Rainbows shimmer and rain drops glisten. Ice crystals shine and certain stones radiate light. Glass windows reflect the colorful lights and hard candy can change hues of color depending on how you hold it up to the sun. Such superficial beauty, could it really hurt anyone? I cherish the things that shine and glow. Life can be so ugly if it were not for all of the sparkly things.

Black clouds appear on the horizon! Lightning flashes and thunder rolls. Rain comes down  in sheets as destruction rolls across the prairie. People cringe in holes like Gophers for fear of their impending doom, that is all but a select few who brave the fury of the storm. Running towards the danger in order to catch the wind by the tail. They lunge towards chaos with little though of their own mortality. Racing to learn from destruction in order to better understand forces beyond mortal control. Men and women of untold courage live to storm chase in order to help others strive to live.

There was a cuddly bear with golden soft fur. His eyes were black buttons and his nose was round and soft. He was filled with stuffing and didn't have much to say, but I loved him anyway. For years he kept me company, even when I was grown. I placed him in high esteem among the many trophies that I had earned. Despite all of the other awards luster, the bear was the most prized. Then one day something happened to my surprise. A new joy came into my life. A child was born to me from a loving wife. The bear sat quietly on the shelf, as if he were waiting for someone else. Then the day arrived then his new journey began, being held and caressed by two little hands. He had been an odd curiosity sitting on the shelf, until someone climbed high up and took him down. Now he has a new friend with which to spend his days, and though he is a little worn, he still brings joy anyway. From his soft cuddly stuffing to his short golden fur, he is the object of affection once again. The stuff of a child's imagination, a true and loyal friend. So I watch my old bear lying down quietly at nap time, the way he did with me once upon a time.

For his name ,I shall be reviled. For his name, I shall be forsaken. For his name, I shall be outcast. For his name, I shall face death. In all things I shall be faithful until the end. I shall overcome ,for his name is Jesus.

God sent a letter telling us how to live. God showed us a path to redemption. He gave us guidance, but allows us to choose. He shows us wisdom and futility in making choices and where they can lead. To know what he thinks of us, we need only ask. He will show us that he loves us, but is disappointed when we make poor choices. So you are free to choose which path to walk, but know that we will all get to talk to God in person in the end, and truly find out what he thinks of us all.

Peering through a looking glass awaiting the stars and planets to come into focus. Sitting under the pail blue moon watching for a sign. Tracking the movement of Venus with Jupiter ascending. Looking for the perfect set of conditions. In a moment the time has come, to plead to the heavens and make my petition known. Under the celestial alignment that best focuses the powers to do the most good.

When I am gone and you lay me low, do not weep for me, I would not want it so. Throw a party, invite my friends and enemies alike. Serve my favorite foods and take utter delight. Drink until you have had your fill, the tab is on me. Its the least I can do, because you had to put up with me. Know with comfort that I have gone on to a better place. Some where more peaceful I think. So remember me with fondness or remember me with a leer. How ever you like, drink up and be of good cheer. If you are my friend, know that you will be missed. If you are my enemy, then to you I say this. You have finally won, I met my fate. Just take a moment while your sober to think of who you will now hate. So take stock of your own lives, and say farewell as I go to my eternal rest. Shed no tears for me unless their of joy, just celebrate my death.

Melodies that elicit tears. Notes of sorrow from the keyboard of an old piano. In smoky bar rooms and dimly lit cocktail lounges, people with broken hearts come to drown their sorrows and listen to a crooner sing about their misery. A lonely lady or a sad gentleman will frequent the haunted halls of broken hearts. Listening to a melody played out a thousand times and waiting to be played a thousand more. The sad song of loneliness will play as they attempt to drink their sorrows away to this old familiar tune.

Sitting on the surf washed sand looking out into the deep blue water. I ponder for a moment the quest I am about to make. Into the waves on my board pushing over the tops of white curls. Each one rises and falls tipping towards the sky and then dropping you into a rift. Onward I push until I sit far off shore and the beach looks like a thin line on the horizon. Waiting for my moment, I sit anxiously, as one wave then another rolls by. I look back and see the curl waiting to sweep me up then off I go into the pipe! Surrounded by thundering water and pounding surf, I cut and glide in and out of the oceans grasp! Looking for the perfect ride inside the pipe of water, holding my breath as I feel the rush! On to the beach, getting ever closer, as I seek to master the wave. Lost in a small span of time, bending and twisting with the wave as I seek the ride of my life! Then it is over as quickly as it began, the rush fades and I paddle out into the unknown waiting for the next wave that will carry me inside the pipe once again.

I look into your eyes and my heart melts. I hold your hand and the cares of the world fade away. I listen to you talk for hours about nothing at all and suffer an emptiness when I must be away from you. I see no imperfections for you have no flaws. I only see radiance and the gentleness of your soul. You have broken the worst of me and brought out the best in me. I am helpless before you as a tender tree in a summer storm. I only long to be with you and to hold you from now until times end. I have come to understand that I can never find another perfect love such as the one that I now have in my life.

I look in the mirror and I don't like what I see. My hair doesn't suit me and these clothes fit right. I fuss with my hair and would just cut it all off. I am not sure about shoes or make up. All of this fuss, I could just wear sweats, but then someone would think I am on my cycle. What does it take to determine who I am? What do I have to do to just be me? I am told to look like this and then to look like that. One direction says be a lady another says I can rough it. I am so tired of trying to decide who I am today, I just want someone to tell me how to be myself.

Let me mend your wounds, let me bind your broken heart. Take my hand and I will hold you while you cry. Let us sit quietly as you share with me your pain. Let me share your burden and help you to be well again. Take my coat and my umbrella in case you are cold or it rains. Know that I am hoping for you to do well. Let me be the friend that you have wanted, let me fill a need. Let me help in any way that I can.

Once there was a building made with human hands, but it became defiled. Then it was seen that  new temple would need to be built, but who would construct it? Then one came more worthy than all, yet he gave up all to be humbly sacrificed. In a moment of unimaginable anguish, that which had been rejected became the foundation and corner stone of the new temple that God would build.

When the wind blows you can sense something is there. When the storm clouds gather, you can hear the earth crying out for rain. When an innocent is lost, you can feel the sadness in the air. When the path becomes hard to walk, you can feel a guiding hand. When you walk in faith, you never walk alone.

Acceptance of another is never easy, it often takes changing a point of view. Being mindful of another persons feelings or ways of doing things does not mean that you condone what they are. It simply means that you recognize that the person is like you an imperfect creature. It means that you become comfortable with yourself and with who someone else is. When you can accept others for their ways and their faults, then you can truly become comfortable with who you are.

Wires shine like Diamonds in the sun. Taught lines that rise to the heavens, like a mystic bridge to eternity. A miracle of ingenuity, a space elevator from science fiction to science fact. Nations rise up from the dust as vast stores of wealth descend from the sky. Blasting rock has gone silent and poison no longer fills our lakes and streams. Satellites dot the earth as children go to school with others from places far away. Each class has a different teacher that brings unique ideas together to tear down the walls of prejudice and ignorance in young minds.  Forest now rise up where urban sprawl once took up the landscape. People no longer live in prisons of poverty, but borders have been opened and cities now sit deep in the clear blue seas and on the cool white surface of the moon. The air is clean and the sun brings warmth to all who use it's endless light and power. When we take a few moments to set aside our differences and set ourselves free, it will be amazing to find what is truly possible.

Petals the color of midnight. Thorns that ***** and draw out blood. A fragrance that can hypnotize. Flowers planted in a barren garden where nothing else will grow. Dark Roses bloom in the light of a blood red moon, flowers fit for a widowed bride. No love can be found in these flowers for they were sewn in the hard ground by grief and death. They serve only to testify of mourning and sorrow at death and tragedy of a love lost too soon. So grow the Dark Roses, a reminder of the pain of loss.

I saw a stranger standing with a sign. It said please help me, and I drifted in my mind. To a night not so long ago, when I was down on my knees. I was lost and troubled and needed help you see. I met a soldier just the other day, he sat in a wheelchair right next to me. I thought of a time when I could not walk on my own. When I had to be carried because I could not do it alone. Then I saw another person lending a helping hand. I thought of the times that I had been that man. In all of these things, I could see a part of me. I could see the man I was, and that Jesus was always with me.

All hail the team that will win it all. All stand in adoration of the conquering hero's. Rise and chant now the mantra of your favorite team. Now is the day of battle. See the mascot that has become an idol. Worship at it's feet and pray for victory. Be all consumed by the passion, one will prevail and one will fall. To the victors go the spoils and the glory, to the vanquished, goes a sense of emptiness and unrequited loss. Let each day pass until at next our hero's take the field of battle. Until then the faithful wait in patients as if hoping for a messiah to come. Longing to revel in the glory of the moment, but that is mortal and fleeting. So goes the worship at the Cathedral of the church of football.

On a journey from my first breathe, helped along by those who say they care. Taught what they think I need to know, then sent forth to fend for myself. I have made mistakes along the way, many paths have I taken. Some have been short and others I still walk, yet all end in the same fate. Along the journey, I have had triumphs and I have made sacrifices. I have seen joy and sorrow. Some of these have been mine and some belong to others. Now as I draw near the end of a chapter in the book of my life, I look back and strive to hold no regrets. I can only hope that the places I left are better off than when I found them and that the people I have known may have been helped more than harmed. At the end of one journey, I look to the next in hopes of finding my way yet again.

The land of the free and the home of the brave has been transformed into the place of the scared and hateful. Our children have been stripped of their ability to determine  right from wrong. Parents have been replaced by the television. Most now have to work two jobs just to pay their bills. The government said you do not need a father, now young men treat women like property and ******. Get rich quick or die trying has replaced do unto others as you would have done unto you. The politicians we thought would lead us, have just robbed us blind. They make lofty promises that they cannot keep and keeps us in the dark by design. There is no prosperity, the younger generation wants to be taken care of. The latest phone application has replaced the want for social interaction and hard work is so yesterday. When the greatest generation is gone, will they really be missed? Perhaps this country is better off disassembling and starting over again. When all of our troops have come back and the foreign aid is gone. When nothing else is free and you are left to your own devices, will people really wonder where America has gone?

Chips fall away from the stone as it is cracked and chiseled into what I am not sure. Each piece is whittled away as I dig into the Marble. Lines begin to emerge and a from takes shape. I listen to the stone as it tells me what it wants to be.

When the sand is spoiled with footprints, you need only wait a little while. The waves will wash in as the tide rises and it will wash away the past and leave a clean slate for you to start again.

Faded flower of former glory you cannot remember. Your petals dried between the pages of a worn book. Both the tome and you have been revisited too many times. Now your petals have faded as have the pages of the book that contains you. What secret do you hold oh dry husk of former beauty. What memory has kept you hidden between the pages of a favored book all of this time?

Plagues ravaged the earth and millions were lost. Ideologies became futile and new ideas arose. Brighter minds performed miracles of science and enlightenment became the way of understanding. With the vestiges of old paradigms falling away, the heavens open up to receive the children of creation. The confines of one world is no longer our prison. People have become children of the stars as vast new worlds came into focus. Want is but a bad memory and good health and fortune are available to all. The old generations have faded and new eyes see equality. Belief systems are nothing more than personal philosophies to be debated and not fought over. Power has been given to live beyond the limits of the old mortality and the mind has been opened to it's full potential. At last the children of the old world have found their place in the cosmic puzzle. The ascension of humanity has begun.

In childhood delight we played in the dust and in old age our finality is to return to the dust in which we played. As the dust of our childhood slipped through our fingers, so the sands of time slips away and returns us to the dust of eternity.

The shadows have grown long and the sun is setting low. My steps have slowed down and fewer friends come to call. The world has gotten faster as I have slowed down. More and more I blend into the background when I go out. I am simply part of the scenery, seen but not acknowledged. My days are all the same, nothing out of the ordinary happens. I have more time to enjoy life, but less life to enjoy. As I see the world move past me, I try to catch my breath. Perhaps it is for the best, if I just care away. I wonder if anyone will miss me when I'm gone?

I am a sprocket a cog in the wheel. I squeak occasionally and must be oiled and tightened up. If the machine is to run I must do my part. If one cog fails then the machine will come to a halt. So onward I turn, grinding the other gears. When we mesh we do extraordinary work, but when we miss a turn nothing will go right.

Then
They look at us and they call us crazy. They think we're a bit out of touch. What they fail to get is what we have gained, and what we would like to share with them so much. We accept what they call impossible, yet miracles happen everyday. We are taught to show mercy and kindness, but to stand with resolve and seek Justice. People ask us how we can live this way. To know the person of Jesus, is to begin to understand that we are never on our own, for our God has a master plan. When the world looks at us, what they really don't see. Is that because of what we believe, we have been forgiven and are set free.

As the clock draws close to midnight, I take one final drink. I step outside and look up into the heavens. I stare into the night sky and I come to understand how small my problems really are, I feel so foolish about myself. I want to hold on to worry, but it slips away. I have come to realize that there is a constant change. With great reluctance, I close my eyes and listen to the world around me and take into consideration the vastness of life. In this moment, as the clock approaches midnight and a new day is set to come, I try to be positive about the possibilities that lay before me. So it is at this time I lay down my burdens and stand on the edge of a new day filled with hope yet unrealized.

I saw a beggar last night standing out in the cold. I heard him plead for a few coins, he was very old. I gave him two dollars and of that I felt ashamed. I wondered what could come of it so little that I gave. Then when I slept, I began to dream. I saw the old beggar again and he spoke to me. He said I should not worry, for what I did was enough. He said that he was able to spend the night riding a transit bus. While on the bus he was warm and could sleep. He said that the next day, things began to change. He showed me where he walked down an empty street. A woman in a fancy car, he happened to meet. As she got out and passed him by. An earring fell to the ground and she didn't bat an eye. The old beggar picked it up and said excuse me ma'am, I believe this is your as he put it in her hand. The woman stood for a moment then began to cry. She thanked him for being so kind. She said these were my mothers and I could not stand to loose them. She gave him a reward and sent him on his way. I then saw how the money changed the beggars life. He had other good fortune and no longer was in need. All of this because of a few dollars a simple sewn seed. I then awoke suddenly, not feeling so bad. My sadness was gone and I felt very glad. For what we think is nothing, to someone else may be great indeed. So do not despair or worry when you sew a kind deed.

Run to your safe space so your feelings won't be hurt. Cringe in a corner for fear of being offended. How dare you wear that around me. The calls of intolerance are everywhere, but no one wants to debate. Silencing the opposition is the order of the day. No argument, nor debate, just be quiet and let me be. I am right and you are wrong and that is how it is. I do not want to hear another point of view. In all of the confusion, the core of truth is lost. Everyone has rights, but what about my rights.

The needle in my arm just hangs there. The burning sensations have disappeared. I am becoming numb as I turn ashen. I see the lights becoming a blur. As I lay on my bed, I think finally I have killed my pain. My breathe becomes shallow, each one seems like my last. I can no longer hear the noises, everything is simply a buzzing in my ears. Perhaps this is it, perhaps I will not come back this time. As I slip into unconsciousness, I feel a slight chill ,as I enter the blackness the world grows cold around me.

Each and everyday we pass so many people. We see the faces of others like ourselves. They are members of the human race and all have problems. Some have different problems that the ones we have, but all have problems just the same. As each problem is different, so is each face. Behind the skin and eyes lies an intellect and a soul. If we could all stop for a moment and look at the face of another. Then read their expression and find out what they need. If we could then offer just a little help, then the faces would all smile and what a beautiful world that would be.

When the shadow of the world is over you and the giants seem to tall to defeat, on bended knees I seek my strength. With a hope of things not seen, I call upon Jesus name. I plead for intercession and his healing touch. Though the enemy builds a strong hold, I know that it will come crashing down, for my foundation is laid upon the solid rock and the enemy builds on unstable ground.

When all of the things you dreamed have faded away and all of your life is at a crossroads, in a moment of decision all things will stop. You will see clear focus if only for a fraction of the passing of time. In this space, time will stand still and absolute clarity will be achieved.

My heart is still a prisoner though I am a thousand miles away from you. I can still remember your smell when you would walk into a room. Your laughter still haunts my dreams each time I try to sleep. The sound of your breathing echoing beside me makes me become wide awake. Though we have been separated for quiet a while. I still see your face every time someone smiles. Your a ghost from my past, you keep me imprisoned with your memory, so please let my poor heart be. Walk away from my life and please set me free.

The masses hunger but are not fed. The young thirst but have nothing to drink. The light is being put out from the public places. The world is in turmoil and no one has the answer. The staff of life has ceased to be taught and has been replaced with something pleasing to hear. People have become as dead wood and are just as hollow and empty as a rotten tree. There is a famine in the land but not for lack of food, but for the hearing of Gods word. The spiritual person is being starved of the truth and no longer drinks of the water of life. So in the end time of man, it is not food that is lacking but Gods word.

A cracked *** simmers filled with twisted ideas! The tumultuous brew bubbles and fizzes! Come close and see the fire burning below. Watch the embers change color as people grow impatient with each other. Be careful not to touch the sides for it can be really hot! The anger, lust and fear can make the seething *** boil. Take a ladle if you dare and dip it into the brew. Sip it if you can stand the rush that you will feel. Then spew back your darkest fears and most intimate desires into the emotional cauldron from which you dared to drink.

Under a wide open sky beside a cool clear stream. I lie on a blanket and watch the clouds roll by. From horizon to horizon, no one can be found. I see only sweeping grass and a few lonesome trees. When all things are said and done, would a mansion be better. Would I be happier enclosed by four walls? People amass gold and silver, only to see it slip away. I sit in a tent on a piece of earth. I have what I need to live and perhaps that is enough. If more is required then nature will offer it to me. So I look at the sun as it sets and think of where the feet of many have walked and are now faded. The earth is still here and the are gone. What did they need to live and where is their mark? If not for memories of them, they would not have been at all. So I will sit a while and look at the gifts I have been given, then find rest in a small space that I have set for myself. Tomorrow, I will awaken under the same sky and again wonder, how much space do I really need.

Oh hear the lonesome pine creak and hear the rivers wail. See the sky shed its tears for the people that did not have to die. Look into the mountains of Georgia and the Carolina, see the empty homes and the forgotten land. Look to a somber people that shed tears as they walk away. By the white mans gun and the pony solider, they are taken from their native home. Sent to a place they do not know, sent under the burning sun. In a empty place with no tall pines or cool rivers. Where the Otter does not play nor does the Owl keep watch at night. Alone along a lonely trail they walk, broken and defeated. Having trusted in lies of the fork tongue, they wail as the earth mourns for them. The children of the Cherokee laid low as they weep on their walk down a trail of tears.

Behold a single sapling growing in the edge of an open field. The off spring of a great oak, one of many. The Acorns are scattered by Squirrels and the wind and slowly over time the ones that survive take root. In 50 years, which is a small length of human time, the saplings have turned into mighty trees. A grove has been established and some of them are cut down to become lumber for a home. The trees that remain weep for the loss of their siblings, but on a clearing not so far away, they see what they have become. A house that holds a family and children's laughter, hopes and dreams. So one tree with a purpose grew others which in time had a purpose of their own.

I wake up at night in a cold sweat. I toss and turn on my bed. I am afraid to close my eyes for fear I will see my friends. The ghost I left behind, on the battle field. The people on who I could depend. They are gone and I am here and it just not fair. I keep their memory trapped deep down inside, sometimes I cannot silence their voices, I just want to die. People tell me that it is ok, but the weren't there. They don't know what I went through, so how can they say that they care? I keep fighting the battle even though the war is over for me. I guess I just have to accept that I brought the battle home with me.

I see you before me, come to take me into your bed. I succumb to the strength of your body and surrender myself to your pleasure. I give myself to your desires and lay before you a vessel to be filled. Your strong hands are lain upon me and cause me to become on fire. I melt into your embrace and open myself to your touch. I kneel before you to remind you of my place and to give you pleasure. I offer you passion and pleasure and in return I receive in like kind. Once I have aroused you to my form, you lift me up and lay me down. I am subject to your will. You are in need of a place to receive release as I am in need of the feeling of being wanted. We join together in a dance of commonality. I giving myself to be your vessel and you putting into me the seed of promise. As we cross the threshold of unity, I settle into your embrace, content in the knowledge that you have known me as a haven for your release and that I am a part of you as I have become the fertile ground from which your essence can bring forth new life.

One moment I am all the rage and the next I fly into one. In one moment I will be courageous then I want you to tell me what to do. Depending on the day or the meds I am not sure who I will be. Sometimes I think I can fly and others I want to live in the basement. All of these people living in my head often confuse me. I can't get a moments peace except when I am asleep, then I am not sure who takes over. I can be very responsible to the point of obsessing, at least that's what my shrink and my lover say, my mom and my room will tell a different tale. So when I wake up and we meet, don't be offended if the next time I don't recognize you and I am a different side of me.

Sounds of static rattle inside my head. I feel out of control until I tune in. I hear the whispers from the dark corners of my mind. I am directed by the things they say to me. Some days I do just fine, while others people would call it insanity. I test the limits of reality to find where the line truly is. The cutting is not my idea, one of the whispers told me it would be fine. They took me to see a doctor but he couldn't help me. They gave me pills, but they just wreck what I have. As long as I am on the right frequency, I can function in their world you see, but sometimes I just have to live in my own reality. I must do what the voices tell me to.

In all seasons there is beauty. In all things there is color. While winter is bleak to some, icicles shine like diamonds against a back drop of white as they hang from barren trees and evergreens alike. Spring comes and green is everywhere along with bursting buds and new flowers. Summer shows more flowers of the field along with shimmering sunlight that glistens off of morning dew that adorns purple morning glories. Then comes the fall with fields ripe to harvest, with golden grains and colorful pumpkins laying beside forest of colored leaves as the seasons change. In nature there is color in all facets of life. You just have to know what to look for.

Weary child come unto me and I will let you rest. Wayward soul that has lost it's way follow me on the path that is straight. You that are thirsty, come and drink from my well. I will fill you will living water that will never run dry. Those who feel for gotten, know that I remember you. Even the Sparrow does not fall from it's nest that I do not see. Come set down your troubles and eat from my table. Let me help you bear your load, come lay your burdens down.

A thorny thing a beautiful Rose, like love it is filled with pricking barbs . To get to it's sweet petals, you must first avoid the small irritating  ******. So is love like a Rose, it can pierce and sting.

To all who will hear and give heed, I will proclaim that I will remember you. To all who are weary, I say I will speak I over you. To all who will accept mercy, I will ask that peace will find you. I will seek favor for you , as I pray.