menno simon's stomping grounds
This is a spoken-word poem I am performing this Friday night at the President's Dinner for the Tabor College Board Members & President. I have been working on it for a while, so after finishing it today I was so excited I had to post it.
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Menno Simon's Stomping Grounds
Menno Simon’s stomping grounds became the field where my intellect learned
to play.
Watered by a rainstorm of questions, these flat plains became a jungle gym
of growth, sprouting my soul into something worthy to receive the
photosynthesis carried on each small ray of sunshine.
I became different here.
I became different when I realized it is not enough
To remain planted
When God calls you to bloom
Because even when the sun goes down,
Things still grow under the fervent gleam of a full moon.
I was warned:
Time flies
To remain planted
When God calls you to bloom
Because even when the sun goes down,
Things still grow under the fervent gleam of a full moon.
I was warned:
Time flies
And so now I know what it feels like
To ride on the heels of time,
Carried by the currents of furious Kansas wind,
God brought me here
To help me see the seriousness of my sin.
An eternal debt time cannot bound,
No matter how fast it may go
Because this is what I know:
I know
It was in the dorm room of lower Ediger where
God used a lost soul to reject my cookie-cutter Christian conclusions
to help me find the faith I left behind.
It was in the dorm room of lower Ediger where
God used a lost soul to reject my cookie-cutter Christian conclusions
to help me find the faith I left behind.
And I know
It was in the coffin-like gymnasium
Where I went merry-go-round with a sport I loved and eventually learned to lose.
I wrestled with truth like Jacob in the dark night of Genesis 32 until the dawn broke
my dreams,
It was in the coffin-like gymnasium
Where I went merry-go-round with a sport I loved and eventually learned to lose.
I wrestled with truth like Jacob in the dark night of Genesis 32 until the dawn broke
my dreams,
And it was half-way across the world
When Tabor’s sunset became the morning of my first Indian sunrise.
The same day Jesus gave me eyes to realize
Maybe all God's people should walk with a limp;
So this stagger in my step is my unapologetic sign of personal struggle
To see the face of Yahweh
When Tabor’s sunset became the morning of my first Indian sunrise.
The same day Jesus gave me eyes to realize
Maybe all God's people should walk with a limp;
So this stagger in my step is my unapologetic sign of personal struggle
To see the face of Yahweh
Because it was inside and outside the lecture halls of the Lohrenz
Where God taught me
Life is not a canvas made for water-colored convictions,
And sometimes, the richest growth occurs in the wounds of our deepest afflictions.
And sometimes, our hearts really do have to break before they know how to bend.
Where God taught me
Life is not a canvas made for water-colored convictions,
And sometimes, the richest growth occurs in the wounds of our deepest afflictions.
And sometimes, our hearts really do have to break before they know how to bend.
And our legacy is in our ink
And each day when we wake and walk after the One who matters
We are writing some kind of story
And I know this place is a chapter
God has used for His glory.
About the Author
1 comments
Inspiring! The board will be blessed by your words.
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