scars #7 (John 20:27)

Your scars
moved an incredulous
thomas
from disbelief to
awe,
Lord.

Your scars
broke sin’s hold on us
along with
the death-power
it once had.

Lord, Your
scars
say of me: “should he
so choose…
he is a
forgiven-man…
clean
chosen by Me
to be alive forever
close
to Me.”

someday…
i want to follow thomas'
road...
i want to
touch
Your omnipotent
scars…
not to believe
but to taste a bit of
Your heart, Lord.

and to
worship.

these pages #1

these words
on pages electric
burn
holes in my heart,
Lord.

they are not poetry…
they are
prose
&
prayer
visible to be spoken
like my heart would say
them
to You, Jesus.

let them burn me
into a shape
ready
to be with You
in courts ELECTRIC
with Your never-ending
LIGHT
LOVE
GRACE.

should my words
burn
no one other than
myself
they are still worth
igniting.

may they turn me into
flame!

scars #6 (John 20:27)

are people
themselves
ever scars, Lord?

are we Your
scars,
Lord?

when you look
at us
do You mostly see Your
pain
or
do You see our
story?

is grace so real
to You
that our
story
is what catches
Your eye, Lord?

scars #5 (John 20:27)

our scars…
Your scars, Lord,
are the script of our
hearts
writ large and visible
by the minutes of
our lives.

pity the man
the woman who have
none
at all…
for they have not
lived.

even more to be pitied
is the one who
runs
from things or
hearts
that would scar them…
for they
fear
to live.

most to be pitied
is the man
the woman
who would
erase
their scars completely…
for they would forget
what it means
to live.

You did NOT
live this way
nor did You
teach
us to live this way,
Lord.

not at all.

sweet anger (Proverbs 12:16)

it burns
so clean…
that we mistake
what
is burning.

we miss our
dying
even as we feel the
burst
of anger’s joy…

anger does have a joy
so sweet as to defy
description.

anger, Lord,
much of the time is a
drug
to us…but
to You anger is only a sad
reminder
of our brokenness
as we
burn
one another in melancholy
payment
of wrongs real
and imagined.

all past.

Jesus-ideas #2 (John 1:14)

just
thinking
about You, Jesus, is
safe.

on the other hand...

relationships aren’t so
safe.

spending time
with
You is far more difficult
than spending time
on
You, Lord.

as a subject of study…
or of songs...
or of work...
You are safe,
Lord…

however
as my Lord…and my
closer-than-a-brother-friend
You are NOT so safe…
since
with friends & brothers
there is give and
take.

a lot of listening goes into
connecting
with a Lord
&
a brother.

there really is no such thing as a
quick
relationship, is there,
Lord?

Jesus-ideas #1 (John 1:14)

we all like the
idea
of You,
Jesus…
maybe more than WHO
You were…and WHO
You are.

to relate to You
as Lord…
and
as brother
is much more difficult
than simply
thinking
about You.