Lives Effluent, from Lifestyles Affluent (Poem)

Written in collaboration with

Howard Langford and Reverie Zurba 

17 more youthful ‘seeds’ buried in the ground. ¹

We enjoyed their presence when they were all around.

Why, oh why are they all now so deep in the ground?!

Our nation to the ‘god of guns’ still remains bound.

Living, loving, and settling in for the day,

Not knowing what foul plan was lurking their way.

Without a plan, they ran for their lives and their health,

As folk on The Hill enjoyed their ...NRA wealth.

Young lives snuffed out before they matured,

Yet we still don’t heed what God adjured.

Such senseless violence that stifled their sound,

Occurs when in schools all things godly …are bound. ²

By faith, not fear, He said to live.

Of this He’s been quite assertive!

While faith produces that for which we hope,

Fear produces what we don’t want, no joke!

On our money, we print, In God we trust,

But it’s now the god after which we lust!

With more guns than we have of our people, ³

It’s to those gods we have become faithful.

Don’t think because many here are Christian,

We’re always protected from destruction.

God said there’d be ‘a great falling away’.

Heads up! Of that, we’re in its matinee!

Is America, with more Christians than most,

To become the promised ‘falling away host’?

As we tightly grip our power-less gods,

Do our lifestyles reveal …we may be frauds?

This poem is not about guns, as you may think.

It’s about our lifestyles that before God stink.

It’s not about money, so don’t have a fit.

It is about our praise, worship and love of it.

These are dis-eases of lifestyles affluent,

And of world leadership that’s now arrogant!

If we don’t change, God may come to regret,

And on our affluence, let His …sun set!

Take heart, to this picture there’s a clear remedy--

Get in the flow of what God calls ‘life, righteously’.

In His Bible book, He gives many examples,

There He reveals His Spirit who us enables.

In each era, God made sure a remnant arose,

Folk who survived, then learned from His chastising blows.

We’re witnessing a new generation coming of age,

Now approaching voting age.

Will they help us turn the page??

Let’s pray they will heed examples of nations that traveled,

Roads America is now on, that have become gravel.

Of our ‘national trip’ may they lead us to survey,

And find ways to get and stay on God’s righteous highway.
~o~

Though they died in violence that wouldn’t cease,

May all their souls find everlasting peace.

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¹ This time, in Florida.

² Fifty-five years ago, June 17, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court declared school-sponsored prayer and Bible readings unconstitutional.
³ Civilian and military

Christiam (Poem)

Seed of The Father,

Root out of dry ground.

Seeds in fruit, scatter!

Roots in new lives found.

God so loved the world, He sent Jesus - Jew, 

To live and die as our sin sacrifice. 

Jesus so loved the world, He sent them YoU, 

To let them know for sin, He’s paid the price.

God’s Christ, raised to new life after He died, 

In His righteousness, I’m now justified. 

My life, now holy, being sanctified. ¹     

In all my life, God is now glorified.

New life! A Word-fueled imagination!

Baptized into a brand new family!

A brand new purpose and worldwide mission!

My former god is now my enemy!

Israel fought as Moses lifted his hand

Thus they put their enemy to flight. ²

Angels now fight as on God’s Word I stand.

I stand! Devils flee! No match for the fight!

God's Word, Christian, what to you does it mean?

Christ disciple, follower, fisher-of-men?

Jesus admirer, religious routine?

Ambassador of Heaven, a born-again?

As I grow, it more clearly dawns on me:

The word, Christian, may really miss the boat,

Compared to what in God’s Mind He may see.

Take a peek. See the meaning I uncloak.

We interpret Christian as a follower of Christ.

Yet the suffix, -ian, means a variant or version of.

Of Heaven’s intention, has there perhaps been a heist?!

Christian, a version of Christ.

What if that’s God’s view from above?

 ‘So what?’, you may wonder.

‘Why by this are you so awed?!’

We know christ is more a title than someone’s name. ³

Christ, The Son of God, died to create christs, sons of God.

As Christ is one with God, with Him we are the same. ⁴

We’re ‘Christ-versions’ who are being perfected.

Like Him, we’re also anointed and appointed.

With Him - Spirit, Soul and Body connected,

So in our lives, He will not be disappointed.

Like Him, we’re dispatched into this sinful world,

Dispatched to die to our selfish, carnal ways,

His Gospel Truth to live out, and to unfurl,

As through us, to this world His Light He displays.

Friend,

Ponder, then join me in this confession:

‘Jesus so loved the world, He sent them me! ⁵

His Spirit, Mind-in-Word to me given.

In His Body, christ-i-am, mystically!’ ⁶ 

God so loved the world, He sent Jesus - Jew.

Jesus so loved the world, He sent them YoU!

What’s your life preaching to those you’re sent to?

As you preach, may it be Him they pursue!

christ-i-am. Version of Christ we are.

See: Tag, You’re It (poem)

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¹ Holy means separated for God’s use, not perfected.

² See: Exodus 17:11-13

³ Christ means the anointed and appointed one.

⁴ See: 1 Corinthians 6:17. ‘...As He [Christ] is, so are we in the world.’ (1 John 4:17)

⁵ That is, YoU!

⁶ Mysteriously. This is one part of ‘the mystery’ that Apostle Paul mentions iteratively in his New Testament writings, e.g., the mystery of God, of Christ, of The Church, of The Gospel, of the [Christian] faith, etc. Accordingly, we who are born again in Christ carry these mysteries, i.e., ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, as heavenly treasure, hidden in earthly vessels. (2 Corinthians 4:6-7) 

Christian, Steeled (Poem)

We all recognize them. Perhaps you are, or used to be one --

Outwardly, seemingly mature Christians who are whiny,

Who, in the face of the slightest test, are completely undone.

Normal tests only reveal their faith is small, maybe tiny.

No longer a babe in Christ, but not yet fully mature,

Still hooked on God’s quick-fix answers received as an infant.

Unable God’s slightest test to successfully endure,

Concerning the ‘tough meat’ of God’s Word, they remain distant.

These folk may have put on God’s ‘helmet of salvation’,

But for them, other parts of His armor are too heavy. ¹

So they have resisted His ‘fight of faith’ conscription.

Of faith and the Sword of the Spirit, they don’t think highly.

Search across the Bible’s pages, this is not what you’ll find.

This is not the end game of The Holy Spirit’s mission.

This is not the picture, ‘Christian’, that God has in His mind.

If to His voice you listen, here is what you’ll envision.

As on eagle’s wings, God promised to bear us up,

So on His wings let us mount up, His Word in tow!

As you hang on in flight, you will surely grow-up!

Just keep hanging on, until you become a pro!

Soon, across life’s skies, you’ll fly your own ‘flight of faith’.

Then when problems come to steal your peace and joy,

You will be the sure victor in God’s ‘fight of faith’.

As you fight, here’s a tactic you can employ.

Since it’s problems that tend to make us pray,

And since they make us leave our glory height,

Then let us turn our problems into our prey,

And let us raise them in our glory flight.

Into your problems your talons you will sink,

Just as into weighty prey, eagles’ talons dig.

They’ll soon begin to ‘bleed’, and may even ‘stink’.

Never let go, even if they all seem quite big.

Don’t let go, I say! In faith, keep flying higher,

Gripping problems that used to make you scared.

Fly so high that you become their ‘terrifier’!

They’ll serve you when, by faith, they’ve been impaired.

By faith, id, then seize their ‘spirit core’,

Tighten your faith grip; eventually they will yield!

Then, speaking God’s Word, sound your victor’s roar!

Congratulations! You have become …a ‘Christian, steeled!’ ²

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¹ Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit… (Ephesians 6:13-18)
² To steel: (verb) To render insensible, inflexible, unyielding, determined, etc.

Faith Tune-up (Poem)

Faith is sputtering.
Engine light’s flashing.
Patience’s now antsy.
Fuel tank’s near empty.

Needs are piling up.
Desires don’t show up.
You’re now devils’ gossip.
Time for a faith tune-up! 

If you are progressing on your Christian walk,
There will surely be times when your faith will balk.
In living by faith, you have NoT been lazy.
You’re now all grown up, no longer a baby.

Mountain top experiences you try to recall,
Were so big in your mind. Now they seem so very small.
You try to believe, but now you just assume.
Heads up, my Friend. Welcome to God’s Tune-up Room.

His Tune-up Room is really His workshop,
It’s so quiet, you can hear a pin drop.
Don’t mistake silence for inactivity.
Just know He does nothing impetuously.

While waiting, here are some things you should do.
While He works, some things He’s reserved for you. 
First, check the fuel level in your Love tank.
Faith works by Love. On this God’s Word is frank.

Next, to ensure your faith remains ‘combustive’,
You will need to pour in some ‘faith additives’.
For these, Peter lays out a clear prescription. 

Better to treat it as God’s admonition! ¹

To maximize fuel economy, add virtue,

with more knowledge. ²

To restore full power, add all the perseverance

you can manage.

Reduce harmful emissions by adding self-control

and godliness.

To finish, pour in a generous measure of brotherly kindness.

Taking these four steps will keep you busy for quite a while,

And you will avoid waiting behavior that’s juvenile.

Yours will be faith, more efficient, resilient and durable!

Folk will be amazed at what, in you, God makes …displayable.

Faith alone won’t cut it, I must admit,

Ponder additives meant to benefit.

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¹ But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. (2 Peter 1:5-7)

² Virtue – moral excellence