[ Jesus prays to the Father]

“I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:26 NKJV) 

Lord, please lead me to them.
Lord, please may I seek them.
Lord, please, I pray to find them.
To be one among these more than one

who have unearthed faith
in your message, the Good News.
Brought forth by those who walked alongside,
carried under Your covering to the end. To life

rooted in Your Word, in encompassing love.
For the sinners first called, those later to follow,
for the poor in spirit whom You bless -
the orphan, the widow, the broken heart

 with ears to hear Your teaching – the gate is narrow.
I tremble; unable to find a way without
Your justice, Your mercy, Your outpouring of Grace -
that free gift saving all whose hearts confess

to You. While I, missing in a desert, with absence
failing to fulfill a promise to those I love – oh, so
often away, lost in the corner of my mind.
The pain created I hear, the spent frustration I see 

as I appear unsolvable to those whose
blessings are near enough to touch. Others
kept at distance so long I ache, knowing
where I have failed to lay a single stone -as

 I reach further back, fresh pain
surmounted only by shame,
as I reaped destruction from which I had sown.
I set myself far away Your healing,

entrapped in this expanse, where the vulgar ruled
over the gift of phrase, a drunken cynic blundered
blind, until You reached out toward me -
newborn children turned me; then You brought me near to ruin

through a despairing stretch, committing me, time
and again, to Your might, to Your delivering power.
I was carried in love, in protection undeserved.
Humbled, and through mercy alone, reviving

 the ardor to pursue You that ensued from the heart,
beyond singing, beyond hearing, beyond believing.
You uncovered layers of new life.  The adrenaline
surprised, butterflies before the big game as

I entered the water, knowing parts only in abstract,
puzzling from myself how to die.  Seeking new life
as the smallest seed, praying not set among rocks
or thorns; engaged in the search for true life

where I commit now to tame the mind from a new heart.
While I am not arrived, Your certain peace approaches.
Though My sin purports to break my back You hear me –
through your shed blood I am healed, set free

to live a testimony, to make You known on the street,
around the block, over lithium powered canyons.
You alone are the Lord, the most high, the Christ.
Lord prune me, water me for one more season.