we live in a shallow world filled with shallow people
answers sought for everywhere, save the broken Steeple.
we’re artificial, superficial, time cannot erase
the plastic bags and shopping carts
we’re helplessly displaced.

celebrity magazines deceivingly glimmering
it all seems just so fickle.
“mingle with hot singles,”
‘cause that’s what love is, right? objectification?

reality television, painting a portrait
that scapegoats our own wavering convictions.
aestheticism and poeticism, coupled with romanticism
traded for oiled skin and muscle tone
and all of this vehemently condoned.

when broken homes and wise-word tomes are rarely intertwined
it’s times like these, we search like thieves, for what’s impossible to find.
encouraged to offend, scorned if we can’t pretend
i didn’t know it possible to drown in the shallow end.

with aching hearts, crude body parts, we’ll search for love again
but perfect Love, though we may seek, is not of human plans.
crude hands rubbing skin
sand-paper throats choking down alcohol
blacking out and waking up in pools of our own vomit, sweat, and spit.
pissed upon by friends who think it’s all a joke
while we lay unconscious, Death’s fingers about our throat.

three hundred and fifty channels promoting a valueless existence,
confusing sex with love, forcing us to deep-throat madness.
sanity has ruptured, leaving room only for confusion.
we are a mess, and this is my conclusion:
we’re obsessed with leading lives devoid of faith, hope, and love.

for, what am i but the resounding clang of a cymbal?
if i have not love, i am nothing, i tell you, nothing!

we sit on university campuses, pretending we’re awesome
while starving children are yearning for the extra half
of the cheeseburger we just threw away.
we part with our reality, we bask in our anxiety
‘cause we’re afraid of what it means to be vulnerable.
i remember reading that love is vulnerability
and we can’t begin to love unless we engage in a dance of transparency

but, this openness is mindlessness
because i hide my insecurities behind my extroversion.

i talk about God like i know Him, but i ain’t got the slightest clue
‘cause if i really knew what He did on Calvary, if i knew what He did for me
then, maybe i’d start acting like i actually need Him.
i wrap myself up comfortably in my anger,
arrange my heart with earnest trivialities
and blanket my sadness with filth,

yeah, ‘cause i’d rather be pissed off
than to hafta feel this hole that’s in my heart
and it’s easier to be irate
because when i can’t see past my rage
it’s easier to forget the Cross and what it means for you and for me.

if i truly believed, i’d live my life so differently
i’d quit pretending i was the only one who mattered
start breathing in the Spirit and exorcising disaster.

each and every one of our black hearts has known the kiss of grace
yet we seek the lives that seem to me so easy to replace.
we ask the question a thousand times, “why must it end this way?”
in the end, it’s just a matter of rhyme, we’re nigh impossible to dissuade.

we live in a beautiful world filled with beautiful people,
infused with rich community, far more important than any Steeple.
we burn the tangible things of the world
and search for love in all the right places, ‘cause
at the end of the day, we realize
we can’t take anything past the grave.

so, show the world that you still hold hope.
victory outweighs the burden of regret,
and i’m just beginning to find the answers
to all the queries that lurk within my chest.

don the full Armor of God,
so you can be firm against the lies of the Enemy.
stand strong in the face of wickedness and with all your breath scream,
“you have no power here! you shall not pass!”

you are more than a conqueror.

i will never ever forget that the easiest route
is only the cheapest way out.
i’m reminding myself to live above and beyond my regret.