People in Exile

We talk to Paul every week. It was last March when he & I flew back to Wisconsin to face the music. It was old music, and not much of a tune, I must say. It's like he's being punished for doing the right thing -- he can't come back home yet, but the end of his exile is in sight. Of course, we've been thinking the end was in sight for five or six months.

Meanwhile, I'm having to unload trucks, the place is a wreck -- needs a good deep cleaning. Any volunteers?

***

I feel like I've been in exile too.

I haven't been at my church for months and I miss it. Instead I'm roaming around -- Congregational, United Methodist, Lutheran, community fellowships. They're alright, but it would be nice to see people I know for once.

Besides the preaching is bound to be better back home. (I'm tired of listening to myself -- I don't pay attention very well).

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Then I think about all our guys -- separated from friends, family, loved ones. Sometimes there are good reasons -- fights, craziness of one kind or another. But I suspect that in the quiet moments they long for "home" in a way that makes sleeping on a mat with a bunch of smelly guys even more awful. Wishing for an end to the separateness, all of us look for something better, don't you think? Rick R