Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
A Magical Moment of a Hidden Sickness

A Magical Moment of a Hidden Sickness

Last updated on: February 1, 2015 at 11:43 pm by Jeff Hood

A Magical Moment of a Hidden Sickness 2015-02-01T23:43:14-06:00 Jeff Hood

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I am sick. I am not talking about the kind of sick that you are able to get over. My sickness is chronic. Though I take medicine twice daily, I will never be healed. Then again, I don’t know that I want to be. The construction of my mind is terribly important to who I am. Though some people would call my condition Bipolar Disorder, I would call it me.

Apart from the intermittent mania and depression, my condition manifests most strongly around major life events. For those who don’t know the present circumstances of our lives, my wife Emily is pregnant with our fourth and fifth children. To give some additional context, our oldest twin son Jeff is aged 2.5 years. We are filled with life these days. My mania or depression manifests around different things on different days and often not at all. Today, I thought about death.

I woke up this morning thinking about Frances. I lost my grandmother just last month. Frances was a beautiful strong woman. When she died, my grandmother gifted me her glasses. Through the glasses, I look back and into the future. I miss her.

To get the kids out of Emily’s hair for a little bit this afternoon, I took the twins down to the park. For over an hour, the kids played and played. When I came to the playground revelation that my kids will not live forever, I started to get depressed. No one wants anyone they love to die. I started to cry. No one else could see me. I began to pray for some sort of sign of hope. When the kids ran to the basketball court, I got it. The sun blasted through the trees and the kids ran toward it. In the beauty of the moment, I realized that God is always calling us to go deeper into the light of love and the light of love is eternal. If we always run to the light of love, we will never taste death. Phillip even turned around and said, “Coming daddy?” In their running, the boys were the theologians today.

Amen.

Previous Post

January 31, 2015

The Courage to Be Queer

Next Post

February 3, 2015 TOWARD A CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON POLYAMORY: A Conversation Between Rev. Danny Cortez and Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Danny & Jeff fresh writings latest poetics north texas fellowship of reconciliation Sermon theology from death row Thoughts Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which book of the Bible records Paul’s shipwreck?

Select your answer to see how you score.

1 Corinthians Acts Romans 2 Timothy