Here are Two Poems:

 Here are two poems that I've written. Often, when I think about where I am, and why I'm here, I remember these poems and what inspired me to write them.

2/07/04 - Green Sleeves in Shiprock

What child is this all dressed in black
With long dark hair and eyes so bright
Who thinks her future is just as dark
As the clothes she hides behind?

He looks so angry this bright eyed son
The world he lives in is so unkind
But should he smile at a hint of joy
His face can light up the shadows

Jesus, Oh Lord I cry
Release an army of warriors
Fight, Fight the demons here
So the children can see the light.

What child is this without a dream
Dressed in black and shadows
Who cannot hear a word of hope
For the din of the angry clatter

Jesus, Oh Lord I pray
Release an army of angels
Drive away the deafening throng
So they can hear your whisper
Open your hearts while the way is clear
See the truth around you
The Joy and Promise of the Living Light
The truth of the stories you’ve heard.

 

Friday, October 24, 2008

For Michael

I see you
You are not invisible to me.
I see you all
Walking with your head down,
Dragging you feet, wearing out your souls.
I see you
Vacant men walking past Vacant houses
Men of the Land, who don’t seem to care anymore
about the Land around them
Dry, like the Land you are born to
I see you
Making your way into town
For a drink, for a job, for a change
And making your way home again
To the old mother who still cares
To the old grandmother who still prays for you
To be greeted by a long sad sigh and an open door
I want to say, “hold your head up high”
I want to say, “be the brave you were born to be”
I want to say, “I am sorry.”
I want to cook for you, and sing you songs, and tell you stories
Great Stories, Living Stories
I want to give you a hot cup of coffee on a cold night,
With lots of sugar and a dash of hope.
I want to drive you home
To the son that needs you
To the woman that loves you
And I want to say…
Look past the stars, Look past the moon
Look past the tent meetings and revivals
Seek God!
He is there waiting
He sees you.
Learn to sing His songs
He is calling you.
Believe His stories
He has a plan for you!
All of you. Each of You.
Walking this Land for a Divine purpose.
He is not the White Man’s God
He is every man’s God
He is not the missionary’s God
He is the People’s God
He formed you, He knows you, He sees you.
You are not invisible to Him.

Thy Will Be Done

I often thought that if only the LORD would stop by for a cup of coffee, and lay out for us exactly what He wanted us to do and how He wanted us to proceed, we would have no problem at all doing His will. The problem these days is that we know exactly what we are supposed to be doing, but there seems to be no way to get it done. We've had a lot of false starts. We've had a lot of rugs pulled out from under us. And we've learned a lot from all the trials, delays, and failures. Refiner's fire or Chastisement from our Heavenly Father. We know what we should be doing, and the frustration lies in the apparent "fact" that we have no way of doing it.
We look around, we drive along, and our hearts break for the people we see. The Dine' - the men broken and lost, the youth angry and confused, families that need to be restored...people who desperately need a Savior. To restore their identity and dignity  as a people, through Christ. To bring the true LIGHT into the darkness in which they are stumbling. To bring the LIVING WATER to those wandering in this dry and desolate land. We hear the beat of the drum, we see the Son rising on a people who are learning to dance their prayers to the Creator again - in the name of Father, Son, and Great Spirit. And we want to be part of it. To help this movement be birthed. But we are not Native by blood. And not many people we have shared with understand what we are trying to say. We thought we could do it through Farmington Free Methodist Mission, or through Kirtland Hope Evangelical Church. But just when it was seeming to be a possibility, it was crushed. The "Indians" don't need missionaries. They don't need white people to come to the Rez to paint houses or run Vacation Bible Schools. They don't need donations of old clothes. They don't need hot dogs or cupcakes. They need to be told that they don't have to stop being "Indian" in order to be a follower of Yahshua. They need to be taught the whole story of their Creator, of His true nature, and that He created them in His image and set them here to worship Him with the rhythm He placed in their hearts. And that He sent His only begotten, who walked this earth, a brown man not a white man, to teach, and to do warfare for them in the spiritual realm, who died for them and rose for them, just as they are. We hear men like Richard Twis and Casey Church - you can find them on our facebook page...and we say Yes and AMEN and can we please be part of this. Art is invited to worship Yahweh around the drum with Native brothers and he feels as if he is home. I watch children dance prayers to their Creator in full regalia and my heart dances with them. But we are just spectators, occasional guests and we long to be more. And we know we are supposed to be in the business of teaching and encouraging and restoring and making disciples. We are supposed to be involved with the encouragement of contextual worship among the First Nations.  But at this point we can only watch, sigh, and pray. Today, Saturday, May 14, Our Daily Bread was about Patience. "God who is timeless, requires of us a mature faith that may involve delays that seem like trials. Patience is one sign of that maturity, a quality that can develop only through the passing of time. ...keep hoping, keep believing, keep anticipating. Ok, for now I say Ok...but hear me sigh.

psalms

I had really gotten lazy about prayer and devotion. I was so disillusioned by the last "failure" in ministry last fall, and the root of bitterness, the spirit of offense, ate away at my soul like a cancer. I didn't want to go to church, I didn't want to pray...what good did it do anyway? Oh, it was still in my nature to praise HIM. To see HIS glory in the heavens. Even to say, "I love you LORD" a dozen times a day. But I didn't really want to talk to HIM. In March I picked up one of those "Our Daily Bread" devotionals. I needed something to get me started back in the habit of morning prayer and devotion. I especially like it. It's really not enough, and nothing is connected. It seems so random and mundane. But I've stuck to it. Some mornings its all I did. Some mornings I used the verses on the bottom of the pages of my prayer journal. There is a verse in the Psalms that I've recently discovered, Psalm 27:8, "Come, my heart says, seek His face".  In one translation it says, "My heart has heard You say, come talk with me."  Isn't that beautiful?
The LORD says, "come talk with me".
I am thinking, if we actually prayed through the Psalms, and studied them, they would lead us to most of the rest of the Bible. Psalm 1 would lead us to the Beatitudes. Psalm 23 would lead us to Ezekiel 34 and John 10. Many of the Psalms lead us back to Exodus, or ahead to the Cross. I've read through the Psalms, one a day and when I got to 119, one section a day. I read them aloud in the little sanctuary of our Mission...the one that the denomination "sold"...The one that sits deserted and over grown with weeds and makes my heart ache. See, there are those seeds of bitterness...and the thought - what difference did it make? Still, my little copy of "Our Daily Bread" is finished in a few days...so is this school year...maybe the Psalms will be my Summer Project. I will read through them from start to finish, seeing where else in the WORD they lead me. But now it is time to get dressed. My ride will be here soon. God bless who ever is reading these entries. My hit clicker seems to go up daily. God bless us, everyone!

A Royal Wedding

Matthew 24:38   As in the days of Noah - they were marrying and given in marriage.
But, Yes - I watched the Royal Wedding...not all of it, but enough. OK, so it was full of pomp and who really cares...actually millions upon millions cared. And was that so bad? In this day, when so much violence, catastrophe, turmoil is in the news, it was nice to see something beautiful and romantic. And, OK - the Church of England may not be a typical evangelical Christian's cup of tea...but the prayers were prayed in the Name of Jesus, and the union was blessed in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And millions heard it. And the whole thing brought tears to my eyes...I always cry at weddings. And soon, very soon we might be present at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. I already have my invitation to that one...do you?