Showing posts with label child. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child. Show all posts

Thursday, December 14, 2017

The Christmas Story?

Jer. 2:11 “Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.”

The Christmas Story?

I never really gave the technicalities much thought to the Christmas Story, I trusted what I was taught and went with it on the same journey as you. Some see and understand it differently and now so do I. 

Well you already know I’m ‘different’ and believe things ‘differently’ and I’m okay with that but this one had toyed with me over the years and now it hit home solidly by the Word of God. What am I going on and on about? The story of three Wise men and how they came to Jesus. 

As the story that we’ve been programmed with over the years is that of the story of the Little Drummer Boy. You know the one, where the three wise men came from afar, following a star, and presented the newborn babe with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. As I was writing a poem this morning, I sought the truth because I don’t like writing something and then being told that ‘hey, that isn’t right.’ I like to try my best to get an accurate conveyance of truth.

Matt. 2:8-11 "And he [Herod] sent them [the wise men] to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh."

They went into a house and saw a young child. They didn’t find a manger and a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. That was the Shepherds who saw the babe in a manger.

Luke 2:16 “And they [the shepherds] came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.”

The Magi, taken from the link – 
“They were definitely men of learning. They were certainly men of great learning. The word Magi comes from the Greek word 'magos' (where the English word 'magic' comes from). Magos itself comes from the old Persian word 'Magupati'. This was the title given to priests in a sect of the ancient Persian religions such as Zoroastrianism. Today we'd called them astrologers. Back then astronomy and astrology were part of the same overall studies (and 'science') and went hand in hand with each other. The magi would have followed the patterns of the stars religiously. They would have also probably been very rich and held high esteem in their own society and by people who weren't from their country or religion.”

I always knew there was some twisting of [HIS]story because when one man sees a house burning in a blazing fire, another man might see a small oven fire consuming a kitchen, while yet another person might see a legal burning of a persons trash. Stories get constructed and misconstrued numerous times over the years. Some see the history in the bible as literal and me, being a poet, have always seen many portions as metaphorically divined. I don’t think God ever intended for us to pluck someone’s eye out. You don't need to chest thump and correct me here, this is me sorting this out. 

The Little Drummer Boy is a story we were sold throughout our lives that we somewhat believed. The story is kind of like the tale I was told of what was needed to fight this disease I’m fighting. I was programmed over and over to believe something only to find out that it isn’t all true and there are other ways to think about the killer disease. See there? I said killer disease without hesitation only because that was my belief for forty years. That’s about how long ago my grandmother was taken by the disease of a lifetime.

We are programmed to believe that this is a ‘killer’ disease only because we’ve heard the story over and over and we believe what we’re told because we’re a trusting species never giving rise to doubt in what we’re being fed. Literally, what we’re being fed are lies! When you read a label that says ‘All Natural’ you believe what it says never looking any closer to see what portion is all natural (usually 1% of a whole), you just buy what you’re being sold.

Chemotherapy is another story being sold to unsuspecting people. I hear over and over how it ‘cured’ so and so but, there it is, there is always a ‘but’! After destroying the immune system the ‘cured’ get sicker and sicker and some even have to deal with a recurrence and guess what you're sold, more chemo, radiation and drugs. Is it because you can’t change your lifestyle to save your life? Are you seriously not worth it? 

There’s a change that came over the world in the form of a baby who thought you WERE (and still are) worth a change from the evil that Eve brought on mankind. No, not everyone can be as strong as Jesus, but inside you, you have hidden strength that will come ALIVE when you see yourself WORTH the change! There IS change in the story, there is HISstory to be made, all you have to do is see yourself worthy. God thinks you are, do you think you are?

Job 30:18 “By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.”

Prov. 24:21 “My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change:”

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Letting Go ~ To Astri and Christopher

Matthew 18:10 ESV “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

Letting Go

They say my wounds are open
That I must set you free
If I am ever to heal myself 
Of this illness now in me

I loved you and your brother
You left me here alone
So many years I cried for you
Although you’re not my own.

They say this cut is pretty deep
That it could halt my healing
I need to find a peace within
So yearly I’m not reeling.

I need to let God do His job
His need for you was great.
I'm worthy and I’m honored 
To give Him all the weight.

I release you to the heavens
Where I cannot come as yet
God still has some work for me 
As your place, I can’t forget.

Go now little children
Let your voice be heard
I give you to my Lord above
As the stars are being stirred.

I find a peace in knowing
That you’re in a better place
We all are being used now
As we’ve all been saved by grace!

I cannot shed pained tears for you
I know you didn’t die
You were with me but a moment
Before God gave you wings to fly.

Angel Always… Godspeed

God has blessed you both! 

Christopher Alexander (12-2-82) and Astri Celia (4-26 04)
My children who were STILL born!
Always loved and never forgotten


Galatians 1:15 ESV “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,”



Tuesday, November 08, 2016

To Believe or To Not Believe

Pss. 27:13” I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.”

To Believe or To Not Believe

When I see this kind of rhetoric as comments across many different sites, the animosity and verbiage are the same towards Christian believer.

*not the actual screen names
nosheeplepeople says:
“You're busy playing the children's Game of Make-Believe, Christian Version, that even has your imaginary magical friend you call Yahweh playing your edition of the children's Game of Hide 'N Seek as a subplot in your Land of Pretend. Your Game of Make-Believe even includes a talking bush, a talking donkey, a talking serpent and a talking volcano.
The cartoons you watched with talking animals weren't true even though you believed they were true.”

And a response went like this:

Josh said:
If your perspective of my trust in God is nothing to you, why are you getting so worked up about it? If I simply believed that the world was made out of jello, you wouldn't give a second thought to my belief, and you'd go on about your day on to things that actually mattered, but that is not the case here, your soul is so disturbed by my trust in an all powerful Creator, that you must put in your efforts and attempts to make the disturbance in your soul, a part of my reality. I could dismiss your attempts as imaginary, and make believe, but then I'd be suppressing the subjective evidence of your existence, much like you do with the reality of God's existence.

This response was not liked by the sheeple so he tried to one up Josh by saying,

Sheeple said:
“Christians have been sold an invisible product that has an invisible cure for an invisible disease that harms an invisible soul so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place that is invisible until they die based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.”

Josh replied:
You know, it's funny that I address the objections or points that you make. But legit answers that I give, and points and objections to your objections that I make, never seem to be addressed. They are ignored, repressed, and then it’s on to your next objection. What is the point of trying to give an answer to your objections, when you never take them into consideration in our dialogue here? You’re not seeking the truth, you’re seeking to establish your own agenda. May God bless you, have a nice day :)

Pss 78:22 “Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:”

I have to say, Josh had a good debate going and that his words were sound. But the sheeple guy sounded like a broken robot that I’ve heard in Yahoo comments, YouTube comments and anyplace the very word God is uttered; my God is fake and they (atheist) have no God. Sheeple continued to have this same conversation with himself.

The comments went on and on and on. I’m so used to this kind of hate towards Christians because that is what satan has himself formed out of the world. No, he didn’t magically create anything, satan has a tendency to work through the mind to bend whatever truth you may hold.

I have come to find that satan is working in EVERY faith and religion to distort and turn your thoughts away from the Creator. He puts these doubts in your mind and they fester until you are turned against God and you know what, God is okay with that because the non-believers need to be weeded out anyway. 

I’m okay with people NOT believing but don’t judge me and call my God a fairytale because of a book you might have read and not believed. If billions of people are wrong, then so be it, I’m one among many. I’m going to dissect what the sheeple wrote.

“Christians have been sold an invisible product [is he calling God a product? Sorry sheeple, God is a spiritual entity.] that has an invisible cure [cure? Where, I need one pronto!] for an invisible disease [I wish my disability was invisible!] that harms an invisible soul [I actually KNOW I have a soul because every word this person said touched me. Having never been touched, sheeple does not have a soul and if he does it is a lonely and empty one] so that the invisible soul can go to an unseen place [unseen place? Sorry buddy, I’ve SEEN heaven and tasted it and that is why I long to be there!] that is invisible until they die [not true] based on a guilt trip their Pastor told them that they should have.” [Umm, this person must’ve really been hurt by the church and a pastor because he was well versed in my Bible, KJV, but to think that everyone finds God via a church or a pastor is illogical. Did he ever think that God finds YOU? Not always the other way around?

God made His presence known to me at around age three and then I looked for Him everywhere I went as I aged. Sometimes God finds you, some people are taught about God, some are raised on the bible and attended church regularly since grade school and yes they were allowed to experience Him for themselves and make their OWN judgment call on whether to believe or not to believe. My invisible God placed within me FREE WILL to believe or not believe what I want, also! 

To the atheist, God can be explained away by scientific answers to everything that exists but to me, a believer, if God didn’t exist neither would science/scientists! You can’t have one without the other. Now my faith is invisible, the only way you see my faith is by what I project to the world. You either see it or you don’t. You have the free will to believe or to not believe. 

Prov. 14:15 “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”

Wednesday, July 06, 2016

A Child Will Lead Them


Isaiah 11:6 “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.” 

A Child Will Lead Them

Why would God choose a child to lead them? Is it because of the innocence of a child who sees no wrong and can only see the good? Who loves without condition?  

Matt. 19:14 KJV
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

NIV
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

God has chosen the humble innocent children of the world to scatter in heaven and have a safe place to call home. It is these little children who are going to lead us because a grown man who has been stupefied by imaginations of the world that has destroyed any chance of being a leader among men.

Children hold in their heart a peace that man lost long ago and only the innocent child understands this peace. The Lord asks us to become like children and strive for that innocence in loving all but man has built up a hatred for everything under the sun that he unhinged the chain and can’t get that innocence back.

Children are not yet tainted by the world. When you see a one-year-old taking his/her first steps, what do you see? You see a trust that their little legs are going to work and lead them where they want to go. Often times they fall and get right back up and persevere until their legs can carry them where they were headed.

A grown man tainted by the world sees hate. He has to share hate, spread hate and for some reason says he is a man of God? Does that man even read and understand what it is that God is teaching us in the bible? With over 50 different versions of the bible, it’s not hard to see why man is so confused with what he is putting his faith in today. I totally get that the many translations of the bible say the exact, no wait, almost the same exact same thing throughout but what I’m saying is, that man has been led around on a string and now wanders lost and confused because he doesn’t understand what he is reading!

When the bible says the kingdom of heaven belongs to the MIND of the man who has a child-like innocence, the grown man misinterprets those words as he must act like a kid joking and laughing with asinine behavior, he is a confused man. Coming to Christ in a child-like manner you need to put on the armor of innocence, gentleness and purity; something man lost in his pursuit of hate. 

I am not pleased with my fellow Americans who show no self-control. They badger, berate, live life to hate all the while using the term for the love of their God. Wow, sounds like a lot of the men they themselves condemn. Does that make you any different than the man you hate? 

For the love of God, can’t one day pass where you don’t spread your hatred for man? This world is in need of a child to lead and at this rate of a hate-filled world, we are being led by the dark one on the path that he has set. Follow little ones (small-brained humans) because my ever-loving God is not happy with the plan that you chose for yourself, you follow the dark seed in a blatant obvious procession spitting in His face the inheritance He had set for you. God help us all!

Psalm 33:12 KJV "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."

Sunday, May 08, 2016

Poetry Sunday ~ Mother's Day

Ex. 20:12 “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”

Mother

The Christ child had a mother
Just the same as you and me.
Favored, Mary was full of Grace
The Lord is now with thee.

We all had the best mothers
To each his own be true.
Admit that Jesus had the one
That gave her Son to you. 

A mother’s seen as perfect
As we all think she should be.
Humbled, Mary’s full of Grace
Our Lord is now with thee.

A sacrificial love endures
The house becomes a home.
With mother's gentle guidance
She frees her child to roam. 

Footprints left in space and time
A mother's eternal bond
Mother Mary who’s full of grace
With love from here and beyond.

Luke 1:28-31 (KJV)
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.

Sunday, December 06, 2015

The Nativity

image from google
poem by Joni

Isa. 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The Nativity

They walked… in the still of the night.
On an ass… as the two took to flight
They fled… to save their unborn child
They paused… for grace was mercy mild.

The inn… no room for them to stay
A manger… is where the babe would lay.
The Light… would guide this virgin birth
He came… to save this fallen earth.

The lamb… would watch and bow his head
The beasts… huddled ‘round the hay-filled bed.
He lay… against His mother’s breast.
She wept… for now the earth was blessed

They came… to see the Newborn King
The star… led the wise men to sing.
He’s here… wrapped in swaddling clothes
Come now… His living water flows.

Rejoice, Rejoice, Oh Israel
To you has come Emmanuel.

Luke 2: 11-12  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Letting go

Isa. 38:18 For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth.

Letting Go…

On October 16th my dad went into the hospital. Being so far away is hard but I imagine not as much pressure as on the ones who have to be there day in and day out and watch the lighthouse of their life crumble before their eyes. When he went in he had told my mother that he wouldn’t be coming back home. She just shrugged it up to his tiredness.

Like water in a clogged drain, my father kept going down, slowly and exhaustively. My mother was tiring but kept holding on to the threads of her husband who was once vital in their daily walk of life. For sixty years they were one for each other. No one else in the world seemed to exist and he was her lighthouse that she sought out in the dark.

By the 23rd she held onto hope that he would be coming home, not in the condition he went in but much worse off than what he was before entering the hospital. Her daily visits to the hospital, by either my sister or brother, were tiring for her but she kept going on, no matter what, she was holding onto hope that he’d be coming home.

I’ve called twice a day for the last two weeks and what I heard on the other end was not good. He had slept and slept and on a rare occasion would wake then drift off to sleep. He went from ICU to a ‘room’ then back to ICU and then back to a room.

Ironically his first room number was 405. Our address growing up and where we resided for almost 30 years was 1405. The next room he was put in was 317, the time of my first child’s birth/death. Also, it was the same floor and same hospital where my grandmother died one room over in 316 a few years ago.

My feeling in my sunken heart was that this is it; this will be the week my father dies. I cried, I sobbed like a baby, hoping beyond hope my feelings were wrong. By the 25th my mother had seen a ray of hope, my dad sat up and talked. He sat in the chair (as opposed to lying helpless in the bed) and conversed. By Sunday he was back to sleeping hours on end, not looking as good as he had the day before.

By Monday the 26th there was talk of putting him in a hospice because there was nothing they could do. He was now seeing people who weren’t there and talking gibberish in his sleep. They were going to take him off the defibrillator because his heart is being overworked. The doctor said this is a painful step as his oxygen is minimal and his heart is pumping at abnormal rates. His blood pressure would drop to a deathly low then soar to an astronomical high. Would he make it through the night? The doctor’s and all around him said no!

The call came in that they had to make a decision to turn the defibrillator off. I spoke to my mother and said is this what you want. After I told her to let him go in peace not pain and the conversation ended with he’d be taken off the life source keeping him alive.

I called my brother, the black sheep whom no one has conversed with, and told him the defibrillator would be turned off and that he wasn’t expected to make it through the night. We cried, we laughed, we spoke of old times, and we mourned. I hung up the phone and drained remaining tears as I let my father go. I would sit and wait impatiently for the call that my father had passed. It never came.

Instead, at nine p.m my mother called and said they DIDN’T turn the defibrillator off. My father had awakened and said not to touch it, he just wanted to go home. This is something impossible since they can’t send the machine home with him to keep him alive. I believe there is another aspect of… affordability. The hospital has done all it can, told the family the options, and they are releasing him to the unknown. Ten to fifteen hours of sleep, the machine alone keeping him alive, pain and suffering abound, the heart and lungs trying to pump the very last second of life as the host lay waiting to take his last breath.

My mother said he was not supposed to make it through the night even with the defibrillator keeping him alive. My day and night was spent mourning like a baby who lost their first puppy.

After calling my mother twice in the early morning and not getting an answer, wondering if he was alive or dead, I waited the entire day of the 27th for ‘the phone call’ that never came. Instead at 5:30 she did call to tell me that they put him back in a room, #316 by the way, and that he was having hallucinations, unable to eat whole food because he was choking on it, then sleeping for hours on end.

I’ve struggled with the decision to put him at rest but it had to be done to face the inevitable. I woke feeling a peace around me because I had let my father go. I don’t know where his destination will end, I cannot be certain because his destination is his; it is between him and God

Today the 28th they will decide to put my father in a hospice against his wishes (remember he just wants to go home), to live basically on life support. The ones back home have had to make this heart wrenching decision. I cannot fathom what they are enduring and the guilt of not being there is sometimes overwhelming but I feel peace because I’ve done the hardest part on my end and that is… I let my father go.

Lam. 1:20 Behold, O LORD; for I am in distress: my bowels are troubled; mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death.

Friday, May 22, 2015

Sometimes...


"Just because a person ‘looks’ fine on the outside, doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering with debilitating pain on the inside. Just as you wouldn’t judge a book by its cover, don’t judge a person because they ‘look’ fine." ~ Joni

Sometimes…

Sometimes… my tears fall down like rain
Sometimes… I smile through all the pain
Sometimes… I’m judged by what you see
Sometimes… there's no fun in being me.

Sometimes… the clouds wash o’er my soul
Sometimes… I’m left not feeling whole
Sometimes… someone should take my hand
Sometimes… I need you to understand.

Sometimes… the sun don’t ever shine
Sometimes… I’m not doing ‘fine’
Sometimes… the tears won’t ever fall
Sometimes… I hide behind it all.

Sometimes… I hear the Lord demand
Sometimes… He says child take my hand
Sometimes… when tears fall down like rain
Those times… He carries all my pain.

Job 33:19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
 
 

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Poetry Sunday ~ The Voice of a Child


The Voice of a Child


A little seed, gently placed, into the hands of time.
Her soul was left amid the blooms in the garden of life sublime.
No one understood her quest and often nor did she.
There she dwelt in a cryptic world where eyes could never see.

Reaching out she uttered words, in hopes someone would hear.
But all alone the resounding truth whispered only to her ear.
She followed the path of righteousness the stones of suffering were lain.
Scattered among the rubble she bravely took the pain.

A force of light it beckoned her; the Eden in her mind.
Surrounded by tranquility’s base, with souls so warm and kind.
Firmly standing in the pool of faith while others scoffed and scorned.
No one could see this young girl’s light or the wings that she adorned.

Cutting through, slashing her strength; all thought that she would fall.
Instead she rose above the realm to the place of duties call.
Sheltered within securities cage, no cries was she to mumble.
Awaiting the grace of a healing shield while always remaining humble.

The blessed healing swiftly came; her thirst did not subside.
Spreading her wings, surely to soar; one light her only guide.
Quenching her desire, her pining never to cease.
Freedom stands at her doorstep...she now has gained RELEASE!!!