“Me Too”

InterVarsity 2014 APA Conference

Nate Lee from Berkeley blessed us with his spoken word this conference–it was the coolest thing ever.

But every time someone does something cool, I am overwhelmed by the desire to do what they do.

“Me too,” “I want to try that.” “That would be so cool if…”

I’ve never attempted spoken word in my life

So forgive me if this poem feels a bit spliced

Interjected with my thoughts

Words splattering on a page

Phrases spat out in a daze

Insane

How these past few days

Have given me so much more to think about than just ethnicity. Ethnicity.

It’s not just a color, a label, a name.

It’s not just a history, backgrounds passed on like last names

Instead, think pride. Think purpose. Think praise.

Yes, praise to the God Almighty

Praise to His glorious name, creator of all nations, all tongues, all faces

For in ethnicity comes diversity

Random chance isn’t to blame.

In ethnicity He is reflected       

His plan. His glory that day

Genesis 11, “And the Lord scattered them over the earth.”

You see? Since birth you were scattered

Disproportionate pieces fitted together

Different elements stitched in a mayhem of color

A disguise stretched so forcibly

Your identity tore along the seams

A broken mosaic

But praise be to God who lifted our shame

In one fell swoop redeemed us as Christ came

The chains are broken; the claim remains

Lord, I am made well, and made perfect in your name.

Praise to our creator that molded us in his image,

Each with a purpose and redeeming part to play

Every race. Every ethnicity.

We all have a part to play.

It’s just that our scripts are given by God, not men.

Fearfully and wonderfully made, amen

I tasted a little bit of heaven this weekend.

Saw broken identities restored, relationships healed, idols released.

Experienced the kingdom of joy

A long lost family

Not even Satan could destroy

Rejoice

Pieces of identity picked up and glued back together

Pieces of ohana, made royal in heaven

Peace guaranteed from our Father forever

Peace that is perfect and pleasing and transcendent

Empowered

This coward

Will stretch out his hands

No dishonor

“Lord, me too

It is you I want to encounter”

You send us out as ambassadors to this earth

No less and no more

Than you intended us to be-

But we are not yet home.

I am journeying on my own exodus

Traversing expectations and rocky terrain

Lost maps, broken sign posts, no direction to maintain

My one gain

Is in you and how you stay the same

A pillar of cloud

A pillar of fire

A promise sustained

As the Israelites depended on you for help

Lord, me too.

Let me wander, let me get lost, let me give praise

Here and now, I can drop this façade

Of knowing where and why I am going

I don’t need to know where I am going.

At a conference, back in school

At home or abroad

That is why I give all glory to God.