March 13, 2008 – I had coffee again Thursday with Steve McLean, a Hound of Heaven for 22 years at the Presbyterian Church in Argyle, N.Y.
  Talking with Steve is a bit of a spiritual experience in itself, in that I think I’ve never had so gracious, open and faithful a human to talk to about spiritual things. Steve and I are much alike, very different. We both emigrated from big cities upstate, both believe that life in a rural area brings us much closer to life, death, what Steve calls the Creation.
  He is warm, funny, wise, earnest. I think it is not easy being a pastor, even one as dedicated as Steve.
  I have all sorts of spiritual experiences up here, from Hospice work with the dying, to light pouring through dead leaves, to life with friends, loss and gain, with dogs, donkeys, cows, goats and sheep, not to mention barn cats – that’s a lot of life. Although I do not think of myself as a farmer, I do run a farm, and when you do, you live very close to life, death and spirituality. Not to mention the other challenges, dramas and experiences of my life. I have felt some strong spiritual moments in Hospice surely, sharing life’s most intimate moments with wonderful people as they prepare to leave life, or sitting with a dying donkey, or having to kill a sick lamb. I feel moments of powerful spirituality working with the kids in Granville, herding sheep with Rose, chasing sunsets with Izzy, walking in the woods with Paula, talking to my wonderful friends,  training Lenore, and I am only beginning to grasp the messages coming to and through me in my photographs, a process that is changing my own notions of life, art and light.
  Steve thinks I’m getting messages, in a process. It seems quite familiar to him, bizarre to me. He is comforting.
  Sometimes I feel like a transmitter of messages. The farm, the woods, the animals, are all luminous to me, and that is a good, if unsettling feeling. I also feel that if I am getting messages, I am also sending signals to the world, through the dogs, the blog, my photos, my own internal growth and change, and that much spiritual ferment requires a pro like Steve, a guide everyone should be fortunate enough to have. We talk about theology, life, death, men, faith, the Bible, lessons in helping, healing and loss and the nature of revelation and change.
   I love talking to Steve, sitting in his stained-glass office, Lenore and Izzy sleeping on the floor, kicking Merton, Arendt, Campbell and the Prophets around. I don’t know quite where all of this is going, but it’s a wonderful process, and I’m grateful for it. Next week, I’ve been invited to the Farmer’s Bible Study Lunch (I thought it was this week, but it wasn’t.)
  I want a spiritual life, and have long sought one, in many different places. Perhaps it’s another of Joseph Campbell’s hero journeys, heading for fiasco or for bliss. I’ll let you know. Finally, I’ve got a good guide.