Never Sleeps

While a pastor on the Fort Berthold Reservation I was honored with the Indian name, "NeverSleeps". It was primarily because I was often responding to particular needs in the middle of the night.

Even more relevant, the Lord Himself, Maker of all, "Never Sleeps".

Surely you know.
Surely you have heard.
The Lord is the God who lives forever,
who created all the world.
He does not become tired or need to rest.
No one can understand how great his wisdom is.

Isaiah 40:28

Welcome to every reader. I am a simple follower of Jesus. He is perfect, I often fall short.

Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label growth. Show all posts

Thursday, December 19, 2013

So Small

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field.  It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” Matthew 13:31-32

The mission of the Pioneer 10 was to reach the planet of Jupiter. Launched in 1972, the probe set out on its three year, 700 thousand mile journey. Twenty-five years later, more than six million miles from the sun, the little probe was still beaming back radio signals to scientists on earth. With only an 8-watt transmitter, it continued its mission far beyond expectations. Those eight watts…about enough to power a bedroom night light.

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Overbaked

OverBaked

(“But in that day, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious; the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of all who survive in Israel.” Isaiah 4:2)

Afraid to grow,
afraid of the hole I fell in,
I feel in the coming storm,
I felt in waking dreams
the souvenirs of failures
two steps behind the falling line.

Save me this time, O Branch with roots firmly grasping
the soil and granite. Reach down to my cannot,
grab me by my frantic, shake the haven’t out of my
narrow range of vision. I will place my feet on
the muddy bank
if you will hold me up;
do not leave me to sink on the shore
swept out to the vast no more,
beyond the cold cold roar where waves
are a distant silence.

My feet are sore, my head, overbaked, is dry
and crumbly,
my mind stumbling over itself; my feet
rebelling the next degree.
I want to run the sand, laugh the wind,
sing the babies, smile the sun even when
the shades are drawn.

I want to feel the blood rushing through me,
heart in tempo and strong, taking life-liquid
to the cells and nerves where the thinking waits
for a bit of refreshment to delete yesterday’s
fuzzy entries. The best brain is a hack when
running the same track deeper into the same
ruts steeper into the hole I fear I fell in when
I felt the coming storm.


I would rather eat an apple or a peach,
the sweet sticky clogging my fingers
reminds me that life that runs through me.
With nectar stuck on my lips and hands,
how can I imagine the Branch has lost the way
of the taste and ways of me.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Stars Inside


Stars Inside

(“Yet when [the mustard seed] is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” Mark 4:32)

There are stars inside us preheated before explosion,
preparing for expansion, spinning toward constellations
no eyes have perceived. Souls do have their dreams.

There is a universe within the smallest frame;
tiny fingers, bony toes, skinny necks, legs like sticks,
that contains the molecules and recipe for the masterpiece
hung on heaven’s wall; the melody played down heaven’s hallways.

We are not and yet, we are full and void, we shout the echoes,
whisper the amperage, and walk so small it is a wonder
we are noticed at all.

We are tall and flat, we are poets and pedants, we laugh whimsy,
scowl about rumors, and crawl so huge we peek above the clouds
dragging our feet through the deluge.

There are demons inside us where we seldom lodge,
uneasy, we quote their excuses as if it reduces our
personal contribution to the thin layers of global harming.

There are sinners and angels, God’s image and Adam’s,
the conflagration of destruction, the inferno of purification.
We are creation’s wonder, and the source of mourning for
all our humility and hubris.

There is a Morning Star poised just below the horizon,
a speck of light in minute degrees sometimes seen between
the firs and cedars. There is a Daylight Name within each
layer of fascination. The voice to uneasy space, the full
to emptied disgrace; pulling all toward itself; the Gravity

Of a Humble King who is found among impossible things.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Autumn to Spring




“The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.” John 6:53

I love Autumn. For some reason it inspires me even more than Spring. I’ve always been “earthy” in my favorite colors, ask my kids. Yes, it’s sure as anything, Dad will be wearing brown or green, maybe blue occasionally. It doesn’t hurt that I grew up during the hippie era which probably spoiled my fashion sense for the rest of my life.