Prayer Requests (poem)

Hearing bad news,
Resisting the urge to say,
"Did you hear...?"
Sometimes prayer requests
Are really just gossip.

Standing up to preach
Even when you are failing.
Proclaiming the truth
Even when you can't live up to it.

I'm not the kind of person who...
But yes.
Yes I am.
There is only one kind of person:
A sinner dependent on grace,
A flawed creature in need of the only person
Who can draw the world to himself
And wrap us all in arms
Stretched wide upon the cross.