Jack Pelham

Is there any evil so great
That all the people
Will stand up to oppose it?

When you can robustly love another human
For the long haul—
Even when you know they don’t
Love you back—
That’s when you know
What real love is.

Some simply want a we and an us
Far more than they want the truth.

They want a place to belong
And a label by which
To call themselves
Much more than they want
To understand either themselves
Or the big picture of this world.

You can spot the authentic people.
They’re the ones who are always trying
To become more authentic.

The best friends
Will make your life better.
It’s what they do.

I don’t even think
They’ve paid enough attention
To notice really that there’s
More than one Jesus being put forward
By the churches—
Each one assuming it has got
The Right Jesus
Of course
Yet doing precious little
To check themselves
Against the entire record
And having no idea
Just how far off into the weeds
They have wandered.

There is hope in the morning
Even before the sunrise
Waiting underneath the dew
Like the What Is It? from Heaven
To be gathered
As much as one would like
Until it has melted with
The heat of the day.

Their mornings will come,
When they rise to discover
Just what He had meant
And how much He had meant it—

Who among us has no major flaws?
Who is not dysfunctional in some way?
Who has no immaturity of character?

Who is wholly honest and
Rational and
Responsible in every matter?

Your sins and errors
And limitations and quirks—
And even your different views
In matters of taste—
Are every the ready excuses
For those who would like to reject
Some point of truth that you are telling.

They don’t need much
To “justify” rejecting the truth,
For they are, after all,
Liars already.
So if you’ll provide
The slightest fault from which
They can start the rejection,
This saves them the trouble
Of having to start from scratch
With an excuse of their own.