We want them to have self-worth, So we destroy their self-worth .....

I've just being watching the UK TV series Screws. 

In the last episode of series one, this poem is read out at the funeral of a prison officer 

(murdered by a bullet from a handgun on the prison ward)

By Judge Dennis Challeen (ret) 

We want them to have self-worth 

So we destroy their self-worth 

We want them to be responsible 

So we take away all responsibility 

We want them to be positive and constructive 

So we degrade them and make them useless 

We want them to be trustworthy 

So we put them where there is no trust 

We want them to quit exploiting us 

So we put them where they exploit each other 

We want them to take control of their lives, own problems and quit being a parasite on us 

So we make them totally dependant on us 

We want them to be non-violent 

So we put them where violence is all around them 

We want them to be kind and loving people 

So we subject them to hatred and cruelty 

We want them to quit being the tough guy 

So we put them where the tough guy is respected 

We want them quit hanging around losers 

So we put all the losers in the state under one roof

Photo by @huefnerdesign? shared on unsplash

  

4min 15sec #joshualukesmith clip - Check Your #Blind Spot

text from youtube "I wrote this poem because something has to change. For too long I've lived with an ignorance towards matters of race and privilege, not realising what I don't know impacts people around me as much as what I do.

Over the last few years, I've woken up.

I wrote this poem in an effort to wake others to the reality of systemic racism and historic prejudice that plays a much bigger role in our lives then we realise.

Racism is real. It's here and now and if we don't acknowledge our ignorance and privilege, we do nothing to make it go away.

Head over to www.CheckYourBlindSpot.co.uk to learn more and support those working on the front line in the fight against racism. #CheckYourBlindSpot #BlackLivesMatter

1 min 35sec clip from #tearfund - Devastating Beauty - An #Easter Poem by Gideon Heugh

On Friday my hope died. 
The sky wept itself dark
the ground broke apart 
and all creation cried 
for the bloodied innocence
hammered into a tree. 

There were whispers 
of a torn curtain
but they didn’t reach my ears
or mend my mangled heart
or stem the bitter tears
as we took
the body
down. 

On Saturday we grieved, 
hiding from the troops 
whom we’d once believed
would be overthrown 
by the carpenter’s boy, 
who had preached and fed
and healed, 
and was now dead. 

But then on Sunday – 
The devastating beauty
of that Sunday – 
when time and space
were blown out of shape
and angels wrapped
in electric grace
rolled the impossible away

'He is not here' 
they proclaimed 
for glory had risen 
our failings were forgiven
and the rules of life
and death were rewritten 
as an empty tomb declared, 
‘Love is alive.’

short 4min 27sec film - girl on the #escalator by Kayhan Lannes Ozmen based on the #poem by Charles Bukowski

 

found via a digg email

the #christmas #poem - produced by bible society

You gotta watch this 2min 48sec clip - Patrick Roche - "21" (CUPSI 2014)

found via upworthy

good friday (spoken word)

Good Friday (spoken word) from Central Films on Vimeo.
found via communicate jesus

counterfeit gods

via justin taylor

You might say, I don’t believe in God, but the bible says not possible,

Everyone has a God, whether or not it’s the God of the gospel.

You might not believe in God, but everyone has that one thing that’s king,

Even the dictionary defines God as what “whatever we make supreme”

It’s a theme, a thread, it’s inside of all human beings,

The fact we all worship, and no it’s not just about singing.

I know some of you already like “Jeff I don’t worship, I put that on the shelf,”

But I say technically we all do, we just worship ourselves.

We all worship something, and to an object we’re all liable,

Ladies, to some your boyfriend is your God, and Cosmo is your bible.

Yet, we mock and we laugh at the Israelites Golden Calf,

But we do the same right back; it just looks different than that.

So question, what’s on your throne?

What do you chase so you don’t feel alone?

So what defines you, what do you give ultimate worth?

And what if taken from you would bring ultimate hurt?

Now see, that is your God

And all of us, we’ve sacrifice deep joy for shallow happiness, and honestly we look like fools,

We’re like full grown adults in the kiddie pool, going “oh man, this is so cool”

We are slaves to our possessions, we are always craving something new,

Reality check, if you can’t give it up, you don’t own it, it owns you.

That’s the bible, it says we’re all spiritual prostitutes, actually we’re worse.

Because at least prostitutes get paid for their works,

When all we get paid is a hearse

That’s why worship isn’t just behaviour, it goes way into our core,

So ask yourself what is your God? What do you bow down before?

For example some of you in here don’t worship Jesus, you worship what He said,

Got theology in your head, but in your heart, poor, pitiful, naked, and dead.

Some worship in stadiums, some worship in bars.

We worship our possessions, we worship our cars,

We worship science, or we worship the arts,

But see it don’t matter what clothes your idol’s wearing, the disease is our hearts

Or guys, how come you always say, “ya I’m a man, because I’m in control!”

Yet why cant you stop having sex with your hand, while staring at your macbook pro

Then there’s those guys who trade their wives for their job at work

Where they give more time to their boss then their wife’s needs or hurts

And you ladies, no guy can love you more than jesus already has,

So stop getting your worth from Magic Mike, Jesus is so much better than that

I know you’re thinking,  “so jeff, are you saying we should hate money, hate drinking, and never have sex.”

No, I’m not saying that. The bible says enjoy it all, in its proper context.

But now I want to transition, and make a spiritual incision,

Can you really tell me these things are the ultimate purpose of living?

Instead of worshipping the Creator of you and I,

We say screw you God I’ll take your stuff, but you can die.

But that trade is terrible, trading God for man

Its like God offers us water, and we say “but God, this is such good sand!”

You say, “a God that requires me to give up something” I just can’t fathom,

Yet most are willing to give up everything for a quick orgasm?

You call me a wimp for running to God when times get hard,

Yet you do the same, you just run to the bar.

I mean am I the only one that’s felt that gnawing within?

Am I the only one that’s felt the weight of my own sin?

But here’s what’s unique, so go ahead and critique,

but if hear anything in this poem, hear this one thing I speak.

Where we exchanged ourselves for God, thinking we could be Him,

He exchanged himself for us, absorbing all our sin.

God put on flesh, and do you see how we treated him?

The ultimate war veteran, because he was killed for our freedom.

Nonetheless He was thinking of you and me, with every whip that beat em,

And to think he did that knowing full well we’d say nah, we don’t really need him.

But like a Father, he couldn’t bare his children to not be free

So he thought up that tree, paid our fee, for specs of dirt like you and me

So my plea is let Him restore His proper place,

I promise you He loves you right now. Just trust in His grace.

Because before I leave, I’ll leave you with this

What of those other things you worship took nails in their wrists?

Or how about when was the last time money or sex forgave you?

Whens the last time your boyfriend set you free from all you’re enslaved to?

What else is there that died so you could be made new?

Or when’s the last time the world promised satisfaction, and actually came through?

sex, marriage & fairytales

via justin taylor

i realized disney movies and chick flicks, they’ve put us in a weird position,

they’ve distorted our reality, we forget they are fiction,

because in marriage we either get better or bitter, either joy or remorses,

whatever were doing ain’t working, just look at the rate of divorces

so, how’s your marriage? i mean c’mon let’s just be honest,

marriage seems to some more like a prison, than the paradise they were promised

we thought marriage was supposed to fulfill us and make us happy, not lonely

but the truth is his first priority is making you holy.

you say “no one told me,” and it feels so odd

that dating felt like a vacation, while marriage feels like a job,

yet the secret of joy, if we just pull back our facade,

Is realizing most problems arise when we elevate our spouse to God

Without knowing it we’ve fulfilled romans 1:25

by our actions exchanged the truth about god for a lie,

we’ve exchanged god for lesser, created things,

it’s like a husband trading his wife for a 2d image on a screen,

hoping it’ll set us free, just to find on the fumes were choking,

cuz if your marriage rests on anything but jesus, it’s resting on something broken.

yet guys continually sacrifice their marriage on the altar of sex and lust,

i mean if our dollars were honest they’d say in “pleasure we trust”

so men grow up, put down the controller,

how about you lead her with grace, instead of trying to control her

now I’ve never been married but I’m a product of one that was non-existent,

so don’t tell me I don’t understand, don’t tell me I just don’t get it

so for the singles, become friends first, before you become lovers,

pursue christ as your foundation, before you get under the covers,

because believe me a strong friendship before marriage, will make a good marriage after,

friendship isn’t just sex, its deep conversation and laughter.

i mean some spouses barely even like each other, and the marriage seems like a dead end.

you might share a checkbook and a bed, but are you actually friends?

i mean if marriage isn’t a commitment, then what’s the point of the vows we say?

til death do us apart, really means until the feelings goes away.

like, “ill stay with him but only until it gets tough and my love shifts”,

but I say imagine if a parent took that perspective with her kids,

Like can’t you see it, the minute the kid spills food on the floor,

the mom saying “son I’m leaving, i’m just not in love with you anymore.”

no its just like marriage, to last you need the strength from above,

because it’s not the love that sustains the promise, it’s the promise that sustains the

love.

i mean think about it, out of anyone who has had the right to leave?

god had every reason in the world, yet he still came for you and me,

and on the cross he paid it all he took our shame and set us free,

when he could’ve called down legions of angels, he chose to stay on that tree.

from the cross he looks you in the eye, and says I’m taking this for my bride,

when you trust in me, you no longer have to hide!

because of me it is finished, you have been made new!

spotless, blameless there’s no sin in you!

his death was a proposal, he wanted you no matter the cost,

where some guys propose on a knee, jesus proposed on a cross.

so whether husband or wife, read ephesians 5,

wife honor your husband, husbands give up your life,

just like jesus gave himself, for his bride the church,

so men lead by serving, by putting her first

lastly both spouses die to self, put your flesh on a life sentence,

because you don’t fall out of love as much as you fall out of repentance.