Suspended In Starlight

Light filled beings

suspended in starlight.

Seraphim spinning

with delirious joy.

Cherubim's choral shout.

Warrior winged Creatures
coming close to Earth,

as on Creation's celebration.

Heaven's Hosannas.

Anthems echoing out
into vastness,
made by the Mighty One.

Psalms of eternal praise,

heard by mortal flesh and blood,

as the Incarnate One
comes forth in Virgin Birth.

Wrapped as a treasure.

Seen by men and angels.

Sent by His Father,

to save Mankind.

Expectation

 There was an expectation that the Messiah would be born

 King of the Jews.

 So many words foretelling
 signs in the heavens.

 A star moved across the night sky,
 watched intently by those who had studied the words and signs,
 and thought they knew the meaning of them.

The shepherds were expecting a pay rise soon.

 There had been grumblings and mutterings,
 voices trying to be heard.

 Some had taken the matter into their own hands,
 and flocks had been miscounted
 several times.

 Well sheep have a way of disappearing
 now and again.

Mary was expectant

 heavy with child.

 She hadn't expected the tedious donkey ride to Bethlehem for the census.

 Did they really have to be there in person?
 Not yet the future days of forms to be filled in with black ink
 within the boxes so a computer program can read it.

Joseph was expecting...

 he didn't quite know what.

 It had all been a bit of an emotional roller coaster
 for someone like him to process.

The angels were not expecting such a small audience

 to their heavenly choir.

 Great practice had gone into the harmonizing
 and there didn't seem many to appreciate it fully.

 If humans ever can appreciate angelic sounds.

Jesus was expectant of his own birth.

 He had seen down through time,
 and now the time had fully come
 to be born as a baby.

 He was ready to be
 the Saviour of the world.

Don't forget what time it is

Don't forget what time it is,

when it's late at night

and you seek selfish satisfaction

in the wrong places.

Don't forget what time it is,

and let careless pleasures
that do not build your life

rob you of your days to come.

Don't forget what time it is,

and cause offence and trouble
in others lives so they

waste their days in bitterness.

Don't forget what time it is,

and let the enemy
rob you of your potential

leaving you ashamed and broken.

Don't forget what time it is.

You have a destiny in God
that only you can fulfill

on the whole earth.

Don't forget what time it is,

that those around you are not told
the eternal destination changing

good news you already know.

Don't forget what time it is,

for we are appointed to live once

and then comes the judgement.

Don't forget what time it is.

I can't see You

I can't see You,

but I know

You are with me.

I can't touch You,

 but I feel 

Your presence with me.

It is a mystery

of faith and grace,

that we can be so sure

of Someone

you cannot prove,

but nobody can

make you deny.

By the blood of the Lamb

and the word of our testimony.

We know God,

and no one can make us

unknow Him.

They can take away

everything else we have in life,

but they cannot take away

God's Spirit from us.

Many will die for their faith

in Jesus, 

many will suffer loss.

But this world is so fleeting,

what's the point

of worrying.

Eternal consequences

are far more weighty,

than human allegiance

to systems that will

all eventually be destroyed.

I know Jesus,

and no one 

can remove His Holy Spirit from my life.

Thank you Lord.

Nothing can separate us from Your love. 

Meditation on 2 Corinthians 13 v 11

"Finally brethren, farewell. Become complete.

Be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace,

and the God of love and peace will be with you."

Become complete.

It is a high calling,
and far reaching,
and totally impossible
by myself.

It is a striking challenge,
a shout across
rooftops of lives
lived in half measures
and almost there's.

Become complete.

I want to
and need to
and part of me
agrees totally.

The other parts
are still counting
the costs
and doing the math's.
(Something I have
always found
an insurmountable task.)

Become complete.
I get it
and I don't get it.

It's simple profundity
causes me confusion,
as with all matters
of life and faith
that appear startlingly
straightforward,
until you begin
to attempt them.

Live in love and peace.

What does it mean,
to be willing to lay down your life?

Meanwhile my self preservation
makes bookings for a bunker.

Become complete.

Give up
and give in
and give out
and receive in
and flow out
and I'm not quite sure
if I'm up for that today.
(Yesterday was a challenge.)

Become complete.

It wouldn't have been said
if it wasn't possible.

How do I become complete?

Southern Israel

National parks

welcoming curious visitors,

ambling among antiquities

imagining centuries old existence.

Masada, cultural icon
and top tourist spot,
sits in frighteningly barren desert,
hostile
harsh
and unforgiving.

Settlements on
the dizzying heights,
vertigo inducing palaces
clinging to cliffs.

Tragic tales of trials
and sacrifice,
death chosen before slavery.

At Ein Gedi
streams in the desert
move from biblical metaphor
to spectacular reality,

as creature and nature
hug the edges of
its life giving flow,

and David's waterfall
sings as grace tumbles
through the scorched earth.

In Qumran's caves
ancient scrolls found
by shepherds.

God's Word to man
preserved in desert air
thick with history,

joy of generations
past and future,

held in this
beloved land.

Contended Dream

The enemy is contending

for my dream.

He has seen it
as I have,
but somehow he believes
in it more than me,
and will stop at nothing to destroy
its destiny.

He uses different tactics
depending on the mood
he finds me in.

He stirs me to overdo
till exhaustion lays me low.
He smothers my heart with pain
to cause it to go cold.
He distracts me
with pleasant things
that fill my soul space,
or unpleasant things
that downwards drag.

He brings along
some words to suppress
my spirit,
or puff up pride.

His armory appears endless
and time is on his side.
He has come across
humanity before,
in all its fragile forms
beset by original sin,
and not so original ones.

He tries to side swipe
my God given dream
out of my hands
by crafty cunning,
as I fail to see
he is behind my trials.

Yet God still loves me.
He is still with me,
and His perfect will is in the dream
He entrusts me with,
to bring forth future fruit.

My faltering faith
He touches with His mighty power.
His Spirit revives me,
and He shines His light upon my path.

He lifts my eyes to see Him,
and we lock our gaze
as He talks me through
the steps to practice,
until our perfect dance comes forth,
and I can say again
to the enemy,
'You will not have my dream today'.