Forget the Man that felt no pain
I feel so different but look the same
I'm going to church and trying so hard
Trusting in God to lower my guard
I felt so empty but now that's changed
Living a life outside of gangs
No more killing, stealing, fighting or drugs
No more blasting then laughing and kicking with the thugs
I feel much better and stronger inside
Lost some good homies, few guns, and a little pride
That was all worldly and nothing I need
My life's no longer focused on violence and greed
Forget the man that felt no pain
I wanna go to heaven that's why I changed

                                                        Shawn Long

WAIT 

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried:
Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate,
And the Master so gently said, "Child, you must wait."

 "WAIT? You say 'wait'," my indignant reply.
"LORD, I need answers.  I need to know why!"
Is your hand shortened?  Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked and am claiming your Word.
My future and all to which I can relate
hangs in the balance, and YOU tell me "Wait?"


I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
And, Lord, You promised that if we believe
we need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And, Lord, I've been asking! "I need a reply!"

  Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate
As my Master replied once again, "You must wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut.
And grumbled to God, "So I'm waiting.....for what?"

  He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine,
And He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign."
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead, cause the mountains to run.

All you seek, I could give, and pleased you would be.
You would have what you want--But you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint;
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint;
You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
 

You'd not learn to trust just be knowing I'm there;
You'd not know joy of resting in Me;
When darkness and silence were all you could see:
You'd never experience the fullness of love
As the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove;
You'd know that I give and I save (for a start),
 

But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart,
The glow of My comfort late in the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight,
The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked
Of an infinite God, who makes what you have LAST.
 

You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that "My grace is sufficient for thee,
Yes, your dreams for that loved one overnight would come true,
but, Oh, the loss!  If I lost what I am doing in you!"
 

"So, be silent, My child, and in time you will see.
That the greatest of gifts is to get to know me.
And though My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still, "WAIT"