The Close of Winter

Winter, Photo by Irene Pruitt

Already anticipating the close of winter . . .

It is cold outside . . . frigid. Already there has been snow, frozen hose pipes in the yard, frost on the windshield, visible breaths, reddened ears and noses, hot chocolate, a slower pace, a warmer blanket, a chill up the spine, a shiver in the night. . . Winter has begun to set down upon us in its fullness, and already we begin to look with anticipation for its close.

“Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.” –Psalm 74:17

The Close of Winter

with each day the sun creeps

to a higher noon pose

the long shadows recede

winter comes to a close

© 2010 Irene and Robbie Pruitt

Song of Solomon 2:10-13

“Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.”

Hands to the Plow

Photo By twoblueday gerry

When I was a kid, my Grandfather used to take me out to the country where he owns three acres of land. Pop planted a garden there almost every year. He used a motorized tiller to break up the ground to make it easier to plant the seed. I would watch him wrestle the steel beast and plow perfectly straight rows. Pop would place a focal point at the end of each row and would set his gaze on that focal point to make the rows straight. As I watched him, I remember thinking that one day I would be a strong man who would know how to plow a straight row with a tiller. I also remember when that day came. Pop taught me how to plow. He handed me the tiller and pointed out ahead to the goal. The steel beast shook me and I wrestled with it toward the row’s end. At one point, I looked back and the tiller turned and bucked and I had to wrestle it back to its place, making a crooked row and a mess out of the garden. Eventually, through the years, practice made perfect and the rows became straight and perfect.

Granddad also taught me who Jesus is. I saw Jesus in Pop way before I ever understood a single sermon this Baptist preacher ever preached. Pop lives a life committed to following the Lord. I have learned what it means to follow Jesus through watching Pop keep his eyes on Him. As it turns out, living for Christ and plowing have a lot in common. As Jesus says, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).” When Pop put his hand to the plow, he never looked back. With Jesus as his focus, Pop’s rows have been straight through the field of life and he has shown many The Way.

Perfect Rows

(Luke 9:62)

Grandpa taught me

How to plow

In straight rows

Machine in hand

Eyes in front of me

Tilling the land

Perfectly plowed rows

Where my gaze is set,

My body goes

Eternity displays its fertile fields

And all that eternity knows

From heel dented mounds

And the sprinkling of seed

Spring forth growth and abundance

Of every plant, from every breed

No more lacking, no more need

Walking the straight rows

Hands running through the green

Into eternity as eternity is seen

My eyes set out before me

My hand to the plow

Never looking back

Gazing at Jesus now

Straight perfect rows

Into eternity

The way my Grandfather chose

My gaze toward my savior

Just like he taught me

To look to the cross and to eternity

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

http://www.robbiepruitt.com/

“And Jesus said unto him, ‘No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.’” –Luke 9:62

Rubble

Photo above courtesy of Ron Holt, 2010

As of October 2010, 2% of the rubble has been removed from Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake that crumbled that country. Observing the effects of this reality, the current state of Haiti, can make one feel helplessness and despair. Looking out over the vast devastation, the conditions of poverty, and the destruction is profound, sobering, and leveling. There is so much need and brokenness.

When my wife Irene and I were in Haiti recently, I wanted to fix the things that I saw. I am “a fixer” by nature. As I looked out over the landscape, the sinking feeling in my gut was a feeling of helplessness and despair. “There is just no fixing this.” I thought to myself. Just as I was thinking this, I felt as if God were speaking to me, “That’s right, you cannot fix this. You cannot even fix yourself. I can fix this. I will fix this. You cannot, but I can. You are not their saviour, you can’t be. You cannot even save yourself, because you are in the same condition, but I can. I can renew and restore Haiti and I can renew and restore you too!” This was a moving and powerful word from the Lord for me.

We live in a fallen and sin riddled world that is filled with destruction and disrepair. We live in a world that is in a constant state of decay. Our world is groaning (Romans 8:22).

The following poem, “Rubble,” compares the human heart condition, the result of sin’s rampant rule, with Haiti’s brokenness and destruction, do to the fallen world we live in and the magnitude of sin’s consequences throughout history.

It is God that pardons, saves, restores, renews, and rescues. God is at work in His creation despite of sin and evil in the world, and it is God who will make all things new, including Haiti, and including the Haiti like destruction and devastation that is in me and you.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” –Jeremiah 17:9

Photo above courtesy of Ron Holt, 2010

Rubble
(Jeremiah 17:9)

I got rubble . . .

I got rubble

Down inside of me

Fists full of rubble

Heart full of rubble

Broken heart and trouble

I got torn canvas

Tarp shredded

And days dreaded

I got stench filled polluted air

Charcoal fire burning

And no loving care . . .

Shame and a blank stare

I got worn out clothes

Nowhere to go

Where my next meal comes from

. . . I don’t know

I got dusty shoes

No good news

So far faded to black

Can’t see the blues

I got crowded streets

Shredded sheets

And no one to meet

I got polluted water in my veins

Spotted and soiled and stains

I got carcasses and death and remains

Viruses of all strains

I got a Haiti as my heart

Because I played my part

I am sin’s destruction and death

Gasping for life and breath

I am shattered destruction

Condemned collapsed building

Nothing to offer and nothing to bring

Soiled and dirty, never clean

I am ruins and decay

Broken and in disarray

Dashed hopes and dismay

I am hurricane torn

Weathered and worn

I am exploited lands

And caught with red hands

I am earth quake rattled

Crushed and tattered

Crying out . . . smattered

I am rubble

I am rubble in streets

Crashes nearly avoided

And skipped heart beats

Aftershocks and broken infrastructure

Spilled out in rupture

I am muddied murky waters

And close dilapidated quarters

I am refuse and abuse

Left out alone and cut loose

I am resource depleted

Promises never delivered . . . defeated

Broken glass on the shore

Never having enough

And always wanting more

I am helpless and despair

No health care

I am a world apart unnoticed

Out of sight, out of mind, unaware

On my own, I am unfed, full of dread,

And left for dead

I am Haiti

There is no life independently

No life on my own you see

I am wearing down and washing into eternity

Erosion . . . corrosion . . . implosion . . .

I got rubble

I got rubble breaking down to ashes and dust

Dust storms and winds gust

I got Haiti blowing through me

My destruction before me

Endlessly . . . effortlessly . . .

Carelessly . . . recklessly . . .

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

Psalm 107:18-22

“They draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.”

Revelation 21:5-7

“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

The Sitting Saints

Photo: The Sitting Saints, © 2010, Irene Pruitt

The old Haitian man outside of St. Michael’s Church in Jacmel Haiti during the celebration of The Feast of St. Michael the Archangel

The old man sat weeping as the church service progressed. He sat outside the wall by the gate so that he could hear and see what was taking place inside. His shoes and clothes were soiled and torn. His soul, like the soles of his shoes and his clothes, was tattered and worn. He wept and cried out. He prayed, sobbed, and petitioned the Lord with many a shout; from fists in the air and humbled despair, through life’s weather and wear, as the crowds looked on and looked away, as if they did not care. At communion, the back rows and the periphery were overlooked, just as the old man was overlooked in life, and as he was overlooked at the peace; his tears his only release. And when the recessional took place, the priests and the saints walked on disappearing without a trace, missing Jesus in the old man’s face.

The Sitting Saints

(Deuteronomy 33:3)

The saints are sitting

Spotless

Unscathed and clean

Weeping

Broken

Unspoken

The true saint wails

Words fall . . .

They fall short

They fail

Nothing to say of comfort

Nothing of the sort

When the priests do not notice

After the church bell rings

Cries muffled

As the saintly choir sings

An offering of prayer

Is what one brings

The laying on of hands

A simple touch

And the giving of the peace

Tears! Tears!

Release!

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

Deuteronomy 33:1-4

“Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said: “The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints; From His right hand came a fiery law for them. Yes, He loves the people; All His saints are in Your hand; They sit down at Your feet; Everyone receives Your words. Moses commanded a law for us, a heritage of the congregation of Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 33:1-4)

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Dt 33:1-4

Blessed Mountain: The Lord Is For You

Photo from: http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/religion/arc/neapolis/mountGerizim.htm

(Ezekiel 36: 1-15)

Prophesy to the mountains

Move them with The Word

Speak and watch them move

Hear the Word of God

Listen mountains! Listen!

The Lord is jealous

For you

God is zealous

The Lord is for you

To till you. . . to sow you. . .

To rebuild your ruins

Fill your cities

To restore you

Then all will know

Here and abroad

He is the Lord

Our God!

“I am for you.” –God, Ezekiel 36:9

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

http://www.robbiepruitt.com/

Ezekiel 36:6-11

“Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” Therefore thus says the Lord God: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame. But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Works Cited

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Ezekiel 36:6-11

Old Mountain: New Mountain

Photo From: http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/OT_history/unit2/Unit2b_conquest.htm

(Ezekiel 6)

Hear high places
Godless races
Mountains are brought low
to abolish your idols;
lesser gods for show
Canaanite altars
falsehood on hilltops and lies
your god falters
scattered bones
across your wasted lands
desolate
scattered pagan hands
of slain man
and incense stench,
children’s corpses,
and heart wrench
broken, cut down, and abolished;
works downtrod
All will know
The Lord is God

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt
http://www.robbiepruitt.com/

Ezekiel 6: 6-7

‎

"In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord."

Works Cited

http://www.bible-history.com/resource/ff_baal.htm. Accessed August 9, 2010.

http://www.elinoreart.com/82420/Ex. Accessed August 8, 2010.

http://larryavisbrown.homestead.com/files/OT_history/unit2/Unit2b_conquest.htm. Accessed August 8, 2010

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Eze 6:6-7

Anointed

http://www.shema-yisrael.org/alabaster.jpg

Anointed

(Luke 7:36-50)

broken

poured out

canceled debts

empty handed

without

tears

wetted feet

gone

are secret sins

discreet

matted hair

perfume scented air

loved much

forgiven and known

grace shown

we are His own

anointed

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

“Two men were in debt to a banker. One owed five hundred silver pieces, the other fifty. Neither of them could pay up, and so the banker canceled both debts. Which of the two would be more grateful?” . . . “I suppose the one who was forgiven the most.” – Luke 7:41-43

For a Bible Study on Luke 7:36-50, click here.

Bibliography

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Luke 7:36-50

Name

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:JHS-IHS-Monogram-Name-Jesus.svg

I want

to make

a name

for myself

to proclaim

there

is

life

beyond

my

sell by date

my

shelf life

my

stale state

What’s in a name?

Is it not more than our selves proclaim?

© 2010 Robbie Pruitt

http://www.robbiepruitt.com/

Philippians 2:5-11, NKJV

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982, S. Php 2:5-11

Prayer

“Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen. (BC, P. 355)”

The Book of Common Prayer.

© 1979 http://www.bcponline.org/

Words of Fire

Picture from WLTX Columbia: http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=87228

The Gene Allen Fleece Library of Columbia International University, a Bible College and Seminary in Columbia, SC, suffered from an electrical fire on May 8, 2010. While no one was injured, the total damages were estimated at around 1.5 million dollars. Rare and out-of-print books have been lost. Please pray for the faculty, staff, the student body, and the alumni, as well as associated academic bodies and international ministries which partner with and depend on the University and the library.

Watch the news cast where this story was covered from WIS10 here.

View more photos of the fire here.

Deuteronomy 8:3

“He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don’t live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God’s mouth.”

Words of Fire

Words like fire

consume falsehood.

Truth! Truth!

Complacency and apathy,

Aloof! Aloof?!

Awaken!

The Fire kindles;

Absolutes remain.

The Gospel never falters,

nor waivers,

at sin’s disdain.

Justice and Truth,

You reign! You reign!

Truth never falters,

or vanishes in flame,

and more than ashes remain.

Truth never waivers,

and is a person with a name.

Proclaim! Proclaim!

The Word is retained!

Truth is spoken and stays;

The Logos,

The Ancient of Days.

© 2010 Robbie Pruitt

John 1:1-5 and 14

“The Word was first, the Word present to God, God present to the Word. The Word was God, in readiness for God from day one. Everything was created through him; nothing—not one thing! — came into being without him. What came into existence was Life, and the Life was Light to live by. The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness; the darkness couldn’t put it out. The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.”

Call

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Ezekiel-Vision-Merkaba.jpg

Call
(From Ezekiel 1-3)

the Heavens opened

I saw visions

of God

by the river

in the Lord’s Hand

I was held

the Whirlwind blew

the Light blinded

. . . and I knew

the Fire kindled

His Hands reached out

the Spirit moved deep within

a raging inferno rose up

from embers of coal

brightly burning
torches and lightening

God’s presence

Holy and frightening

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

Ezekiel 3:22-24

“God grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Get up. Go out on the plain. I want to talk with you.” So I got up and went out on the plain. I couldn’t believe my eyes: the Glory of God! Right there! It was like the Glory I had seen at the Kebar River. I fell to the ground, prostrate. Then the Spirit entered me and put me on my feet.”

Bibliography

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Eze 1-3

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel%201-3&version=MSG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Ezekiel-Vision-Merkaba.jpg

Renewal

Renewal Mountain, © 2010 Robbie Pruitt

Renewal

heart of stone

taken out

put in a new

heart of flesh

washed clean

renewed

dirty idols

thrown down

New Spirit within

His people

walking the promised land

with our God

delivered and clean

we trod

© 2010 Robbie Pruitt

Listen to this scripture and poem here: Ezekiel 36:24-29 and Renewal

Ezekiel 36:24-29

“ ‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God! “ ‘I’ll pull you out of that stinking pollution. . .”

Bibliography

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. Eze 36:24-29

Dust Man

Photo from: www.maricopa.gov/.../ dust_sources/photos.aspx

Dust Man

I am dust

I am dust man

blowing through

desert land

sown in flesh

and corruption

natural

until I am done

I am Spirit bound

blown into Life

from the ground

God is Spirit Life

He is Spirit Man

I am life given by Spirit

I am heavenly man

from the image of dust

Spirit blown

as The Spirit gusts

not given to transformation

. . . but I must

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

To listen to this poem, click here: Dust Man

1 Corinthians 15:45-58, The Message

“We follow this sequence in Scripture: The First Adam received life, the Last Adam is a life-giving Spirit. Physical life comes first, then spiritual—a firm base shaped from the earth, a final completion coming out of heaven. The First Man was made out of earth, and people since then are earthy; the Second Man was made out of heaven, and people now can be heavenly. In the same way that we’ve worked from our earthy origins, let’s embrace our heavenly ends. I need to emphasize, friends, that our natural, earthy lives don’t in themselves lead us by their very nature into the kingdom of God. Their very “nature” is to die, so how could they “naturally” end up in the Life kingdom? But let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. We’re not all going to die—but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts from a trumpet, and in the time that you look up and blink your eyes—it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven, the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. In the resurrection scheme of things, this has to happen: everything perishable taken off the shelves and replaced by the imperishable, this mortal replaced by the immortal. Then the saying will come true: Death swallowed by triumphant Life! Who got the last word, oh, Death? Oh, Death, who’s afraid of you now? It was sin that made death so frightening and law-code guilt that gave sin its leverage, its destructive power. But now in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, guilt, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God! With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground. And don’t hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the Master, confident that nothing you do for him is a waste of time or effort."

Bibliography

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002, S. 1 Co 15:45-58

The Living Among the Dead

Photo taken from here, © 2010

The Living Among the Dead

I am white washed tombs

doom and gloom

theory of the swoon

I am dead man’s bones

naked and alone

outside gleaming

white washed and beaming

inside hollow and echoes

I am . . . live among the cemeteries

tombstone headrests and chains

lifeless, empty, broken remains

broken and blood stained

Why am I

looking for the living

among the dead?

the tombs are empty

the dead have raised

enough said

clothed and in my right mind

I am life given

resurrected

death adverse

He broke the curse

shattered my chains

given life to these remains

I Am Resurrection and Life

He calls me out by name

grave clothes drop

death and the curse . . . they stop

I am . . . new life given

born again

I am broken free from sin

. . . Spirit filled within

© 2010, Robbie Pruitt

http://www.robbiepruitt.com/

Photo taken from here, © 2010

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?” -Luke 24:5, NKJV

“And when He [Jesus] had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones . . . Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.” -Mark 5:1-5, 15, NKJV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” –Jesus, Matthew 23: 27-28, NKJV

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” –Jesus, John 14:6, NKJV

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again.” –Jesus, John 3:16-17, MSG

“You don’t have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live. And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?” – Jesus, John 11: 25-26, MSG

“And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors.” - 1 Corinthians 15:14, MSG

“But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.” – 1 Corinthians 15:20, MSG

 “He is not here, but is risen!” -Luke 24:6, NKJV

“I’m telling you these things while I’m still living with you. The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace. I don’t leave you the way you’re used to being left—feeling abandoned, bereft. So don’t be upset. Don’t be distraught.” -John 14:25-27

Bibliography

The New King James Version. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1982.

Peterson, Eugene H.: The Message : The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, Colo. : NavPress, 2002.