What fun to introduce you to my young friend and writer, 12-year-old Isaac Barros. Isaac is the son of our beloved family friend, Larry Barros, who went home to be with Jesus in 2014. Larry was a children’s church leader, curriculum writer, and an amazing preacher. I plan to introduce you to Larry’s words sometime in the future.
Following Isaac’s contribution below, you will find a bit of my musings and a variety of fun resources for all ages to inform and celebrate America and freedom. year-round.
Hi, my name is “Ridiculous” and sometimes it’s “Crazy,” and I am a P.O.T. (Parent of Teen). My support group is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and other mothers. My only escape is prayer.
So I prayed, “God, give me children lest I die!” and He gave us children. Then, sometimes I want to die. And we parents do die, right? Every. Single. Day. For-the-rest-of-our-lives.
Yeah, this is where I live and I can’t move out because it’s a lifetime lease. How about you fellow P.O.T.s? (And yes, you MOPs and MOAs and ones in between those too.) Do you ever tell God, “Hey God, this was Your idea! You told me to be fruitful and multiply. So God, You have to help me! Help me help them—in Jesus’ name, amen. Please.”
I don’t drink, I don’t swear, and I don’t believe in happy pills, but there’ve been times I wished I did. I used to swear a lot, especially right before I became a Born Again Christian. But then I gave my heart to Jesus and I had no inkling to swear again—until my firstborn turned fifteen. Then I found myself going, “mmmmm…help me Jesus!” And there are three more after her!
Darkness enveloped me. A chill gripped my chest, hope ebbed, and weariness set in. Obviously, I’d taken a turn off the favored road. I’d trudged the circuitous miserable miles to nowhere only to wind up stuck, deep in the mire, when someone called out to me.
“Hey, do you want help? Do you desire to be free?” the voice said.
We rob ourselves when we skim the surface of scripture rather than exert the effort to dig deeper for the treasures of truth embedded in God’s Word. Bible study leader and award-winning author Stephanie Pavlantos mined God’s Word to bring us a greater understanding of the intersection of Old Testament prophecies about Jesus, (God incarnate, the Messiah) and His New Testament fulfillment. Stephanie brings to light the fascinating Hebrew religious law and culture, the many intricate events leading up to, and the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Did Jesus really die on Good Friday? What is the significance of the Passover feast and the Passover lamb? See God in the details, how He overlooks and wastes nothing and much more in this faith building thought provoking presentation. And there’s more!
Moonlight spilled across the page and streetlights twinkled below when I penned my first piece, a poem, at nine years old from the lofty perch of my 14th floor bedroom windowsill. The opening line read: “Tis the time when the north wind doth blow.”
My latest poetic endeavor is a rap song. Yes you read that right. I said I’m writing rap. And no, I’m not sharing it today. And yes, I’m as surprised as you are.
So, wide eyed and trembling, I showed up to present a poetry workshop with friend and award-winning poet and writer Patricia Tiffany Morris at the kind invitation of Writers Chat in honor of #PoetryMonth.
For those who claim they don’t like poetry—this post is for you too! You just may change your mind with this collection featuring several authors.
I recorded this poem a year ago but balked at sharing it. The camera scares me. Yes, those are real birds and this minute and a half video is unedited. I perched my friend’s tripod atop some rocks in the woods to record it with my iPhone 5. My hope is to bring the outside, inside, and perhaps encourage you to head outdoors and become a noticer, to see God’s hand in His creation, spend a few moments with Him there. Out of the dark days of winter, new life emerges in spring.
A friend and fellow writer put out the challenge
to fill in the blank in a Tweet with the following words, “Jesus
is______.”
I replied with my short answer. Here is my long list in progress. In these turbulent times we need to remember who God is and that He is in control. We can find calm amid chaos, comfort during crisis, peace in a panicked world because:
JESUS Is
ALPHA, He is Almighty, He is the Anointed One. — He is Alive! He is the Answer, and the Answer for All that Ails Us. He is my All-in-All. He is Adonai.
HE is the —
BURDEN Bearer and the Bondage Breaker. He is Beautiful and Blameless; He is Bulwark and Bastion. He is He is the Balm of Gilead. He is our Banner. He is the Bridge and the Bridegroom.
And HE is —
COMING!—Are you ready? — He is the Christ; He is the Cure. He is Creator and Cornerstone. And yes—JESUS is my Comfort and my Crutch. I like to lean on Him.
HE is the —
DESIRE of Nations, the Divine Deliverer, the Designer of our Destiny. Jesus is the Devil-damner and the Defeaterof Death and our great Defender. He is The Dayspring; He is The Door.
JESUS is —
ETERNAL, He is Everlasting, He is Emmanuel. He is the Exonerator, He is Everything We Need, He is Elohim. He is Enough.
JESUS is —
FATHOMLESS, He is Faithful, Friend, and Fortress, He is Faultless.
JESUS is —
GOOD and Glorious; He is the Gracious God. He is the Grave Robber, the Gateway, and the Great Physician.
HE is —
HOPE for the hopeless, Help for the helpless. He is our Healer and Hiding Place. He is the Hell-raider; He is our Hedge. He is Humble; He is Holy.
JESUS is the —
INITIATOR. He is the Intercessor. He is Indescribable, my Inspiration. He is Indomitable, Incomprehensible, Invincible. He is Infinite, He is Inimitable. He is the great I Am.
JESUS is —
JUST, He is the Judge. He is Jehovah. He is my Joy.
HE is —
KING of kings, He is the Key, He is Kind.
JESUS is the —
LOGOS, the Light of the World and a Lamp to our feet. He is Life. He is the Limitless Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lord of Lords and the Lilly of the Valleys. He is Lowly, He is Love and He is the Lover of my Soul.—Do you know Him?
HE is the —
MAJESTIC Messiah, Mighty God, He is our Maker He is our Master. He is the Mender of the Breach, the Mediator. He is Merciful; He is Mine. —Do you want Him too?
JESUS is —
NAME above Names; He is Never-failing, Never-ending.
HE is —
OMNIPOTENT, Omnipresent, the Omega, the Overcomer.
JESUS is the —
PRINCE of Peace, the Pardoner, the Propitiation. He is my Protector and Provider. He is the Purpose. He is my Passion and the Possessorof mySoul. He is Perfect.
HE is the —
QUALIFIER, the Quickener, the Quencher of Thirst, the Quaesitim.
HE is the —
RIGHTEOUS Redeemer and Restorer. He is Royal; He is Regal. He is The Rock and The Reason, our Ransom and Regenerator. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is my Resting Place. He is Risen!
HE is the —
SON of God. He is Sovereign. He is Servant and Savior and Sanctifier. He is The Steadfast Sustainor, a Strong Tower, a Shield. He is the Satan-stomper and the Storm Stiller. He is the Shepherd of my Soul. He is our Strength. He is Sufficient; He is Supreme. He is our Salvation.
JESUS is —
TRANSCENDENT, He is Triumphant. He is Truth, He is My Testimony.
HE is the —
UNDERGIRDER; He is the Underpinor. He is Unprecedented, Unparalleled, Unfathomable, Unfailing. He is Unmatched.
HE is the —
VINDICATOR. He is Victor. He is Virtuous.
HE is —
WORTHY, Wise, Wonderful. JESUS is The Way and the Way Maker, and the Wellspring. He is The Word.
JESUS is the —
X inCHRISTMAS. He is Xristos – Χριστός
HE is —
YESHUA and Yahweh.
HE is —
ZION and He is The Zenith.
JESUS is ____
This piece, Jesus Is, is an unfinished project. It’s going to take a while to complete all the ideas I have for developing it, but I decided to share it as is for now.
HE is Risen
1st Place 2019 Tar Heel Award – North Carolina Christian Writers Conference – Poetry- He is Risen
Inspired by a sermon on early Christian church history which tells of believers greeting each other with the words, “He is risen!” and their response of, “He is risen indeed!”
I tried to quell the yearning for a greater something, a purpose greater than the here and now
I chased all manner of both good and evil earthly pursuits
But nothing fulfilled. Not even religion
It was all vain distraction
But then, He found me
I met mercy and forgiveness on the way called grace
Mercy withheld judgment
Forgiveness wiped away my transgression
Grace translated me from servant to friend, from abandoned to adored
Do you want this?
God created you for Himself, for Heaven
That is why everything else misses the mark—just as we do
I fall short, but Jesus is the difference maker
Yes! My Creator is my crutch. I like to lean on Him
He is my healer, redeemer, restorer.
He is the Way and the way maker.
He wants to be yours too
I am a riverbed whose banks cannot contain the rushing water
The Chosen TV Series – A good choice for the whole family!
The Chosen | Official Trailer HD “The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the gospels of Jesus Christ. It is the #1 crowd-funded media project of all time.”
Challenges are more often like marathons than sprints. We’re most spent as we near the finish line, and when I can’t see the end, sometimes I falter and it’s tempting to quit rather than carry on.
“God,” I said, “I’m not entering any more writing contests if I don’t win something this time.” —I almost didn’t enter, but I figured entering my article on failing was appropriate since I’m so adept at it. Besides, the road to success is often paved with failure.
The best will fail the most.
George Washington lost more battles than he won. Thomas Edison scrapped more “great ideas” than he ever saw come to fruition.
Tattoo It On Your Heart 