Yesterday Jake, our 13 year old remembered at the last minute that his 6th grade class at church was doing talent night...nothing formal, just a casual night of talent/variety show among friends. He said, "I'll just write a quick poem and read it." Now, Jake is an incredibly gifted writer, but I didn't love the idea of him just throwing something together. I questioned him on whether or not this was a good idea. He said, "Don't worry mom, I'm fine." He went to the computer and spit out a poem in no more than 10 minutes. When he came in the room to read it to me I was blown away. My first question to him when he finished was, "Can I have your permission to print that on my blog?" Love this. Just a sample of the mind of this boy. Yes, I'm bragging...Mama's are allowed to do that, right, especially on their own blog?! In all seriousness, I have to brag on our Lord. I love seeing little glimpses in our children of what He's up to. Hope you enjoy the poem. I didn't worry about changing punctuation, capitalization, etc. Just left it how he wrote it.
In the corners of the night where it glows dark red
behind the black gates of stone, iron, and lead
hides the dark creature, Satan, in his flowing grey robes,
he stands like a king as time unfolds.
Now Satan glares down, on the Earth below,
and gives evil demons seeds of death to sow.
He prowls like a lion, though he seems harmless as a dove,
he truly is a being who has no love.
As the clock goes tick, and then it says tock,
Satan says he’ll never give, he’s as solid as a rock.
His armies of horseman, it kills and destroys,
exploiting evil pleasures of men and boys.
It seems there’s no hope for the people of Earth,
for Satan keeps a coming in his fiery mirth.
But just when hope for mankind looked grim,
while we were oh so lost in our sin,
came a rider on a white horse with a gold crown,
we hoped his kingdom could strike Satan’s down.
As this man Jesus went from town to town,
saying turn to the Lord cast your sins down
Satan’s workers, the Pharisees, were still doing all the evil they pleased.
They bombarded Jesus, wherever he went,
with a great many questions but he did not consent,
Jesus turned to them and said with a loud cry,
"The way to the Father is no other than I!”
Satan drew back again, poised to strike,
like a crafty black serpent, with gleaming red eyes
he struck forwards, at Jesus’s heel,
and within a day Jesus’s tomb was sealed.
Satan laughed with victory, he thought he had won,
but he didn’t get that he was messing with God’s only son!
Three days later there was a rumbling noise, followed by a snap and a shout.
The stone of the tomb was rolled away, and Jesus walked out!
Satan perhaps had bruised Jesus’s heel,
but that wasn’t enough to make Jesus kneel.
Jesus went to that serpent, whose eyes glowed red,
and in victory Jesus crushed its head.
-All I have left to say is, "HALLELUJAH!!!"
Well, I'm a little behind, but happy birthday to my precious, beautiful baby boy, Zech! I know we all say it, but I am in shock at how quickly time flies (can't believe my baby's 2!), but also can hardly remember our family without him! So neat the way God does that.
I wanted to give God some praise here, because we had a dangerous situation with Zech when he was just 2 weeks old. Everything had gone just fine with the pregnancy and delivery, but out of nowhere at 2 weeks old he started running a high fever early one morning. To make a very long story short, we ended up in the hospital for the next 2 weeks with him getting antibiotics to save his little life. He was septic, which simply put, means he had a bacterial infection in his bloodstream. The doctors told us that if we had been just a few hours later it most likely would have been too late. Needless to say, the Lord had His hand on this little guy from the beginning, and I believe with all my heart, He has great plans for His life!
I will say, that from about halfway through my pregnancy with Z, I started feeling very strongly that his name should be Zechariah. Now, I'm quite aware that this isn't your everyday, "normal" name to most! All I know is that God wouldn't allow me to let go of it, and we were certain by the time he arrived that Michael Zechariah would be his name. (Michael after Kenny's brother) Zechariah means "the Lord remembers"...isn't that an interesting meaning? I thought it was. I spent a lot of time back then thinking on the meaning of that, asking God what it meant, and I can't say I know exactly why it's his name, but I do know that the idea is that "the Lord is faithful." The Lord remembers His people and will not forsake them. I believe with everything in me that this precious one's life is going to show many people that our God is forever faithful.
What do I love about Zech? (pronounced "Zack" in case you're wondering...just stuck with the traditional Hebrew spelling). Zechariah is our only red headed boy. Gotta love that. He's also the only Dallas child with curl in their hair! I love how he has his own little trademark in the mix with all these other boys, and, yes, we absolutely love his hair long and curly for some reason...it's just him! Zech is about the smiliest thing you've ever seen. He is ALWAYS smiling and literally almost always happy! I don't say that pridefully, because each of these sweet children have come with their own personality from the beginning, but Zech just has this way about him that makes you feel happy just hanging around him. He's laid back and smiley, shorter and small for his age, but he can climb about as good as the big boys already! He loves cars, choo choos, buzz and woody, and about anything cowboy there is...oh, yeah, and he would LIVE outside if you let him. Z just makes me smile. I guess God knew I needed an easy baby this time, because Zech has been the kind of baby who makes us look like really great parents! I love the way his big brothers love him to death and the way he loves them (they're already begging for us to let him join them and move into their room where the 4 of them already bunk together!) I love the way Elly can't get enough of him and even more how he thinks she's his second mama! I think he'd do anything she said! Zech just loves people (and at the top of his list is his Poppa, my dad!) Funny, now that I think about it, that sounds just like my dad...just loves people. Neat the way the Lord works, huh?
Quick Zech story from the other day before I close. My mom was keeping the kids, and she's had some problems with her knee for the past few months. She had propped her leg up to ice it, and Zech came over, putting his little hand right on her knee and bowed his head praying for her. Now, ofcourse, he doesn't use too many words in a row yet, but it was quite clear what he was doing. That's about as precious as it gets. That's gotta' make our Lord smile.
Well, I suppose I've done enough bragging on sweet Zechy for now! I just want to celebrate his sweet little life and all that God has done and will continue to do in the years ahead. I can't imagine him any other way right now, but I know before I blink it will be hard to remember him at this sweet little age. Lord help me just savor every single second of it! Doesn't get any sweeter than this!
