WHEN YOU CAN'T SLEEP... TRY POETRY.

This is my sad attempt at poetry at 3 in the morning when I can't sleep...
Before you get too critical, please realize that I wrote this in 15 minutes. And it was late. And I don't write poetry. Nor do I read poetry. This is new for me.


Is this what I am?
Pushing and probing and prodding?
Am I without a hope or a faith?
Am I some wanderer who has lost his way?

Some men believe that I am.

Is this what I am?
Taking my questions
and plaguing those men
with atrocities of sulfur and ash?
Am I so foreign? Am I so strange?

But I am a man. This is all that I am.
I have no such power or luck.
If I may seek all who I am
I may find who I am to be truth.
I may find who I am to be peace.

On the other hand...

What if who I am was no such animal?
What if who I am was a fluke?

The atrocities of such an idea are...
Unimaginable.
Who I am might smite what I am.

But what if the best thing I did
was to take what I am
and keep prodding and probing and pushing?
What if the best thing I did was to keep moving on
and let those men say what they might?

Then would I become all that I am?
Or would who I am just shove me aside?

Through all of
these questions
and struggles
and hopes
and fears
one thing is clear:
I am not who I am.

And while we're at it
neither are you.

THIS IS HOLY WRIT, FOLKS...

I love the humanity of scripture. Too often, we forget that people wrote the Bible. In I Cor. 1.14-17, we can see Paul getting anxious to get at his point. Here's what it says in the King James...

I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.
And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.
For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

Now, I'm going to take some interpretive liberties, here, and I'm going to offer the version according Marc:

In fact, I thank God that I didn't have to baptize any of you so that no one can say that you were baptized into my name. Well, I didn't baptize anyone except Crispus and Gaius.
Oh, and now that I think about it I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I'm pretty sure I didn't baptize anyone else.
But that's not the point! For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel....

I love this little excerpt because we can totally see Paul thinking out loud. Most likely, he would have dictated his letters as someone wrote for him, and I love that we can almost see his thought process coming through in the letter.

I love that we can see the human aspect of scripture. We don't have to be afraid of the fact that God didn't dictate the Bible. To me, it's just incredibly neat that God used a guy like Paul to write some of the most influential literature of all time. And it's neat to see how God works through real people in real situations.

ON TODAY... OH, AND P.S., ON YESTERDAY

I thank God for days like today. I woke up dreading the day. Sometimes Sundays are soooo long. But I love how God can just change your attitude, even when you're not aware that he's already done it. I don't even remember when my attitude changed. Maybe it was in the car on the way to church as I drove with no radio on. Maybe it was when I saw my wife at church. Maybe it was after church. I'm not sure. I just know that somewhere along the line my heart changed, and it wasn't on my own account.

Thus, thanks to God, I really had a wonderful day. We worked hard all afternoon, and we experienced what I thought was a wonderful worship time. Plus, any day I get to spend nearly all day with my wife is a good day.

It's always good to look back on the day and see how God works. On the other side of the coin, it's always good to look back and see how I've pushed God away. Even still, it's especially neat to see when God works in spite of me.

Oh, and P.S...
Yesterday, my wife and I got to go back to Mesquite to hang out with the folks.

I was able to see my little bro (who is a beast and a half) play some baseball. I only saw one of the games he played in, but he played in four. 2 J.V. games, and 2 Varsity. He had a game tying double in the top half of the last inning of the championship game in the varsity tournament (yes, that sentence had way too many prepositions). Too bad they lost the game in the bottom half of the inning.

We also had some wicked good Mexican food with Shari's parents, and some quality home-cooked fishies with my parents. It was a good time in general.

THE 'FUNDAMENTALS' OF THE FAITH

Jesus Christ is Lord.