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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Like a Red Rag to a Bull (11/28/13)

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• TITLE: Blood and Sand | Previous Challenge Entry
  By Frankie Kemp
  12/01/13
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Smoldering within,
Simmering,
Slow boiling,
Molten-glowing,
Melting heat . . .
Words aren’t enough
To name this,
this . . .
Change
of Everything.

It moves me
far beyond the rankling irking
that provokes me to
glare at the driver who pulls out in front of me
or to lash out with fiery tongue
when I do not get my way.

Those burrs serve their purpose.
They reveal the foolishness and danger of being distracted,
thrown into a frenzy over a harmless red waving.
They have mesmerized me before,
tangling me in the exhaustion
of rushing headlong into battle
against the wrong foe.
They have taught me the stench
of my own anger
and revealed its
use against me.
Yet, I am still angry.

It is different now.
Somewhere in the fray,
the sand of the arena
has been washing out of my eyes;
It is only now that I am able to see more clearly.
It is only now that I taste
of what it is to be angry
and sin not.

There is a destroyer among us.
Too long has he roamed
and deceived
and lied
and stolen
and gorged himself on the blood of innocents,
reveling in his temporary delusion.

He can hold us at bay
only as long as we believe that we are the bull
being tormented and prodded,
goaded into carelessness,
panting,
leaving our throats open
to have our blood spilled upon the sand.

The sand has already been bloodied.
Pure Blood,
a blood that changes everything,
the kind of Blood
that dissolves grit
and dirt
and lies.

Lamb’s Blood,
mingled with
the blood
of those who have given themselves
in His service.

We are not the bull,
my Brothers and Sisters.
Our sworn enemy is.
It is he
whose flanks tremble in fear
of the One
who is coming
to silence him forever.

The One who is coming
fuels my new anger
and teaches me how
to wield the Sword
that cannot be seen
with human eyes,
the Sword that
never kills Life
but strikes at Death.

I remember the eyesight
of John, His Beloved Apostle,
and I stand my ground,
knowing that if one
drop of my blood is spilled,
it will be avenged.

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16)

We will not kill him,
this bull in the arena,
yet when we see
the Fight with more clarity,
we welcome the part we play
in his destruction.
We are the red flags
waving in his face.
The Blood of Christ
covers us and provokes his fury.
The bull may rage.
Let him.
He reveals himself
in the raging.
His attacks fan flames of a white-hot vengeance
belonging to the One,
the Matador that will banish him forever with one word--
that Name.

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