Tuesday, May 12, 2015

More Credible Advice on Hospitality from Another Random Blogger Who Has Probably Never Entertained Guests

Although hospitality is generally a culturally-imposed idea, it is also a biblical one. We are commanded to be hospitable (1 Peter 4:9). I think it's because Christians are supposed to be loving or something. The jury is still out on that one.

So in our quest to be hospitable, parents and teachers will find themselves in some mad rush to "instill" some form of an idea of hospitality in the children under their guidance. Because it is, as mentioned, a culturally imposed ideal, how polite and hospitable the children under one's care appear to be directly reflects the guardian responsible. So it is often more "coerced" rather than "instilled" into them, because of the parents' or guardians' pride.

Still, some avoid learning hospitality altogether. Up to a certain point, one may blame the parents for acquired rudeness, but when someone is old enough to drive, dress themselves, go to law school, etc., and can't figure out the concept of, say, feeding their guests, the blame falls squarely upon their great, logical shoulders.

When hospitality is involved, there are deviations. Yet even with cultural differences in different countries, what remains the same throughout are these two opposing ways to view the same subject. There are two types of hospitality that are "instilled" or "coerced," and they are as follows:

1. Hospitality from Reception - "Do not be an inconvenience"
2. Hospitality from Giving - "Nothing is an inconvenience, you are guests"

The two are very different, even though the focus for both is on not being "impolite." However, Hospitality from Reception focuses on the receiving end of hospitality, while Hospitality from Giving focuses on the giving end. One is self-centered, the other is focused on other people.

In the doctrine of Hospitality from Reception, what's being taught is not hospitality, but rather the opposite. The theme is "Don't be an inconvenience! Don't put people out of their way." The children are taught that this is what being polite is - not being noticed. But this is actually rubbish. Because the emphasis is on how those on the receiving end behave, entertaining others will become almost impossible. Besides the fact that guests are few and far between in these types of homes, everyone is taught that it is impolite to be an "inconvenience," therefore they will be quick to see the "impoliteness" in their guests, making it extremely difficult to tolerate them at all.

Most people who teach their children Hospitality from Reception are those whose pride is greater than Mount Everest, deeper than the ocean, and fatter than that man at Burger King. They are intensely afraid of being noticed - they are paranoid of discovery. They often have a facade of neatness that is their only security. Hospitality is their enemy, because guests or hosts may discover the inner-workings of their lives, and that it isn't as pretty as it first appears. And, as fatty-pride takes over, it becomes a horrifying fear.

Not only does this grossly analytical approach make it impossible to teach true hospitality, but it makes it exceedingly difficult to teach manners. Not only is the comfort of the guests not even considered (because people are simply objects of which to calculate cost and expense), but the focus is disgustingly on self, money, and pride. If we follow this doctrine devoutly to its end, we will find that it is not actually a type of hospitality, but rather a disguised Anti-Hospitality. Too afraid to accept gifts from others, Receptionists will often rudely disallow Givers the pleasure of hosting them. Even though:

The doctrine of Hospitality from Giving states that while someone is a guest, it is the host's pleasure to entertain. What is overly emphasized is that it is extremely rude to not treat guests like royalty. Not only is anyone welcome for however long they desire, the Giver-host will be extremely embarrassed and/or appalled to find that their guest has been uncomfortable in any way, or needed something and didn't ask for it. The theme is "You are not an inconvenience. When you're under this roof, you are a guest, and will be treated like one." The guest is treated like a human instead of like an object of capital.

What you'll find is that with Hospitality from Giving, the Giver-hosts are taught to try to be as accommodating as possible, so they are in a sense at the guests' mercy. Because of this, they will often make better guests, because they will understand politeness to be whatever type of guest they would like to host themselves. Therefore, because the emphasis is on others, politeness as a guest never really needs to be taught, because they will already have a mindset of trying to accommodate and please others that will remain even when roles are switched.

The difference between the two angles is that one of them looks at the self, and the other looks inherently to others. One loves with true hospitality, while the other pretends to be polite, so that no one can hold them accountable or topple their self-importance. One treats the guests like human souls, the other like capital. Unsurprisingly, it all comes back to love.

While Christians are told to be hospitable, it seems important to also figure out what exactly that means. And since Christians are to love others like Christ loved us, it is only natural that love should find its way into the discussion.

"Without love I am nothing." And without love, so is our hospitality.





Friday, April 17, 2015

More Credible Advice on Relationships from Another Unknown Blogger Who is Probably Single

As you probably guessed from the title (and rightly so), this post is primarily about illiterate and ignorant fools who have the audacity to get involved in relationships with other people without the slightest notion of how to absolve conflict, and with very little desire to either.

No, this is not a joke. There are actual, breathing people who wonder why they have no prospective mates lining up at their doors, why they have no one really close to them, and they actually have no desire to ever work problems out. So I suppose I could go on and on about how it is completely logical to work things out when you get in an argument with someone you desire future friendship with. But being that that falls under the illustrious category of “common sense,” I feel as though stating it will do no good. Let’s face it; if you don’t see the importance of solving conflicts, some intellectual stimulation will be as useful to you as underwear on a bowling ball. Digression.

It would seem the fathomable idea would be for me to instead list the top eight logical ways friends and abhorrent apes can dare scale the great Mount Ego and lower themselves and their guttural grunts to the level of understanding befitting humanity, in order to form a more perfect friendship with harp music and dancing angelic beings that are hopefully not demonic. Digression.

Top Eight Logical Ways:

#1 Actually Have the Desire to Solve the Conflict. This seems like it would be a given. But then… it seems like it would be a given that toilet paper would be available in public restrooms, but a quick trip to Europe reminds us that sometimes we as humans overestimate the mental capacity of other people and their foresight (I’m certain the construction of a Taco Bell would quickly change their no-toilet-paper policy, but as of yet, you may want to bring your own).

It doesn’t seem like it should need to be said, or written, but this actually seems to be a common problem in relationships with all types of people. They have no actual desire to work out problems and then they go about the earth in a confused and appalling manner, masticating large chocolates, drooling heavily from their crooked lips, and wondering why on earth they are not in the midst of some wondrous friendship. The reason is that while they may say they are working problems out, in reality they are being immature, sniveling three-year-olds, crying about their problems but never explaining their feelings.

I would guess the reason they don’t like talking about their feelings is that they have convinced themselves they do not have any feelings. Which is ridiculous, for how else would they be in this mess to begin with, and why else would this very rude blog post offend them so much?

#2 Communicate. This cannot be overstated, although I will attempt to. When someone is involved in a relationship of any type, it is of the most basic practicality that those two people must develop some means of communication. If you have some aversion and repugnance to speaking with someone, why are you even friends? What do you expect, for Charles Xavier to read your mind for you and then broadcast your thoughts and emotions onto your friend or partner so you don’t have to bother with the tedious and arduous task of moving your mouth into shapes that will convey the secrets of your heart? Because I don’t think that sounds very fair, both for your friend or for Charles Xavier. Do you think he really has time for that? He has a mutant school to run, the Scarlet Witch to mentally obstruct, the government to war with, not to mention his good friend Magneto who hates humanity. Your little spat will mean nothing to that bald, crippled genius. And really, if you won’t explain yourself, why should it mean anything to anyone else either?

#3 Communicate. I told you I would attempt to overstate it. There is no greater importance to solving conflicts than having that simple ability to work things out. And here are some good tips to keep in mind whilst “communicating.”
      a.       Listen. If you want to understand their point of view, listening to them when they say things is essential. If most of this stuff sounds like obvious rubbish everyone should already know, that’s probably because it is. But just because something is obvious rubbish that we know we should do does not automatically mean we do it without reminders, nagging, and/or a good humiliatingly mocking blog post.
      b.      Listen more, because simply not talking does not equate listening. There must be an active engagement of the mind, focused on the words that spill forth from their mouths, not simply to ensnare them in their words, but to actually understand what they mean by them. Try to empathize with their pain, which should be easy, since their pain was probably caused by your senselessness and lunacy.
      c.       Speak. There will come a time when you must draw yourself out of that gloriously kingly shell and lower your humble royalty to the level of your friend or partner in order to tell them exactly what the issue is. This does not mean you rip into them with your witty sarcasm or overpower them with the sound of your commanding, mighty voice. This means you treat them with the same respect you are at that very moment expecting they have for you, and that respect does not and should not be determined by whether or not they are affording it to you at that time, otherwise it is relative respect and therefore nonexistent. If you have any respect for them (and if you don’t, stop being friends), then act like it even when you feel slighted by their attitude.
      d.      Give and take. This does not mean a compromise. If it did, I would be compromising the extreme rudeness with which I address you, perhaps crossing off most of the words already written (the last thing I want to be is a hypocrite!). But as you may have noticed, I did not write “compromise,” neither have I compromised one word on this frigging post. Give and take means that as you are listening to their point of view, you are ready to admit you may have been wrong, and be willing to try to understand their grievances, just as you hope for them to understand yours. A conflict involves two people; the resolution ought to as well.
      e.       Avoid being cruel or apologizing when you don’t mean it. If there is one issue, whether or not the pain that was heaped upon you was intentional or not, their meanness doesn’t actually make any difference in how you treat them. They are responsible for what they said, not what they “made you say.” You alone are responsible for your actions and for your reactions. Don’t make it two issues by compounding the argument into a cesspool of your depraved selfishness.
And what good does a sarcastic apology do when things are already heating up? That only makes the word “sorry” into another weapon, and weapons are mean. Do not be mean to people, or you are a Nasty. And if you’re a Nasty, you don’t need any good people surrounding you, being mistreated at your royal expense. Your meanness alone should be enough. After all, aren’t other people just crutches to help you when you need them, and at all other times they can just suck it? That’s what meanness conveys. It’s mean.

#4 Communicate. Isn’t that what most of the problem comes down to? Obviously if they still don’t know what the crap is wrong with you, your communicating is as workable as the seventh draft of the mysterious healthcare bill proposed to congress. It’s rubbish. Try again. If you really think that dangling a donut in front of them to entice them to approach you so they can ask you all the right questions until they have figured out the problem is equivalent to communication, think again, hairy ape. Turns out, there is a difference between two friends, and the CIA, just as there is a difference between telling someone your problems, and having to be water-boarded and interrogated in order to spill the beans.

Spilling the beans is a nauseating idiom that Americans really had no reason to invent, and even less reason to use, so I must apologize for that. Calling all readers hairy apes is one thing. Using the spill the beans expression is another. I beg your forgiveness, which brings us to the next Logical Way.

#5 Apologize for Your Single-minded Dumptitude. I know, “dumptitude” isn’t a word, but I kind of think it should be, because it reminds me of the dumpy attitude involved when someone thinks they are so much far above all others that they have no reason to ever think about apologizing to another human being. For some people, the thought of uttering a sincere apology makes them convulse violently and it curdles their milk. Surely there is merit in not wanting to taint your magnificent lips with the sounds of repentance, especially towards inglorious scum such as your friends and acquaintances or whatever objects of affection these meager beasts that surround you are titled. It makes no difference.

#6 Avoid Feudal Friendships. Familiar with the feudal system? As a brief reminder, there were mean lords and there were cute peasants. The peasants worked in the fields that the lords owned – the peasants did all the dirty work, and they didn’t even get to reap the rewards for their labor; it all went to the fat lords up in their castles. The only benefit they got from the whole rubbishy ordeal was the ability to claim protection in the castle from wild people.

Some people are self-proclaimed lords, and unfortunately, befriending them makes you a peasant. You are required and expected to chase them, labor for the friendship, do all the dirty work, resolve all the conflicts, and you don’t even reap the benefits of having their appreciation or even the acknowledgement of your horrifying existence in their extraordinary lives. The only thing you gain is perhaps security in having someone to alleviate loneliness. Or perhaps security knowing that you are not being mean. But does that matter if they don’t even notice your daily sacrifices? You’re just a peasant after all, and the lords are much too busy to bother with you. Go muck the cows.

But seriously, relationships are not impossible if both parties cooperate. And I’m not talking one person is the lord and the other is the peasant. When two human beings or even a human and a bestial creature of scum such as yourself come together in friendship, there is a sense of equality that has to be striven for, or it is not really a friendship: it is slavery by the manipulation and egotistical superiority of the being purporting to be more important than the other through words and deeds.

Overthrow the paper kingdom of meanness. Refuse to muck the cow. Do not become the supplier of narcissism, forsaking all other roles and identity for the sake of one selfish beast. And for the love of the entire kingdom, don’t demand others to muck the cows either. You are not the lord.

#7 Be Attuned to Other People’s Feelings. I really don’t care what lame excuse you are coming up with right now. You and I both know how pitiful it will be, when it only reflects your own selfishness. Other people have feelings. You do too, or you wouldn’t be so nasty. The trick is remembering that just because they aren’t YOUR feelings does not mean they are up for dismissal.

#8 Be Willing to Bend and Change. There is no reason to notice other people’s feelings if you are not willing to do a confounded thing about it. Since there is no known cure for prolific farmyard tendencies to act like a bovine or sow, this type of decision must be up to the beast in question. You cannot expect others to do all the heavy lifting for you; this is not a volunteer work day (there’s always that one guy).

If there is no change, there was no logical purpose for the whole conflict. Envision each argument and clash as an opportunity to become a better friend, partner, brother, sister, etc. In that way, even though fighting is bad, it can be for what is usually known as “the greater good.” But let’s face it; the “greater good” phrase is a bunch of rubbish. If you’re so selfish that you have to be told to communicate, commit, humble your royal self, and listen to the person with whom you have the conflict, why in the name of Adolf Hitler would you be concerned with the good of all people?

Wherein I Sell Your Selfishness Back to You: So let me sell it back to you, Mr. Selfish Beast, he that resides in each of us, to whom this post is addressed. Let me tell you the secrets of friendship, although it will sound sickening to those who prefer the self-righteousness of not feeling as selfish as they really are. But let’s be honest.

A friendship wherein both parties are sacrificing, stretching, growing, and changing into better people together will feel much more fulfilling and rewarding than being even the king in a feudal friendship. The service, love and commitment will all mean so much more, because it wasn’t demanded. It was earned.



Friday, April 3, 2015

“I Love You”

It takes much cruelty to kill a man
Whilst happy and so whimsical
Which pain is more unbearable?
Emotional or physical?

Beaten to a bloody pulp
Is still a better deal
Than getting beaten in your soul
At least the body heals

Love songs may be love songs
But love cannot be love
To be in love or to be in lust
Or is it all of the above?

We say we love someone
Because that person gives
That person makes us happy
That person makes us live

Our idol isn’t that person
But the feelings that’re invoked
If our idols are our feelings
Love’s the punchline – we’re the joke

Our hearts are many-layered
A tangled stratification
And all along we’ve loved ourselves
Love: instant gratification

How dare we say I do!
And promise to love ourselves?
We stand there at God’s alter
And propagate for hell

Lucifer the Laugher
As we play into his hands
As we lie straight through our teeth
And slip on the betting bands

“I [bet] I’ll always love you”
You lie to the man with the Bible
(“Unless I don’t really love her later
“With divorce papers I’m not liable!”)

Love is not what’s broken
It’s not even in the equation
What we sell is mutilated
Like a butter knife with serration

We feel this lust and think it’s love
In a way it’s true, if you delve
For there may be love in the picture
But the love is for ourselves

How else can you say one day
“I love you with all my heart”
And the next day decide the opposite
Like erasing a work of art

How else can you murder a man?
How else can you disown him?
As he finds out those promises
Are like spit in the raging ocean

If after all it’s better
To be physically demolished
Death is best served bodily
Than to be symbolically abolished

It would be better if you hated him
And disdained him like a cist
Than to ignore his painful presence
Like he doesn’t even exist

If you’ve made him dead to you
Like the bitterest of daughters
You’re not guilty of ignorance
But of emotional man-slaughter

How dare you take a spark of love
And in your stupid foolish brain
Because you didn’t understand it
Just wash it down the drain?

How dare you murder in your mind
And sear the deepest wounds
And in your cowardly pitiful fear
You cannot even visit the tomb

I think the greatest cover-up
Is pretending to be fake
As souls pile up behind you
Decaying in your wake

If in a house surrounded by souls
You’d be Samson and break down the pillar
Is it just a sickness or are you angry?
You sweet little serial killer

Monday, October 6, 2014

Selfish Seeking


Everyone is a selfish beast. From the time we are born we are wicked and self-serving. Every human craves whatever leads to personal gain, and there is no possibility to desire anything but that which profits us individually. An honest man will quickly concur, that is, not a man who is outwardly what the world calls “honest,” but one who is honest with himself. He will have seen this beast rising up. He will have noticed that you cannot escape the beast. He will acknowledge that he is the beast. This is the problem with humans: we are incapable of shrugging off this coat of selfishness: it is our very skin.

Now you are angry, or perhaps you agree. Either way, once you accept the reality, there is a much more profound depth to it that we do not at first grasp. Why am I addressing you? Why am I singling you out, dear reader? Because I am proving this point: even the creators of rhetorical design understood that humans do not like to be singled out individually. It does not appeal to our pride. Is pride the same as selfishness? Is greed? Is vanity? Perhaps not, but without selfishness, these would not exist. Selfishness is the root of almost every foul sin we commit, and it is not something that the human can shrug off its shoulders. Selfishness is the Great Sin. Selfishness was the source of Lucifer’s pride; pride that made him desire the Throne of the Most High, and become the lord of Wickedness.

So if we the Christians have now accepted God’s grace, and we are living not for ourselves, but for Christ, what does everything look like then? “We are not selfish,” we now argue. Let us examine our goals. We are striving for the Kingdom of God, to honor Him, to glorify Him, and our greatest motivation: to live eternally with God. Ultimately, it goes back to our desires: Our desires to seek the Kingdom of God and heap up eternal reward. We sometimes perhaps worship out of ultimate humility, but at the end of the day we still feel deep down that we not only worked hard for our righteousness, but that we deserve the eternity we have been promised. But we are once again thinking selfishly. In the New Testament, James says to put away “selfish ambition.”

I began by suggesting that we cannot escape selfishness, and we cannot completely: not until we arrive in a place devoid of sin where our flesh has no say in the matter. But on earth, we can put it off. There is a motivation to work for: our own crowns, but it is not this that is supposed to drive us. Rather, the gospel is this: “Love your neighbors as yourselves, and love the Lord your God.” We do not have to work for our rewards, for whether we “earn” them or not, we all know we could never deserve them.

But we need a motivation to do what God has commanded. We need this motivation, because we are selfish. Given this, we have two workable choices: look for our reward, or look for others’ wellbeing.

We can look for a reward. We can look to heaven and say, “I’m going to do good deeds, because I want the crowns.” We can take scripture and say, “Hey look, Jesus says to ‘seek first the kingdom of God,’ and in Hebrews it says that Moses was faithful, because he ‘was looking toward the reward.’” But this can get out of hand, because selfishness is selfishness, whether or not it is masked by what we call “good intentions.”  If our goal is our eternal wellbeing, it becomes incredibly easy to hurt others. We begin by fixating so heavily on our reward, that our righteousness and understanding of theology becomes more important than the lost souls who are battered by Christians’ debating amongst themselves, and we eventually are throwing each other to the ground in an attempt to achieve what we call “gospel clarity.” The lost can be turned away by our very inability to demonstrate all that we argue for, and this “love” we are so adamant about. Our self-conviction that spiritually we can see – this knowledge that we “know” we possess – this is what blinds us more than confusion, for our selfish pride turns even God’s grace into something to lift up our own image. When we are our own goal, we will accept anything that helps us achieve that, and we will trample anything that gets in our way. It is not a given that looking to the reward, or seeking out gospel clarity induces such behavior and hurt, but pride is always lurking dangerously in the background when selfishness is our propeller.

Perhaps this is not what “seek the Kingdom” really means. Jesus tells us in the New Testament what the Kingdom of God will be like. One of the parables Jesus uses is, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” To those who try to live as if they are working for the kingdom’s rewards, those people are inadvertently working for themselves. Jesus tells us to give everything we have to the poor. He tells us to sell our Everything so that He can take up the space. He wants us to get rid of the “Great and Wise Us” and become Him. Jesus came to us to teach us selflessness and humility. He died on a ragged cross and was scourged and spit on, and though He had done nothing wrong, He accepted the punishment because it was ours, and we were unable to save ourselves and always will be. He showed us the greatest act of mercy and grace possible to man, and provided us with salvation that is dependent solely on Him, “not by works of righteousness, lest we should boast.” Jesus showed us that love is the way to heaven, and the way to His side. But not any love; only His. So then, if we have received grace, our motivation – our selfish ambition – should not be selfishness, but it should be selflessness. It should be seeking the needs of others, seeking to love as we were so loved. It should not be “what can I do for my own reward?” but it should be “who can I reward today by showing Christ’s love that He showed me?” And once you begin pursuing loving others and putting them first, you may come to find that the Kingdom of God has never been clearer to see. Perhaps seeking the Kingdom of Heaven, and looking out for the needs of others are one in the same. Either way, compassion is more important than spiritual passion. Righteousness is much greater than self-righteousness. And eternity is too important for us to waste time pursuing, instead of simply living for it instead.


“And though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, but have no love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13: 2a

Saturday, September 27, 2014

Beginning of the End

Vultures chew the carnage
Flap around the corpses 
Death and judgment come 
Riding on black horses 
Kingdoms from the east 
In such a large array 
Xerxes's horde was nothing 
Compared to this display 
John said they are coming 
He said "prepare the way" 
But a way for evil comes 
Before we pass away 

The chosen people fight 
Surrounded on all sides 
While prisoners from the USA 
Are left alone to die 
As global elite take power 
And the Nations stand United 
Your waxen candles of your faith 
Should finally be lighted 
Ask about the Americans 
Forsaken in Benghazi 
Ask about the FEMA camps 
And about the Illuminati 

Ask about the reestablishment 
Of Kingdoms such as Rome 
Daniel told of prophecies 
We could not have known 
Ask about the recreation 
Of wicked Babylon 
By a man - Saddam Hussein 
Known as Satan's spawn 
Ask about the world 
And look up at the moon 
Repent of all your evilness 
The Judge is coming soon! 

Ask about the temple 
Ask about the plans 
Ask your dearest friends 
If they are saved or damned 
Ask about the sanctifying 
With extinct Red Heifer ash 
Ask the American farmers 
Raising one for Israel fast 
Ask about the anointing oil 
Lost but now located 
Everything all but in place 
As if it's coordinated 

Ask about the ELS 
Encoded in the scripture 
Ask about the references 
To the holocaust and Hitler 
Ask the statisticians 
Who calculated the odds 
That throughout history mankind's pain 
Was there - "the Word was God"! 
The Word of God unfeasible! 
He cried out in secret text 
In such a way that's mathematically 
Impossible to be correct 

Ask about the Cross 
About the burial place 
Ask about but don't forget 
There are others with a faith 
Ask about the warriors 
Committed to the Qur'an 
Ask about the book of Surah 
The Jihad of Islam 
Ask about the bombers 
And speak to those who doubt 
These are not the radicals 
These are the devout 

The kingdom from the East 
Will dry up the Euphrates 
And Daniel says when they draw near 
We're closer then to Hades 
Ask about the birth rate 
Of males who are Chinese 
Ask about their highway 
Being built for warring ease 
Ask about the other kingdoms 
Nebuchadnezzar's dreams 
Ask about the prophecies 
And what these things all mean 

This is our generation 
The fig tree and its roots 
The battle has begun 
So let us bear some fruit 
The harvest is upon us 
The vineyard looks so bare 
What if He comes and finds us 
Caught up in these snares? 
So ask about the Judgement Day 
And the King upon His throne 
But before you ask about The End 
Ask about your own.

Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
Luke 21:28 

Friday, September 19, 2014

Pride Before Destruction

Pride goes before destruction
Pride went before the fall
Before the fall of angels
And Eden’s guarded walls
It went before the kings of old
Like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar
I AM said “Let my people go”
Pharaoh answered “Never!”
It went before the Pharisees
Who slew the Son of Man
He came in humble mercy
They nailed Him through the hands

Pride goes before destruction
And the evil that it brings
Pride throws us in a pigsty
And declares that we’re the “king”
Pride says “Live it up”
And then we go in debt
Jesus says “Give it up”
And we live with no regret
We become Egyptian kings
We hoard till there’s no room
Foolishly we crave and grab
To fill a lifeless tomb

Pride goes before destruction
It leads us by the hand
It owns us all like cattle
And we bear the devil’s brand
Our lord and savior “me”
Our god and king “ourselves”
The only kingdom that we rule
Is emptiness of hell
In hot pursuit of value
That we don’t even have
We think that voicing lordship
Will build us golden calves

Pride goes before destruction
And then it follows later
It covers up its failures
Like a shifty debater
Pride makes us all ashamed
To be just who we are
God made us in His image
Pride says we’re under par
Pride hints that we deserve
To meet some greater standard
Pride says since we don’t
Our bodies can be bantered

Pride goes before destruction
And others do not wait
To pass the greatest judgment
Woven through with hate
Pride takes our inner standard
And measures those we see
As if we are lord and king
Of what is Right to Be
Pride destroys ourselves
And then it turns on others
Pride makes us all be elevated
Trade your staircase for your brother

Pride goes before destruction
Before “ego,” before “esteem”
Pride goes before the knife
And the bloody scars that stream
Pride in who we want to be
Pride in who we’re not
Illogically it makes much sense
Like most of Satan’s plots
Cut your body, cut your soul
Pride only hates you more
Pride never rewards you for your service
It even cast Satan away from the Lord

Pride goes before destruction
Pride is a monster of all sins
Pride makes you feel so special
As it kills you on a whim
Pride is a great disease
It just cannot be cured
Fight against it all you can
For when it rains it pours
Pride says “stand up straight”
So kneel in prayer as you deplete  
It’s better to live on your knees
Then to die standing on your feet

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Temporary Tomb

A man lies in his comfort
His eyes are closed in slumber
All around his sides
His bed is cushioned lumber
His body is relaxed
His breathing is so deep
He feels so undisturbed
As he gets his sleep
Jolted wide awake
From something in his room
His deepest sleep and recluse
Was a temporary tomb

A man lies in his comfort
His eyes are closed in slumber
All around his sides
His coffin's made of lumber
His body is relaxed
But his spirit's in the Deep
His soul is far away
As his body gets its sleep
Jolted by some robbers
Lit up by the moon
The gravesite is exploited
A temporary tomb

The man lies in discomfort
By souls of men - encumbered
His sides are slashed and torn
As he dangles from the lumber
His body is racked with pains
His breathing is so labored
So thirsty that a sponge
In vinegar is savored
The man says "It is finished!"
They seal away the Groom
But the stone can't keep Him locked
Within His temporary tomb

The girl looks in the mirror
With disgust written on her face
And with her cuts she tells herself
Her body's a waste of space
Her soul is what's eternal
Her body is a home
The Holy Spirit and her soul
Inside her flesh and bones
She's based her worth on Nothing
She'll have a new body soon
And now she holds the Great I AM
In her temporary tomb

We're dying once we're born
Our bodies all decay
Yet we seem to base our worth
On what will pass away
But if we derive such meaning
From our bodies and our minds
Who then are we once we die
And leave those things behind?
You're beautiful, Beloved
And have been since the womb
Don't base your eternal value

On a temporary tomb