bleak midwinter

  Today I had a pretty good morning but I crashed after lunch with a migraine and I spent the afternoon and evening in the dark. It's been a challenge to figure my body out and balance things properly. I have to agree with Emmett who told me that he would like to lock the West Nile virus in a box and lock that box in a box, in a box, in a box, in a box, and tie them in ropes in a dungeon guarded with lasers. :-)

   A few days ago I was reading a time magazine article about Fidel Castro.  In 1979, when communism had stalled in Cuba and the country was obviously struggling, a reporter tried a roundabout way to get Castro to admit failure. He asked Castro the question, "Why has communism failed in Russia?"  But Castro wouldn't have it. He pounded the table with his fist and said why aren't you asking, "Why hasn't communism failed in Cuba?!"  Castro refused to see just how broken Cuba was.

   I'm not sure how the world looks to you these days, but from my vantage point it's pretty easy to see that the world is broken.  I've gotten a tiny spoonful of the suffering that millions experience worse than me.  For all of our sakes, more than ever before, I long for this broken world to be fixed.  Here are some lyrics that I wrote a couple weeks ago that could be sung with the familiar Christmas carol:

In the bleak midwinter it's not as it should be
Sin has corrupted it completely
You came down to make things right
But we killed the Holy One
Now it's bleak midwinter and we know we need the Son

In the bleak midwinter, with the Bridegroom gone
We weep and fast and pray for the Kingdom Feast to come
Our lamps ready and burning for the wedding day
When after bleak midwinter the Bride will see Your face

In the bleak midwinter, it feels cold and gray
It feels like forever since you went away
How long Lord til you come again?
How long til you return?
In the bleak midwinter our Advent fires burn
Jesus our Messiah, Jesus Christ our hope
O come quickly, come, Lord Jesus take us home
We long to hear the trumpet call
to be with you always
In the bleak midwinter, we want Heaven's Rays
In the bleak midwinter how can we go on?
Have we now been orphaned to survive on our own?
No, though not face to face we exper'ence You in part
Sweet foretaste of Heaven – Your Spirit in our hearts

  There is nothing more encouraging to me than the One who loves us more than a groom loves his bride, who proved that by dying for us on a cross, who is with us now by his Spirit, and who will fix this broken world once and for all when he returns. Jesus is everything. God save us from pounding our fists and refusing to see our brokenness without him.