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March for Our Lives

March for Our Lives

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A poem I received today from my friend, David Walters …

March for Our Lives

Students lost their childhood! walk with parents and us old codgers,
Won’t wait for official declarations or that lonely bugle’s call,
Side by side they rise up strong celebrating the right to live,
United in country heartlands and busy cities, onward we march!

We remember proud native Americans cut down like tall grass,
Living alongside noisy buffalo roaming free on endless prairie,
Made nearly extinct by long guns and, greed the ammunition,
Oh, how we white newcomers tried killing their hope in a future.

No, it’s not too late! the time is right now!
Refuse to die one by one, school after school,
America, awaken! death’s hands knock at our door,
Ban those damn rifles built for war aimed at our babies.

Gather persons who love children more than their guns,
Leave fear behind, free your heart’s courage, rise up!
Let our brave, precious youth whom we love be the guide,
Will you join the kids as they march for their lives?

david walters ©2018

heart

heart

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“We’re going to show great heart. DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you. To me, it’s one of the most difficult subjects I have … because you have these incredible kids, in many cases.” (Donald Trump)

Heart. Heart, indeed! I do hope “we” — “we” the American people and “we” the government elected to represent us does show great heart! It is an encouraging statement. I will pray that heart does hold sway over fear and suspicion and prejudice and pride, and that the virtues the president sees in such children he will also recognize in their parents and those like them.

peace on earth

peace on earth

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Rachel SimonsRachel Simons lives in Galati, Romania, a field worker with Word Made Flesh, an Christian organization committed to “serving Jesus among the poorest of the poor.” She works with Galati’s street children, providing them educational and recreational and spiritual programs, and interacting with them on a daily basis in their own context on the streets.

The following is taken from one of her recent prayer letters:

… around the holidays I constantly run into children begging outside of restaurants, shopping malls, supermarkets and at stop-lights. They know that people tend to give more in December, so they bear the cold, stomp their feet to keep from freezing, and stand for hours outside of places that attract shoppers.

The weight of poverty is felt so deeply this time of year, and the lines are drawn between those who can shop and those who are left on the margins, outside the window looking in. Yesterday as I waited at the bus stop in below freezing weather, I watched some children I know doing their dance outside the pastry shop door … dancing to keep their feet from freezing. One of the boys had courage to step inside the door for a few brief moments of warmth before getting scolded to “keep out!” … Please pray for those who are marginalized and left out. Pray for God’s kingdom of peace and equity to come on earth as it is in heaven.

When people like Rachel have a heart for the “poorest of the poor,” not just generally, but for particular children and women and men they know by name — when they see them and love them and pray for them and choose to be with them — then God’s peace has already come on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus is indeed among us!

To learn more about Rachel’s ministry in Galati and about the global ministries of Word Made Flesh, check out the Word Made Flesh website.