A Poem

I was reading my friend’s blog today. There’s a poem that he’s written, that is very good and particularly relevant too.

What’s the Point?

 

Oh, Lord what calms the belly of the soul?
Each day men seek
and do not find.
Each day false idols to,
men do wrongly bind.

 

Greed eyes money,
that happiness should bring.
Lust eyes sex,
to make the soul fully sing.

 

Vigor eyes fame,
from fans that surround.
Age eyes purpose,
from the world around.

 

Yet all rings hollow
at life’s sunset.
For nothings lasts
past death’s onset.

 

So are we destined
for pain and despair?
Lord, is life beyond
hope of your repair?

 

So seem the words
of the wise old king.
Who sought those answers
away from your wing.

 

After all was said
what did he see?
After all was searched
what was the decree?

 

Fear God and obey
whatever his command.
For wholly this is
the purpose of man.

 

Happiness, wholeness
Power and delight
Reside in this.
Life’s made aright.

 

Promises he makes not
Of life trouble free.
Only that its purpose
will be fulfilled in yee.

 

For this the savior
did truly die.
Because we’re his
The apple of his eye.

 

To God be the glory.
Great things does He.
To God be the glory
Great things for me.

There You Go

There You Go!

Is this the strange feeling
Of you working all to good
‘Cause I am so confused
I don’t even ask for what I should

When I asked for and deserved a stone
You broke and gave your body as bread
And even the stone that dropped down and rolled away
Spoke of the one who bled

There you go working good from my bad
There you go making robes from my rags
There you go melting crowns from my calves
There you go working good of all I have
Till all I have’s not that bad

When I asked for and deserved a serpent
You gave a net full of fish
And even the serpent that told the lie
When lifted high foretold the gift

For you so loved the unlovable
That you gave the ineffable
That who so believes the unbelievable
Will gain the unattainable

Song by Caedmon’s Call, from their album, 40 Acres.

Telling Myself Good News

In our reading through Galatians, we were asked to say to ourselves the “gospel” that Paul is reminding the Galatians of. Here is what I told myself from Galatians 1:3,4:

“Grace and Peace! Grace which is a blessing to your spirit and Peace . . . soul peace. Grace that comes through Jesus, who gave himself willingly for you. Grace! Jesus gave himself willingly for you . . . to buy you! To buy you back! To rescue you from darkness, to save you from being condemned, from being condemned before the Father, from being condemned before those whom you hurt, from being guilty before the one who would devour your soul.

This grace that brings you peace with God. Peace within yourself, peace with those around you! Peace! In your soul.”

Lonely Moon

Another Mark Heard favorite.

Our world doesn’t offer hope, despite what they say. Without a God who is ever present, I think this would describe me. I am thankful that I am not an “orphan,” living “by the light of the lonely moon.”

LONELY MOON
by Mark Heard.

Was a child and a newcomer to the ways of the world
Eyes ablaze with the light of high noon
Just to love and to be loved was all he wanted
By the light of the lonely moon

They taught him to capture and tame wild pathos
Sold him distractions and made every day seem the same
Caught the Holy Ghost lurking in his cellar and threw Him out
Leaving just a lonely name

Soon they took everything that he lived for
So he asked them to please take his life too
They denied him existence but they let him live
In a lonely room

He would suckle at the bosom of Mother Earth
But his experience poisons that thought
He falls prey somehow
To the silence of the deep-space dark
Of this lonely blue rock

Now his path is lit only by the light of falling stars
The embers fall to scorch and cut his face
He wants to believe in his unbelief
In a lonely place

But they buried his conscience
Near to the grave of God
Sealed his soul up in a tomb of tears
And they scattered his ashes East of Eden someplace
On a lonely breeze

Was a child and a newcomer to the ways of the world
Eyes ablaze with the light of high noon
Just to love and to be loved was all he needed
By the light of the lonely moon
By the light of the lonely moon

10,000 Dancing Horses

My children were once asked to finish the sentence: “God is better than . . . “
These were their replies:

“God is better than a truck.” – 5 year old boy

“God is better than the whole world” – 7 year old boy

“God is better than two puppies” – 5 year old boy

“God is better than 10,000 dancing horses” – 6 year old girl

The Marvel

I’m reading a book by Donald T. Williams , Mere Humanity: G. K. Chesterton, C. S. Lewis, And J. R. R. Tolkien on the Human Condition. I’m enjoying it. It gives me a good reason to read about my three favorite authors. Dr. Williams has a poem before each chapter. Below is one that I liked.

Here’s the Marvel
by Donald T. Williams

Here’s the marvel; That the self-contained
And all sufficient triple Unity
Which for untold eternities had reigned
Complete in its own pure simplicity
Should will unnecessary worlds to be.
And yet his mind was steel, his purpose flint:
He struck off sparks of flaming ecstasy
And called the stars by name. The thing he meant?
To make his glory visible. He sent
Forth pulsing space-time-matter-energy
Which danced in pirouettes as on it went.
Just one thing more needed: eyes to see
And skin to feel, and mind to comprehend.
He called it Adam and there made an end.

Heart to God

Some say he’s the best guitarist in the world. I love to watch him play. I was able to see him play in a small church in Dublin. It’s great fun, and I love this song.

Phil Keaggy (Salvation Army Band). This video can’t be played from this site. Click here to watch it on YouTube.

Salvation Army Band - Phil Keaggy

Grace – gracious love
Reaching out to take me as I am,
Accepting – expecting I will do the best I can
Caring – you cover me, clothed in Your own righteousness I am
Exactly – What You’ve made me, by grace I have found favor in the Lamb

Cover me – cover me – cover me.

Mercy – made free to me
Eternal life, a gift that has no end.
Receiving – believing in the mercy You extend.
Cover me – you cover me, clothed in Your own righteousness I stand
Your mercy – has made me a part of Your salvation army band.

Heart to God, Hand to Man
Saved to Serve, Salvation Army Band

Peaceful sleep
Enjoyed by those whose eyes find rest in you.
Adoring – the glory of Your presence is in view.
Cover me – you cover me, clothed in Your own righteousness I stand
Eternally – You made me a part of Your salvation army band.

Cover me – cover me – cover me.

Heart to God, Hand to Man
Saved to Serve, Salvation Army Band

Go the Other Way

I wonder what Robert Frosts poem would have been like if there had been a sign like this?

Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.

The Road Not Taken

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20

Make this soul sing

Thanks to my friend, Casey at “Faraway, So Close” for posting this video. The song seems particularly meaningful to me at this moment in my life. I feel the weight of my inability to be all that I need to be. I need to “fit”, I need to be made “clean”, and I need to feel my “soul sing”

“Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing”

I hopy you will enjoy the video as I did. It’s U2 performing the song Yahweh in Chicago.

Yahweh lyrics

Take these shoes
Click clacking down some dead end street
Take these shoes
And make them fit
Take this shirt
Polyester white trash made in nowhere
Take this shirt
And make it clean, clean
Take this soul
Stranded in some skin and bones
Take this soul
And make it sing

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Take these hands
Teach them what to carry
Take these hands
Don’t make a fist
Take this mouth
So quick to criticise
Take this mouth
Give it a kiss

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, Yahweh
Still I’m waiting for the dawn

Still waiting for the dawn, the sun is coming up
The sun is coming up on the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean
This love is like a drop in the ocean

Yahweh, Yahweh
Always pain before a child is born
Yahweh, tell me now
Why the dark before the dawn?

Take this city
A city should be shining on a hill
Take this city
If it be your will
What no man can own, no man can take
Take this heart
Take this heart
Take this heart
And make it break

. . . it’s love writing this story

I come back to this song often. I was listening to it this evening in the car. It’s a nice word picture of the sovreign hand of God, through hurts and challenges. I believe what the song says, but I can’t always see it. O, why can’t I see the hand of love mixing the mortar and stacking the stones? I guess the mixing and stacking isn’t a pleasant process.

Show The Way
from the album Live Songs and Stories

You say you see no hope, you say you see no reason
We should dream that the world would ever change
You’re saying love is foolish to believe
‘Cause there’ll always be some crazy with an Army or a Knife
To wake you from your day dream, put the fear back in your life…

Look, if someone wrote a play just to glorify
What’s stronger than hate, would they not arrange the stage
To look as if the hero came too late he’s almost in defeat
It’s looking like the Evil side will win, so on the Edge
Of every seat, from the moment that the whole thing begins

It is…

Love who mixed the mortar
And it’s love who stacked these stones
And it’s love who made the stage here
Although it looks like we’re alone
In this scene set in shadows
Like the night is here to stay
There is evil cast around us
But it’s love that wrote the play…
For in this darkness love can show the way

So now the stage is set. Feel you own heart beating
In your chest. This life’s not over yet.
so we get up on our feet and do our best. We play against the
Fear. We play against the reasons not to try
We’re playing for the tears burning in the happy angel’s eyes

For it’s…

© David Wilcox, all rights reserved