Spiritual Giant Part ll
I wrote this poem a couple of years ago about my dad and haven’t shared it with many people – I hold it very closely to my heart. I want to share it this year in celebration of my dad’s life and the victory he had found in Jesus. I pray you may find the same victory.
He restores all things. All things.
Cigarettes & Jesus
He was covered with the stench of black coffee and cigarettes
But really it was black cigarettes and coffee that would busy his day away
The black tar slowly calcifying the cells within his very lungs
While at the same time allowing him to feel less
Pain that would be diluted by the saturation of frustration
Work that piled upon work that distracted from the situation
Caffeine that kept alert the already eager mind
But did not focus his attention on the things that took time
Look upon the children, only victims of this tension
Where time pulled the strings and he played the system
Running and reaching and striving for
Only that which cannot be obtained by human quality of mind or grit
This is it
We are stuck
In the midst of this system
That tells us
That we must
Run this race and be victorious
But in reality
Whom is it that reigns at the end of the day?
When the chaos of this world consumes and dries up
Our hearts that are weary yet keep pushing
Toward the emptiness
Reaching for the wind that can never be held
Yet, these precious moments of life that really matter
Are found lost in the midst of our worldly desire
We beat and we hurt only to be wounded
And to wound those are are innocent bystanders
Alone in the end, nothing in this world would ever
Satisfy that desire, yet they still try
But slowly they die
Without the content of their soul being loved
Instead, the sand slips away to the other side of that hourglass
And that time, watch it past
With only regret and the shame to bear our own name
Wasted away as we sought to play the game
One final breath they sing
With the last bit of might they muster up with strength
But on that day, only to fade away
Just a memory, upon infamy, written into history
Unless
Oh
Unless
Because in that moment of our darkest despair
A voice cries out, “My child, are you there?”
I’ve been searching, and I’ve seen
How you’ve run so far away
But today, I say, “Come home.”
Everything lost, everything shamed,
In my name, all will be restored
Oh, what a marvelous day.
So come, my child, come and see
Learn to be all that I have called you to be
You are precious in my sight
White as snow
Only because of the gift of his blood that he reaped
To be sown
Into the hearts of man once again
Woven like thread to pull together those wounds so deep
He is calling his sheep
So come to me now, let your problems fade
Lay them down at the feet of that rugged tree
Where the nails, how he wept
And was buried away
And behold, the stone, no longer lay
For death was defeated and creation cries, “Alas!”
Salvation is here for all who but ask
And our darkness finally outweighed by that marvelous light
So brilliant, stand in awe as the angels whisper, “do not fright.”
For He has come, victorious
And he is coming and calling us
To run and fall at the feet of the lamb
Who was slain for our sin
The depravity of man
So lay aside every weight and sin that lingers still
Run to that rugged cross
And know
For he is good
And his mercy endures
For at the end our despair
He calls
His children
Into freedom
Oh, freedom, irrevocable freedom
Chains broken from this system
Death no longer holding us, preventing us,
Speaking lies over us
What the enemy stole, redeemed
What has been lost, found
What has died, risen
Because behold, for he has done it
It is finished
He has risen
And so,
We rise with him.