You Ask Why

Don't ask why.

When death intrudes.

When tsunami strikes.

When evil strides triumphant.


Instead I ask you My beloved.

Do you trust Me fully?

I allow evil and death.

I allow danger and disaster.


Pain and suffering oft result.

I offer you real freedom.

You can choose whom you will serve.

Will you follow Me or be the devil's pawn.


"Why" is far beyond comprehension.

Yet "why" is easy to understand.

If you truly love you give freedom.

Prodigal's father lets him go knowing son can die.

Yet patiently he waits for beloved son's return.

He gave him freedom to fail in order to succeed.


It's not that in Genesis garden myth

devil won when Eve the "apple" bit

and Adam joined her in the bitter fall.

A myth that seems to say

twas mistake to offer freedom they chose

it was their fault and I was not involved.


You think that I am a distant God.

I love you more than any parent

who lets go a bicycle so child

can learn to ride like the wind.


I sent My son and came for you.

To save you from your sin.

Death didn't/doesn't win.

Evil's triumph is not the end.

Hope is real and true.


I love you far beyond your knowing.

Do you love and trust Me?

I give you freedom to come to Me.

What is your choice?

© Presbypoet, January 4, 2005

This one was heard after the Tsunami. It seems appropriate today, as so many are asking:

Why?

What do you think? Do you know Him in the midst of this awful pain? In your
Pain of uncertaintly do you hear Him say; "Be not afraid." and do you trust Him?

How to Shave

(Why Presbypoet should not shave.)

Instructions:
Notice beard needs cutting.
Stand at bathroom sink.
Open medicine chest.
Take out shaver.

Hold electric shaver in hand.
Plug it in.
Forget to take off plastic cover.
Turn on Shaver.

Start to shave.
Realize it is impossible to shave
with plastic shield on.
Do not turn off shaver.

Pull off plastic shield.
It did not go alone.
In removing the shield
I hit a button that opens the cover.

The metal top sprang up.
Three spinning heads now exposed
moving at rapid speed
flung themselves out into space.

As I said before:
I was standing over the sink.
Gravity sent them to the lowest part of the sink.
Whence they disappeared down the open drain.

That is why when my wife came home
and found me dismantling the sink
I explained to her.
I was just shaving.

My latest Rube Goldberg invention.
© Presbypoet, August 25, 2005


True story.

Follow Me

Don’t follow Me,
but take Me within.
Hear what I demand,
then obey.

Open the boxes,
you’d keep Me in.
It’s not your ideas, but mine,
you need to know.

I’ve given you gifts,
to use for My purpose.
See what they are.
I’ll refine them for service.

You’re a gift,
I give to the world.
Be a true blessing,
to those around you.
© Presbypoet 6-18-00
Will you follow Him?
Do you know where He leads you?
Have you taken him within you?

Jesus a Nice Guy

You want Me
to be nice.
Just love you.
Just forgive you.

Accept you are broken.
Admit your sin.
Observe My commandments
they are My demand.

In awe & terror
flee from My face.
You can’t make
slightest demand.

You oppress the poor.
Your alliance robs the needy.
Your leaders lie.
You tolerate evil.

You want Me
to be soft.
To make you comfortable.
To make no demands.

Because I love you
I refine you.
I let Shishak (2 Chron 12:7)
Pillage your temple.

I drove the merchants
from your temple.
I strip you of all
that keeps you from Me.
© Presbypoet, March 26, 2000

This is the Jesus who makes us very uncomfortable.
This is the one who asks for obedience.
Follow Me He asks.
Will you follow Him?

A Prayer for my Son

Lord,
All I can do is listen
and hear his pain.
Nothing I offer helps.
I cannot promise healing.

His valley of depression
choked full of fear.
Death seems only choice.
Chains of hopelessness bind.

He claims not to know you
or want to hear your name.
How can I pray for healing
if he doesn't believe in you?


Beloved,
In your pain I am with you.
Have faith and trust Me.
As you walk into this latest
valley of the shadow.

I don't promise escape from pain.
I don't promise it will be easy.
To Peter I said "come".
Step out in faith and trust in Me.

I am with you and sent you here
to be a blessing to your beloved son.
I send you through this pain
to draw you close to Me.

Offer a gift of hope to your son
in his hour of greatest need
in his depths of despair and grief.
Show him Me and offer hope.

I will provide.
I am here.
I love you both.
Ask for healing.

Lord,
I rejoice fully
knowing you are present.
I reach out to you
as I enter this vale of tears.

I pray to loose the bonds
of fear and depression.
that imprison my son.
I know that you will heal.
Presbypoet, August 17, 2005

A prayer of hope walking into the valley of the shadow, and God's response.

Myth

You call My story

myth

you think you can

ignore.

Yet myth contains

more truth

than simple facts can ever

communicate.

The truth of if I am Son

of God

is not found in fact of

virgin birth.

The truth of

original sin

is never spoken by

real snake.

If you fall into facts

seductive trap

you miss myth’s

deeper meaning.

Listen for the

parabolic truth

oft found in

paradoxical myth.

© Presbypoet, September 3, 2003

How much of the Bible don't you understand, because you don't understand the myth?
Do you only see what it says, and don't understand what it says?

Not just knowing the story of Abraham and his son, but knowing why God demanded the sacrifice.
Not just knowing the story of Judas and his betrayal, but why Jesus allowed Judas to betray Him.
Not just knowing the story of Jesus and his death, but why He died.

What are some other myths?
Do you know them?

Update August 21
One of the most interesting verses in the bible is Genesis 7:11, where the fountains of the great deep burst forth. If this is the flooding of the Black Sea, it is an amazingly accurate picture of what it must have looked like to someone down in that valley, looking up, and seeing what looked like Niagara Falls cascading from what just a day before had been a solid cliff 600 feet above.

This image was then transmitted thousands of years orally, before it was written down. Until I learned about the flooding of the Black Sea, i just put it down to a vivid imagination, like the statement it had not rained before, in 2:5.

Writing these poems, some from me, and some from God, has shown me how God uses us, broken pottery to create beautiful poetry and lives lived out for others.

Love so amazing, that God came and suffered and died for me. The poem posted February 15th is about Jesus temptation to just skip the suffering.

Disarticulation

You dismember words

like you dismember babies.

You say it’s merely

instrumental disarticulation.

You use words to deceive.

Your evil intent cloaked

with words selected to

obscure the truth.

You call killing babies

a medical procedure

you kill claiming

to save lives.

You disarticulate words.

Leaving them bleeding

and dying – empty

of life and meaning.

You call an unborn baby

only useless parasite

unwelcome intrusion

to be discarded.

Stop using euphemisms

so we can learn the truth.

Start telling the truth

about what you do.

© Presbypoet, April 24, 2004

I just read a book by Robert McAfee Brown,"Saying Yes and Saying No", where he wrote of training Presbyterian ministers to say the right things to get approved by Presbytery. The "truth", yet not what they believed. Words used to deceive. How can we understand each other if we only try to convince, rather than help each other hear the truth?
Presbypoet August 12, 2005

The Death of Alice

The Death Of Alice
(killed by freedom)
Alice the final chapter
By Presbypoet © December 1996
The member of our household who expressed her love the most
DIED December 14, 1996, at 7:20 AM
Alice Died because :
I gave her FREEDOM,
FREEDOM to leave protected safety,
to die.
Twas FREEDOM killed her,
but FREEDOM let her live,
live a JOYFUL LIFE.
If I had protected her,
She might have lived longer, but less JOYFUL,
She would have lived, but not LIVED.
Alice had freedom to make her own choices,
She was never sick, was able to run in the yard,
lie on the grass, dig holes,
and race me to fallen peaches.
The danger of freedom she enjoyed,
let Her have freedom to show Her LOVE to me,
by coming FREELY to me.
You can’t PROTECT without restricting FREEDOM,
the trick lies in somehow anticipating real DANGER,
while allowing FREEDOM.
When the RAIN falls,
you must remember the JOY that came,
because you chose the DANGER.
It hurts Alice is gone,
Even tho, when I see GOD,
I will see Alice.
From my heart,
An Alice hole is missing,
missing from my heart.
I will always remember her softness,
when She ran to meet Me, to share Her LOVE,
and take a carrot.



In DEATH,
I remember LIFE,
To embrace LOVE & LIFE,
I must SEE…DEATH,
Imbedded IN LOVE & LIFE
The more we LOVE,
The more we HURT,
When She is GONE.
Rejoice in the HURT,
That shows us the LOVE,
When She is GONE.
When I think of PAIN,
I think of RAIN,
THAT FALLS ON US.
We don’t want the RAIN,
or the PAIN,
THAT FALLS ON US.
Do you follow GOD,
To stop the RAIN?
How will you cope,
when HE lets it RAIN.
GOD gives us FREEDOM.
FREEDOM to go,
but FREEDOM to come to LOVE,
FREEDOM to come to HIM.
We can choose LOVE,
only in our FREEDOM.
Without FREEDOM,
LOVE cannot exist.
I thank GOD,
for showing Me:
WHEN I SEE HIM,
I WILL SEE ALICE
and Her LOVE for me.
Help me GOD to SEE,
LOVE for me
Not fearing to LOVE, family, friends,
or GOD.
LORD, help me show LOVE
to others near me,
so they will not fear
to fall in love with me.

LORD, thank you for the message,
You sent through Alice,
of DEATH & LOVE & SORROW,
of PAIN & TRUST & YOU.
Written December 1996, from pain & loss,
By Presbypoet

This was the first poem I ever wrote. It didn't start out as a poem, it started as pure pain that bled onto the page. Yet it taught me an important lesson about why God allows danger, and why it may be very important.

Who is Alice?