Seeing First Hand

This poem was written by a man on staff at HFBC and was used in the Celebration presentation this weekend. It is lengthy but beautiful as it tells the whole story. Enjoy in this beautiful season:

Seeing First Hand by Stephen Smith

To say the scene in Bethlehem that night

was "only the beginning" would be a vast understatement.

For as the years passed, the boy grew.....

He would escape with his parents to Egypt

He would return to settle in the home city of Nazareth

He would be trained as a carpenter.

He would see his world differently than others

He would answer his teachers' questions with amazing clarity

He would love his earthly parents.

And all the while, there....Mary and Joseph

Seeing first hand the story unfold as the angels promised.

Even as the confines of his earthly body expanded,

So too, his spirit expanded to grip the reality of his calling.

For as the years passed, the man grew......

He would hear the voice of his heavenly Father

He would see his mission come alive in his heart

He would go down to the water to John the Baptizer.

He would stun the wedding party in Cana as the water turned to fine wine

He would open the eyes of a blind beggar

He would change the life of the Samaritan woman forever.

And all the while, there.....Jesus.

He would see first hand the story unfold just as his heavenly Father promised.

Even as the palm branches fell under the feet of the humble King,

He knew the mind and heart of the religious leaders.

And as the days passed, the crowds grew.....

He would wreck the moneychangers' stalls in the temple

He would join his disciples for the Passover meal

He would journey to the garden to pray and prepare.

He would be traded to the guard for a kiss

His hands would be bound

He would be tried and mocked before the religious council.

He would stand before Pilate

He would be tested with the whip

He would be paraded through the streets.

His hands and feet would be nailed to a wooden cross

He would be wounded for the sins of the world

Then....

He would take his last breath.

And all the while, there....his brothers and disciples

Seeing first hand the story unfold just as Jesus had foretold.

But to say the scene on the cross that Friday

was "the end of the story" would be to end the matter much too quickly.

For this "end" was no "end" at all, but a brilliant beginning

And as the day dawned.....the light grew.

And the light shown in the darkness

and the darkness could neither explain it, nor blot it out.

And all the while, we, who have known nothing BUT the night,

Have had our eyes opened and we behold His Resplendent Face.

He would rise from the grave...

He would ascend into heaven...

He would save the world.....