Bands and Bars.

Twisted, crooked, turned teeth is what was mounted beneath my lips. As a boy, I needed braces. Bars and bands, bands and bars are what would grip all the ugly, misfit and different bones. My orthodontist would say my mouth was a disaster, nothing was normal, and I needed iron casters ‘cross my pearly whites so that I may fit in with the other kids at school. Maybe I wouldn’t get picked on, called a fag, a fool, or a fat kid too heavy for the swings. My image needed to be changed for people to like me was his point. Maybe he was right, because people care about what they see, and if it was the sight of me that displeased their eyes, so be it. I shall accept the braces. I hid behind bars so that society could fix me. Change me. Make me. People like to fix things that are not the norm. Not hot or cold but warm. Not black or white but gray. Not crooked or twisted but what fit the form. The mold of what we should be, according to society. I see people. People of beauty. Beautiful is the difference between you and me. You are black, I am white, we are different. That is alright. Brown eyes, blonde hair, big nose, small ears, tanned skin, you are perfect. To at least one. The one who created you. So don’t let people change you. Do not hide behind bars and bands, bands and bars, that shape you. Braces on the faces and hearts of the people who give in to others desires. Feel loved by people for who you are. Do not be bent into an image of someone elses choice. I use my voice to defend the people that are beautiful as they are. We were made this way to be loved as is. Nobody has the right to judge and grade you. And I say, you are beautiful. Stay this way. We are loved.

# 1

It started with one. I’ll give you a brief history of this sometimes is and sometimes is not mystery. The birth of this tale began with One God who created one earth. He created one of everything, dead and living, lifeless and breathing, nothing and something. He spent days giving time and effort, things that are not applicable to him anyways, making each thing out of nothing, but zero is not what this rhyme is about. Instead, these words I shout out are an ode to the One I Am. Father Spirit Son. However you want to put it. He was the God of the Greats. He gave Abraham the directions, Daniel the protection. David the correction and of course Christ the resurrection. The one who gave his only son for me and each other who will accept his gift which we use to lift our countless sins up off our backs and continually stack each sin upon Christ, God’s son, so that he may suffer as our replacement. The God who is the author, editor, main character and only creditor of the greatest story ever told. The story that never gets old because we keep on living it. It doesn’t finish until he says “It is finished”. Never ends until Sin has been diminished. Each singular breath of ours is because of the gusts that he gives us and how His soul is within us. This One God, His One Son, and this shared single history. His story. That we are a part of.

The Story

A white dove descending out of the sky is what we would expect from God's little guy. But we may question why the Messiah would pop out of Mary's womb to say hi Not in any pent house suites, but in an animal shelter, at the animal's feet. Or hooves, beside the babe in hay, nesltled in a manger is where this child lay. It's not every day when a king is astray. Not just a king, but the king of kings. The prince of peace or creator of all things. So the boy grew up preaching to preachers. Like the days in his teens when he was teaching the teachers. The wise young man taught the old pharisees, and was saying, "Y'all gotta be fair, ya see?" As well as, "How is it that ye sought me? For ye know i must be, in my Fathers house." said he.

Astonishment fell on their faces while respect rose in their hearts. And their realizations would soon start, Of the fact that He, was the son of God. Yet the Son of God rathered the name the Son of man, to signify the race he ran. Yet he still ran the human race, with the power of God but still just a manly face. So Christ got a job as a carpenter, and by night, he was a sharpener. Preaching God's word and every command, with his faithful boy band at his right hand. He gathered twelve bro's who became fishers of men. He healed and fed with what he was given. Like the time he fed thousands of men, with less then ten fishes and loaves. He performed miracles but was called a fake. He told the truth but was called a liar. So the people started to shake the Jew with God's fire. They judged and weighed him out while the crowd shouted out. Even the law washed their hands of that act. As a matter of fact, it was backbone, they lacked. For they would not intervene in this horrible scene of a mob deciding to lean towards the kings death. But why could they try to crucify, not just a wonderful guy, but who belonged in the sky and never did he lie? He needed to die.

For you.

For me.

And the countless he'd free. We could never see. Not in this life at least. So they gave him the crown he never deserved. For he only loved and always would serve. Even the whores, beggars and cheats. He was the type to wash all their feet. Nail be Nail, WE placed him there. After whipped and hours, stripped to bare, and nailed in front of crowds that would stare. "Father, Forgive them!" he belted out. "It is finished!" was his last shout. Instantly the temple curtains split right in two. Symbolic maybe? Just a thought for you... I bet he was the only person who knew his life's plan. What a man! To know your last breath. Expect your last breath! I wonder if he got claustrophobic in that old tomb? But that was his resurrection, just like a second womb.

Death has been defeated by the best lawyer in town. In heaven he waits, wearing his real crown with an upside down, gigantic frown. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the advocate and deliverer. The true Shepard Chief. The everlasting tree with every lives leaf. He is Davids descendant and the Morning Star. Creator and the Word is what he is referred to, afar.

He is the fierce lion and the perfect lamb.

The definition of Love.

The Ultimate,

I AM.