Good Friday

A couple weeks ago, Joe fell off his slide, from about 5 feet up. He landed like a cat, on all fours and then he kind of crumpled, and I thought for sure he had broken his arm. But it turned out that as he came down, he grazed the edge of the sand box and cut his hip. He cried for a bit and I held him and we started laughing after a little bit. He got right back to playing. I told him he had a new nickname, “Chuck Norris.”

Chip “Norris” Guyton gave me Chuck Norris’ autobiography Against All Odds. A good read. I know, I know. People have told me for years something like this: you were a student of serious literature. Why do you like “Walker, Texas Ranger?”

What you have to know is that one of my professors told me that I was single-handedly starting a new school of literary criticism he called “Philistinism.” This was, presumably, in response to my statement that I am not into the “whole ambiguity thing.” Ambiguity, uncertainty, “complicating the issues” are all cardinal virtues of the modern world. Not for me.

Melissa is still in the hospital. Getting stronger, it seems. She is cutting up, wanting to sing hymns. Starr and Randy Clay gave me a hymnal when I left First Church in Lexington. I keep their note at the hymn that seems to sum up First Church’s impact on me, #163, “Ask Ye What Great Thing I Know.” We have been using the hymnal as a prayer book.

This will be the third Easter Melissa has not been at church. In 2005, she was too sick to come. 2006 too much pain just before the transplant. And now, it looks like she is in here for the weekend and longer.

Weird connections. Frank Woggon is the chaplain here. He was at Baptist East for some time. I met him at a chaplain training event at Earlham College almost 7 years ago. Frank is from Germany, and he talked about Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his presentation. Anyway, I had not seen him for years and then he was in the lobby. We talked and it was good to have him pray for and support Melissa.