Love Letter to La Jolla

A white linen town
Steam-pressed to perfection.
You are quaint luxury,
Traditional innovation,
Youthful antiquity.
In your paradox lives
Millennial dreams and baby-boomer rest.

Life has given me this trade:
The diligent, immigrant charm
I've so dearly loved,
For this impossibility
Of adults at lazy brunch on a Thursday.

You've been the backdrop to my love story
Your "for here" lattes and sunny breezes
Fueling my pursuit of Christ.
You're the storybook beach house location
Of my eternal summer love affair with God.

Your clouds drift faster,
Your rain is sweeter,
Yet in it all a dreamy presence hangs.
And I know that when it comes down to it,
You're a bit of a commitment-phobe,
At least in regards to me.

I accept that, and I vow
To relish in you now,
To cherish you and adore you,
For all the time we have left,
In awareness of your fleeting nature.

You rock. Don't ever change.
Don't settle down while I'm gone.
I'll be back for you, La Jolla
If only to revisit and recollect.
Because I know your secret,
That all you are is but a fantasy,
It is one I,
Will gladly believe.

Supplication

some that are on my heart:

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer"

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

And establish the work of our hands upon us;

Yes, establish the work of our hands!"

"The Lord our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers."

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

(Psalm 19:14) (Psalm 90:17) (1 Kings 8:57-58) (Ephesians 3:20)

Great Are You Lord

A reminder of what it looks like to fear God in awe and reverence:

When the waters saw you, O God,

When the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

The clouds poured out water; 

the skies gave forth thunder; 

your arrows flashed on every side.

The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

Your way was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron. 

(Psalm 77:16-20)

La Jolla Mornings

Tummy filled with warm coffee,
Cool sheets offer perfect relief to the flush of my face.
Light, yet unadulterated by the harshness of heat,
Floods in through the blinds embracing my
Limbs strewn carelessly across the comforter like
I can understand why Raggedy Ann is always smiling.
Gentle acoustics serenade my ear,
Propelling me forward as I'm
Carried again into a place of
Joy. O Prince of Peace, what a romantic you are.
Can I stay here forever, here with you?

The Chaplain

It began with a joke and a nudge. A superstitious thought thrown out:
 "God always protects the helicopter you're on, huh chaplain?"
It was received with chuckles and dismissing groans from the other soldiers in earshot.

 

But like a spark that flickers before igniting into flame, the comedic claim quickly reified into fact in the desperate hearts of exhausted men. Men barely hanging on to their determination to live as each day dragged on in menial labor, interrupted only by spurs of sobering violence.

The chaplain, simple and reserved except when possessed by a great spirit of grandeur in leading his ragged congregation to worship, replied with silence and a sheepish grin as the troop trudged slowly through the swampy terrain to the field where the helicopters were waiting. It was a South Korean troop, one of but few participating in the Vietnam War, a part of the South Korean government's meager attempt to show alliance to the US. These were men who either had the unfortunate luck of being chosen randomly by the military leadership, or determined the opportunity to be a means of financial relief for their families back at home in the developing, new democratic nation. All shared the experience of coming to the war to come face to face with a nightmare beyond their imaginations.

Oftentimes transportation meant packing several soldiers into small unprotected helicopters to fly over enemy territory, a journey during which any one or more of the aircraft could be shot down without much hope of escape. These men knew the readiness of the possibility that this time it could be theirs, they knew the men who died of these tragedies, and thus were well-acquainted with the fear of each gamble. But as men of military expertise, they also knew well to keep this fear away from the forefront of their consciousness, they knew the futility of succumbing to emotion in such a situation. But as the thought of supernatural safety began to spread like wildfire through the desperate hearts of these fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, hysteria let loose.

The chaplain felt a rigid silence fall over the troop, footsteps began following faster behind him. He approached a helicopter. As he grabbed hold of the door frame and hoisted himself in, the troop's hovering pressure became an outright brawl. They were not pushing and fighting against fellow soldiers, they were reaching to grasp any sense of protection in this strange land of volatile realities. As men climbed over one another to cram themselves through the entrance of the helicopter, the chaplain sat helpless, clenching his hands around the edges of his seat, taking in the scene of human desperation with wide eyes. His heart shattered. Without thought he began lifting up a wordless prayer to God. He prayed of his despair, of deep sadness at the sight of this chaos. He did not ask of anything. He merely relayed his heavy broken heart in all its intensity and solemnity before His Lord.

The commotion was broken by the berating bark of the commanding officer. The depraved men were at one soldiers again. Obedient and lucid to the orders of the hierarchy. The officer stepped up to the doorway of the helicopter, and grabbing the soldier closest to the entrance by the scruff of his shirt collar, yanked him out with a final chastising reproach. He then climbed aboard and promptly secured himself in the newly evacuated seat in the chaplain's helicopter, clearing his throat and murmuring of the ridiculousness of the soldiers' superstitions.


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