JUST MUSING BASELINES
INTIMACY UNROBED Part II – SONG, November 19, 2025
Bill Collier, Ron Middleton and Hup stood in the kitchen, as the ladies gathered in the living room. Hup thought how natural that break out came between men and women when gathering in a common spot and how that separation widened between peoples in neighborhoods… cities… states… and lands. Hup wondered if God – from his high and majestic mountain – saw the movements of peoples cross the continents over the many generations that have passed since Adam’s expulsion from the garden.
“What do you think, Hup?” Bill inquired.
Bill and Ron were talking football. That’s when Hup zoned out.
“What? I’m sorry, I was thinking about something else.”
“Did you watch the game Sunday?” Ron asked.
“No, I didn’t,” Hup answered and smiled. Out of the corner of his eye, Hup saw the quick glance that Ron passed to Bill.
“I guess you don’t follow sports?”
“No, it’s not that Bill. I once was an avid fan and looked forward to the games.”
“What happened?” Ron asked. “You don’t mind my asking, do you?”
“What happened? My first wife passed away, and then… God brought Cordia into my life… then I had this unexpected encounter with Jesus. You see, I made a lot of mistakes in my first marriage… I sinned against the ones whom I said I loved – God first – my Lord Jesus, then my wife.”
“You don’t mind talking about this?” Bill asked.
“No,” Hup replied as a simple matter of fact of faith and finding.
“You said you sinned?” Ron asked and looked at Bill, who rubbed his beard.
“Yes, but you know what I found? I found that the love of Christ was so great for me – how he saw me – that in his grace and forgiveness that what he forgave is done. As long as my wife lived, my sin was ever before me.
“But with her passing… ? Ron interrupted.
“What you’re saying…?” Bill chimed in.
“I know what I’m saying… with God’s mercy and forgiveness and the passing of time… what God revealed of David in the Book of Samuel with regard to his adultery and his murder of Uriah was not mentioned again in Chronicles.” Hup paused and looked at both of them. “Guys, look – we have enough to deal with today, then to dredge up yesterday. If it’s forgiven, it’s done.”
“Done?” Bill and Ron said in unison.
“Yes – done… done… done! Guys, if we can’t see that… know that with all our hearts, we’ll never grasp the way our Lord looks on us… Behold, thou art fair… no, twice fair, as he is thrice holy… Holy, holy, holy. That’s what hit me when I read Chapter Four… or should I say, God’s Word read me? that’s why you’re here isn’t it?”
He sees us with the eyes of doves, but he sees us also with locks that hang and obstruct our vision… our hair, which he has numbered and counted are as numerous as our sin, that his Son’s sacrifice – as the true Scapegoat – brought healing down from heaven as the balm of Gilead. Can you understand that?”
Bill and Ron looked at each other. They had little to say. Hup’s piercing blue eyes and words fell on them as a dove, bringing the hope of healing as both men knew they had sinned against their professed Lord and King.
“As Christ’s sheep, we are even shorn gentlemen – washed in the living water that flows from God’s eternal fountain of kindness and tender mercy. The daily portion and measure that he gives to us is balanced according to His Father’s good pleasure. Christ sees in us his likeness…” Hup stops there momentarily. “That is… “
“That is?” Ron looked at Bill.
“That is… If we are, indeed, his men… we won’t be found wanting… barren, not if His Word is in us… His word will not return void… words now fashioned from that scarlet, crimson thread that binds wounds—sweet as the seeds hidden in the pomegranate, an ever-reaching thread… suturing every cut and lash meted out by the sins of men and taken upon our Lord.”
“Hup? where do you come up with this stuff?” Bill blurted.
“What is written in God’s word is to be interpreted… experienced men… where Christ indwells, the Spirit swells… no man can be the same.”
Ron looked at Bill and back to Hup. “If you say so, Hup. I think we’ve been out here too long – don’t you think so?”
“Yeah,” Bill agreed, shook his head not knowing quite what to make of what he just heard.
