Day And Night

A white-marble plateau with a sprinkling of sun-baked sand spread out in wind-swept waves across it. The sun is setting straight ahead, behind bleached rocks of monumental size. The day has had a good run, but here is the night…
Night in a forsaken, parched land. Will the cold chill many hearts? Who will remember the sun? As those last rays of warmth ebb will memory be enough to conjure them back again?

Is it wrong for me to feel that we stand in the twilight hours? To look back is to see where the sun has been, to remember greatness and good deeds. Wars were fought, freedoms won, a country born and glory taken. Peace and prosperity were our songs and our blessings, like the light from the sun, washed over the land. Yet to look forward… Darkness and coldness are coming, faster and faster it seems.

Some of you might think me negative. But do not wars and rumors of wars whisper through the air? Unity was our clarion call, "United we stand!" But now… To distrust and disparage is the common attitude between brothers, and the government acts as a monster which no amount of blood or money will pacify.

Worst of all, what is it we do to our unborn? How few know the number slaughtered each year! How few bring themselves to care…

Yes, darkness is rolling over this land. But before you call me negative look back the way we've come! Look back east, to all the great things we and our forefathers did in the day. Look to the magnificence we were granted by our sovereign God!

How much good He accomplished, even through the evil intents of man! How many blessings He has bestowed, even when the very first of us deserved it as little as we! God made this country a beacon, He used us for His glory. We are part of His story by His fashioning and design. By His good-grace we came to be.

Thank you, God, for America, and for all that You have done through us. Bless those of us who remember You and recognize the works of Your Hands with good deeds as well, that we might walk through them with your guidance and in so doing bring You the glory!

Tastes Of Home

Oh to go where the streams are calling,

Oh to walk in the footsteps of ghosts.

Oh to find yourself freefalling,

Oh to give-up on all your boasts.

Oh to touch the clouds when they’re sighing,

Oh to get lost in a starry night.

Oh to let loose with crying

Oh, Lord, stop my heart’s flight.

Oh to remember evenings past!

Rekindle creations romance once more…

Youth’s tears that fell too fast,

A flame you knew in your core.

Come back to me! Come back to me.

Awaken again this heart of stone.

Give me more than a taste, oh God!

Of that place that calls me home.

This Isn't The End

This Isn't The End

What if you stood on the crest of a hill and knew in the crevices of your soul that your life had hit a wall? What if you whispered down the aisles of humanity that your life tended down and felt no feelings at all? What if you began to be convinced that you were a ghost?

…

Blood is thicker they say. Warmer, definitely. The red stuff dripped from his fingers. He could feel it, too, pooling under his shirt. His head was clear but all he could do was stare at the shafts leading into his chest. Three of them, altogether, leaving very little left of his heart. Is this the end?

…

Life is tough. Are we grateful for the time we have been given? Do you want to hide from the wounds that tear open the heart? Can you embrace the broken pieces to find a new start? Or don't you have the strength to try?

…

WHY? WHY? WHY? He crumpled to his knees. Tears mingled with his blood as he tried to grasp the arrows, grasp what had happened. I need…Your…Hand. I can't… can't.

…

'But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?"' - Romans 9:20

No. No, it won't. But even still God listens to our hearts, wants to hear them even! We have no right but He extends us the privilege anyways. Is He not glorious?! He holds me up, though I am on my knees. He keeps the pieces of my heart firm, though the arrows shatter it. And He gives me peace amidst my tears, my sorrow, my pain.

…

"…And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think…I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding onto something."

"What are we holding onto…?"

"That there's some good in this world… and it's worth fighting for." He is worth living for, and dying for. For God is the only good, the light in the darkness.

"Once the cards are dealt you have to play with them like it or not, you know."

"Every moment has pain and joy. The trick is focusing on the joy instead. That's the only way to live a happy life."

'I know how to be brought low, and how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.' - Philippians 4:12-13 [emphasis added]

…

He finally got his fingers behind the shafts. Grunting, tears running down his face, he pushed and pushed. Christ is my Savior, my strength, my all. He…is…my…Joy. Slowly, surely, the arrows went deeper. They sunk in, disappearing in the crimson stream of his life. I will be content. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord! He bent lower, hugging the wound close. Lord, thank you for my children. Thank you for blessing me.

…

Are you grateful for the time you have been given? Can you make out the beauty from broken bones? I tell you, not without God. Not without a Savior. Can you stand there and know that your life has hit a wall, that it is the end, and be able to get back up without God? No. Not with purpose, not with clarity, not with love and thankfulness and joy! Without Jesus what is there worth fighting for? Without Jesus it is the end! Darkness and danger have prevailed and there is no new day to dawn.

But God is here. Jesus is in our hearts, if you have accepted Him as the savior for your sins. He's piecing you back together from every blow. He's giving your heart joy that you might not even know. And though the end will come, know you will be exempt. For, those who Jesus saves it isn't the end. There is no end.

I Heard An Empty Saying…

I heard an empty saying,

Drifting down the hall.

It was quite clear the person saying,

Had no knowledge behind it at all.

A heartfelt, insipid something,

That was meant to be so true.

But when thought was used to investigate,

It made me want to puke.

“What’s true for you is not true for me,”

Others did intone.

I had to resist the urge to grab a big stick,

And strike them to the bone.

See, blithely spouting “knowledge,”

Is a pastime of the fool.

The Greeks thought it heavenly,

And so ended their rule.

But here we are again,

As history repeats.

In the land of Liberty,

Full of “knowledgeable” g(r)eeks.

Wrong Track

Have you ever had a moment when you’re standing on the middle landing of a two-level stairway, surrounded by double thick, floor-to-ceiling windows separating you from the bitter, wintery world outside, and you wonder if you’ve been doing it right? You peer into the glass at your dim reflection, you reach out to touch it in hopes of it being real, and you ask yourself, “Have I just been wasting my time?”

Maybe that’s just me…

Maybe you’re more the type who has stood in the middle of a vast library, pacing both sides of the table, as you argue back and forth with yourself as to whether or not your chosen path is the correct one. The musty smell of the hundred-year-old tomes did nothing to clear your mind, and the sound of the rebellious throng outside, destroying its way down the avenue toward the building, did nothing to relieve the tension of your thoughts.

No? Well…

Perhaps you’re the type who has found yourself balancing atop the back railing of a runaway, double-decker bus, cane sword at the ready, wondering what you could have done differently to have prevented your situation. It’s the kind of question that would have gnawed at you, even as the congresswoman had continued to creep menacingly over the rows of seats toward your position, forcing a more pressing question into your mind: fight on or jump off?

At this point you’re just being modest.

Anyways, that has been me for the past few weeks. No, I haven’t literally fought a congresswoman on a double-decker bus, or paced around a table in an old library, or even reached out toward my reflection in a window on a stairway landing, but I have mentally come to grips with the fact that I’ve been wrong.

Really, it was not the fact that I was wrong, but the coming to grips with it that seemed to give me trouble. It wasn’t that I wasn’t ready to admit I was wrong. It was more like it just took forever to do so. Like being twenty feet under water and then starting for the surface. You can see the surface, you want the surface, but you aren’t at the surface until you get there. And sometimes that surface you conceive in your mind can feel a light year away.

What I have been wrong about is in regards to the mindset I hold toward my fellow human beings. Again, I find it hard to type this, as if I am fighting watery currents to get every word out. I have known people and I have cared for people, and I have loved people… But I did not pity people and I did it consciously, and I was wrong.

You see, people are more than just earthly shells, more than just basically good or basically evil. People are souls who know both good and evil; who know both laughter and tears. People are either in rebellion against God or in subservience to Him, either hearts twisted by selfishness or pierced open by the Savior.

Let me share with you a quote that I heard near the end of my swim, summing up all that had come before:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which,if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” – C. S. Lewis

…We are all of us, immortals. Ever last one. It is just where we will spend eternity that is in question. Will we spend it in Hell, away from God, as our selfish hearts desire? Or will we spend it in Heaven, in the Glory of the one True God, as we were created to do?

When you begin to look at people like this, see them for what they are. Then suddenly everything has changed. The way you smile, what you say… Most of all whether or not you pity.

Because the truth is none of us deserve pity. But we all need it. We are immortals in a mortal world, that we ourselves and our forefathers made that way. We ran from Love and deserved to die. But God in His infinite Love showed us pity, forestalling our judgment to give us another chance.

That chance came as Jesus, God incarnate, who brought His infinite Love into a finite world to draw us away from damnation. He lived a perfect life, died a perfect death, and rose in perfect victory. He embodied this infinite, perfect Love, and if we believe in Him He is with us, bringing us to eternal glory.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected with us.” – 1 John 4: 11-12

“…so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” – Ephesians 3: 17-19

It is this that draws me on through the water; pulls me up as a hook through my heart. We all need pity, whether splendor or horror, we all need love. If Jesus did not hold back, how can I?

Of Monsters and the Son of Man

Why do we always fight who we are? We do! Don’t believe me? When was the last time you were content with who you are? We’re all desperate to change! That’s another way of saying we’re fighting who we are.

Sure, maybe it’s a just cause. Maybe we’re fighting against a monster that might come out and wreck havoc on society as we know it if we let down our guard. What a gloomy existence though… Is that who we’re supposed to be?

Short answer: no. Now, let me take a second and say, I’m not a believer in positive thinking. I am not about to spout some mumbo-jumbo about turning your whole life around by yelling aloud at it to change or thinking really hard about who you want yourself to be. Sure, there might be some value there. Personally, though, I don’t think there’s a lot and that’s not my point at all.

My point is just to suggest that, while the monster is a part of all of us, it’s not who God sees us as. And if God is focusing on something, someone else, ought not we do the same? So the question then is who does God see?

In keeping with the clipped tone: Jesus. He’s the answer to everything, right? No, I’m being serious. He is.

You see it doesn’t matter what kind of monster you were or are, Jesus is the answer. His sacrifice on the cross allows Him access to every human soul. Jesus cleaned house on the cross. You can tap into this house cleaning simply by believing in Him and what He did.

That’s an old metaphor, by the way, the heart as a house. But where that metaphor stops is that the house of your soul isn’t left empty… Jesus is there. He remains, He resides. The Holy Spirit in you is Him and that is who God sees.

Side note: This is not about stopping the fight against the monster. On the contrary, it’s about redoubling your efforts! It’s about looking in the mirror and seeing a work of God! But when you see a work of God, suddenly the monster’s strength is broken. When you use God’s strength then the monster can’t stand.

Think me crazy? If Jesus is with you and you start looking then you’ll see Him. You’ll see Him in your work ethic, in your smile, in your kind words or you kind deeds. You’ll find Him in your laughing joy over beautiful things, or in your tears of sorrow for those lost.

If the Holy Spirit is really there, honestly abiding, then you can’t help yourself. Sure the monster’s remains might bark and posture, but deeds speak louder than words. And what do the deeds done show?

Either God is there and you’re saved: Rejoice! Or you need to find God and run from the monster. It’s that simple.

So, stop fighting. Face yourself. Look yourself in the eyes and tell it like it is. Relief is either immediate or imminent, trust me. Personally, it’s immediate and I’m going to revel in the joy.

What do I see in me when I gaze into those deep brown eyes?

A cat with a Cheshire grin, a fox knowing every surprise.

A little boy filled with laughter and a jester who can’t help but jest.

Or a tea wielding, cynic who even critiques the best.

Most of all I see a broken man who was forgiven of all his sins.
A man who finds strength from the Father from whom new life begins.

Rebound

It’s a new year. 2014. Doubt any of you are surprised. That’s as pessimistic as I’ll get, though, which I know is odd. But last year was so bad, 2014 is a welcome breath of fresh air in comparison.

I know, I know. I’m starting to sound like all the other writers, waxing poetic about how a New Year actually means something new. Changing trends, changing habits, changing people… To hear everyone talk you’d think a “New Year” is an event verging on cataclysmic which brings about miraculous change in people’s lives. Sorry to rain on all y’all’s resolutions, but the New Year doesn’t mean a darn thing.

Know how I know? Because my change started a week and a half prior to the proper New Year. Yes, if change is supposed to come with a “New Year” then my 2014 has been ten days longer than all of yours. It was Christmas Eve for those of you who have started counting backwards.

You see, on that day I was reminded of a solid truth, a truth so powerful that it singlehandedly wiped away all the pain and frustrations of 2013. The truth is that Jesus has always been here.

The context line that led up to this truth was the question, “What has never changed about our candlelight Church service?” You might say, “Sure, that’s obvious,” but that would be avoiding the truth.

I can’t help but imagining a rope, tied up to the dock and stretching off into the darkness. It’s like I forgot what that rope led to, and that on Christmas Eve someone grabbed that rope and pulled. Suddenly the point of a humongous vessel appears out of the dark, drifting your way, and you realize that this truth is far, far too large to be ignored.

That’s where I was at Christmas Eve. Jesus has always been here! This truth doesn’t just apply to that service, or the day following. IT IS EVERY DAY! HE IS EVERYWHERE! Jesus has always been HERE.

He is the reason for our being beings! He is the one who gave us years to begin with! Through Him were all things made! Without Him there is no New Year, nor any day to celebrate it! Most importantly of all, Jesus Christ is the only one who effects true change.

Sure, we could argue that point. Some might say they’ve overcome vices through their own willpower, taking up better habits. My short answer to that is that vices are idols and exchanging idols for idols that you or the world have labeled “better habits,” doesn’t qualify as real change. It might benefit society better if you’re doing yoga instead of drinking and driving, but worshiping a workout session instead of a bottle isn’t any better for your soul.

If you think that truth hurts like a ton of bricks, just imagine that titanic of a truth again, tearing out of the darkness, hitting home and rending in two. That’s how I felt on the 24^th of December.

Oddly, it was a kinda good feeling. Knowing Jesus was with me every day of 2013 made me feel great. It also made me feel pretty stupid for not really realizing it until nine days shy of the end of the year.

In a flash I knew I had been thoroughly selfish throughout 2013. The more joyous realization, though, was of how to change for this year. Yes, 2014 will be different. Not because it’s a New Year or because we all try harder, or something like that. 2014 will be different because every day Jesus is here, whether we remember it or not.

I’m pretty sure I’ll remember it this time, though.