A Couple Quotes

I’ve written a pot-load of serious blogs this week and I said to myself, “Charlie, it’s time to lighten up!”
by Charlie Leck

I’ve been ranting all week. I’ve got a headache from it. A book came in the mail – The Book of Eleven, by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. I get a kick out of her stuff, so I knew it would be the perfect way to lighten up.

“It’s not death per se that freaks me out, but rather the permanence of it all.”

Well, maybe not the perfect way, but Amy is funny and I like chuckling at her stuff.

“My parents were at the movies and about midway through the film, the fire alarm went off. They were all instructed to leave the theater for about ten minutes, and when they were allowed back in, everyone went back to their exact same seats.”

You’ve got to admit it’s a big change from my blogs about foolish bishops and pompous Senators.

In one chapter, Amy tells eleven really true (very short) stories in the book. One of them nearly knocked me on my knees laughing.

“When my fiancé and I got engaged he decided to sell his VW Rabbit because we only needed one car and his was a stick which I didn’t know how to drive. He put an ad in the paper that read, ‘Must sell car – fiancé can’t drive stick.’

“We came home one night to this message on his machine: ‘Yo, dickhead – teach the bitch to drive stick!’”

Amy really does knock me out. I can’t quote more or I’ll get in trouble with the copyright cops. The book is out of print but I found a copy on ABE, my favorite on-line source for out-of-print books.

To get serious for a moment…
It’s a big change to throw at you, but my email tonight included a meditation piece from Sojourners. I read it. Then I reread it. I sat quietly, for a pretty long time, and thought about it. I made myself a drink and read it again and thought about it some more.

"Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly … Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and [God] will say, Here I am." [Isaiah 58:7-9]

Did you like that? I was quieted and brought to attention by this part of it: “Then your light shall break forth like dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.”

I like supporting the local food shelf here. I send them six or seven hundred each year. But, bring someone into my home? My own kin? What? How? Scripture is baffling!

My sister would do that! It didn’t frighten her. She believed her Lord called her to do it.

“Come home with me! I’ll feed you. You need a bath and I’ll find you clean, warm clothes.”

Her light broke forth like the dawn!

She was the only saint I ever knew. I miss her so.

And here, I told you I’d lighten up. Sorry! Sometimes my blogs just run on without me – I don’t know where they’re going and I can’t stop them.

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