Season by the Sea
An eight-year-old girl discovered the lost scroll
last month in a ravine behind her stucco house.
Her spiritual but not religious parents took it to
the tattooed priest in town who took it to the city
seminary so expert theologians could dissect it.
Everything about the scroll itself rings authentic.
But the story revealed inside? Well, it’s a stunner.
The scroll indicates Jesus didn’t ascend back to
heaven full-time after the resurrection and all that
but rather decided to split a span of time between
there and a spot here. With a little help from his
friends he acquired a place by the shore where he
could listen to the gulls and smell the sea and watch
the endless water as it swallowed the setting sun.
Like a snowbird, Jesus flew back to heaven in winter.
The scroll is Jesus’ daily journal—intimate scrawls
about everything from his memories of Joseph to
a heartbreaking running theme of mercy for Judas to
a number of charcoal sketches of the moon’s phases
plus, as best they can tell, what look like song lyrics.
For content reasons (and others) the expert theologians
have stamped the scroll apocryphal, and moved on.
Somehow, a few bootleg copies have wandered from
the seminary, but they’re really not worried about that.
I read this out loud to my wife John because I loved it so much.
I enjoy your writing so much, always good food for thought.
Man, would I love a copy of that. Thanks for dreaming, John.
What a beautiful story John. I picture Jesus in the smiles I see, I feel His love in the hugs I give and receive. I hear His voice as His word is read. I like to believe that Jesus is present as I watch the snow and rain come over the mountains and the sun rise and set. When the moon rises in the East I hear Him say time to rest good and faithful servant. Sleep well, trusting I will always love you.
And a chorus of hallelujahs rose from bullfrogs, blue Jays, and old stray dogs…
Beautiful.