future flowers,
whispered war-cries:
poetic truth of a Kingdom
a war is waging, and a King is coming.
thus, these poems sing.
they utter war-cries of faith for the one thick in battle.
they whisper teardrops of hope for the aching soul.
and they overflow in dancing, giggling worship because of love.
in stories and colors, emotions and beauties,
they’re an anthology drawing together to testify of the King
through heartfelt moments and
genuine truth
and in free verse and rhyme and behind-the-scenes stories.
an arsenal of indie artists are featured within their pages,
and laughingly, these more than eighty poems sing of joys to come
(like a poem with giraffes).
may every word
stir one’s heart to live for that Kingdom.
Published December 31, 2022
Matthew 13:44
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
Behind
"future flowers, whispered war-cries,"
by the author
God gave me a huge love for poetry, and it turned into the collection, future flowers, whispered war-cries: poetic truth of a Kingdom.
It began when I took a university class and learned of the beauty of free verse poetry (which has no fixed rhyme or meter). After that, poems flowed out of my hands as whispers of praise to God, of desperate prayers, and to process life.
But at one point, my computer, which had many of the poems, crashed (aka, I spilled water on it), and though I prayed over it, the laptop never turned back on.
It tested my faith, and I had to surrender the lost creations to God. In His own timing, He so kindly used my technological brother to later restore everything on the hard drive, returning the slips of words that meant so much, and I knew He had purpose in these pieces. Thus, the anthology began.
Then as I read Scripture, God taught me of Jesus’ coming Kingdom and how knowing the end of our story as Christians gives us endurance to press on. Thus, this collection was organized as an anthology of poetry, beginning with poems of faith (roots, or the foundation of belief), hope (thorns, or pressing on because we know the ending), and love (blossoms, or the relationship with Jesus, the beauty, the loyalty).
As I wrapped up the anthology, I got to record behind-the-poem snippets in the book that speak of His faithfulness and leading in every single one. But He continued—by providing indie artists who joined me to illustrate the poems, and I was blessed to feature nine talented siblings in Jesus who were also part of this book.
The poems feel like tiny testimonies of Jesus. My hope is that they are war-cries to readers to press on in the faith, to see the treasure that is found in Jesus, and to be a little snippet of beauty wrapped in a cover for God’s glory.
you only live twice
In a world of enduring winter, You Only Live Twice is a hope-filled signpost for spring’s birth—a collection of forty-nine Easter-Advent poems. They are calls to courage in the lingering cold, knowing in hope like the early-blooming crocus, that spring came before, and it will come again. This anthology declares the truth that two millennia ago, a Man died on a mission of grace for the sinner then rose again on Easter; thus Jesus lived twice. On a future day when He returns as the resurrection and the life, so shall His children live again.
They’re poems of winter and spring, of hope and courage, of a Kingdom to come that’s certain and bright.
For the soul banking its future on that Messiah King, these are a poetic invitation to embrace the truth of Easter—that there is a forever life of far more value than these current, uncertain days. In Jesus, we’ll get to live it.
For the follower of Jesus, Good Friday yielded Easter. Winter always yields spring. And death will yield life. So, like the deep-red growth of spring roses on brittle, dead branches, dare to believe your resurrected King.
Because of Jesus’ victory on Easter, one can live twice.
Published April 9, 2025
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep...
The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
...in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed... then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O Death, where is your sting?
O Hades, where is your victory?”
... But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
- snippets from 1 Corinthians 15
Behind
"You Only Live Twice,"
by the author
For years, I’ve loved Easter and how Jesus’ finished work through Holy Week and Easter changes everything for the disciple today... and gives us hope for the future. So, when God gave me the title you only live twice out of the blue one autumn day, I was thrilled. Out of it came this collection of forty-eight Easter-advent, spring poems that point to the truth that because of Easter when Jesus rose to live again, when He returns, we too will live twice.
The poems are a call to embrace that truth and to live faithfully as we await the Day of Christ Jesus... not to live as the world who claims we’ll only live once and thus stuffs itself with selfish pleasures and lusts but instead to give our lives for a coming Kingdom and its King.
God gave me the opportunity to work with a talented, young artist for the cover of this collection, and His grace in this project—such a publishing on a tight schedule and also recording the audiobook version of the poems—was so sufficient for each one of these poems that He gave to, together, urge disciples to keep their eyes peeled on the truth of the Gospel and return of Jesus.