The Stray

 I often write for those persons who don't quite fit in, the lost sheep.  They may or may not be lost to themselves, but they are not fitting into the herd.  They function, live, or stray beyond the normal structures.  They often don't fit corporate structures, rules of church institutions, or mall shoppers.  In a way, I am one of them, living as I do in a remote mountain monastery.  We are odd types.  It is why I like Jesus.  He went after the lost sheep.  His Kingdom was kind of upside-down.  But somehow over the centuries he got fitted into institutional structures.  But he was crucified by these same structures, political and religious.  So if you feel no one understands you, or cares if you go missing from the herd, you might like the gospels.  Try Mark.  It is the shortest.  Or Matthew which I am reading a lot this 2023 year.  Somehow, along the way, I got a little broken.  Jesus came for people like this, broken.