Skip to main content

Disappearing Act

Often, as a child, I would
slip into silly daydreams -
not of being a pop star,
an astronaut,
or superhero -
I would dream of
fighting my father.
My father, whose
temper was as short
as his moral stature.

Few boys have the
chance to live out their
daydreams.
But I did.
From upstairs one night,
I heard my father
yelling,
angry as Hell.
This had been brewing
for some time, I thought.
I grabbed a knife from my bookshelf
and headed towards the commotion.
Thwack, "You whore!"
Thwack.
"Deric!"
"What is it, dad? Just calm
down."
"Call Pastor and Mickey"
And so I placed the call,
and placed my weapon on the pool table,
and tried to calm both of them,
hysterical
spouting nonsense
crying
frantic
"Calm. Both of you, easy now."

Randy arrives, wife trailing
behind.
Dad lunges, yells, knocks
Randy to the ground
straddles him, right next
to the pool table.

Here it is:
I love my mom
I love Pastor Randy
I loathe my father.
But when I grabbed my
knife, I didn't unsheathe it.
After all,
who wants to hurt a
man already in so much
pain?

So I hit him with
the harmless end.
I hit him
again
again
nothing
he's still beating the crap
out of my pastor.

So I run.
To the phone.
911.
And I run.
Outside.
To the car.
Drive away.

Whatever happened
to the hero?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Many Will Enter Heaven?

Check out this quote I found online: "[C]onsider this fact: fewer than 20% of people actually think they are going to hell. And yet, in answering that question, Jesus says in Matthew 7 that FEW pass through the gate that leads to eternal life. 80% doesn't sound like few to me... do some of us have the wrong idea?" There are a number of problems with this quote. First of all, you it is assuming that "few" refers to the current ratio of professing Christians to non-Christians. What's to say that Jesus isn't referring to the entire population of all the earth over all time? In that case, it's entirely plausible that 80% of people now are really Christians, as long as there are still few total Christians when all is said and done. Maybe it applies only to the people in the crowd listening to Jesus. Or, it could refer to something else entirely (as I believe). Jesus was talking to a specific people living in a specific time. We cannot decontextualize his ...
11 comments
Older Posts »

Sunny California

I'm settled into a church family's house here in Valencia, and boy is it great. I like listening to my pastor talk about theology. He is also a wonderful counselor, and has been helping me work with some of my personal problems (yes, I know it's hard to believe, but I do have problems). Here is his blog site, if anybody is interested: The Craw . Also, here is the website of my church, along with its blog: Saint Andrew's Community Church , The Chronicles of Saint Andrews . In the meantime, I have been reading The Shape of Sola Scriptura by Mathison, who also wrote Given For You . Both of these books have had an enourmous impact on me, and I strongly encourage all of you to get out and read The Shape of Sola Scriptura , particularly if you've ever struggled with the authority of the Bible, and how it squares away with church tradition. The thesis is that most evangelicals treat the issue of the Bible and tradition wrongly, particularly those in radically reformed chu...
9 comments
Older Posts »

On the Biblical Mandate to Respect Authority

The SC choir chaplain brought up a passage in 1 Peter at the beginning of this week regarding submission to authority. It led to interesting conversation, and I'd like to reiterate part of that conversation here. 1) It is important to remember that the early churches who passed around these letters had a very practical use for them. The early church could have easily been stomped out had the early Christians been too anti-government. True, the church was persecuted. True, the church did get into trouble with the government. However, remember that the persecution happened for short bursts of time (historically speaking) and only in isolated areas. It was by no means universal persecution. Additionally, when you look at other early Christian documents, you see more injunctions to work with the rulers. And why not? The early church needed all the support it could get, while not compromising, of course. If they were all outspoken government radicals, they would not have lasted long. 2)...
8 comments
Older Posts »