Reflections

Only Way

There’s still nothing better than “Be still and know,” no greater destination than the straight and narrow. I can safely build my home inside His promises, my whole life inside the shadow of His cross.

So let me be a loser, and let the crowds rush past me to a trendier religion. While progress chases its tail in circles and the greedy find new schemes to go for the throat, I’m still singing the same creeds that first captivated me, even when the melody starts to sound old.

The blood, the nails, the sinner’s prayer;

grace and goodness,

righteousness, confession, truth.

Jesus has always been the only way. They try their hardest to cast doubt on His reputation, but they can never stain the spotless, radiant glory of the King of Kings, universal reign unending.

Poetry

Financial Planning

These days, I stop and wonder if
the truth still includes Matthew 6:
the birds with no barns,
the men with no money,
the Father who feeds them
just for seeking His kingdom.

Soon, He might have more birds 
under His wings
than He does usually,
neither sowing nor reaping.
These days, I sometimes worry if
He’ll lose count and let some starve to death,
till I remember He said 
He knows a lot about bread.

He was seven years ahead of the game
when famine came for a pagan Pharaoh,
sending him dreams and a prophetic slave
so Egypt could feed
all the nations with grain.

Then in the desert for forty full years
He kept every Hebrew belly brimming
morning and night
with manna and meat,
not merely organic but miracle-made.

Both David and Elijah
had to flee from the tyrant,
hunted like dogs though they’d done nothing wrong—
one He met in His presence
with holy bread,
while the other received deliveries,
banquets sent by raven beaks.

And when Elijah’s cup dried up,
he remembered the lesson
and told a widow
whom he found baking her last meal,
one last appetizer 
before she set her teeth on death,
not to fear: her jar of flour
would fill itself.
And she went and she did
as Elijah said—
and her household ate
for many days.

This is the same God
who fed the five thousand,
the same God who said
He Himself is the Bread.
He took it and blessed it 
and broke it and passed it,
and we eat, every one of us,
and on our tongues it is sweet.

Soon, we may look more like lilies than men;
we might be unable to labor or spin,
but I guess that just means
that even King Solomon won’t measure up
to the glory with which we will sit down
and feast.
Poetry

If You Trace New Constellations, the Stories All Change

Moonlight drizzles over the eaves
as I stand under stars,
mosquito free

Every secret of the Milky Way unwinds,
unfurled across the sky tonight;
every nebula proclaims its name
in inky haze and cursive light,

and the strangest surprise
is that nothing is biting at my neck
as I incline my soul toward splendor.

I can’t comprehend it;
I’ve lost the language
for beauty sans pain.

I’ve spent my whole life
soldiering through so much blood sacrificed
for every ounce of glory gained—
a hundred mosquito bites per leg—
that I almost want to pull away
from this hint of a gift
with no shadowed price,
the air too comfortable, too calm
for me to trust
this type of bedtime story.

Some say that God’s heart toward me
is all goodness and gladness
rather than suffering.

But I don’t know how to hold that.
I look past the galaxies
into the blackness,
and that’s how I see God:
I squint past the obvious grace,
the neon joy
and the bright splash of planets
to focus on those parts of my past
where I floated in darkness,
lost in the gaps.

Suppose that God
isn’t the one
who sends me mosquitoes.
Suppose He tucks the stars
under my chin like a blanket
and blesses me into bed,
holding His breath
to see if I’ll relax against His chest
and sleep. I was never prepared
for a religion like this.
I’m still tense, but I’m trying
to lean in a little,

to know Him more in
quiet twilights and caramel drinks,
less in duty and grief
and Holocaust war.

Poetry

A Supplication

Oh God, give us courage,
but don’t make us use it,
give us peace in a lullaby land.

Give us truth with no lie
that we have to stand up to,
no deception we don’t understand.

Make our enemies flee
before we even meet
and our friends always think
that we’re cool,

and though we break it freely,
make our families
always keep the golden rule.

Yes, we accept that
at times we’ll be tested,
and we know we’re supposed to rejoice,

but that will be easier
if You only expect us
to circle some multiple choice.

Make our dreams come true,
make our ministry grow,
make us feel like the heroes we are;

give us so many blessings
we’re no longer tempted
to envy the Instagram stars.

We’re only asking
with pure intentions
and worship-centered hearts—

we do want to follow,
but we’re so out of shape,
and You’re moving too fast and too far.

Poetry

Not One Falls

for the sweet Kichwa girl whom God has not forgotten

Oh our Father who art in heaven,
the soles of whose feet
are dirty with earth,

when an indigenous kid
is kidnapped and killed
and stretched out unburied far from home,
unmourned because of the native blood
that for fifteen rainy seasons danced her veins
in languages too satin, too delicate
for this money-punch crowd to comprehend,

she isn’t just another sparrow to You,
some native statistic out in the bush
who will never make the local news.

No, You stitched this girl together
from the crest where sunlight sparks on river,
from the birdsong that mixes with monkey chatter
and the stories that drift over open fires.

Now You sit vigil at her side,
cup her hair in Your hands and make lament.
You sing it the way her papa should have
and press Your scars, somehow still fresh,
against the wounds
that the world left open.
One day You will rise up
and avenge her death,
string her name like an arrow
in the bow of Your justice,
grown taut with patience—

but this evening You simply sit at her side
and cover her corpse
with the shadow of Your wings.
You will rise up, yes,
but there is an order of things,

and first You must show us
how to let ourselves feel it,
let ourselves weep,
how to love the least of these so much
we climb on their crosses with them
and bleed.

Poetry

Dare to Share

One day your good news
stopped having anything to do
with Jesus
and became a revolutionary organic cream,
a real Messiah of a product line

that you simply had to sell,
had to tell everyone you knew about,
again and again
even when they’re not asking,
shamelessly witnessing.

You will fill your conversations
with this nutrient-packed pill,
saturate your social circles
with oils called “necessary.”
You will blast it on the internet
and leave little pamphlets
like cheesy tracts
behind you in a trail
that leads straight to your bank account.

This is good news,
indeed.

Sometimes, when faith comes up
with an atheist,
you dodge your way out of the topic—
you don’t want to come across
as a pushy believer,
don’t want to risk relationships here.
You get back to your product.

Hey, something’s got to change your life,
revitalize your doldrum days
and the dry tips of your hair.
It might as well be
goat-milk coconut serum.
You might as well put your hope
and your courage there.