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The Charcoal Bridge

Michael James

God I'm struggling.


It's become so hard to ignore

The sin that's prowling outside my door


The lion wants nothing more

Than to steal, kill and destroy.

Of course it's all a ploy

Just to see you in pain

Like the day Christ was brutally slain

By your own creation.


I live in a nation

Of self-gratification,

That lives for work and recreation

With no hesitation

To deny your very existence.

Satan's hellish persistence

Overcomes our half-hearted resistance,

Just enough in this instance

To say "God, I tried."


Is this why he died?

So our evil can just be swept aside?

Mere dust on the floor of our lives,

As if freedom to sin is what forgiveness provides,

But no!

It was so

we can be justified,

sanctified

Before the Holy Christ

That he paid the ultimate price.


And I've burnt that bridge a million times.


--


Across the chasm of death, upon white sands,

His hands

blackened with ash,

the Carpenter stands.

With love, He beckons me to come

My infidelity still chokes my lungs

But I pocket my torch and grasp the rungs

Of the charcoal bridge

Rebuilt with the wood upon which he hung.


--


Across the chasm of death,

I stagger, weak, holding my breath,

Fearing to look down,

For if the ground

gives way

I know I'll drown!

God, I'm struggling!


--


You know

That deep down in my soul,

There's a defiance

A desire for control

That rejects all reliance

On you.


But I hear your voice, and turn my eyes

Away from the well of lies

That supplies

My doubt.

You carry me out,

Away

from the drought

And the miry clay

And into peace.

My fears decrease

Anxieties cease

And finally, I rest.


--


We both know

It's just a matter of time

Before again I find

Myself in the dark of my mind

Fleeing from your embrace.

But for now, I rest in your grace.


--


And for this period of joy,

I'll forget about the bridge I destroyed

And avoid

Thinking about the torch at my side.

Thank you, God, that I can never hide.

That no matter how deep and wide

I choose to make that divide,

And rebel in my pride

I will be at a loss

As you carry me across


The Charcoal Bridge.



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