There is Blood

Last Friday my heart was heavy due to all the recent homicides, and I was stirred to write this poem.

This goes out to Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, the five Dallas cops, Christina Grimmie, those massacred in Orlando, Trayvon Martin, and many more whose deaths shake me to the core.

“There is Blood”

-Here lies another brother, gone all too soon.

-There’s blood on the ground. Sorrow and anger swell within me; I’m bound to be consumed.

-I’m not sure how to process injustice. My thoughts wander to pending doom.

-Will justice come for murderers? Who will hear the cries of the oppressed?

-Each new day brings further hurt and I’m clueless, I confess.

-If there’s a God in heaven, surely He would act.

-But then I sober up and take a step back.

-There is blood on my hands.

-How did this get here? I never took a gay life, black life, or a cop life, yet I wash and wash and the red won’t come off.

-Take my word. I’m innocent of it all.

-Unless there really is a God in heaven who created me for His worship…

-Then my denial to give Him my all would leave me with a need to be acquitted.

-Then the blood isn’t just on my hands; it’s stained in my skin.

-Who, then, could free me? Oh, don’t bring justice yet! For I stand condemned.

-And herein lies the glorious grace of the Creator: there is blood at the foot of the Cross.

-The justice we deserve, paid for by God at a deadly cost.

-The Son of God hung, wearing our sin as His clothes,

-Then risen from the grave, conquering His foes.

-Now He will dress those who believe in His righteous robes.

-So to those who cry for injustice to cease,

-Know that God will end it and He will judge all for their deeds.

-Yet he is patient and waiting now for the sake of all who don’t yet see

-That none of us are innocent – not George Zimmerman, not racist cops, not you, and definitely not me –

-But Jesus can save and redeem.

-I have only one thing that keeps me going in times like these:
-The hope of the Day that Jesus reigns as King.