Someone to Follow

As past blog entries have perhaps indicated, this semester has been rough. Emotionally, I've been driving on empty, and every other aspect of my life--the physical, the spiritual, the academic--has been overwhelmingly influenced by my empty emotional tank. The cool thing? God's really been working. Like a lot. Like a lot a lot. I'm gaining a little more peace and clarity every day. However, some days are still steps backwards; but for the majority, most days are small steps forward. Sunday was a leap forward. Sunday, one of my friends gave his initial sermon at my church (Palmer Grove Baptist), and his message was simple: "Stop letting your history dictate your destiny." I needed that message. I needed to be reminded of God's healing, God's redeeming of my history, and God's vision for my life. I think what I needed the most, though, was the reminder that I'm not alone. I needed to see a young man of God stand up before 800 people and cry. I needed to see vulnerability and passion. I had lost a vision God has given me for my life, and I needed someone to point me back. I needed someone to follow.


People crying people dying
People stealing people killing
People raping people hating--
All this hurting.

And that's how life goes

Everyone working everyone fighting
Everyone trying everyone striving
Everyone slaving everyone straining--
All this hurting.

And that's how life goes

The cycle continues,
Everyone alone.
Humans keep hurting and pains keep persisting,
Aching, crying, working, dying,
Everyone Alone.

And that's how life goes

Always reaping, never sewing,
Reaping and perpetuating
All this Hurt.
Because the examples provided--
Killing and Hating--
Are all we have to follow.

And that's how life goes

But,
All it takes is one--
One leader, one model,
One example,
A new example--
To begin a new cycle.

Just one example,
Someone to follow--
Promoting Peace,
Inspiring Hope,
Leading toward Love--
All it takes is one.

Just one solid example,
Just one to show,
It doesn't have to be like this;
There is another way.

And suddenly,
We find the stinging has weakened,
The suffering diminished,
The hurting assuaged,
The pain outweighed.

By what?

By love:
Shown in example,
Lived in words,
Spoken in actions.
One solid example,
Pointing us back,
Starting a new cycle.

Because what we really need,
Is someone to follow.


Thanks Donnie for being one of the few examples out there worth following.

"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." --John 13:15