The Boys of Summer

By Harry Cummins

      On the wings of this week's west wind, the neighborhood boys of summer are gone from the backyard.

     In their place, the water in the swimming pool is now coated with dead leaves and a darkened layer of ash, reminders of our combustible year 2020.

     Just last week I watched the parade of neighborhood kids line up for their turn on the diving board.  Each ready to plunge fearlessly into the clear blue waters.  I stood on the lawn, holding giant flash cards from 1-10, judging each dive with a circumscribed scoring system all my own.

     With so many injustices happening all over the world right now, I think about justice, and judging, a lot these days. I think,too, about diving boards and other higher ground from which we can stand unafraid to face unseen depths.

     Mostly, I think about where God might reveal His big 'flash cards'....in this summer like no other. 

     Another west wind comes and goes... and Fall, with its urgent sense of risk, is here. 

     "Jump"!