Friday, October 3, 2014

Accidental Pirate of Lost Souls


Children's Day in Guatemala
We decided to dress as Pirates for our students.

Confirmation comes to me like an unanticipated blow to the head. I've no doubt that if I were a biblical character, I'd be the one getting scolded by a donkey, swallowed by a whale, or climbing a tree and becoming the subject of a ridiculous song.

The story would continue in spite of me. I've heard it said that God uses the unlikeliest of people, and I suppose that explains why He chooses to use me.

I was dressed like a pirate when the family of a young mother who committed suicide was desperate to find a home for the orphaned infant.

I wore print blue bow-tie with a pink striped shirt when a desperate young life came spilling out secrets and searching for escape.

I walk around with ridiculous hair as I am sought out for hugs and reassurance by young lives in search to belong.

I sit at my desk with argyle socks and crocks and my hair askew as instant messages pop in desperate moments of life.

Welcome aboard my accidental intentional life. The broken cords in my hands become the lifelines of others. My unexpected wanderings are become the intentional provision of the One who created the winds and the depths.

The route to here was anything but direct, and yet I am in this place at this time, pilfering futures from the ghost-ships of the lost. I stand tied as a bewildered witness to the weathered mast of miracles.

I ride these waves for such a time as this.

"We're beggars and blighters and ne'er do-well cads...
Yo ho, Yo ho, a pirates life for me."

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