I am a poet. But if I’m being honest, I haven’t written any poems in awhile. Quite awhile. I’ve had a lot of ideas. I’ve written down a lot of ideas and possible titles. But all those ideas have just stayed ideas.
So it’s funny how in Swaziland, Africa I became a poet not just in name but in practice again.
See February is Youth Month, and the youth group at the church we go to was leading the services. They wanted us to participate. So Alissa was gonna sing with the praise team. Kaitlyn was gonna paint during worship. And I was supposed to recite a poem.
When I first heard about it, I thought I would just be reciting an already written poem with a group. It sounded easy enough.
But that wasn’t what actually went down. Friday night at youth group, I found out I was supposed to write a poem. Then the other person and I would meet on Saturday at practice and put the poems together. And on Sunday we would recite together.
Yeesh. It was a lot more than I was expecting. That night I mostly wrote the poem, but I had to go to sleep. Then I finished it in the morning.
Alissa, Kaitlyn, and I went to Hosea’s Heart girls home with 3 of the girls from youth group. After we had lunch at home. Then we went back to church for practice. So Clark was my poem partner for the next 2 days.
He had to finish writing his poem. Once he finished we decided how to break them up best. Then we practice.
I did my best to memorize the poem during the night.
We went to church early. So Clark and I practiced more. And we were accidentally late to the service.
Yeah, it was a little awkward. But it was okay. The Emcees called us up. So we went up, and I kid you not I messed up the first line of the poem I wrote. The very first line. It was not my best moment ever. And the most annoying part was I knew exactly what I was supposed to say, but the words still came out all wrong. Then I was just lost.
But I recovered well and decided to start afresh.
I thought it went okay. Not bad, not great, just okay. But so many church members and squadmates told me it was great! And people couldn’t believe I wrote it. It was just crazy.
And thankfully I have a video, because my mom asked me to have someone take one. So after I get home you’ll be able to see it for yourself. But for now you’ll have to make do with just the words 🙂
The Word of God
By Grace Pritt
In the beginning, God created creation. God’s very breath breathed life into being. If even the breath of God was potent enough to make the first human live, won’t God’s words, written and spoken, be even more potent, even more life-giving.
But then the very ones God loved and brought to life, disobeyed the one word God spoke to them. So they fell into sin and death. When they disregarded the words God spoke directly to them, they were lost.
God’s word is life-giving. Disregarding the word is death-bringing.
See the written word of God itself says, “People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Food may physically sustain us, but you can be physically alive and well and all the while actually be dead on the inside.
If the spirit is dead, what use is the body? What light can come from darkness? What life can come from death?
So put God’s words on your heart. Read for God. Study for God. Look for God. Listen for God. And listen hard, because this world is full of noise and God’s been known to whisper.
Before knowing Jesus, we were spiritually dead with no hope of being good enough or doing enough to reconcile ourselves to God. The chasm was far too wide.
But God is so full of compassion and mercy, he sent us a Savior. He made the way for our Great Reconciliation where there seemed to be no way. He gave us the way for our spirits to rise from the dead. He gave us the way to have life abundantly.
See in John chapter 1 it tells us, “In the beginning, was the Word. The Word was with God and the word was God…The Word gave life to everything…The Word’s light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it…the Word became flesh and dwelt among is.”
And I’m glad to tell you this morning that I know what his name is. His name is Jesus!
See we were dead and had no hope. But God sent Jesus. And Jesus lived and died for us. Jesus’s death has brought us new life. We were spiritually dead, but God’s Word bring us life. God’s Word awakens our spirits. Accepting God’s Word is not about coming alive but about becoming alive.
Accepting God’s Word is not about being able to put a checkmark beside all the “right” beliefs or even talking about the Word constantly. Accepting God’s Word is about having an active faith based on Jesus Christ.
It is not enough for us to believe the Word or know the truth. For the Bible says even the demons believe. We must be more than the demons. We must live the truth.
Living the truth is all about love.
God loves us. So we should love God and love people. Theses are the two greatest commands on which all the Law and the Prophets hang upon.
We must follow the example of Jesus Christ, the Word.
We must sacrifice our lives as an offering to God. How could we not give our all to him. After all God’s the one who has given us life.
We must love and give as the written Word of God teaches and the Word does.
May our Almighty Father overwhelm us with love. May we see Jesus in the face of every person in need. May we speak life and show Jesus to everyone we meet.
May the chains of death be broken, in Jesus name!
P.S. Thanks Kaitlyn for the idea for this blog. And everyone feel free to let me know what you think of the poem in the comments.
Much love! 😉
