Samson Went Back to Bed, Not Much Hair Left On His Head

I think it's funny that in the
summer time we write about winter
and in the winter, spring is only a dream.
Though sunlight surges around us
we long for the taste of snow,
the wind on our cheeks.

I've been thinking a lot about the story of Samson and Delilah. I don't know why it intrigues me in the way it does, but I just can't get it out of my mind. Samson made a promise to God that he would never cut his hair. In return, God made Samson strong and powerful. He sent Samson as a Judge to the Israelites to free them from slavery...and Samson didn't exactly follow God's call to a T. He did liberate the people, defeated their offenders, but married outside of his people. Delilah was her name. She cut off Samson's hair in the night, after finding out his secret. He was then captured, weak and without the gift God had given him. This is a man who split a lion in two with his bare hands. This was a man who killed hundreds of men with a "fresh" jaw of a donkey. Suddenly he was weak and vulnerable. He was made to work in a mill for several years, pushing the grinder like an animal.

But the part that facinates me....is that his hair grew back. His hair grew back and his covenent with God grew back and God saw him in favor once more.

A God can be so forgiving?

Unfathomable.

And, this time...I don't say that from a glorifying standpoint. I don't say it as a proclimation to make my reader feel that I have the faith I don't. I say it from the standpoint of a broken, lonely individual. This year has left us battered and bruised. I feel blind to the ways of God. But as sure as the sun rose that day, when Samson pulled the pillars of the pagan temple down with only the arms he was given, God was with him.

God, are you with me?

I sure hope so. I don't think I can do this alone.

The War

An army of white horses

ride on the horizon.

Like a ribbon of

cloud and flame,

consuming the world

in smoldering mouths.

Yahweh.

Their voices

drown the lands

with exaltation

and every knee

is knelt and waiting.

Yahweh.

Sunken in the ashes

of life built by man

the world waits

aside the great beast

jaws tight against

his enflamed reigns,

roaring with tremulous fury.

Yahweh.

Today the birds will feast

under the hoofs of

the Great Commander,

on the flesh left behind.

Today the light will

come into the shadow.

Today, the dark

will be obliterated.

Yahweh.

--
~jack

Writer's block

This is what happens when you take away my music from me. My head clogs up and I can't write. I can't think. I can't form coherent sentences...

The result:

I want my iPod.

I really want my iPod.

I desperately need my iPod.

For the sake of my sanity, please give it to me.

If you're out there, darling iTouch.

I miss you.

And I need you back.

I've lost my mind and I need

you to bring it back to me.

--
~jack

No Man an Island

Eyes who saw before
pull back the cataract film
like a leech against the blue.
See.
Ears who heard before,
rattle the hide stretched over
those deaf and dying drums.
Hear.
Hands who built the sky,
wring the fingers
and forget the swollen scars.
Heal.
Voice who spoke existence,
bite the tongue and
grind the teeth.
Speak.
Again.
Feel the earth tremble
above arthritic limbs
and wash away the cloud.
When the smoke clears
rolling off the horizon like silk
rippling over hillsides,
Wonder what world will remain.
See.
The light of victory peers
from behind some unknown shadow
and we wait.
When the smoke clears,
escaping our lungs
compressed
will we hear your trumpet
or fall before the first note?
Listen.
Feel the fingers snapping
under the weight we carry
like glass beneath the bricks.
We can not build
this alone
we can not hold
this alone
we can not
live
alone.

At this moment...

After 8,506,644 minutes of life...if my calculations are correct, I have come to four conclustions:

1. God does not want me to know everything.

2. Sleep is not always a guarentee.

3. No one is what they seem.

4. If stick a fork in a microwave, the results will be less than pleasurable.
--
~jack