Approach with Boldness
But look before you leap!
Hello, Beloveds. Poet Jesus here. Welcome to our second installment of Summer Camp with Apostle Paul, wherein my holy ghostwriter Tania shares poems from her collection Second Sky. If you've ever been to Yellowstone, one of the strangest and most beautiful places on earth (I was in a mood when I created that one), you've experienced the wonder of geysers, geothermal pools, and a host of other funky features. You've also probably noticed a number of warning signs involving bears, waterfalls, fire, cliffs, bison, and hot hot hot areas.
Now you may wonder. . .why would Tania write a poem that associates approaching me with getting scalded? After all, you can approach the father with boldness through me. That's, like, the point of all this incarnation business. Well, of course I'm not going to tell you what a poem "means." Nope, verily, nope. Read, think, grapple, enjoy. And then maybe discuss in the comments.
Approach with Boldness Ephesians 3:12* We creak on boardwalks above geothermal pools— Black Opal, Morning Glory, Emerald Spring. Clear and bright as cups of Easter dye, they sputter and hiss to remind us that we stand atop a caldera heaving molten rock. Each path begins with the illustrated warning: a boy in a baseball cap breaks through the surface, parboiling his feet. I hear the story about the 9-year-old who lost himself in the steam and plunged into Crested Pool. They recovered just eight pounds of his body. Or the man who swan-dived into Celestine Pool after a yelping dog, emerging with blanched irises. That was dumb, he mumbled for his last words, skin peeling in sheets. Thousands of years ago the first hunter to wander into this basin must have thought he discovered a second sky breaking through the ground, a miracle of sorts, if he knew about those, radiating in the snow. He laughed, bent his face over the rising steam, and thought nothing of reaching in.
* “In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.” Hmmmm. I wonder whom “him” is referring to? See also: Hebrews 4:16.
P.S. The number one cause of death in Yellowstone is distracted driving. Keep your eyes on the road, Beloveds.
I spy a collection title.
Also "Nope, verily, nope." 🤣
Ouch! This reminds me of my father and me walking over one of those bridges. I was terrified, probably because I heard someone telling the scary stories about kids falling in. I clung to my father. I probably screamed, which would have been appropriate. It's a little hell on Earth.