The lighthouse and the ship

This poem was written for an open mic event. It relates to a dream I had of a painting relating to this last season of my life and how God feels about it.

The lighthouse and the ship  9/23/12

I had a dream the other night about a lighthouse and a ship
The ocean was stormy and dark, the lighthouse bulb had a tear on the tip
The ship was wrecked on the beach
And a man was climbing up through the hulls breach

So what did it mean, why was a lighthouse crying?
The ship hadn't become a submarine and the guy wasn't dying
So maybe like so many I should tell that guy to cheer up, get up, your not trying
Or maybe I should instruct him on how to walk in happiness instead of all his sighing
When he told me how some days his soul suspenders almost snapped
And with a variety and plenitude of troubles how he could have had the whole ocean floor mapped
I could reply with denial that it wasn't so harsh but in my judgement I'd really be trapped.

Trapped because I am the one on the beach
And this whole last season has been brought about to teach
And I'm shaken and wounded,
Broken and groomed then,
To be like the lighthouse which sees it all,
But sets aside the knowledge that I end up living and is willing to bawl.

Any bulb can shine light and any tear can be wet
But only his eyes burn hot and bright with truth that breaks darkness and yet,
Shed tears that don't evaporate because of truth
Of His love its proof

Matthew 26:40 poem

This poem was written in response to my year living with a bunch of students from the Baptist Student Ministry on Greek row at the University of Houston. I went to McDonald's one day and wrote this poem on the blank inside of a torn McDonald's bag (Lecrae writes about doing something like that in his song chase that so I thought It'd be a good idea). Though God was moving in the lives of people in the house the amount of life flowing from everybody was many times lacking. I was going through a hard season so I keenly felt a lack of prayer. Since I have gone there has been a growth in this area which I am glad to hear of.

Matthew 26:40

This has been my darkest hour
God is using me to fight unjust power
But should I have to do it alone?
Finding little to no support from those in my very own home?

If I want dancing, if I want t.v.
Hours and hours of that I will see
Like trying to drink from a water fountain where the water pressures' to low
The river of God in these people is little to no

What about our neighbors on their way to hell?
From sensing our prayerlessness our heart is an empty shell

If I want a godly conversation then I've got to dig
And if I do strike water its as much as a dried out fig
It says to me there's been no recent intimacy
And to this fact most people readily concede
They'll say "Oh I know I should spend more time in prayer"
But that's like saying "O I know I should help that guy who is wrestling the bear"

Jesus prayed alone in Gethsemane
And in the end overcame the enemy
But does His cup have to still be sour?
Because like His disciples we couldn't tarry with Him for one hour?

Matthew 26:36-45 NIV
36 Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” 37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

43 When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. 44 So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”