FIRE IN MA BELLY

How SHORT do our names for you fall? How short of your glory do our prayers fall in calling your name? I humbly follow the words of your people, of Israel, of Ephraim, to call out to YOU.





Revolution come free us, Holy Brother us desert wanderers have no place to call home

Physician come heal us Holy Mender us blind ol lepers can not find our way home

Refugee just like me please don't leave You're our only....

Compassion come save us Holy Lover us warmongers ruined this place we call home

Refugee just like me please don't leave You're our only...Home, Home.

- The Psalters





Come, Come, wherever you are.

Wonderer, worshipper, lover of leaving.

It doesn’t matter.

Ours is not a caravan of despair

Come, even if you have broken your vows

A thousand times.

Come, yet again, come, come.





I can’t help but feel restless. For all there is in this city, my heart wanders and longs. Why? You are calling us out of wandering. You are calling us back to you, back into the shadow of your wing. Why do we flee from you? You call after my heart. I am your BELOVED and you are my LOVER. Nomad. That word speaks to me in so many more significant ways than it seems it would. It is a word dripping with a calling, with a passion, with a name for my life. It’s a word that begs me to know YOU, to seek YOU and to be KNOWN by YOU. To come out of this wandering of my Spirit and take hold of YOUR WORD. We are strangers here. You ask that we follow you, JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, who is PRESENT with us; IMMANUEL, who is GOD WITH US. You desire the willingness of us to go where You lead, My GOD. EL ELYON! And yet to let go of this world of MAMMON, the wealth of this earth, and be a stranger, a nomad, to the MAMMON of the world, never finding a home in its pleasures.



You call me out of the desert and beg that I be known by you, and by being known by you be cleansed by you. To let HAKKADOSH, the HOLY ONE, know me? ABSURD. How could I let HAKKADOSH, HOLY OF HOLIES fill me? I am too dirty. I am filth and no place for a king. Yet you are YESHU’AH, my deliverance, my SALVATION. You are YHWH who looks upon me with love and compassion, who LOVES. You are HASHEM, “THE NAME,” who is indescribable, yet you SEEK ME as I am your BELOVED.



Yet this is the state of our hearts, of mine when I have looked away from you; of the people of this land, the United States; and of the people who wander this earth, the entire world. We do not hear his voice because we are too busy listening to the desires of this world. We break the heart of EL ELYON. This is no new story. YOU first spoke it to Israel, and we hear it echo today because you long that we RETURN to you.



Isaiah 59

1 Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things. 4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads his case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider's web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 7 Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their way. 8 The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks in them will know peace. 9 So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We look for light, but all is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in deep shadows. 10 Like the blind we grope along the wall, feeling our way like men without eyes. At midday we stumble as if it were twilight; among the strong, we are like the dead. 11 We all growl like bears; we moan mournfully like doves. We look for justice, but find none; for deliverance, but it is far away. 12 For our offenses are many in your sight, and our sins testify against us. Our offenses are ever with us, and we acknowledge our iniquities: 13 rebellion and treachery against the LORD, turning our backs on our God, formenting oppression and revolt, uttering lies our hearts have conceived. 14 So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. 15 Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice. 16 He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate, 
and the helmet of salvation on his head; he put on the garments of vengeance and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. 18 According to what they have done, so will he repay wrath to his enemies and retribution to his foes; he will repay the islands their due. 19 From the west, men will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun, they will revere his glory. For he will come like a pent-up flood that the breath of the LORD drives along. 20 "The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who repent of their sins," 
declares the LORD. 21 "As for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD. "My Spirit, who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of their descendants from this time on and forever," says the LORD.



What is this? That we are a nation who has fled from the presence of YHWH. Who has turned JUSTICE and TRUTH to the streets and closed the doors of our homes to them? Yet he would take us back, and remind us of his covenant! HUMBLE us HAKKADOSH, HOLY ONE. “COME, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” HOSEA 6:1-3. YHWH, desires TRUTH and JUSTICE. And he promises his REDEMPTION as he is YESHU’AH! Such a promise to be revealed by a YESHUA who is JESUS, who on the third day was RESTORED. RISEN! A Jesus who fulfills the covenant of YHWH, though we have spat on HIS NAME, HASHEM.



Do you see the compassion of EL ELYON? Who longs for the redemption of his people? “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears!” “I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me. They do not cry out to me from their hearts.” HOSEA 6:4 & 7:13/14.



My heart aches for this people, this nation, for my own heart, we who are part of the covenant, who are his children, Israel. Ache is too weak a word. My heart burns that this be not so. EL SHADDAI, you are sufficient. You take care of me, you hear my aching heart and the Spirit that groans within me and you fill that. JEHOVAH SHALOM, oh my peace. Oh, my PEACE. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. “ Philippians 4:6-7 PEACE of God! JEHOVAH SHALOM! JEHOVAH SHAMMAH, you are PRESENT. Here, active. You are not sleeping, you are not ignoring. You hear the cries of your people. The cries of your people in the city. HEARTS! Know you are heard.



Seek to know this GOD who is so many names. Seek to know his names. Come out of the desert. “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” HOSEA 14:9



Know this, we may stray, but YHWH is steadfast. If you stray and do not come back, you WILL taste death that has no relief. You will reap what you have sown and put yourself in place to receive the JUSTICE and WRATH of YHWH we deserve with no intercessor, JESUS, to cover your sin. How terrifying is the day I am judged for my life, for I cannot stand before HAKKADASH, THE HOLY ONE, as I am without being obliterated by his perfection and glory. Even the angels cover their faces in his presence, what chance have I to survive the face of God? I cannot keep the perfection of the LAW of God, laid down before Moses. Yet there is hope and RESTORATION. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” COLOSSIANS 1:21-22 Chapter 2 of Colossians continues on admonishing the fullness of life we can seek from Christ, that we are now alive where we were dead. Take hope in that brothers and sisters, be glad!



But know this. We are human and fallible. Our emotions betray us for they are imperfect just as all of humanity is. “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” COLOSSIANS 2:8



YHWH is faithful. How beautiful that we are HIS. What peace there is in HIS covenant. Seek to know HIM. Learn of all his names and delight in HIS PRESENCE.

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” ISAIAH 54:10

Rootless Tree, these are now to you.

There are losses in life that remove an essence of you. It feels like there should be a white flag of surrender above my life, or at least a banner exclaiming that I cannot possibly smile again as long as this loss has existed. And the the punch line. Life goes on. It feels so wrong that I should smile after this, but it's true. Life goes on.

I want to take a stab at you, try to raise some response from you. I want to grasp the fact that I should be over this. It just seems like you of all people should never have done this to me. You who held me in one of the darkest moments of my life, in the aftermath of him. You who listened to Rootless Tree and screamed the chorus with me. You who said "I love you" more genuinely than any other.

You have walked out, and only offer an apology saying you have handled things badly? I stay up at night thinking about this, do you understand that? I cry for this. I don't let go of this. Of all the people who have hurt me in my life, who I have forgiven and forgotton.. I never imagined to add you to the list. Only I haven't forgotten, and to be honest I'm not sure that I can forgive.

Gain her trust in the fullest. You will not see me again.

Dear Joe America

This is not new, only a little more grown. These are my thoughts on who Jesus is, who is followers are, and who I should not be. This is what I feel most strongly about. This is a charge and a blame to Joe America and I wish I could say I’ve never been called Joe, but this life is a journey through imperfection to find what matters and not who is right. I am Joe and so are you. And so I aspire to be something more, or more appropriately, something less. I aspire to be something like Jesus.


Jesus was not a white, middle class, republican. In fact, he wasn’t even American. He was poor, homeless, and humble. He walked the streets and he ate with the unlovable. He worked with his hands, he washed people’s feet, and I’m pretty sure he smelled terrible. Revolutionary, is what he was and still is. So my heroes are people who act like Jesus and I’m sure there’s a few in my list you wouldn’t expect.

So let’s stop ignoring the homeless and the needy, and love them instead. Let’s stop preaching action and sitting in apathy. Let’s stop using the word Love with no intentions of acting on it. Don’t weep for the broken from afar, they should feel the wetness of our tears in the firmness of our embrace. Let’s simplify our lives so that we can appreciate the necessities. Let’s spend less money and more time. Let’s face eachother’s insufficiencies, and instead of spitting at their backs, let’s build up what we’ve broken and for once love in word, deed, and attitude.

This is a ramble, because it’s late and I’m restless. Revolutionary, let’s change something. From a literary stance this is a mess but take a look. Spend a dollar less today, work an hour more. Dumpster Diving, anyone? So be hungry. Be hungry to know more, to know people more, to give more, to give people more. Be hungry because you missed breakfast to feed someone who has missed all his meals, more than once.

Dear America,
We’ve been faking it less than lightly
for slightly more than a while.
Crazed, but not forgotten for an instant,
I think I hear a story.
Won’t you take your mediocrity and spare me
your excuses to listen for a while?

Take hold, this is beauty in the poverty of our beginnings.
To be coinless would lighten the load on my heart.
Lighter and richer because my soul lives
where the world fails to feed it.

And I’ve lived long enough to cry for a meal taken
from the mouths of those who cannot afford it,
and seen it thrust to the gluttony of the American Royalty.

Joe America has never met Want,
nor will they ever be more than casual acquaintances.
They will walk the same streets, but Joe
will lay his head somewhere else at night.

Quickly, this is a bust and you’ve no clue how to be hungry.
How could you possibly feed those whose hands are already in the pantry.

Crock of lies, let me toss you a sandwich,
because I bought this pen with money that
should have fallen to hands who cannot afford to write.

Freeganism, let’s dive in dumpsters and overwrite
the worn out tales that food can’t be secondhand.

I’ve been hungry all my life for a taste of social justice.
And I’m beginning to be filled by letting a full
stomach go empty and taking the man from the corner to Moe’s.

Joe America doesn’t know how to justify his salary,
because the dirty down the street gave him a carwash and a smile
for a word he’s unfamiliar with; free.
And for a reason he cannot comprehend; love.

Joe’s no more free from the bondage of his Rolex than the poor man is from his stomach.
Luckily some bread could free the hungry and we can only hope the hungry will free the rest.
Because of love.

Findme, I swear I'll follow

Oh heart stop, drop, and roll. 

You've caught the eye of my soul.

And if you never notice the star

you've put in my eye, that's ok. 

It gives me less to awkwardly deny. 

Oh vagabond, with your jacket sewn.

Give me hope for wandering less than alone.

Drifter come walk with me!

I'll abandon the city streets and the quiet countryside,

for freeganism and nights lost to strange beds.

I'll leave the settled just as quickly

as my pen forgets the measures and the rhyme.

Passion unperversed, what a novelty.

I'm quite fine with romantic idealogies.

Oh vagabond, come walk with me.

And just as Heminway told, we can drift by the sea.

My name is Reid. I feel the need to document things, places, voices, and stories of those I encounter.