Final Project

I co-lead a connect group this summer at church. It was a great experience, mainly because we had a small, tight group and we really dug in to deep, rich, real stuff. Our final project of sorts was to take all we had learned about the lineage and history of Jesus and write Jesus' "I'm From" poem. (If you are unfamiliar with this type of writing, check it out.) Writing has always been very therapeutic for me, but this experience was different. I wrote it one night after I'd gotten up with a kid who had promptly rolled over and gone back to sleep. I did some research, made some lists, and did some brainstorming. I tried to touch on specific people and events without naming names. And in the process, I was reminded yet again how incredible and relate-able and even unbelievable this Story is.

I am from manger hay and swaddling cloth.

From lilies of the valley, from olive trees and mustard seeds.

From oil lamps and bushels, cedar and sawdust, chisel and ax.

From builders and soldiers,

From shepherds and kings,

From carpenters and commanders of armies.

I am from the garden, the mountain, the river, the reeds,

I am from hillsides and pastures and deserts,

From cloaks and sandals and dust.

From parting waters

tumbling walls

nighttime sun.

I am from My Father’s House.

I am from the master and the enslaved,

the brave and the coward,

the envious and the envied,

deceiver and deceived.

From anger and fear, from spirit and courage and heart - the sort it takes to

build an ark,

kill a giant,

face lions,

walk through fire,

bear a cross.

I am from doubters and thieves, fleers and prisoners,

From dreamers, wanderers, schemers,

From the faithless and the faithful,

Devout and doubt.

I am from My Father, who

Loves the loveless

Restores the hopeless,

Rescues the abandoned,

Comforts the grieving,

Makes brave the coward,

Makes right the sinner,

Saves

The

Lost.

I am from the very beginning, when my Father first called the world into being.

And I am from the very end, when, through Him, all the wrongs will

forever

be

made

right.