dying sleeping drinking smoking

i can see how death is like sleep. i can see why people want to die. i don't think they really want death, hell, heaven, or and end. i think they just want to rest. deeply rest. to be refreshed. i think they're tired. so tired they want to just go to bed and not get up for as long as possible. they want to dream a new life and wake up in that life. they want this life to be the nightmare and their dream to be the reality. to exchange being awake for being asleep. maybe this is what those who get drunk or high want. the altered mind is like sleep walking. they want to leave for a while and come back to something different. they want their mind to alter their world instead of their mind to be truly altered. sleeping drinking and smoking are not merely escapes. they are life jackets worn on the boat of hope. maybe this will all be over soon. maybe earth will finally be changed.

What is the power of our words?

God says life and death are in the power of our words. Jesus said we will be judged by every careless and idle word we speak. Do you see what this means? Something we said today is the rebirth or death of the one who heard our words, even if we weren’t thinking about what we said. Even if we were just joking. Even if we just said the first thing that popped into our heads. I have power. You have power. Your words kill or create people’s lives in union with the Creator. What you say is light or darkness to someone, unless she has a shield of faith. Unless he is wearing a bullet proof vest of righteousness. But all is not lost. We can ask forgiveness for what we said. God will forgive us. And the one who is dying can be brought back to life. Or we can thank God for honoring us with the words we spoke that saved someone’s life. We know what we said. (Or maybe we don’t. From now on, we should speak wisely.)

I'm watching a man die.

i’m watching a man die. he’s 29. he’s not breathing. i’m remembering the back up call when the officers are yellilng ‘code blue.’ they are seeing him hanging in his cell. he’s not breathing when they are cutting him loose. he is tying the sheet around his neck. his mind is made up. he is killing himself. God is with me... watching. Angels are watching. Demons are watching. Where are his parents, his brothers and sisters, his girlfriend or fiancée or wife? What is he thinking as his spirit is leaving his body? Where is his spirit going? I don’t know. He’s there, wherever he is. Heaven or hell. He is there right now.