Jonah's Journey

Phew! I am exhausted. I’m glad there’s a tree here so I can rest in the shade. I’m east of Ninevah having just come from there telling them they need to repent or God is going to destroy their city. I’m waiting to see if He’s going to do it!

It’s so hot here that I’ve built a little shelter as there are no houses around and nobody to bug me. When I was in Ninevah it was so crowded that I could hardly move. I wanted to go to Tarshish but the Lord had other plans. 

Tarshish sounded like a cruisy place. I could hang out and relax.  So I bought a passage there on a ship. I was on the side of the deck having a snooze when the wind started kicking up. The sailors panicked and thought the ship would be broken up and that they were going to sink. I knew it was just the Lord trying to get me to turn back. I had told the sailors I was on this ship to get away from Him, as He kept bugging me to go to Ninevah. I didn’t want to go THERE. Awful place.  

The wind got worse. God was really angry with me. So I told the sailors they should just cast me into the sea and God would stop the storm. He did, and thankfully I was swallowed up by a huge whale who spat me out on dry land. But God wouldn’t let me go. He told me again to go to Ninevah and preach to them.  He said He would  give me the words to say. It took me three days to get there.  So when I got there I told the Ninevites God was angry at their wickedness and in 40 days their city is going to be destroyed. That felt real good. I don’t care for the Ninevites, it’s a horrible city.

 But wouldn’t you know it... their King is getting all his subjects to fast and cover themselves with sackcloth, and turn from evil. So it looks like God isn’t going to destroy them after all. Wasn't He was merciful to me when I repented about not going to Ninevah? But oh what a waste of time going there! Why couldn’t He just let me go to Tarshish? 

Dowry

Esther bathes in oil
Ruth gathers wheat
Eve sews aprons
Mary sings songs
Anna prays night and day
Hannah cries

All long
To be the bride
All wait
To be prepared

Come the day
Come
Quickly, Lord Jesus

Dont laugh Sarah and Elizabeth
Its not funny
Leap for joy instead
I bring you tidings
Of great joy
And I repeat
Of this great joy

hallelujah! its raining!
get your feet wet
take off your shoes
You are standing on
his Holy ground

Present yourself
Adorned in His mantle
And this banner
Over you is
Love

Lift up your hands
Declare victory
Jehovah Nissi


Selah...

Wild Oats

I once loved a wild man
sowing his wild oats
in the field where they grew
there was endless boundless freedom
and thorns and thistles too
he never promised me a rose garden
I don’t like roses anyhow
those thorns prick
and I bleed


I got transplanted
and grafted in
to this olive grove
I am fed on ancient mysteries
in a garden with flowers and fragrant fruit
the doves come and nest
in my branches
and the oil drips down
anointing the sheep

the grass is greener here
the river is peaceful and flowing
the birds sing
I am forever grateful
He keeps the wolves from the door
And allows me
to sup and eat with Him

He also says to me
“I will never leave you nor forsake you’
Lo I am with you alway…

alway?
Always…
Everyday?
yes..

He also says…to the end of the age…

While I am safe in his garden, 
idly counting sheep and resting
gazing up at the clouds
He is hard at work
Burning the chaff, separating the wheat
and letting the goats with their kids go.

Conversations at the Well

How do you talk to him? 
I stand at Jacobs well, drawing water over and over, but it can never satisfy
A man walks over
Yet he is not merely a man
He is ageless
He knows all I ever did
Who am I?
Call your husband, says this man
I have no husband
He tells me thats true
For I have had five husbands
And the one I am living with now
Is not my husband

I draw water
My back aches
Where do you worship?
Jerusalem?
Mount Geriziah?
Which?
He replies
Those who worship the Lord
Must worship him in spirit 
And in Truth

....
I see him as a man
yet he is not merely a man
He is a prophet
I want to run
Go tell everyone
Go tell it on the mountain
all the people
Everywhere

Before he lets me
Go

Some startling new information 
Comes to light
I have the secret 
Of eternal life
The well that never runs dry
The husband that is eternal
The one who always satisfies
With living water

It is too good to be true
It is hard to believe
I flee the scene
My wineskins burst
I have seen the light
He is the Messiah

.........

Shabbat

Not black
Not green or white or blue
But gold
Burning candles
Prayers round the dinner table
Holding hands
a song

Was this what man was made for?
or was it made for man?
Cos the woman has to do everything
make the challah
Light the candles
Say the prayer

Set the table
have the children
Oy vey!
It is too much work
And the cholent is burning
and the gelfite fish is tough
And the matzah is dry...

There is an empty cup
Elijah 
Who never comes
To my failed dinner parties
Yet I still wait for him 
To tell me what to do

I married the wrong man
had the wrong children, kids
Yet Im happy
Or at least 
Pretend to be
For their sake

.........

I have a friend named Mary
But take lessons from her sister Martha
She says I do it all wrong
I should do it this way
I try my best
I want perfection
But it never turns out
Quite how it looks
In Better Homes
better than mine

Martha bosses Mary
get your A into G
She says
Lazy Mary
Sitting around
Listening to Jesus
Tell tall tales
Of heavenly nonsense
and angels wings

Im sure he has the hots for her
I burn the dinner
Again

Dead Poets

Im dead
My life is hid with christ
God
!?

Poetry
Psalms
Are now pouring out
I am baring my soul
But nobody responds

You are nobody

........

I buried a memoir
Of miss plath
Deep in my mind
In my heart
I knew
She did not commit
A crime

I knew the real 
Culprit
Who was responsible
He goes by different names
An angel in disguise
A demon in the drink

She couldnt sleep
But the babies could
Daddy
Father of lies
That old shoe

The lying, cheating scoundrel
Of you

........

She dated a man
Who told her such lies
That poetry
Was a foolish thing
But he could never write
Such brilliance

........

David turned love 
Into a psalm
When he was far from God
And couldnt pray
Numbered 56
Was useless at titles

.....
Robin williams
Again
Another william
Shakespeare
Wordsworth
Blake

All dead

Poets.