Monday, April 25, 2016

The Long Game


The Long Game
Haggai 2:7-9

Oh Zarubbabel,
Haggai should have told you that you were to be only part 1,
that 520 B.C. was only the beginning.That the temple will burn to the ground long before the glory will come 514 years later when honored men will leave their lush homes and travel close to a thousand miles to lay gifts of riches at the feet of the Peace that He promises.
But we will forgive Haggai.
He must not have known.

God is playing the long game.

Abram and Sarai waited years and years to have a promised child, and did not live to see their descendants fill the earth, did not know that their line would one day produce a great King.

Ahh, and Joseph, how many like you were imprisoned, or beaten or tortured, to be later used for a greater purpose. A purpose that so often saved your own enemies from destruction.

Moses, abandoned by your own mother as an infant, would that she had known you would one day lead your people, her people, out of slavery.

God is playing the long game.

My grandmother did not know that her daughter, and one of her son's in law would save a small child on the other side of the world from a short lifetime of unthinkable anguish, through amazing acts of coordination, generosity, skill, and love.

God is playing the long game.

A retired teacher could not have known that 25 years after he taught her, a kind intelligent woman would make his son's wake and funeral a beautiful memorial, lending her patience, understanding, and compassion to the worst day of his life.

God is playing the long game.

And what of the mothers of Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Mohamed Ali, Mikhail Gorbachev,
Buz Aldrin, Martin Luther, MLK Jr., Nelson Mandela, Dorothy Day, U Thant, Malala Yousafzai, Lech Walesa, Betty Williams,Benjamin Franklin, Dalai Lama………..

How could they have known that this child whom they prayed for, held, and loved, would become who they were?

And of course there's Mary. Who bears the Savior of all mankind.
One more mother held in endless outstretched arms.

God is playing the long game.

*The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

God is playing the long game.

*2And remember, the Lord's patience gives people time to be saved.

God is playing the long game.

My child who first learned of slavery in third grade and came home in a fit of fury that such a thing could ever take place, who regularly threw his assigned copy of To kill A Mockingbird across the room in disgust, and who finds all forms of racism to be intolerable, is now reading Eli Wiesel's Night with tears and disbelief.

God is playing the long game.

*3He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

God is playing the long game.


*Second Peter 3:9
*2second Peter 3:15
*3Revelations 21:4-5

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Dirty Ants


Dirty Ants
The Ants Are Marching- Katie Style

The ants are marching one by one
Hurrah Hurrah,
The ants are marching one by one
Hurrah Hurrah,
The ants are marching one by one
and the little one stops to suck someone,
and they all go marching down
into the ground,
to get out, of the shame.

Ooh ooh ohh….

The ants are marching two by two
Hurrah Hurrah
The Ants are marching two by two
Hurrah hurrah
The Ants are marching two by two
and the little one stops to swallow some spew
and they all go marching down
imto the ground
to get out
of the shame

Yum, yum, yum…..

The ants go marching three by three
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching three by three
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching three by three
and the little one stops to finger me
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame

Deep, deep, deep

The ants go marching four by four
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching four by four
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching four by four
and the little one stops
to try the back door
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame

Harder, harder, harder…..

The ants go marching five by five
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching five by five
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching five by five
and the little one stops to take a dive
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

Ooh ahh O

The ants go marching six by six
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching six by six
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching six by six
and the little one stops to get his fix
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

Yeah, yeah, yeah

The ants go marching seven by seven
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching seven by seven
and the little one stops cause it feels like heaven
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

Bliss, bliss, bliss

The ants go marching eight by eight
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching eight by eight
and the little one stops to masturbate
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

O, O, O……..

The ants go marching nine by nine
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching nine by nine
and the little one stops to fuck me blind
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

Ah, ah,ah…...

The ants go marching ten by ten
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten
Hurrah Hurrah
The ants go marching ten by ten
and the little one says ‘let's do it again’
and they all go marching down
into the ground
to get out of the shame.

Mmmmmhmmmmm……

Share that smoke, will you?

Monday, April 18, 2016

Never Safe

Never Safe

Someone make the tears stop.
Someone make the pain stop.
Someone make the words be kind.
Someone make the hands be kind.
Someone stop me where I am.
Someone hold me where I am.
Someone hear my screaming voice.
Someone understand my voice.
Someone make this fear unreal.
Someone make this abuse unreal.
Someone make the pain stop.
Someone make the tears stop.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Sonnet


Sonnet
A collaboration with Annahalle

See here a new and youthful garden be,
Where from the ground a single sprout appeared
in two young lovers simple, wild, and free
That know not yet the thorns that need be feared.

For as a garden grows and grows and grows
That fragile sprout that once was kissed by dew
must persevere when weeds would overthrow,
The fight for sun survived by only few.

So must these lovers fight through drought and storm
and dare to see their world all torn asunder,
their only light choked out by weeds and thorns
withered and frail laid waste before the thunder.

But weeds plucked out and garden tended well
gives strength to hope that only time will tell.

Monday, April 11, 2016

I Want You To Think Deeply

I Want You to Think Deeply
For Ezekiel

I can't pin you down.
I never know where you are
or where you have been.

Are you chained at home
or are you by the river?
In which land do you reside?

When your mouth opened
was it agony to see
Jerusalem fall?

Of the coming death
your obedience kept you
safely in His arms

But thinking deeply
I know you felt misery
and terrible loss.

How many times did angels
carry you from place to place
on rustling wings?

Did you really lay
400* days in the dirt,
or was it a dream?

Did it hurt your heart,
this message of destruction
and devastation?

Did it feel too late?
Finally to speak out loud
drowned out by lament?

Your message to bear,
small remnant God made you
responsible for.

So heavy the words
you made sink into your heart
yet you must say them.

“The sovererign Lord says:
You are rebellious people.
Choose to hear, or don't.”

Israel beckons,
and they will not believe though
you're one of their own.

Yet you are gifted.
For you hold Israels blueprint
for restoration.

The great directors
conduit for instruction
on how to rebuild.

“Look and listen for
that is why you've been brought here,
tell them what you see.”(1)

You who've seen it fall,
who've spoken to the righteous,
now see it restored.

“And the name of the city from that time on will be ‘The Lord is There’.”(2)



*In actuality, God requires him to lie on the ground for 390 days before turning to face the other direction for 40 days making a total of 430 days. I have simplified the number to match the meter of the poem.
  1. Ezikiel 40:4
  2. Ezekiel 48:35

My prayer: Lord: I want to think deeply, to let your words sink into my heart. To be unafraid when I don't know where I am, because all that time, like Ezekiel, I was with you. I want to be obedient whether I am chained, crushed in sorrow, or lying in the mud. I want to be brave when no one believes me, when I can see the bloody road ahead, when I feel like you are wrong. I want to remember that only you know the purpose and the reason and that you will somehow set me down there, at the right time, in the right place, with the right words. Lord, I will close my mouth and let your words sink into my heart.

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Omega

Omega

I stand.
Long mirror reflecting me.
One fear
trapped within my confused mind.
Two eyes
see chains twisting around me.
Three padlocks
securing my tightening bonds.
Four horsemen
wait at the ready to ride.
Five offerings
desperate for ancient mercy.
Six days
before Eve conceived of me.
Seven sins
have built my iron prison.
Eight men
telling me to accept grace.
Nine fruits
if only I would take them.
Ten commandments
telling me that I’ve lived wrong.
One God.
One snake
One Apple
One flood
One Virgin
One baby
One dove
One son
One cross
One tomb
One risen
One chance
For one eternal life.
All there ever was was one.