Bring Your peace into our violence, bid our hungry souls be filled, Word now breaking Heaven's silence, welcome to our world.

So I stopped doing this, because, well honsetly some people I wasn't sure about started reading it. I've been writing a ton, but couldn't seem to motivate myself to write so "publicly". Over break however I gave an impassioned devotion about being yourself and owning the good and the bad of who you were. Whatever I am, I have returned to flesh it all out; to expose my thorns again. This is one of many poems that I've written in the last few weeks. This one I wrote on Christmas Eve and my kids and I read it before my meditation.

The title is a line from one of the best Christmas songs I know of, Welcome To Our World by Chris Rice. Click the title to visit his site.

Hello again!

Wood Stained, Fish Caught
By J.D. Rose

December 24, 2006

These last weeks we’ve waited for the baby to fill the manger
We’ve prepared ourselves for the miraculous events of his birth
When shepherds knelt and wise men traveled to a stable
To bring adoration and gifts to the God of Heaven, here on Earth
We pause and praise with singing and rejoicing
As we cast our gaze upon the cradle where he lay
Knowing full well the life that he lived
Knowing this moment was only his first day
He would live many more days, some recounted and some not
Some full of human endeavor and toil; wood stained, fish caught
Others as miraculous as the star and stable night
Lepers healed, dead men risen, blind men receiving sight
So we cannot just remember the manger and the baby
We must also remember the man he became
The one who calmed the storm, fed the thousands
The one who called each disciple by name
Saying follow me and I will make you fishers of men
Follow me and never search for God again
Because he’ll be walking just before you down every road and path
Follow me, those ill qualified and be made worthy of the task
No we cannot forget this night the whole life that Jesus lived
For it’s the whole life, not the first night that’s the gift
We can not forget how he spoke and what he said
How he taught us how to live, how he broke the bread
How he filled the cup, how he raised Lazarus up,
How he came to heal those ailing,
How he prayed in the garden for us, how he prayed on the cross,
How he prayed while his body was failing
That cross, we cannot, we must not forget
Especially as we gather and celebrate his arrival
Here before us a king on a stable floor
For that stable that held him, his birthplace indeed
But the cross is what he was born for
Gather around all children, for the baby has made it to the manger
This is the night we celebrate the miraculous events of his birth
When shepherds knelt and wise men traveled to a stable
To bring adoration and gifts to the God of Heaven, here on Earth
But children do not forget this night the whole life that Jesus lived
For it’s the whole life, not the first night that’s the gift