I finished my 5th lap around the pond when I noticed my hand was covered in blood.
“What’s done cannot be undone!” I imagined myself howling into this brisk, September morning.
That’s a reference to Lady MacBeth. Unlike Lady MacBeth, the blood covering my hand was my own. I unconsciously tore a hangnail off my finger during my morning run. Thus, blood.
I returned to my friend Natalie’s house. My son Samson was sitting in the living room.
“I got attacked by a tiger,” I told Samson. I showed him my bloody hand.
Samson rolled his eyes. Samson had enough of my shenanigans long ago.
“What really happened?” he asked.
“A hangnail.”
“Oh.”
Oh.
***
I was far too busy to drive to Minnesota last weekend, but drive I did.
My wife Katie and I are in our third and final year as students in Woodland Hills online seminary program. The annual retreat was last weekend. After much gnashing of teeth, we decided to go. We got to Minnesota on Friday night. We returned to Iowa City on Sunday afternoon. We spent all day Saturday chasing radical love with a wild collection of humanity.
Wild collection of humanity?
I drank a Summit EPA (well, half a Summit EPA) with a woman from New Zealand. I exchanged pleasantries with a man from Hong Kong. I joked about how all theology hangs on young earth theory (it doesn’t) with a group of laughing Jesus followers.
I enjoyed Saturday more than I thought I would. It’s been a long September. I suspect a long October is coming. And don’t get me started on December. People wear me out, so I was surprised to notice that I enjoyed being with a wild collection of humanity last weekend.
Like Elijah the prophet, I just keep going these days, unsure of what will come next.
Incidentally, Elijah is the name of the protagonist in the next book that I’m going to struggle to find literary representation for. But I just keep going.
***
We pulled into Iowa City just in time to not watch the Vikings steal a victory from the Dolphins (the game wasn’t broadcast in Iowa). Katie went grocery shopping. I stole a few hours on the couch. I watched NFL Redzone, and braced for another week of being a department chair. I don’t know what will happen next, but I’m at peace as I keep happening along with it.
We ended our retreat on Sunday morning talking about George MacDonald and analyzing tell all the truth but tell it slant by Emily Dickinson.
That’s all I’ve ever been up to, I think. Trying to tell all the truth slantly. The truth is I didn’t want to go to Minnesota last weekend, I did want to go Minnesota last weekend, and it was a lot and it was annoying and it was good. Success in circuit lies, my friend, and success is love, life, and light in a world that can be unloving, menacing, and dark.
Just keep going.
