in His arms #2

big
people see things
differently
from little people.

You knew this, Lord...
so
is that why You stopped us
as we tried
to prevent Your words of
blessing
from being spoken?

big
people think words
are cheap...

little people
know
that words can kill
or
at least make them cry.

big
people curse
life...
&
other people...
&
barriers to their plans...
&
frustrating circumstances.

little people
haven't learned
yet
to curse
although they do know
frustration...
& sadly...
cursing will come easily
to their lips
soon enough.

Lord,
Your words of blessing
exposed
our "protection"
of Your "valuable time"
as the curses
they were.

heaven
loves blessing.

death
despises it.

(for the back-story...
see Mark 10:13-16)

in His arms

turned
away, Lord...
we turned them
away.

You stopped us in our
tracks
telling us that
they
were what heaven's
citizens
most resembled.

then
You held them
in Your arms
blessing
them & their lives.

squirmy
&
already dirty from their morning
travels...
they stopped their
movement
for a moment as
words
too strong for any of us
big people
to remember
much less comprehend
rolled
over their little heads.

then
once again full
of energy
they ran off to play.

heaven
stopped & noticed.
the cosmos-Maker
smiled.

indeed...
it was good!

(for the back-story...
see Mark 10:13-16 & Genesis 1:10 )

hearing God's promise (matthew 4:5-7)

unknown
You were asked to
show
some of Your real glory so that
amazement
would bring people into
the Light of God.

instead
You waited again for YaHWeH's
Voice
to speak.

in the fire of being
tested
most severely
You refused to
test
Your Own Abba.

more light
breaking
out over the deep dark.

killing it.

obedience
always trumps
power.

making bread (matthew 4:3-4)

hungry
You were approached to make
bread
which was nowhere to be found from
stones
which were everywhere.

it was doable.

after all
at the start of THE
Beginning
You made the cosmos
out of nothing by
talking
about it.

it WAS doable.

hungry
You waited
for Your Abba's kind
provision.

even though Your hunger was
strong
Your heart for YaHWeH was
stronger.

so
You waited.

Satan failed...

the first real ray of
the newest dawn
ever
burst out over a dark land.

the Presence #2 (Mark 9:37)

moses quivered...
isaiah screamed, "woe is me!"
Paul was
speechless...
John
saw a massive throne
isolated
in absolute light-fire...

all these men
were stunned by Your
Presence, Lord.

but the little ones
crowded
around You...even when we
tried
to stop them.

the little ones
crowd
our lives with their cries.
their hearts.
their tears.
their shouting laughter.

we
think them to be merely
small people.

but Jesus...
You told us that they carry You
inside them.

each one.

wrestling with God #2 (Mark 9 & Genesis 32)

playing...
acting like we're fighting
is so fun...
why is that, Lord?

little grand-girls
climbing
all over me to
pin
me to the rug...
what
could be better than
this?

memories
of our own little ones
starting this
tradition
fill
& warm me.

all this...
a gift from Your heart,
Lord...

after all,
You
are the very same
YaHWeH
Who met Jacob
by the brook
to "play-fight" all night long
just
so You could
bless him.

what fun for You!

pickle grace

he's 5 years old
&
way
too young to lose
his daddy.

where is Your grace
in this,
Lord?

will daddy still need to get
shots?
can i hug his ashes?
can i kiss his ashes?
his questions each & all...

mom
trying to answer
each
with truth
that crushes her heart
even as her words
break into the air.

satisfied
in some 5 year-old way
he asks,

"can i have some more pickles?"

it seems, Lord,
that Your grace is in
the pickles.

shining grace

she said
she saw a light
as her husband-friend
was dying.

our dear friend was
gifted
by You, Lord,
with a sight she sorely
needed.

then when her husband-friend
left
her to come to You...
she said
she saw him.
whole.
standing.
holding someone's hand.
she did not know
whose hand
it was.

was it Yours,
Lord?

broken grace #4 (2 Cor. 12)

is your grace
broken,
Lord?

or just invisible
most of the time?

tho' we seldom see
You...
we
have never wept
alone...
never
have we cleaned up
a pain-wracked loved one
all
by ourselves...
tho' it often seems that way.

Your hands
cover our own
touching
everything we touch.

You taste
each
one of our tears.

this is grace,
i think.

true grace.

broken grace #3 (2 Cor. 12)

is Your grace
broken,
Lord?

is it unable
to be present in the face
of great suffering?
a suffering that
steals
our dignity?

where are You,
Lord,
in those dark nights?

when we survive
loss,
our own pain
&
that of our loved ones...
is our survival
true grace?
or not?

did we survive?
well, yes...
but
is THIS what grace is?
true grace?

tho' it be
dark...
it is a true grace
to live,
i think.

even in grief.

even in the dark.

broken grace #2 (2 Cor. 12)

is Your grace
broken,
Lord?

watching
helplessly
we wonder about You,
Lord...
about Your grace
&
our so-sick friend.

where is grace?
where are You?

then
we understand exactly
how Your grace
came
here today.

in us.

why us, Lord?
why us?

broken grace #1 (2 Cor. 12)

is Your grace
broken,
Lord?

i see my friend
dying...
his wife kissing
his head...
telling
him she loves him.

i think
i see Your grace
there
even though i am not
so much comfortable
with its
shape.

but there You are
sharing
in our misery.

grace & the status quo #6 (john 1 & 3)

by night he
came
looking for answers
to You
healing sick people...
freeing
the demonized...
preaching a good news version
of the torah
no one had heard for a
very long time.

You spoke of the YaHWeH-Spirit
leading
You & anyone else who would
listen...
who would obey
His Voice.

YaHWeH's Spirit blowing like the
wind
&
You elevated like
Moses' brass snake
giving LIFE
to anyone who would really
SEE You.

like all of us
accustomed to the status quo
he did not understand.

grace & the status quo #5 (john 1 & 3)

Lord,
from the beginning
where You
were busy making
everything from
nothing...
grace in You has always
reigned.

so invisible is the
touch
of your grace
that we mistake
luck
skill
intelligence
(usually our own)
for it.

we forget that
no luck
nor skill
nor intelligence
of our own has ever made
one quantum of
light...
neither have we ever been able
to push back any
evil
for long at all.

grace & the status quo #4 (john 1 & 3)

never static, Your
grace
moves to destroy
all
the death & hatred
we accept every day.

our normal...
is what grace seeks to
destroy
so
life
can break through.

You shatter us, Lord,
then...
You remake us on
the inside
&
out.

grace
disturbs each
&
all of us!

grace & the status quo #3 (john 1 & 3)

"how can this be?"

this is
an old question
to the new
grace
offered to us
in Yourself.

a theologian like Nicodemus
totally
missed it...
how could he not?
nothing like You,
Lord,
had ever come so close to us
before.

you were the one-and-only-Emmanuel...
the God-with-us
Who shattered each
&
every
status quo we had ever lived
through.

You were the One God
Who always accepted our
worship
but never demanded it!
instead...
what You asked of us
was
a denying of self,
a shouldering of
the grace-cross,
a walking of the difficult grace-road...
with You.

grace is
tough!

tougher than
sin & death.

grace & the status quo #2 (john 1 & 3)

the noise of their
battle
echoes each morning
of our lives.

the sound of
grace
fighting the various status quos
of our lives.

even as the sun
rises
to end nights
reign...
so grace rises
battle-ready to deal death to
death...
to free the
captive...
to give a new song
to the
hopeless
all around us.

grace & the status quo (john 1 & 3)

grace
is always the deadly
enemy
of every status quo
in the here
in the now of our lives.

until we find You waiting
for us
at the end of this life,
Lord,
every status quo attacks
grace
with a deep hatred.

in You, Lord,
grace came walking into
our lives
raising dead people...
offering deep freedom to
those held captive by every
dark force.

in You, Lord,
grace became
GRACE
shattering all the
old sleepy
deadly comforts the
status quo
offers.

where is Jesus? (john 1) #2

Lord,
you gave us the
pattern
for every one of our
conversations...
our dialogues...
when You came to us as
God's Living WORD...
God's conversation
with us.

to enter into
real conversation...
to truly
participate
in authentic dialogue is
to follow Your pattern, Lord,
in looking for us
long before we look for You.

You bring the unseeable
YaHWeH into our view.

God's words
burn
their way
deep
into our hearts
by You BEING His WORD!
we could SEE God's WORD sweat
weep
rage
&
raise the dead!

in You, we could see
our God as
active
living
never content with
the status quo.

where is Jesus? (john 1)

let's keep our dialogue open...

why?

Jesus is in every dialogue...
whenever
we welcome Him
and
even before.

He is Himself
the beginner of the
greatest
dialogue ever…
the WORD
becoming one of
us
so we could hear
see
touch
&
even taste Him.