Christian Living

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From the earth I was taken
As many others like me have been
Stripped of my roots and coverings
Stacked until needed
Days, weeks, months, even years dragged by
Those to my left and right
Taken to be used
But for what, for what I wondered
What good are we
Dried, rough, hardened by water, wind and time
Scarred by the ax
Marred by the chains
Ugly things we are
Eaten from the inside by beetles an ants
Never to bear fruit or seed again
No descendants to bear our names
No more to shade the earth with our limbs
So we wait
Each passing of the sun petrifies my flesh a bit more
From the outside in I become more like rock than wood
I can see the edge of the forest
The small ones as they bend and twirl in the wind
They drink the dew and water from heaven
Stretching up toward heaven
Praising the God that made them
Praying that the men He made won’t come and take them too
For we all know that one of us will be chosen
One of us will hear the screams
Only one will drink His blood
Only one will take His flesh into ours when the spikes come through
Only one will be one with Him for a moment in time
What a wretched thing I’ve become
Not dead, not alive
Despair and loneliness
What’s this
Is it my time
Yes, they’ve come
Soldiers, yes those wretched men alive with their anger
See how they torture and hurt other men
All of them were made by the same God just as we were
Why do they treat each other so
Don’t they know that they are all connected as we are
They drag me on
Through the dirt and over the rocks
And drop me onto the hill
There are two others like me
Hello, can you hear me
What are you doing there
What are those things you are holding
They roll me over so my flat side is facing the sun
I hear a crowd of people coming
Some are shouting, others weeping I think
I can’t see them but they are getting closer
I feel the ground trembling as they near
A shadow
A shadow crosses over me
It looks like a man
It is hard to make him out
His face is bludgeoned and bloody
His hair matted with thorns and vines
He can barely stand
No, don’t hit him again
Please
So much pain
How can he continue to stand
The crowd clamors on but he does not speak
The soldiers again
They knock him down and lay his back against me
His heart beat, I feel his heart beat
It is loud like a thousand drums
Thump, clank, metal against metal
Screams of agony and despair
I feel something piece my flesh
Something warm soaking into my dried flesh
Bam, bam, again the hammer and the spike
What has this man done
Who is he that they treat him so harshly
He must have been a murder or a thief
Into the air
They are lifting us up
I can see the crowd and the hill
The two others like me with men hanging on them
This is the place
This is the skull I heard about long ago
The place where men kill men
Where the worst of men meet their ends
But, who is this man hanging on me
He makes no sounds
He does not curse those cursing him
What, wait he’s speaking
Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?
Nooo! I can’t be the one
Not the one that holds Him
Not the one that kills Him
He made me
How can I be the one
He’s done no wrong
He is the giver of life
Nothing exist without Him
There is no life without Him
What a horrible thing I am
I have become death’s cradle
I hold the creator of the universe
His life drains across my skin
His breath I hear
His pain I feel
The earth shakes beneath my feet
The clouds gather above my head
Lighting splits the sky
Silence
Life is gone
He breaths no more
Someone speaks
Truly this was the Son of God

And now I know

I am the cross

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