Best Poem in the World

BEST POEM IN THE WORLD

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
Nor the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp--
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics and the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
Was rotting away in hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
Looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, 'What's the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

'And why is everyone so quiet,
So somber - give me a clue.'
'Hush, child,' He said, 'they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you.'

JUDGE NOT!!

Remember...Just going to church doesn't make you a
Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Every saint has a PAST...
Every sinner has a FUTURE!
Now it's your turn... Share this poem.

They say that those who are not raised in a christian home but come to Christ later are less likely to take thier faith for granted. I don't know if that's true or not but i've seen examples of both. My mom was not raised christian, she was most decidedly not a christian when she met my dad or when she escaped her extremely abusive first marriage with my two sisters. My mom loves to tell people about how she was dyslexic and couldn't read and did poorly in school and then one day in a hotel with all of us kids the Lord put it on her heart to open one of those Gideon bibles and how all the words suddenly made sense and she could read them. For a long time she carried that Gideon bible around with her as proof that the Lord gave her the ability to read and how on that day she read about Jesus and his sacrifice for us and she gave her life to Christ. She also smoked, never when she was pregnant or nursing, but afterwards yeah she always went back to it and then one day the Holy Spirit told her to just stop. To hear her tell it she just put it down and never picked it up again..thereby proving the strength of the Holy Spirit to help us kick our habits. My mom used tell us stories all the time about how my two older sisters witnessed to her and how they would say things like "mom we really wish you would turn your life and heart to Christ" until, finally, one day she did. My mom has always been the source of spiritual strength in our family, the glue that held us all together in times of good and bad. In my moms case she came to Christ later and like the poem says ever sinner has a past and every saint a future. My mom eventually got her GED, went to a community college and on to LSU and now has a masters degree in Art Education. She loves being a teacher and even without a piece of paper she was always a fantastic teacher at home. She taught all of us how to read, write our names in print and cursive, and helped teach us how to think on different levels and to see all the possible outcomes. She was born to be a teacher she just took a few scenic detours getting there. Because of her difficulty with reading she was adamant that we be read to. We didn't have t.v. until i was almost 10 years old. We did frequent whatever library there was in whatever town we happened to be living in at the time. She read to us constantly but she made it entertaining and fun. Even today when I go to a library I get really excited and my stepdaughter shares that excitement and so does my 4 year old. it's like shopping without having to pay for anything. My point is that what my mother viewed as her shortcomings, no formal education, unable to read, and a host of others, she actively sought to eliminate those things from her childrens lives. My mom managed to raise 7 healthy, relativly well adjusted, educated children. All of us have a college education, all of us graduated with honors, and all of us owe it to my mothers diligence in that area. But my mom could not have done all that she did without the help of the holy trinity in her life. She raised to believe that the impossible was possible with the right frame of mind. She raised us to see opportunities instead of road blocks and always she taught us that it had to be God's will and not ours.
In my mothers case it was a faith born out of years of abuse and frustration that broke her down enough to accept the will and grace of God. In my case it was a lifelong induction to Christ. I can not remember a time when we didn't go to church, read the bible, or celebrate religious holidays. I used to have such a fire for Christ in my heart, he was first and foremost all the time. I led the youth group in high school, I was usually first to witness to my friends and the first music I listened to was christian. I sang in the church choir and so on and so forth. I would say that for most of my life Christ led my footsteps. But what no one knows is that as a child and especially as a teenager I suffered from depression. I would cry myself to sleep at night and had no idea why I was crying or what caused it. I was just sad and I always felt lonely and rejected. I would go long stretches at a time not leaving our apartment, hotel, motel, campground, wherever we happened to be living. I would stop going outside to play with my friends and I would just hole up inside and lose myself in books. One summer in particular sticks out in my mind. My best friend Abby Wright had rejected me to become friends with the new girl in our apartment complex. I was devestated it was the first time I had ever had a best friend, outside of family, and she had rejected me in a very cruel way. She had told the new girl that our family was poor and we used food stamps. That was all true but it hurt that she made me feel ashamed to be poor. After that she wasn't interested in being my friend unless it was to taunt me in front of the new girl. Soon after that school ended and I spent the entire summer inside our apartment either reading or doing chores. I wouldn't go outside and play no matter how much my younger sister begged me to and I wouldn't watch t.v. with them on family nights, I just wanted to be left alone to read. I think i knew, even then, even that young that there was something not right with my head but anytime I tried to tell my mom about it she told me I should just pray. The point is that I grew up in a loud, busy, noisy, family but I isolated myself as much as I could. It was not unusual to find me locked in the car with windows rolled up on and the doors locked just to be alone. Don't get me wrong I wasn't a total loner I had friends some of which are still my friends today but when I was at home i'd rather just be left alone so I could read.I was an exceptional student and I have a ton of awards from school to prove it. When other kids were lettering in sports I lettered in Academics, no lie I have the letterman jacket to prove it, I was a band geek, but I also played sports for fun. I was never going to be the best but I did get some court time. My point is that you can have depression and still find a way to live a normal life you just have to figure out your triggers and find a good medication to help you balance out.
My point is that I prayed, I quite literally walked and talked with God on a regular basis and I kept getting angrier and angrier until one day in desperation I cried out to God to take the anger away from me. It was strangling me and there were times when I my skin would crawl with the heat of it. I would like to say he took it away all at once but that would be a lie. He sent people into my life that showed me and taught me a better way of dealing with all the pent up rage until one day it was just gone. Anger can kill your soul same as anything else and it's just as much a sin as anything else can be. For a few years I was happy and content and then I made a conscious decison to walk away from my relationship with Christ. I know!!!! Stupid right..yes it was and the only thing I have to say is that Satan knew the exact way to get at me. It wasn't money, fame, or sex. It was very simply love. I was starved for love from my dad my whole life and from my brother as well and all it took was one boy saying he loved me and God telling me I had a choice to make and I chose the boy. yeah that's right I chose human, falible love over the divine love. Ok I was an idiot, I was young and dumb and tired of feeling alone and isolated. As you can guess that relationship did't pan out and neither did the other two I attempted after that. I was raised a christian, I knew better, I did it anyway. I'm still fighting to regain the close relationship I had with Christ prior to that incident and there are days when it seems we are so far apart that I'll never be able to bridge that gap again. Maybe I just need to remember that it's Christ that bridges the gap..not us.

Now on that note i'm going to go make me some coffee and get back to pretending to work.