As he painted stars into the sky
did God mourn each human soul who would ever die lost?

As God walked in the first grass meadows of this earth
did he cry, his tears burning for each human indecency
 we would give to one another?

When the Son cried out, “!Why- Forsaken…!“,
-what dread tore deep through the father whose closed eyes
 still saw every agony like sparks
 illuminate the frame of man in an epiphany of fire?

And healing Born, as resurrection eyes drank in morning light
three days from death, now fear conquered. Deliverance, now
healing for the soul of God.

Darkness folding like ocean tide, but wicks rising flame immortal
as one by one some turn, open to the light.

my answer

"God does want the right answer. He wants /my/ answer." ~M.S.

This profound truth wrecks me every time I say it in my head. It's not about what you do, it matters that you do it with God. The plan of God is not so much about the actions of our hands and with what you fill our day, it is about friendship and companionship.

Remind Me of You || 2012.07.22

0/12072201.0400

We praise you Lord
  you dwell with us
We praise you Lord
  for your great power
We praise you Lord
  for your great love
We thank you Lord
  for your inheritance
We thank you Lord
  you are with us
.
I see that wind is blowing
  I remember you are near
The champion of my insufficiency
  Defender
But what is more than that
  Great and Careful Friend
Set your cloak upon me
   and all my troubles gather
To set them away and know me no more
  together we do not need them
.
Let me search in your heart
  and know what love really is
Let me live in your home
  and find out who I am
Let me eat all with you at your table
  and feel your laugh and see smiles on your face
Let me live to know you
  turn past temptations away
And when Darkness walks beside me
  I will know our footsteps are the same
.
When dawn comes suddenly
  or creeps into night's sky
You stand beside me
  with me
I am not alone
  I am not forgotten
I thank you for this inheritance
  that I am with you
Wind may not always blow to my back
  but the breath of the earth
    reminds me if you
.
~JLB

Stands in the way || 2011.07.23

Earth shake, mountains tremble... Everything that stands in your way... 

God what is it /really/ that can stand in your way? Only the hearts of men? Humbled and shaken, dried and pressed, endured of much, still we can find the gall to stand pride above all.

We choose to bow, we choose to humble ourselves and to raise your name above all. Over the nations, over the governments, over the people. Let your love shine out over them, into the hearts of everyone to change the hurts and the torments and the slaveries. Open the doors for us to bear your freedom both to the captives as well as the captors. Change hearts and lives on all sides of suffering. And reveal your love to the tormented who struggle within themselves because of their past, their present, or their dreams or hopes. Comfort the pains and the losses, dry their tears with our hands and be magnified in their eyes. Be glorified in their soul's redemption and peace. Their turmoil take, and blow gently into the sails of their lives. Give them yourself for peace, and your peace for their rest. 

Don't Wait || 2011.03.26

Don't wait, Lord
surround us with yourself
wall around a wall, strong on our behalf

Set peace within us even though life sets against us
Like a storm on a raging sea
you are the keel holding strong

No fear, life is in your hands
You hold all mysteries safe
and reveal them in perfect time

It is you alone who fills the gaps in who i am
You bring me life
there is no other need

All my burdens remind me not to wait
to seek in earnest
whether at an end or not

To find you, to live
in the light of your face
To know love, and to learn love

~JLB

___________

From Psalm 40, then experiences throughout the rest of the day.

|| 2011.03.08

I know love
that knows death from the other side
and gives me strength to rise.
This power conveys me.
Hand that has broken hell's rights,
and wrongs,
and hosts the quiet which Death opposes -
to let me trust.
Though my life may slay me, Lord,
carve from me any death
that gives its way over to decay…

Let silver, let gold; let corrupt-able
be replaced by Jesus blood,
that I may obey Truth:
unfeigned Love,
from a purely earnest heart.
Regenerated, not by what had to die,
but by what must live alive,
always and still-
The word of God - Jesus.

This flesh is as grass and glory as its flower.
Grass dries, and flowers fall out.
Let us live as the living word,
this Gospel remaining forever.

When we plant a seed, we expect it to grow.
But why don't they all?
Are some seeds supposed to grow,
and others destined for feed, for fuel, even for burning?
Some to never live, others to flourish?

Behold God!
Who has directed His breath?
Or taught what He did not understand?
By Him kings rule, in His allowance all things are decreed.
And still He leads like a shepherd,
carrying the youths and leading those with young.
He delivers power to the fainting and weary:
to rise like eagles.
He hands newness to those without strength,
to run, to walk - to not stumble and not collapse.

Let the righteous rise
the earth fears -
let love flow.
Without corruption
let the love of God be known.


~JLB

-----
q: I have a hard time understanding the first stanza/paragraph. Are the punctuation or separations in the best places or ?

a: Edits are applied. Commentary:

I know love that knows death from the other side and gives me strength to rise.
-- Jesus died, and overcame death. The Father cares for us with the same power, and this same power is in me. No matter how often i fall, in God's righteousness i can rise again.

This power conveys me [.]
-- Not only can I stand up when i am tired, fallen or otherwise need to rise, the Power of God moves me, compels me and goes with me.

Hand that has broken hell's rights, and wrongs, and hosts the quiet [which] Death opposes - to let me trust.
-- In the defeat Jesus championed, hell has been defeated, its claims demolished, and the chaos turmoil and fear that Death's role in the fallen world brings to us has been mitigated. I am free to totally and absolutely trust completely and without reservation in God, Salvation, and the relationship that is now open to me.

Though my life may slay me, Lord, carve from me any death that gives its way over to decay…
--Mortality and its reminders are to frequently a haunt - distracting from what really matters. As a tree needs pruning, so does life. Sometimes this is physical baggage, feelings, a habit, or something else we need to be rid of because it is enough of an idol that it threatens or contains our steps from being decidedly and dedicatedly Godly. These things I need to be rid of, and stay rid of. Like a scratch on the paint of a car, left unchecked it will turn to a decay which eats away value of moments. Redeeming the time is one of the things God told us to do- not wasting any of it.

~JLB

In the Wind || 2011.02.16-19

Like trees in the wind
mountains tremble before you
Stones cry out
and water stands up in a heap
I am razed so you may raise
and I acclaim you all of my days
Worship rocks me
I sway with your breath
Melt in your rhythm
teach me your steps

I smell the rain
the cloud coming closer
Enveloped in fog
I feel the mist
Pouring out worship
a hand takes my own
Together bow
the foot of the throne

Strength and honor
a heart that love has won
Steadfast standing
facing storm
I trust
feel your spirit upon my skin
Though sails may tear
water wall right through me
Love still ghosts around me
bear me upright standing

Forged of your breath
my soul now lives
Salvation billows sagaciously deep
love knows not temperantia
Compassion like a river flows
working mercy
Given your name
present faultless before glory
To you be all given
all rule, all strength, and all fame

~JLB