immersion in the Jordan
risen from their graves
there's a place of graciousness
the pastel water saves
yes, there's a place of peaceful joy
for the heart that raves
wisdom beckons... righteousness!
for fools and for knaves
we are awake yet dreaming
wandering into the waves.


SoulSurvivor
(C) 11/28/2015

With only four words her whole life changed "you bet your life" he mocked, and she did. She bet her life it would be just the way it was written. So she read the words over and over again. She promised and prayed with dedication. Then she stood back and watched it unfold. Just as it was told it happend and she knew. He was trying to make her doubt but she knew. She was not blinded by uncertainty; she was grounded in belief. Unshaken by fear she knew her life was important, important enough to dedicate. She was important enough to love. Some wanted her to think she wasn't but she knew that wasn't true, after all, she bet her life on it.

With baptism, one identifies with The Christ,
mirroring His death, burial and resurrection;
in this symbolic gesture of Faith, one sees a
formal acknowledgment of His gift of Salvation.

This practice, instituted by John the Baptist,
teaches one to reflect on the sacred sacrifice-  
that Christ -alone- redeemed all of Humanity
and that His unequaled actions will suffice

as the second Adam, for our enduring redemption.
Even Christ Himself, took this symbolic plunge.
Was this a mere watery dunking of His flesh?
Or did it prepare Him… to be able to expunge

the death penalty of sin for us permanently?
Therefore, I honor His act of propitiation-
by the baptism of my body before witnesses,
as I’m initiated today… into His Holy Nation.
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Author Notes

Inspired by:
John 3:25-36

Learn more about me and my poetry at:
http://amzn.to/1ffo9YZ

By Joseph J. Breunig 3rd, © 2015, All rights reserved.

Purified by the water
Holy oil in the water
New life
New way
New thoughts
Pure soul
Beautiful life

The rain fell like a baptism from the sky, received upon the earth to wash away the sins of the soil. We all fall. These droplets of water are as afraid as we are, falling towards the ground, plummeting towards the unknown. Picking up speed with every second we descend. The wind throws us around as we struggle to accept our fates. With every passing moment those who went before us vanish into the drowned asphalt. With every passing moment those who tread behind us begin their voyage into the cold winds. With every passing moment we are tearing through the storm. Predetermined to meet the surface at some point along our odyssey. Our descent is not the last moment of our final journey, but the rising of our next.Just as the rain did, we too will form lakes. Whole oceans will be conjured from our pilgrimage. Forests will arise from our nurturing. Waves of our ambition will crash along the shores. Our trials will etch stories into the cliff walls. Monuments of erosion will be formed from our perseverance. What we once believed to be the end will be revealed to be a new beginning. Just like the rain we will fall. Just like the rain we will evaporate. Just like the rain we will change.

Temptation tangles tearing tendrils teasing
Thoughts think through thickening thunder
Lips lying like losers lifted lungs
Loud like lighted lamps

Follow fairly for fainting faces
Friends fight for feeling free
Eat education entirely
Energy eases enemies
Daring dear defend

Take the loving Lord
Fight eternally to the end.

Baptism…Foreward

I prayed and hoped
I lost and wept
I was found by a boat
I, by the Lord’s waves, have been swept.


Baptism…Afterward

I pray and hope
I loose and weep
I am found by a boat that helps me cope
I, with the Lord’s waves, will sweep.

Through small troubles and the rain
I fear no enemies or this pain.

Because of you I will remain
and endure all through life’s little strain.

Because of you I will grow
a better person
from my head down to my tiny toe,
while, whispering ears
and liars tongues will always be witness
beyond my small selfish fears.

Through the years
and hard fought tears
my healing heart always smiles
by many mindful miles
knowing many many tiny trials.

Because of you, if I stumble,
I will know never to mumble,
but to cry out loud in prayer
Because you are my only savior.

I can't help but notice
How much harder
The rain hits my face
After I've sinned.
And if there's a God,
He hates me.
No prayer can acquit this hatred.
There's no hymn to heal my wounds.
I'm surprised I haven't burst
Into flames yet.
They'd probably dump water on me
And call it a baptism.
Reborn, renewed, refreshed, my child.
Who made that water so pure?
Who died and put you in charge?
Go ahead,
Recite your verses and preach your sermons,
But the "Body of Christ"
Is just a piece of bread.