Psalm 13

How long O Lord will You forget
How long O Lord will You look the other way
How long O Lord must I wrestle with my thoughts
And every day have such sorrow in my heart
Look on the poor, the weak, the orphan, and widow
Look on me and answer
O God my Father

How long will the defenseless be without a defender
Caught and caged
For everyone to point and stare
Empires of neighborhood boys
Empires of family and nations
With evil cunning, the slick and powerful
Offer the candy-coated bitter apple of empty promise
Stripping the ignorant orphan of his last hope

Bring light to the darkness
Before they see them fall
But I trust in your unfailing love
And my heart will rejoice
You have been good, You will be good to me
Will You be good, will You be good to them?

OMG!

A Prayer of Breakfast

Breakfast with a friend
Coffee
"I'll take a "Henrietta's favorite"
"Same here - on wheat"
Stories of faith, hope, and memories
Of finding God at strange places
Of Him finding us at even stranger places
"That's interesting, I've been thinking the same"
Coffee
"I couldn't say this to just anyone"
What scandalizes one builds faith in another
Keeping company. Not 2, but 3
Coffee
"See ya later. I love you man"
In Jesus' name, Amen

For Hope

May the incarnation of Christ in me be the reality that speaks hope into the screaming black silence and becomes my ground of being in the freefall of despair. Amen.

Broken

Broken...I now talk with God.
O Lord Jesus my Saviour.
Today my heart is empty.
Pride is the thing I will miss least when time comes to an end.
I need a priest.
I need a preacher.
I need an exorcist to banish the snake I've been handling called...self.
Broken...I now talk to God.

-Ben Pearson

Instrument of Your Peace

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy. O divine Master, grant that I many not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
- Saint Francis of Assissi

The Tax Collector

"God be merciful to me, a sinner."

Shalom for the Ragamuffins

May the "Shalom voice" of the true Lord Jesus live in my heart with its power to give itself away. For your child, Oh God, grant grace to receive it and give it to the people of your heart - the broken, fatherless, widow, voiceless, nameless, and anxious. Give me courage to feed the mouth that bites the hand that feeds it. Amen