Killer Man's Son

Everyone feels safe

Around the guy with the gun --
That is, until they find out
That he's the Killer Man's son...

And the pressure on your temple
Signals immediate distress
Your point of view is no longer clear
Now that you're under duress

Staring down the barrel
As the questions begin to narrow
Life flashes before your eyes
As you answer at your own peril

Your money or your life; 
Hide your kids, hide your wife
Because he's taking aim at everything
Try to run, you'll die tired

Man down, shots fired
Death from above --
Murder for higher
Holiest of Holy
Public Enemy No. 1
A trigger finger that never retires

So get down and lay low
Or get lit up like it's HALO
Stand up and say goodnight
And let the redeemed of the LORD say so:

"I ain't the Killer Man
I'm the Killer Man's son
But I'll do the killin'
'Til the Killer Man comes..."


(cf. Psalm 107:2; Jeremiah 23:24; Amos 9:2; Matthew 10:28; Romans 8:13-14; Galatians 5:24; Colossians 3:5; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 2 Peter 3:10) 



Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Anastasis

Committin’ crimes of necessity

Ancient Greek ἀνάστασις (anástasis, “resurrection”).

The world’s gettin’ the best of me
Street life got me twisted
Plus baby’s mama been stressin’ me
Fools always out here flexin’
So I  pack  a piece for my protection
Still no peace of mind from the struggle
Goin’ numb is my only weapon

Am I the next in line to hang
Like strange fruit  from the family tree?
Chokin’ on the vine...
I come from a  long line of leavers
“Underachiever…”
‘Cause success to me
Is stay hungry and keep breathin’
Whatever keeps my daughter fed
(Prayin' she don’t turn out to be a heathen)

Schemin’ and stead’y dreamin’
I know this trap money is fleetin’
But when you’re runnin’ outta options
There ain’t too much left to believe in
I’ve been grievin’ since my daddy’s gone
Momma raised me on her own
Now the doctor says she’s dyin’ too
Won’t be long before I’m all alone

Truth be told
All my friends really repulse me
And the lifestyle that I’m livin’
I might end up under dust quick
If the Lord is my shepherd
Have mercy and come get me
‘Cause the wolves are preyin’ as I speak
And I’m prayin’ that you can fix this

The Devil wants me dead
Yet, ironically, so does Jesus -
One leads to life as a felon
The other leads to anastasis

As it's written:
“Cursed is everyone who hangs from a tree…”
He hung Himself on that wood, so now I can hang one from me
I’m clingin'...


(cf. Prov. 30:7-9; Luke 9:23-24; John 10:7-18; Rom. 6:4, 8:13; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 2:1-10; Col. 3:1; 1 Peter 5:8)


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Spark

I'm a consummate failure

That pales in comparison to righteousness
A constant success
At exceeding expectations

For messing up
Only to dress up any indications of fractures
By acting out...

I pretend to have no doubts
But the cacophony of questions
Just gets louder and louder
Until my conscience is drowned out
By the swelling of my pride

Sleeping dogs don't bark
They lie in wait; one eye open
Right outside of Hell's gates
Preying on my need to feed my ego
Because the high of self-inflation
Is better than any needle (it's a steeple)

Now I'm ripe for the taking
Fattened up for the kill
As the ghost of Aleister Crowley
Haunts my ears: "Do what thou wilt" 

No regard for man or God
Brokenness spoken out of the human heart
Leaves nothing to chance for divine intervention...

Waking new life requires dying in the dark.


(cf. Psalms 34:18; 51:17; 138:6, Isaiah 42:3; 57:15, Colossians 3:5-11)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Eight Laid Down

Eight laid down -
I'm waiting for that trumpet blast to sound
A resounding statement
Of Kingdom Come in the flesh
A silencing of the violence
And the long awaited death of Death
We anticipate with bated breath
And endure the hardships and tribulations
Without the slightest hesitation
Because we know that the tears will be erased

No more of the notion
Of life as a holocaust in slow motion
We beat back the Devil's fiery arrows
By keeping our eyes on the sparrow
We stay on the straight and narrow
Whether in feast or fallow
Because as we have believed
We have eaten
Stomachs full of faith and repentance
So the sentence first handed down
Has been rescinded
Befriended by a God
Who switched out defendants
And put my rap sheet on His own blood
So that it wouldn't have to be a wrap for me

Once blind, but now I see
As I eagerly await to behold
The manifestation of his majesty and beauty
Then and only then will I be complete

What we know now in part
Will then be fully known...

Eight laid down -
Life in the presence of the Lamb
Who forever sits upon the throne

(cf. Psalm 23:6; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Revelation 20:6, 14)


Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

True Blood

If I would've been there 

I would've done the same 

I would've been the first one to ridicule 

And put him to shame 

I definitely would've been the one 

That hated Him the most 

So, He did what He had to do... 

 

He killed us both. 

 

And when He got back up 

He brought me along 

To drink from His cup 

And sing a new song 

Truest blood shed from His wounds 

Forever covers my deepest stains 

 

Now I'm alive in Christ -- 

His death. My gain.

 

Isaiah 53:1-12; Galatians 2:20 

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Deliverance

Came into the world with collapsed lungs
And a heart barely beating
My beginning could be the end
If I don’t respond to the treatments
The prognosis – it ain’t pretty
Doc’s preparing my mother for the worst
Sayin’ even if I make it to tomorrow
My future would still be uncertain
But just as the curtain closed
She knows something that they don’t know
A Great Physician with a different opinion
On how the story’s supposed to go

“Lord, if it’s his time, that’s fine
But if he lives, he won’t be mine…
He’ll be yours to shape and mold
Give him life and make him shine”

The curse of death was looming heavy
But He chose to remove it
Took a broken, feeble fetus
And He purposed to renew it
So when I get fed up
And want to let up
Thinking that I’ll never make it through this
I remember His past mercies
And how relentless His pursuit is
He makes all things good
And critics attribute it to “western privilege”

But the postman always rings twice
And only the Christ can deliver

Psalm 22:9-10, 51:5, Psalm 139:14; Matthew 6:13; Galatians 1:3-5
 
Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Re4m

Reform me...

Conform me.
Mold me.
Make me.
Shape me.
Do whatever you have to do -
Even if it means
You gotta break me
Don't forsake me
Wake me up
Remove the scales
From my eyes
I'm seeing men as trees

Falling down around me

Because I was born
Legally blind

Out of sight
Out of my mind
No appreciation
For the divine
Design flaw
To the interior;
A heart that's wicked
All the time... 

Until Another Kind

Love sublime

Comes to the rescue

Of a villain

Cleanse me through a bloodletting...

This redemption's gonna kill me.

(cf. Romans 8:13; 12:1; 1 Peter 3:18-22)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Magic

Jesus isn't “magic”...

It doesn't matter what Sarah Silverman says

Resurrection isn't just some neat little trick

It's literally coming back from the dead

Desperately unconscious

Fatally non-responsive

So far removed from breathin' 

Next thing you know,

Reports are comin' in

That everybody's seen him

(Something like five hundred people!)

 

Instinctively, the conclusion

Is most likely mass hysteria or illusion

But answer this:

When's the last time you heard

About that many people

Simultaneously crackin' up

And having the exact same delusion?!

There ain't an institution big enough

To hold that much crazy

So if you believe

That's how it all went down

Your story-tellin' is lazy

 

How hazy would your facts be

If you saw someone murdered right in front of you? 

I bet you could tell that story for the rest of your life

And still recite every single detail

Accurately and on cue

It could be 50 years from now

And there would still be no change in your point of view...

Especially if that person

Now a few days removed

Shows up at a dinner table

Sitting right across from you

Chewin' his food

Doin' all the other things

A dead man don't have the capacity to do

 

No, that ain't magic

It's majestic and it's traumatic

The last great enemy of our humanity

Suddenly movin' backwards

It wasn't a simple trap-door revealed

There was glory being concealed

Underneath a cloak of humility and charity

Taking back what the Strongman tried to steal

 

There's no sleight of hand

When you got holes in 'em, man

And if there's nothing up your sleeves

But Aces and eights

Then you better have a foolproof plan...

 

The Son of God became man

To withstand the wrath of his Dad

As a ransom for many

Remained slain for three days

Only to get up

And give vanishing lessons the business

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

- (1 Corinthians 15:54-58 ESV)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Zeros & Ones: Importance of the Resurrection (Week 4 Finale)

We finish up our excellent study on the implications of the resurrection of Christ with a lively in-depth discussion on how the eyewitness account of Thomas can be applied in our own lives and our evangelism, what the implications of the resurrection are in this life and how it gives us hope now in the face of death, and finally, how this changes us forever.

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)