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THE WALK TO SCHOOL
School is a very good place,
but it's a bit of a walk to get there.
I look straight ahead, just in case.
Been warned, "of side streets, beware..."
Some of my friends like to "skip"!?
Not sure why or where they all go.
Again, " straight there" was my Dad's tip.
But, friends whisper, "you just don't know!"
What's down those side streets, dark alleys?
My friends seem happy, and none the worse?!
The mountains are nice, but what's in the valleys?
I'm growing tired of "book, chapter and verse"
I glance, only seldom, down the detours.
But, lately it seems to be more often.
The sights and the sounds have their allures.
"Just once will not hurt, but never again"?!
Where did the time go, slipping away?!
I have learned so much that I'd like to forget!
I just dropped out, sometime back in the day.
Now I cannot even remember what I regret?!
The school bells now no longer ever ring.
Some kids may be home schooled, I guess?!
The side streets have not taught me one good thing.
Unless, it's that I have been on a fool's quest.
God, wake me up, from this nightmare!
How else will I ever escape from dark despair?
THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY -- Part 2
You know this story! Judgemental hypocrites mercilessly using a trashy woman to trap the "prophet of love, grace and mercy."
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?" This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:2-12 ESV
What you may NOT know is "the rest of the story" -- what happened after Jesus told the woman that He did not condemn her, but she should "sin no more..."
Unbelievably, the woman jumped up from the ground, and got nose to nose with Jesus, furious.
"What do you mean by that?! Who do even think you are?! You must think you are God himself?!"
Jesus just calmly looked at her, lovingly stretching out his hand to her shoulder, to calm her.
"No! Don't you touch me! You are no better than that group that dragged me out here. There's absolutely NOTHING wrong with me! I love everybody. Those men have wives who are cold bitches! They come to me for warmth, understanding, sympathy, love -- all those things that you preach! You are just a self-righteous bigot, just like them! You people, cold and demanding, are the "sinners" who need to stop. Stop your demanding, legalistic, sexaphobic self-righteousness! There is nothing wrong with my loving lifestyle! Any synagogue that bars me is not of God. You people can take me the way that I am, the way God made me, or you can just kiss me goodbye; and that is putting it politely!"
And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
Jesus turned, sadly, and walked away, mumbling, "Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing..."
Holiness. Contrition. Repentance
God, have mercy on us!
THE MUCK
Stuck.
Yuk!
Bad luck?!
Or, a swan digging in the mud like a duck?
An eagle, now scratching with a "cluck, cluck"?!
What lures you into the " muck"?
Some, it is just their next f***.
Others, it is betting on Lady Luck.
It might be a shiny new boat or new truck.
A needle, a snort, or some other dope you snuck.
Whatever it is, now you are stuck!
That sinking hopelessness really does suck?!
Those demons are laughing and squealing and running amok!
O, Jesus, come down, from this misery me pluck!
Raise me up to the place from where I was struck.
Restore in my heart the joy lost in the muck.
