Like waking from a dream
Waking from the horror of a nightmare
And seeing the beauty of the morning
Seeing the green of an Earth you had never before seen

For I hear our beloved saying to us;
“Arise, shine, for the light has come
The glory of The Lord has risen upon you
Come now my love, awake!
See the winter is past
The rain is over and gone
For Summer has come
Gone is the Winter and its ravages
Here is the Summer and its blessings
The warmth of the sun
The flowers flowing in the meadow
For good has come”
Thus says our Lord

For He has crushed the head of the Serpent
Like the King of Old has slain the giant
And the end of all things has come
The end of separation is arrived
The beginning of new things is here
The founding of the New City
This City was built, established by understanding
The rooms were filled by knowledge
Filled with all precious and good treasures

From the darkness of the night has come light
The sun has broken out with the dawn
And all wounds were healed
And the unrighteous became right
For the nations saw and came to our light
And kings came to the brightness of such light

On this New Earth there is no more pain or destruction
This Earth is full of the knowledge of The Lord
The cow and the bear graze in the field together
Their young lie down with one another
And the lion eats straw like an ox
All the depths of the Earth have risen up
The high points have been made low
The uneven places have been made level
And the rough ground has become a plain
For all things have been made good again
Like the Summer of the Garden, yet better

On this New Earth, roads have been made in the wilderness
And rivers bring water to the once-dry desert
For these new good things are being done
From the old things of nature come the sound of great music
Clapping from the trees of the field,
Songs from the mountains in the distance
From the ground come not thorns, but beautiful flowers

The ancient ruins of the old places have been built up
The cities of former glory have been rebuilt
The devastation of many generations have been healed
No more are we called forsaken
For our Salvation has come
And He has married our land
He has become one with our properties
No longer is our land called ‘Desolate’
But is now called ‘My Delight is in Her’
For His delight has come to us

On the Earth of Old we sold our possessions
We held onto treasures that would not fail
To moneybags that would not grow old
Moneybags that no thief could ever steal
Treasures no moth could ever destroy
And we dwell now with those treasures
As He had promised us before
We now dwell with Him in Paradise
In this paradise unimaginable
For no eye had seen, nor ear had heard
No heart had ever imagined this paradise
This great place God had prepared for us

We have been given one heart
And we have been given one spirit
Our heart of stone has been removed
And we have been gifted a heart of flesh
He bathed us with water
He washed us clean from our bloodstains
And He anointed our heads with oil
He clothed us with fine cloth
Shod us with good leather
He has wrapped us with fine linen
And covered us with precious silk
He sprinkled us with clean water
Cleansed us from unrighteousness
And took us from our idols
He had given us new hearts and new spirits
And His Spirit dwelled in us

We had died before, as He once did
We died, but now live forevermore
He too died once, but lives with us
Now, forevermore

We now dwell in this New Earth
For the first Earth has passed away
And in the New City of Jerusalem
For we are of the Bride for Christ, our Husband
For this New Jerusalem is a dwelling place
A place for us to dwell with God
He dwells with us
And we will be His people
And He will be our God
He has wiped away the tears from all faces
Death is no more, mourning is no more
Crying and pain are no more
Those who thirst have been quenched
Those who hunger have been filled
Those who were blind now see
Those who were deaf now hear
Those who were lame now walk
For the former things have passed away

A great shadow has departed
For everything sad has come untrue
For the voice told us;
“I have made all things new"

Remember those days oh so long ago
When you were too little to understand life
Where everything was given to you
And you were just a cute little kid
Back when nothing really mattered

Back when outside was a battlefield
For Cowboys and Indians in the Wild West
Or Fairy Tale Kingdoms with wars and battles
Always with sword fights with sticks and branches
When the most important thing was merely being outside

Remember when the raindrops would race down the car window
And when you would wait for your dad to come home from work at night
The days you would ride your bike to the far reaches of the end of the block
There were the days you would go for hikes in the forest
Exploring places never before known by another

Back when going to bed was hiding from monsters
The ones living under your bed
Waiting for your dangling feet
But then flying away, you were whisked away to a far land
Where your dreams would catch your every wish

Remember back when going to bed was being scared of shadows on your wall
Waiting in your closet for you to fall asleep
Then to get you in your peaceful slumber
But shadows do nothing to a sleeping little child
Because who could do anything to a sleeping child?

Don't forget those summers where you would chase fireflies in the night
And the times where you might have even caught one
But they would never stay long enough for you to love them
As soon as you had them they would fly away
And you'd never know what you missed

Remember when you would beg your parents for a play date
Where your friend could come over and play
And stomping off when they said no
Like a spoiled baby you were, since your parents gave you everything
And they loved you, how could they not?

Never forget when you couldn't wait to grow up
To get behind the wheel of a car, and take a pretty ******* a nice date
When you couldn’t wait to get away from home
To go off and discover the world apart from your parents
But today, all you want is their warm embrace once again

Remember those nights when going to bed was your worst nightmare
When that was the biggest problem in your life
You would beg your parents to keep the lights on
And when the lights went out you feared you would never see light again
That your parents hated you, but how could they ever?

Those days in the morning you’d wake up
And your parents would sing you awake
They would make you breakfast before school
They would hug you before they left for the day
And they loved you, how could they not?

The outdoors used to be a battlefield of imagination
Yet today merely waking in the morning begins the battle
And each moment of each day only fuels the war
The present is filled with fears and anxieties
And you only wish you could be young once more

You used to hide from the monsters that lived under your bed
But now you hide from the monsters that lurk in your past
The monsters that wait for you to take a wrong step
Where they might then devour you
But what could save you from these monsters?

You used to fear the shadows on the wall
But now you hide from the writing on the wall
Writing that tells lies and denigrates you
Instilling fears deep in the recesses of your soul that you may not be enough
Who could ever dispel these lies from your thirsty soul?

You used to chase fireflies in the night, and you could never quite keep them
But today you chase your dreams
And even though you might catch them
They seem still to slip through your fingertips
What could possibly put dreams back into your hand?

You used to avoid going to bed at any cost
But now you wish all the day long that you might be able to sleep
That the exhaustion might finally leave you
And you could close your eyes and get some sleep
But what could renew your infinite weariness?

You used to beg your parents that your friend might come and play
But now you don’t even know who in your life you might call a friend
There are many that surround you that call themselves friends
That falsely claim they have you at the forefront of their minds
Is there anyone that could truly be a friend to one who has no friends?

You used to shutter when the lights went off in your room and the dark came in
But now you shutter at the darkness in life
For what could pierce through the deep darkness of this life?
And save you from the terror of yourself
What could deliver you from yourself?

Remember when you would feel the warm embrace of your parents
But now you long for something even half as warm as such
As you fled from your parents, the people who love you more than anything
And you wish you might be able to feel their warm embrace in the cold of night
But there is something you might find that would be even better than that?

It is in this terrible sadness and anxiety
Where you wonder where this cold world is taking you
And you wish that you were young again in your parents house
A place where you would be safe from harm
A place where you would feel no pain

There is such a place, and it is not your parents’ house
A place where God on High looks over you
And He has saved you from the monsters that plague your mind
God on High has dispelled the lies that you are not enough
For He came to save and deliver you from all things

He has come to give you dreams that will not slip from your hand
Dreams that will come true one day, where you will be satisfied
And He came to renew your strength and **** your weariness
He came so that you may have rest, so that you will no longer tarry
He came to renew all things

He came to be a friend to one who has no friends
To stand by those who are lonely and have to one to turn
He came to deliver you from yourself
To free you from the ******* you have set yourself in
For He came to make all things new

God on High came and renewed all things
His love is warmer than a mere hug from a mother or a father
It could make even the coldest person in the coldest place of this earth warm again
He came to give life to those who have no life
For He is God on High, and we are His children, no matter how old we grow to be

It was fourteen years ago now
A day cemented into our minds
One not easily forgotten
One that will be remembered as long as we live
But we will not forget that restoration is coming

A normal morning on a late summer day
The second day of a quiet work week
The cool crisp air of the morning
Quickly defeated with this violent terror
For the world was about to change

The cloudless blue sky was interrupted with gray and black smoke
The cool air was interrupted by ***** of fire
And the quiet morning was interrupted by the sound of shaking steel and crashing concrete
For the once-peaceful morning would be defeated
And the brightness of the day would be overcome by darkness

Never before had so many died outside the realm of battle
As if the thousands were merely pawns for warfare
The darkness of that day would not last
For countrymen stood and with one voice said;
"United We Stand!"

Darkness does not last, nor does it rule
For the night is defeated by the sun at dawn
And the dark is defeated by The Son at Resurrection
For God clears away the darkness
And through the dark, brings life

"The Lord giveth
And The Lord taketh away"
We learned all too well
But "The light shines through the darkness
And the darkness cannot overcome it"

Justice of men set its sights immediately
And years later, it came to fruition
But the Justice of God set its sights
And too it came to fruition
Now, the time of light sits upon the horizon

A tragedy unlike any other
A Tuesday morning turned to Hell
While the Hell on that day may still remain
We remember the light from a Sunday so many years ago
When God, who was dead, rose to life

The light from His empty tomb
Poured out into the darkness of the day
Marking the beginning of the remaking of all things
For He promised us long long ago;
"I am making all things new"

And new He is making all things
Taking from us the sting of Hell
And giving to us the joy of Heaven
While the pain of that Tuesday may still remain
The darkness of it does not

For He is making all sad things come untrue
As He makes all things new
And He's told us "Prepare the Way!"

Dark clouds gather on the horizon
As thunder rattles in the distance
A storm is coming
And it will destroy all things

The sky above
Once blue and bright,
Is now gray and dark
For a storm is coming

The rains will come
As lights streak across the sky in the distance
It seems like the world is ending
For a storm is coming

The dark moves forward
Coming to surround all we know
Until soon it is here
And with it come flooding rains

The rains flood and destroy
Gone is everything we once knew
All peace and good things
Flowing away with the flooding rains

Then the darkness passes
Like the winter comes to an end
And the flowers sprout from the ground
The Son has come to make light in the dark

And all life returns
For from the cloud came rains of death
But now from the sun come rays of light
For the sun has defeated the dark clouds
And God has defeated the dark of this earth

Moment by moment, sign by sign
The highway passes us by
High speeds, high risks
The highway passes us by
As we look upon the world coming before us
Waiting to get to the places we are going
And see the world passing by us
Places that we will never attain
But we have a mission
For the places we leave behind
Are nothing compared to the places we go

We travel along these long roads
And see the dashes fly next to our spinning tires
Discovering all that lies before us
Not regretting anything that lies behind
As we move forward in the lives we live
Looking for the next step of this life
We travel down these roads
Searching for the next adventure
To find that the one we have now
Is one that will never leave us
For forever we venture
Down these roads to eternity

Like waking from a glorious dream
But not from a dream one would want to wake
From a dream of warmth and Summertime
To the reality of Autumn and its chilling winds
And it hurt to wake from the dream
But it will be okay, for reality is setting in

In the early of the morning, it may seem dim
And the times may seem sad
As you can feel the hope slipping away
But in the Autumn, the sun is slow to rise
And when it does, the true morning comes
For the dark of night has passed away

In the morning, a great lesson is learned
For His mercy is new
And His mercy renews itself each and every morning
For His mercy is never ending
And His renewal is everlasting
His love too, lasts all time

I am a broken man
Unable to heal himself
But by God above, I will be healed
Waking from that wonderful dream may hurt
It may not be fun, but it’s best
And I am being healed

How can one understand this great mercy
If one is never broken to be mended?
Life may pound down on even the best of us
But God lifts us up and heals us
By mending our wounds, even in painful ways
In the end, we are healed and perfected

He came to make all things new
And to make all sad things come untrue
I am ready to see these new restored things
And also, to see what the future might bring
For I am a victim of His great mercy
And call myself a victim, I will no more

I lay here dying
Breathing my final breaths
On the bed in which I will die
For I am a dying man

I am sick and broken
Lost and strayed
I had no one to turn
No one could heal my dying self

For there I lay dying
And later, I would lay there dead
For my life was over
That is, until the doctor came to my side

He took my hand showing me two worlds
One where I might live
And one where I might die
Then to rise again

He gave me wine to drink
He gifted me bread to eat
And told me I would thirst no more
That I would long for food no more

And I was healed
For this Doctor was not merely a man
But God on High
Who came to give life

He came to heal the sick
He came to mend the broken
He came to love the broken hearted
And to give life to the lifeless

He brought me to my feet and I danced
He led me out of my darkness
And He brought me into the Light
For He Himself was Light

Yet in the other world
He took my hand
And my pain remained
But my fear fled my weary heart

He gave me wine and I drank
He gave me bread and I ate
And I would never thirst again
Never again would I need the delight of food

Then I died on that bed of death
But soon after I died
I rose again in a whole new world
A world I had never before known

In this world came great delight
There were flowers sprouting in the fields
There were wild animals tame like a pet
And there were rivers flowing of honey and milk

This new world was the beginning of all things
For all things of the past had passed
And it had all been made new
This New Earth was the new makings of all things

Then I awoke from this glorious dream
Confused I looked around for an answer
The Doctor took my hand once more
And He said to me;

"Arise my son
See the sun is coming up
And the day has come
You've been healed from the dark of night
Arise!"

Disappointed, my eyes became a well of water
Longing for this New Earth I had seen
But The Doctor looked at me once more
And with a wonderful voice He said;

"Arise my son
That New Earth awaits you
You have been healed from the dark of night
And more work is to be done
It is your time not yet
But soon, you will come to this New Earth
For I will call you home."

Exiled out into an unknown world
The action of one man cursing a race
Leaving the presence of God
Into a cold unknown world
Hiding from the presence of God they fled

Exiled the hearts of men
Creating the pagan god in hearts
Not knowing the trueness of The Father
Not knowing the reality of The Spirit
Just waiting in Exile for The Son

Exiled into royalty
A king of his own heart
A king with a love for himself
Then came David, King of Israel
The seed to bring the Messiah

Exiled from the royal line
Kings of Israel and Judah
Became corrupted

Exiled into an unknown land
Away from all we had known
Judgment of God made suit
A line of Royalty forgotten
But we know a savior awaits

Exiled by kings of old
Leaving a desolate city
Brought on by our Nation
The sins of our people linger
As we lose sight of the savior

Exiled we were in Babylon
Then came a man who would have been king
Led us back to our home land
To build the walls of the desolate city
Building the temple in this holy place

Exiled still from the Father
Even in this holy land
Waiting for David's seed
Yet still no savior to say
In King David's city they wait

Exiled his city lay
In Rome's hand it will stay
Bethlehem where the savior lay
Not a bed, not a home
He would make us His own

Exiled to the cross He go
Love for us more than His own
Our sins on His shoulders lay
His grace on us lavished
And we die in Him we'll live

One thinks  on Calvin heav’n’s own spirit fell;
Another deems him instrument of hell;
If Calvin feel heav’n’s blessing, or its rod,
This cries there is, and that, there is no God.

Alexander Pope

A transcendental tulip
is blooming in my garden.
Before the petals wither,
before affections harden,
I pray it may diffuse its scent –
so gloriously redolent.

Encouraging the faithful,
it blooms in any weather.
In sunshine or in shadow;
let us, elect, together,
enjoy its sanctifying smell
While warning careless souls of hell.

In Him we stroke the petal
That proves our own depravity
The flower that declares our heart
apart from Christ, a cavity
where only evil may be found
by One who dares our depths to sound.

The second petal beckons
and sings of pure election;
where souls are freely chosen
by God’s divine selection.
(As yet not offered to the masses –
Unto whom His wrath now passes).

Thirdly shines the Limit
of Christ in His atonement:
benefits are thus withheld
in God’s eternal moment.
So let the worldling rant and bluster;
Raging will not dim the luster…

Fourth: shall the fallen Adam
hold out against omniscience?
Will puny human being
Prevail in disobedience?
The Lord on high will hound you down –
His grace to place a golden crown.

Point five unfurls its essence;
as saints arise, and striving
shake off the dust and onward march –
though never quite arriving;
while God empowers to go the distance
Persevering with insistence.

Behold in full the blossom!
In Grace it shines, reflecting;
delighting in God’s wisdom,
the lead to gold perfecting;
Magnanimous floral alchemy
bestowing at last true liberty.