INSANE

Fear mongers fill the pages

            of my space

            my news

            my world.

Terror lurks on every street;

            if radical Islam isn’t enough,

            tough punks in wayward gangs

            wait to slash my throat.

Then United Nations think tanks

            issue their latest alarm,

            the newest plague

            to haunt my steps.

And if there isn’t one

            they’re quick to point out

            that it can’t be long

            ‘till another one hits.

Religion, too, never skips a beat;

            each year brings recycled prophecies

            of imminent disaster

            and collapse of all I know.

Is it really any wonder

            that half the world

            takes Prozac

            and the other half smokes pot?

But, “the just shall live by faith,”

            they say,

            and I say,

            “faith in what?

“Faith in a God of Creation

            who set evil loose

            to torment generations?

“Faith in a God of Love

            who silently watches

            monsters mangle gentle doves?

“Faith in a Father

            who sent His

            only Son to die?

“Faith in a God of Blood?”

God and His Way

            is a paradox

            a set of facts

            that make no sense.

Jesus spoke in parables

            so we couldn’t

            understand

            what He meant.

God speaks in riddles

            and declares that

            only a king

            discerns his meaning.

Jesus said,

            “He who lives dies,

            and

            he who dies lives.”

“Insane!”

            cried the teacher,

“It is all

            vanity of vanities!”

(c) August 24, 2007

Glenn Hall