Coal Kisses

I hear You calling me
into dangerous prayers
No more bless me's
give me's
help me's
and sooth me prayers.
I may not be ready, but it's time.
Burn me
Break me
Send me
Mold me
into what You had in mind all along.
make me uncomfortable
wide-eyed to any pride
face down at Your feet
crackling in that fiery peace
dancing ribbon flames
like waving arms to praise You
a soothing fever rock
from the scorching blaze
And send me coal kisses with wings
to wake me up.



"Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
And I said, "Here am I. Send me!""
Isaiah 6: 6-8


"Can't sleep. An angel wants to burn my lips with coal. I must count the cost....Here am I! Send me!... Make me a man of prayer! Put power in my words. Your word is powerful! Make your word my word, make your power my power. I want to be God's voice, full of love, mercy and fire!...I don't want greatness. I want you to be great! Lower me down. Humble me. Teach me to humble myself, O Lord!" From the Journal of Keith Green, Entry March 1979

"And I'm so filthy with my sin
I carry pride like a disease
You know I'm stubborn God and I'm longing to be close
You burn me deeper than I know
I feel lonely without hope
I feel desperate without vision
You wrap around me like a winter coat
You come and free me like a bird
And my heart burns for you"
"Obsession" song by Delirious (Cutting Edge, 1995)


"The people who suffer from arrogance don't know it... Pride will block your vision like nothing else. It'll make you a blind man or a blind woman... but the Holy Spirit can reveal truth to you that you could never see on your own. He knows you better than you know yourself...God, we open up ourselves to You now. Give us eyes to see, ears to hear. God empty us of our pride, so we can receive the flood of mercy you give to those who fear You."
Rob Wegner, "The Arrogance Trap" sermon July 15-16-2009

Nous Dansons

"The Dance of Life" Edvard Munch (1899-1900)

The tempos often change

and the music shifts without warning

from the quick steps of the Cha Cha

to the smooth glide of waltz

a few moments in the smirkin' bounce of hip hop

to the jazzy-grinned kicks of swing

from the firm embrace of the tango

to the breezy sway of the hula side by side

the clickety clack of precision tap

to the battling paso-doble of questions

light on our toes jive in the morning

to the foot-dragging merengue of the afternoon

through every beat, every crescendo

every heart-pounding bridge

Your hold never weakens

Your lifts never fall

and even though sometimes I want to,

I promise to let You lead.

"God is not a static thing--not even a person--but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverent, a kind of dance...The whole dance, or drama, or pattern of this three-Personal life is to be played out in each one of us...each one of us has got to enter that pattern, take his place in that dance." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Then maidens will dance and be glad,

young men and old as well.

I will turn their mourning into gladness;

I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

Jeremiah 31:13

"I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still posess." Martin Luther

There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven...
a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance.

Ecclesiastes 3: 1,4