Margaret’s coming home on Saturday!

Wednesday, July 14, 2021                              (today’s lectionary)

Memorial of Saint Kateri Takakwitha, Virgin

Margaret’s coming home on Saturday!

An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a burning bush. The bush did not burn up, and Moses said to himself, “I must step aside and go over to look at this remarkable sight.”

Fascinating. In the last two days I’ve left my phone behind three times and my credit card once. Yesterday I spent a couple hours recovering what I’d lost on Monday. The good news? Everything was found. Amazing grace!

And the Lord called out to him from the bush, “Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” But God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father, and of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Yesterday Shannon helped me pick up a recliner loveseat and rocker recliner for our apartment from the nearby Salvation Army Thrift Store. He didn’t just help, he did most of the work! We met a muscular man named Randall who has the most mesmerizing voice. I walked into the very large thrift store and said I was picking up two pieces of furniture, and the manager shouted out, “Randall!”

Randall shouted back, and I thanked them both for showing off their lungs. But Randall’s voice was a most beautiful, deep, sonorous singing voice that took my breath away. “When did you leave the radio waves?” I asked him. He responded with a sweeping bass rendition of “You’re in good hands, with Allstate!” Oh!

Two of my mellifluous friends read audiobooks and work in radio, and I texted them immediately about Randall, asking for contacts they might have that he could pursue. He has high hopes of driving trucks again for the Salvation Army. He graduated from the Program, drove awhile, relapsed and entered the “Program” again. But there is no race he cannot run. And perhaps he will become a famous singer.

He appreciated the contacts (which I will get to him soon by hook or by crook). He has never been on the radio, or in a band, or read an audiobook. But, he said, “you are about the one millionth person who has told me that’s what I should be doing.”

Shannon and Randall were born a month apart in 1966. Randall’s son just became a police officer in Dallas. He is doing well. Randall beamed. Dad is so proud. And I know he wants to follow in his son’s footsteps, just as his son followed in the best of his. Pride and humility mingled in his words and intonations.

But there is nothing he can do about his voice. It is simply the most beautiful voice I have ever heard. (Except for Lauren Bacall, when she tells Bogart how to whistle.) Like Darth Vader, like James Earl Jones, Johnny Cash … like God.

The Lord is kind and merciful, forget not all his benefits. Bless his holy name.

Furniture in place. Then when I got to Margaret’s rehab home I saw written on her white board: “DISCHARGE: Saturday, July 17.” I immediately added fifteen exclamation marks after these words (or will today when I track down a dry erase marker). Six weeks and a day, and she can wave goodbye to the hospital culture that she can’t wait to leave, but she is so grateful for the people in that culture who have nursed her back to health and strength.

I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

I believe the departing patients get to ring a bell when they leave Encompass. We shall see on Saturday.

(Exodus 3, Psalm 103, Matthew 11)

(posted at www.davesandel.net)

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