a driveway overlooking a road that seems to lead to peace.It’s a scene right out of Fallout 4. And that makes me smile over my cigar.