December 2010
23 posts
Together Now
This is a piece I wrote for Arkansas Holiday Youth Convention 2010 and was read by the always amazing Cydney Vaught.
Come with me now and stand tall for a time of togetherness is upon us.
No longer will we allow ourselves to subtly cower in shame of who we are and what we are capable of.
Together, we are unmatched in fervor, in talent, in love. Tolerance has run its course and shall finally be...
With Souls of Thanksgiving
Now, in this hour, is our time to pause in needed thanks. While the temptation to rush about through are busy days is strong, the necessity to stop and present our thanks is constant. Thanks for our friends and family, for our salvation. Thanks for our church, for our everyday blessings. We are wise in slowing ourselves to a humbled stance so that we may rest in recognition of our God’s...
The Beauty in Death
There is a profound beauty in the death that autumn holds.
We watch in awe as the colors above us sharpen, then fade, then pass.
Before our eyes, the living is reduced to the lifeless but doing so causes an array of brilliance in the colors of the fading death.
With eyes stretched wide, we gasp and smile at the intensity of the falling away, amazed that something so beautiful could come at...
The Pride of Names
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name…”
-Genesis 11:4
The building of the tower of Babel is an interesting case study in the human condition. Most scholars believe the venture began with noble causes; those constructing the mammoth tower wanted to reach heaven so that they could be closer to God. But somewhere...
We Are Giants
The people of my time are craved. Notoriety and delicious fame call to each of us as it has never done but our desires are not without merit or cause. Such passion, such creative genius which rests within our time has never existed with such fervor and all at once. We are the painters and designers and musicians and writers and magnificent thinkers of today and tomorrow, those who posses the...
My Canvas, Your Work
From my childhood, Your hand has guided my life. Stubbornly, I’ve balked at Your direction more than my fair share but all the while, You’ve smiled and quietly steered me toward goodness, toward Your plan. I’ve found myself rushing back to You, needing to consult Your blueprint so that I may be led to what is best for me and my blessed life. I’ve seen my existence as bare; a blank canvas which I...
The Cure
Dragging my limping life behind me, I find myself broken and bruised, unable to stagger a single more step through the times that hold me down. A hunger aches in my soul, calling me to something I once knew but have now forgotten for more menial things. Resting upon my pride, I look to Your heavens and feel Your holy movements begin to stir within me. Allowing my burdens to drop around me, I grasp...
Apologies
Through Your mercy and beyond my repentance, these are my apologies: I’m sorry I’m selfish. I’m sorry I’ve ever considered my way over Yours. I apologize for ever living for the approval of others instead of You. I’m sorry I didn’t and don’t listen. I’m sorry You died for me only to have me abuse Your trust and forgiveness. I apologize I ever doubted...
Mary the Redeemed
I’ve bared my own fair amount of sin. The looks I’ve been given and the words tossed my way throughout my life have broken me many times. I’ve learned that I am below the rest, long ago accepting my place…but in Him I found purpose. A dear friend of my brother, I would watch as they visited, mesmerized at the blessed calm He exuded. He was love, a holy love. In His presence, we all felt safe...
Through His Mercy
Such holy mercy has never been known… Placed through such horrific measures of torture and pain, our God gracefully held strong His holy will and allowed Himself to be sacrificed for our salvation. Though His will had been tested, bruised and finally beaten, our God rose again that Sunday in testament to His love for each of us. We are sinners from birth and but live upon His mercy, asking again,...
Hero of the Alone
Four years ago, I lost my best friend and the greatest man I have ever known. This piece took a year to write after his death but it still remains one of my favorites. Poppy, I miss you and love you. You’re still my greatest hero and most positive inspiration. You sat there that day feeling all alone. He was finally gone. It had been just shy of two months since the diagnosis, the...
Here I Wait
Here I stand, raw and unlearned, only possessing a given talent and a fired desire. I’ve heard my call for some time now only to be left frustrated and empty when it’s promise is left unfulfilled again and again. I can feel its burrowed might rattling my fair bones and bursting me at my seams, shaking me in patience. There is a dormant greatness lying in wait deep within me and I crave...
Finding Forever
Resting upon bended knees, this is my prayer: In my life I have surely wandered about, tossing my many hats into many rings, some profitable and rewarding, most not. Blindly uncaring toward Your ways of truth, love, and custom calling, I did my worst to conquer what I thought I was to be, who I was to love. Bouncing violently from place to place, my pathetic path led me to the destinations of...
A Revival of Me
I’ve been drowned in these times before; the heart laid down low and broken, the bones quieted to stillness. I’ve spilt tears in darkness, wondering where I’ve fallen short and why my worth is found to be insufficient again and again. This time has been no different as of yet. In the past, I’ve found it necessary to rampage as I wish, taking of the flesh in no small...
Fortification
Once captured safely back in the holy graces of your Father, you’ve found yourself wrapped both in peace and strength. Doing what you must to hold His merciful favor day by day, you’ve happily surrendered your past dealings of debauchery and ghastly hidden sins. Racing forth with a tender heart has left you smiling but daunted as the repeating mistakes of weaknesses and timid flesh...
The Climb Above
Come now and watch as I climb higher. I look back not toward you, down amongst your regrets and hidden sins, but rather push on toward my heavenly but attainable goals. I have paid my dues and bled my sinners blood dry, completely crashing in a devious, burning wreck after running lost for so long. I have been rebuilt in His image and will only taste the ways of a holy God from these days and on...
You've Forgotten
Oh, how easily it slips your mind. You sit rigid in your chosen pew, half-heartedly clapping your hands to the repeating renditions of faith. Your mind wanders to less worthy places of your life, ignoring the merciful salvations of a great God. How shyly you capture the words of the beautifully blessed speaker a righteous Savior put in your life, not only forgetting the devious places He’s...
Mad to Be Saved
I’ve soon found myself no longer satisfied by the complacency that comes so frequently close in hand with my Christianity, but rather shaking in a fervered fever to no longer sit quietly still and wait for His perfect end. A buried burning has crashed through my soul with a lovely, scalding sermon, pushing me to jump from a silent rest and rush into a brightened new day with a craving...
The Thievings of God
With a halting but determined cruise, you’ve coasted through life in your own selfish way, acquiring the pride and deepened holds of one who stands tall among shattered regrets and fiery temptations. Despite the beatings of your crushing days, you refused to surrender. Instead, you shook your head and sneered hard like a slack-jawed rebel, simply finding the worth of raising your hands in...
A Blessed Healing
Through the softness of time’s healing, this heart of mine has grown still, collecting a pauper’s layer of dust. With each long day that has passed, I have found myself no longer bleeding a broken heart’s pain but rather feeling it slowly grow to a place of vibrancy and acceptance. A blessed healing has wrapped my heart whole and allowed my eyes to see that an electric time of...
A Mighty Praise
The drums crash through the crowded structure, awakening the feet, hands and spirits of those who stand in reverence. A bounce and a shake start to ripple through us all, our feet unable to keep from being still. We beat our hands to the steady rhythm, singing our praises to a true King as loud as we’re able. The bass thunders in, kicking heavy and thumping against the soul, each thick...
Worth My Fight
Corrupt as your heart and conscience had become, you have finally found the courage to race back to where it is you belong. As you crash through a breaking night, a host of temptations and darkened reasons find you in your vulnerable states of silence, yet you have kept the course and strive closer and closer to where you have always belonged. Days upon days, as you beg and plead for your soul to...
Closer Now
Now listen for those angels’ voices and frighten not against their words. A fresh anointing has mercifully fallen upon your beaten brow and great things are once again required. You have searched far and deep, desperately looking for a place to safely belong when He has been divinely waiting patiently for your stubborn walls to fall and a soft understanding to take hold. He has called for...