When the Stars Fell Like Rain (a poem)

Just an old poem of mine today.  Enjoy!

When the Stars Fell Like Rain

 

I heard the Night sky to me

As a sailor hears the sea

A piercing cry in the stillness of the dark

I stretched out below her

Gazing up at her brilliant form

Her children, the stars, sang out with her

Echoing her song

I let my mind carry me past the homes around me

Past the street lights trying to wash out her glory

In their song I hear the melody of God’s design

As chorus and verse waxed and waned

Harmony and rhyme washed over me

Like waves upon the shore

The song softened

My soul stirred as I’ve not felt before

A ghost of a whisper

The voices continued

Steady and precise

The beat pressed on

Subtly the volume increases

The crescendo bursts forth

A waterfall of joy

Drowned me in its deluge

To the East

Three stars flare and fall

Their voices lifted in praise

To the South

Two stars flung themselves across the horizon

Their song a song of triumph

The Earth joined in the song

The stars fell like rain

A sound the world has never known was heard

God sang to us that night

His love for us in every thing

And the stars fell like rain

Washing over me, cleansing my soul

I cried out in worship to my King

Bowing before His awesome wonders

His love enveloped me

And the stars fell like rain


grace, peace + hope

-Bear

Just a Link

Hello,

Just passing along another blog address today.  Take a look at the M28 Discipleship Blog.

I'm a contributing writer over there.  There are other great writers on that blog as well.  (All the Revolution stuff I've been posting started there yesterday, so go further back for different content.)

Thanks!

Seedless, Part II will be up tomorrow.

grace, peace + hope
-Bear

White Man

No big post today.  Just sharing a video for a song I recently heard.  The video is brilliant.

The song is "White Man" by Michael Gungor Band.

Enjoy!

"White Man" Music Video

grace, peace + hope
-Bear

Light the Fuse

Control.  It's an illusion that none of us can seem to separate from reality.  Parents think they have control over their children.  Governments assume they have control over their people.  Religions think they have control over what ever it is they think they have control over.

Ok, so maybe by strict definition they do.  But control can be resisted, removed, rescinded, refuted, reneged, you get the idea.

This is not me supporting anarchy.  I am not anti-control.  Depending on where the reigns of that control rest.  I don't want to get too deep or off course and delve into the semantics and politics of all of that.  What this post and revolution are primarily concerned with is how we conduct ourselves no matter what "control," is over us.

As far as I am concerned, there is only one ultimate source of control.  One authority that will take all our decisions and actions into account.  The choices we make yesterday, today, and tomorrow will be laid out before us some day.  How we handled those choices in regards to that sovereign authority will be our undoing or remaking.

Let me make this perfectly clear.

There is one God.  His name is "I Am."  He sent his only son Jesus to redeem the whole world from death.  He speaks to us, now, today, through his Spirit.  Here and here alone rests the final authority for all life.  For me, that is irrefutable fact.  It is upon that authority that I rest all of what I believe, say and do.

If you are starting to wonder what any of that has to do with this revolution.  I've been alluding to, well here is where they meet.

Those who claim to follow Jesus (I would be among them) as a whole, have been lulled into a crippling illusion that going to a building on Sunday in nice clothing, singing a few songs, putting money in an offering, and spending about an hour and a half together, is what he imagined the Church would be.
 
I will not apologize for thinking we have bastardized his dream.

The Church is not a building.  It is not a program or a pulpit.  The Church does not succeed or fail because of a board of directors or a philandering pastor.  It does not rest in the man made authority of pointy hats, white collars, or tailored suits.

The Church is people.  The guy in the corner of the coffee shop.  The woman across from you on the train.  You.  Me.  The Church succeeds because Jesus is it's authority.  It will grow in the soil full of the best crap.  The Church doesn't fail because Jesus doesn't fail.  (What fails is us, or our expectations.)  It's authority rests in the safest place.  The nail scarred hands of the Messiah.

The Church is so much more than we mortals have restricted it to be.

The revolution is to become the Church Jesus wanted us to be.  To feed the hungry.  Quench the throats of the thirsty.  Make the stranger a guest.  Clothe the naked.  Care for the sick.  Visit the prisoner.  To look after orphans and windows.  To remember his teachings, and make disciples.To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

It starts inside each of us.

Get on your knees.  Cry out to God.  Ask him to strike the match, and light the fuse.

grace, peace + hope
-Bear

My Thanks

There are so many things to be thankful for.  Trees.  Laughter.  Stories.  Family.  Friends.  And so many other things that could fill books upon books.

So today I'll lean on the words of someone else to say what is in my heart.  A last born son who tended sheep and later became a king.  (Emphasis mine.)

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.  He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

 Psalm 23

So continuing a thought from the last few days, revolution.  I'm thankful that with this in mind that David's ancient words, "I will fear no evil," bring great comfort.  To know that despite the presence of evil, or enemies, God will be with me.

For that I am thankful. 

It doesn't seem to be a big enough word.  But it's all I have today.

Thank you.

grace, peace & hope
-Bear