Burying the Phoenix

Day by Day, Hour by Hour

We work and work

We play and play

We slave away

We dug a grave

We pushed it in

We ran away

We tried to live again

Then something happened

Along the way

Part of our self went missing

We were led astray

The world promised us happiness

Promised us riches and fame

We need only to sell our soul

Sell our soul and play the game

We thought by denying our self

We thought by acting the part

Life would become glorious

But we became an after-thought

We got plugged into the system

And we lost our thoughts

We got plugged into the stream of chaos

And we found ourselves ever-lost

But the Phoenix sits there

Deep within the ground

Waiting for us

To again come around

The Unlimited Potential

The Power of the Triune God

The Burst of Creative Potential

Begs for Us to Come

We have denied our true calling

Denied who we are inside

Was it because of fear of failure?

We can't remember it's been too long...

But one day something happened

The earth, the sky, the sea

Ripped that underground tomb apart

And the Phoenix then was free!

Many ran in fear

It burned with righteous indignation

While others stood in awe

As it washed them in its fiery feathers...

The tide then changed

The kings all fell down

The world began to change

Change into something new

The King and the Lamb

Ascended from the Sky

Met with their friend the Phoenix

As suffering and evil

Was finally wiped from every eye.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." - Acts 1:8

~ Daniel

Pic:http://www.phoenix-travel.net/images/phoenix.jpg

I Remember

I Remember

I remember when I first met you
We became friends at church
It was sixth grade
We set in the same pew
We seemed like best friends...

I remember when I met you my freshman year of college
You talked a lot
We chatted online
We became close friends
Feeling rushed up inside me
I stepped forward...

I remember two years later your beautiful curly hair
The nights we went to worship and sing and study Gods word
I remember how I saw that beauty in you
I remember how I tried to cross that line
I remember how I began to write that letter...

I remember the first time I saw you during grad school
We met at a friend’s house
I was captivated by your utter cuteness
I remember wanting to ask for your number...

... I remember how are friendship sank
You got boyfriends and popularity
You left God behind
You exchanged something beautiful for something cheap
You sold out who you were
And became something, became someone else.

... I remember sitting with the phone in my hand
You asked me how it was that I liked you
I put myself on the line
I told you more than friends
You told me you needed to wait, to pray
You left me hanging and I found out
You soon were going out with another guy,
Then another

I tried to still be friends
But you were always too busy
One day I stopped calling
It was too much to keep trying
It hurt too much
The cycle was destructive

... I remember writing that letter
I poured out my heart
Maybe poured out too much
There was no reply

You saw me months later
You told me you had got the letter
That you were shocked, surprised
And that you just wanted to be friends
I wasn’t hurt you did not like me the same
As much as when you never called
As when you never spoke to me again

... I remember going out on my first date
After a while hanging out and talking
I remember my sweaty palms
I remember my heart stopping as time stood still
And you told me yes the next day

I remember being so happy for my first date
I took you to eat Chinese though I hate Chinese
I remember handing you flowers I bought with the little money I had
I remember thinking how this felt good but also different

A few weeks later you called it quits
You sent me a message on Facebook
You would not talk with me alone
You screened my calls
You said you wanted to be friends
You said you really wanted to try
But after a few months our friendship was no more

It hurt me the days I tried to be friends
And it hurt me to feel the second rejection

It hurt me to delete you from my phone
But I no longer had to wonder if I should call

It hurt me when I de-friend you on Facebook
But I no longer had to worry about unanswered messages

It hurts me to remember
But I can’t delete you from my memory

Females wonder why men no longer act like men
Sometimes I wonder why females no longer act like ladies

The lies we tell, both big and small,
Will be remembered

The things we do, they way we act,
It stands in the memory of those we come into contact with,
It is remembered and not forgotten

I cannot delete my memories
Only try to find the strength to push forward

You wonder why it is
Why do they not ask me out?
Why do they not stand up?
Why do they not stand out?
Why can't they just have confidence?

It is because we were rejected
We were casted out
We put our heart out and it was crushed
We were declined for romance
And because of that decline
We were also declined as friends

We remember
I remember

And it still hurts sometimes...

~ Daniel

Pic:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lOsoshgflBM/S4Zk6fvK-CI/AAAAAAAAASo/H1Ixe_6emEo/s1600/heart%2Bstabbed%2Bbroken%2Bbreak-thumb.jpg

Sobbing Christian

His hands covered his sobbing-wet face. His cries echoed in his apartment and inside the very foundations of his soul. He threw his devotional book across the room, crying out to God. Why did things have to be so hard? Why did they have to be so difficult? He was always taught the answers were found in the scriptures but no one told him life, real life, would be so hard, so confusing. He desired simply to follow his dreams, to use his talents, to be the person he believed he was called to be... yet there was this void, this empty space now; the time between that calling and that reality. It was here where he must face the fact that nothing comes easy, including following the Creator.

As his sobs began to subside he looked and saw the book and pen on the floor, the light from the bathroom shining on both of them. The pages were shuffled and worn, they were scattered and folded. It was not neat. Silence filled the room, so much silence. Silence makes us always face our self. Silence makes us listen to God. Silence forces us into the places we would rather not be...

With the coldness from his tears still fresh on his face, he wiped away the wetness, picked up the pen and the book. The crying, the anger... it all changes nothing… but sometimes helps. It helps us move forward but also helps us in small bits to understand that we are not in control. God is in control. We are confused about a great many things but God is not confused. What we lack is the sight of God, yet if we had the answers... Well, where would be the searching? Where would be faith and trust? Where would be the journey if we went from the starting line directly to the finish? How would we ever help others if we never met with God to learn how to help them and grow ourselves?

He had hope, not in his present situation, but he had hope in the future situation, the one where God will wipe away his last tear, along with all others. He found hope in knowing that one day all his confusion would be wiped clean and clarity would ensue. He had hope that Christ had a good future for him, getting there was not going to be easy, but it was going to be worth it.. And in all things, bad times or good, Christ still be glorified.

~ Daniel

Pic:
http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/tlp707315.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=B5384F3B2A5A9842ABA04DA218E58E0623F6FAC9D53C620F2C578505D7FCD82BF06BF04B24B4128C

Beauty of God

Today I saw and experienced the Beauty of God. The lights were down low, then the guitar started, the voices began to break forth, and the drums began to beat... In this place, here amongst the people of God I see splendor.

Here I see the glory of God. I see his face and sometimes in my sin I feel ashamed, I feel unworthy, I feel I must drop my head down, my eyes facing toward the ground. Then the music extends, it breathes, it finds its place in me, and in this time I find my voice… I ponder the loving God who loves me despite my faults. Here I raise my head, I dance a little inside, I open my eyes to see the purple-pink colors hushed by the surrounding darkness.

Here I see the face of those voices, of that guitar, the keyboard player, and the drummer whose beats seem to beat evenly with my own heart. I look and see some singing out and some standing silent, some praying and some with hands lifted. In the company of his worshipers I see God, I am aware... I didn’t feel this for a long time; spiritually I didn’t feel anything for a long time. And here, in this body, in this church I feel my family; I feel and see.... the Beauty of God.



~ Daniel

Pic:
http://www.fbcvalley.org/Portals/0/worship_screen%5B1%5D.jpg

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines

Happy Valentines
Happy Valentines
The Day of all days
The Day love is supposed to shout
The Day couples adore
The Day that singles try to ignore

The day that brings smiles to those in love
The day that brings disdain to those left out

A day of great rejoicing
And also a day of great sorrow

Facebook status updates from couples,
Couples happily celebrating their time of love
And from singles trying to go about their day,
Who try to stay inside and out of the way.

Sadly, sometimes both sides miss the point…
This day is not about having to spend money on the one you love
Neither is it about being sorrowful and trying to ignore the existence of love

Love is not found in the pocketbooks of your significant other
Nor is it found by pretending it doesn’t exist

Love is not found out of how much money you can spend
Nor how well you can hide inside yourself

Love is found in the faces of family
Love is found in the faces of your friends
Love is found by those who bless you,
And by those you allow yourself to bless as well

Love is found in kind words
In deeds that express appreciation

Love is found in the day to day
Not just on the 14th of February

Love is found in loving gestures when unexpected
Love is found in encouraging others who are down
Love is found alongside faith and hope
Love does not disappoint
Love does not cause Unhappiness
Nor Weariness
But Longing
And Joy!

Love is found with good friends
Love is found in those who make us laugh
Love is found in a warm cup of chocolate or coffee on a cold day
Love is found in those who care and are concerned for you life and well-being
Love is found when a stranger gives to the needy person on the street

Love does not boast
Love does not forget
Love remembers
Love cherishes

Where there is no love
There is hate
Where there is no love
There is no joy
Where there is no love
There is no meaning
Where there is no love
There is simply no life…

So on this day
Remember love
Remember those you love
And those who love you

Remember you are loved
And loved by others

Remember,
Be loved
And Love,
My friends….

~ Daniel

Pic:
http://www.smashingapps.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/love-wallpaper.jpg
http://hayleybailey.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/love11.jpg

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. – Proverbs 3:3

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing…. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – 1st Corinthians 13:1-3, 13

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us…. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. – 1st John 3:16, 4:9-10