For Joseph

It’s quite the crazy trip

how my life has changed so quick

With just a little flick

he rearranged my script

He mixed in Divine

then fixed all my lines,

made it fit with His rhyme

and I‘m just a blip on this line

but here I sit in His shine

with a child Divine

in these arms of mine

Sends chills flyin’

up and down my spine

I can’t comprehend but I’m tryin‘

and I find

that my mind

is inclined to rewind

to reminisce

at a time like this

that‘s momentous

to find the signs and what’s behind

this moment that‘s defined 

By the moments behind

that exists intertwined

up and down a timeline

like a vine as it climbs

turning time that is mine on a dime

as it is designed

by a mind that is Divine

the One that is there through all time

‘Cause My God is near and never far

He’s here and where we are

whether dream or whether star

He was right there at the start

in the dark and the rain

when life got hard

and it was hard to explain

in regard to the pain

and who’s to blame

My head told my heart,

if your smart, to depart

‘fore that spark became a flame

and the scar of shame

put a stain upon her name

plus our families just the same

So again, who‘s to blame?

and how it came?

I don’t know, I can‘t explain

so I can‘t remain

I insist, I must dismiss

or this will persist

like the mist

this gossip that sits

on the tips of lips

as it drips it rips

sinking ships

with the truth it flips

‘cause words bruise like a fist

It’s amidst all of this and its noise

as I sit poised

That the LORD deploys His voice

Came down to change my choice

There I was as I am

footsteps in the sand

with three days to span

and I`ll be the man

holding the hand

of the mother mild with the child

making miles in the wild

to the south of this land

by the mouth of a man

‘cause God’s command

is Caesar’s demand,  

is part of the plan,

I’m part of David‘s clan

so it‘s back to Bethlehem

and understand

I’m doing the best that I can

to stand

to stay strong with a smile

every mile of this trial

and all of the while

like a child

I’m reaching for the hand of I Am

‘cause He is who He is

and these plans are His

I’ll take truth of You as fact

with a view of you intact,

but it really only matters

what you do with that

and how you act

when you walk through black

or flew in blue through flak,

got bruised all blue and black,

fell down flat on your back

calling “God where you at?“

When mishaps start to stack,

How do you react?

And so I chew on that

as we rendezvous on back

by way of avenue,

that track,

that path into my past.

They pass, en masse to amass

to the task that he ask

to sign up as a stat,

but we back in the back

with the last of the pack

and that dot on the map

is packed.

Now add, subtract

Just do the math.

There‘s not a room in this inn

and she‘s due soon to begin

time is thin on the slim

so in the dim of the spin, 

on the brim

I am down on a limb

with my hands as a hymn

and I sing from within

calling out to Him

like I’m sitting at my Master’s feet

where I plead for all I need 

to be

the man He asks of me

‘cause in the last few weeks

my life has changed so drastically

into the way it has to be

Now should I fail to trust

your hands steadfast on me

and turn away now passively

then let your love chase after me

that I would turn and face the task I see

What I see tonight

in this moment that is passing me

is a manger filled with majesty

And as for me, I`m centre stage

in this role He cast for me

and in my arms

the only hope for all humanity

to save this world from its catastrophe

So LORD,

one more time I’m asking please

pour out your blessings lavishly

that I might be the father that you ask of me

Help me to complete this task

this lease

and play this tiny part inside Your masterpiece.

~ 2012

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Facebook reminded me of this poem I wrote eleven years ago for a young people’s Christmas dinner. With the poem, I wanted to step into the shoes of Joseph and imagine what was going through his mind as the events of Christ’s birth, his son, were taking place. We don’t know much about Joseph, which just goes to show that God didn’t write the Bible to feed our fantasies and give us compelling individual narratives. We don’t know much about Joseph because he is not the main character.

But perhaps the little we do know says all we need to know. It is not hard to imagine a scenario where Joseph politely steps out of the story and claims innocence of any wrongdoing. That is what he was going to do. But God stepped in and spoke and Joseph believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Joseph was a righteous man we are told, and what he did was righteous. He committed himself to Mary and to God’s plan for his life, as disruptive as it was. That is what I find compelling about Joseph, and I hoped to capture that in the poem I wrote.