29 May 2013

God Had a Plan (Infusion 2013)

INFUSION 2013
29 May 2013


At INFUSION, one of the students from Campus Ambassadors in SUNY Oneonta, performed the following poem she had written. Natalie Newton had the audience (including myself) hanging on every word and phrase. You can find her performing it on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSRAh4zlAhA&feature=share


GOD HAD A PLAN

God had a plan.
From the foundation
From the beginning
When in his palms
He formed a man.
And that man
Would stand in his image,
Every part of him
Perfectly fitted.
And from the very first minute,
He was called good.
God called him good,
And yet he understood,
What would happen tomorrow
Wasn't going to be good.
He had created his bride
And gave her a ring,
But he already knew
What tomorrow would bring.
His plan was teeming
With the intricate works
Of a creative King.
He already knew the cold winter
He had to take us through
Before we hit spring.
He knew the choice she would make,
The fruit she would take,
That bond that sin would break,
He knew the separation
That would make his heart ache –
The man who would die
For the whole world's sake,
The church that would rise up
And cause evil to shake.
Beloved make no mistake,
He knew all this,
And yet he thought she was great.
He probably even smiled,
Because at least for a little while,
Man was yet to have to be
Reconciled to the creator,
And sin had yet to defile,
The beautiful creature to whom
He found it all worthwhile.
And when that all came to pass,
When man began to stumble
Don't for a minute think
That God's plan crumbled,
Because from the moment
He even thought of man,
He had a plan. 

Not the kind of plan that
You and I make for vacation –
God wanted conversation,
And knew he had to rid us
Of the infection
That gave us isolation,
And all that hindered our restoration.
He knew he'd take
The man in his hands
Through the darkest night,
Through a war that
He knew He had to fight,
The Son he would have to sacrifice.
When he made his plan,
It wasn't bound by perfection,
It was based in affection.
When God planned,
He dreamed of love –
The same love that man
Had become deprived of,
The kind of love that was lifelong,
For the one thing he wanted all along.
He came for our heart,
The part of man that began
To beat from the start,
With the thud thud through every part,
Of our anatomy
And yet feels every emotion –
He came for heart
The same heart
He had in the beginning.
But he gave men this voice –
He wanted them to have a choice,
The option to rejoice, or not
And from the choice yes
On the ballot of salvation
Would come love He couldn't have achieved
By any motion to coerce,
The kind of love that the devil could not reverse,
Because all the while
He teaches us how to love
Perfectly, enormously, wonderfully -
So this plan –
This story He is writing,
As he writes –
As the words etched in His heart hit paper,
Scriptures you hold
Are love letters to your soul,
From the God who wants to make you whole,
To a heart He chose not to control,
He had planned His reply,
To win back the heart of His bride,
With a cross on which He chose to die,
And let her decide,
To love Him for all her life.

So from the beginning
God was planning
And you have a piece in this great story,
That ends with an inheritance
To all the King’s glory.
But I won't lie –
The middle is speckled with pain,
Sure, sin has a habit of creating these chains,
That sprain and strain and stain and wane.
We're all coming from a place
Where sin had domain.
Yes, there was a winter to be had,
A night to suffer to which He'd be glad,
If He could know that pain wasn't to last,
And that all of the struggle
Would be a thing of the past.
But the relationship forged
In the deepest of measures,
Would lead to a blessing
With the greatest of pleasures.
But like a child who reads the last pages first,
To make sure the characters
Make it through the very worst,
In the end of God's plan
We all will be reimbursed. 

The final point I want to make to you,
Is that there is nothing you could ever do,
That could cause God's plan to fall through,
No matter how we trip and fall,
The mistakes we regret
Neither big nor small,
Could ever stall
The plan in store
God has for us all.
Because from the beginning,
What he could see,
Was the story
He'd write about you and about me,
When man ran away and decided to retreat,
He was thinking of you –
And He was thinking of me,
When he started to pick up all of the debris,
He was thinking of you –
And he was thinking of me.
When he was hanging on a tree –
All he could see was you – and me.
So the God of the universe has sent out His invitation
He's already given us His presentation
Bride are you ready to take part in the celebration?

Natalie Newton

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