The flags. They are down again. Hanging halfway down on the pole looking sullen. Sometimes I wonder if we should just leave them at half mass. Why even bother raising them back up? Tragedy seems to strike so often these days that we might as well just leave them in the halfway state. I think of the first responders having to walk into that church, that concert venue, that tragedy. Their lives, like the victims laying motionless, forever changed. My nephew is a fire fighter. One of my best friends is married to a fireman. I have numerous friends married to police officers. Their lives, too, are changed immeasurably. Senseless acts of violence try to rob my hope daily. A lack of understanding and unfathomable circumstances twist and turn in my soul. A darkness creeps in and leaves behind a vast heaviness. The whole earth feels like she's gasping for breath; like she's on a ventilator. I walked up the street and saw the flags. Worship music playing in my ear buds, I told God I...
A journey of life, faith, and their messy mingling