Poetry for the Glory of God

I've enjoyed poetry ever since I was in high school. I think it was Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" that really got me hooked. So I started writing poetry for fun. Most of the poetry I wrote was autobiographical in nature. After I was saved, I stumbled upon John Piper's Advent poems. They completely rocked my world! From then on I've set out to write poetry that is theologically sound and that I hope will bring glory to God.

I've always loved the Shakespearean sonnet. Something about the rhythm and meter just fits with me. So for today's post, I would like to share with you a sonnet I wrote.

To An Honest Atheist - A Sonnet Inspired by Psalm 19 and Psalm 14

Consider earth outstretched with grandeur scene
whence plant springs up beneath the suns warm ray.
While dark beholds the sparkling bright moon beam,
within the peaceful pond wee tadpoles play.

From mountain lakes wandering streams do ease
and join together singing frothy song.
Form raging rivers, pour out into seas.
Full clouds shed rain, small flower grows up strong.

Soon time does come for fragile flower bloom,
for coloring the vast expanse of fields
until poor flower fades, frail child of doom,
gives up of life, lush fruit it gently yields.

What nature speaks a skeptic finds so cruel,
denouncing God exists proves him a fool.

Far More Precious Than Jewels

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD."

I've always wanted a wife. As a child I would pretend that my invisible friend was actually my wife. I wanted someone to love and protect. To trust and have fun with. To share the joys and pain of life with.

My wife and I will have been married for 12 years May 2011. I can honestly say, I have experienced God's love and grace in the woman He has sent me. I have seen Him at work in both of our lives individually and in our marriage together to conform us to the image of His Son and teach us the relationship He has with His bride, the Church. Jesus truly is the glue that holds our marriage together and there is great security in knowing that "what God hath put together, let no man put asunder". The Bible speaks the truth when it says, "House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD."

For the glory of God, and in honor of my wife, I would like to share a verse from a song I wrote several years back:

I stand amazed when I think about this lady
You have given the strength to put up with my ways
What awesome love is this holding us together
I pray she'll stay with me until my dying day
And I stand amazed.

Missed Opportunities

I believe the Christian life is very practical. It's not all supernatural, spiritual phenomena. It's a very nuts and bolts, everyday living type of lifestyle. Jesus was 100% man. But because He is also 100% God, we can forget that He had to deal with flatulence and halitosis just like the rest of us. We focus on the supernatural miracles He performed and resign the fact that we cannot do those things. Well that's the point. If we could, we wouldn't be dependent on Him.

I have been thinking and praying a lot lately about how to live the Christian life in the United States of America in 2010. What should biblical Christianity look like in a land of wealth and affluence? I sometimes think that it would, in some sense, be easier to be a Christian in an atheistic Communist country where Jesus is all we have. Where, if He doesn't provide our bread that day, we couldn't eat. Where the distractions of television, pop culture and leisure don't exist and every minute of every day hinges on our dependency on Jesus Christ. Where when we get sick, we cannot depend on professional health care, but only on the Great Physician. In thinking this way, I have prayed that God would give me opportunities to be a Christian witness in very practical ways.

And then He does...

and I miss them.

I stopped to get a haircut yesterday. During the course of the haircut, the barber shared with some other people in the shop that he would be undergoing rotator cuff surgery and be out for a couple months after that. I heard him. I felt bad for him. I even told myself that I would be praying for him. When the haircut was done, I paid him, thanked him and left. Later on, I remembered him and was just about to pray for him when the thought hit me that I should have prayed for him while I was with him. What a witness for Christ that would have been. And it would have cost me nothing. And I missed it. I had to confess and repent, asking God to give me more opportunities. I trust He will. And I trust that I will take those opportunities, not because of anything good in me, but because He will complete the work He has begun in me, not for my sake, but for the glory of His Name.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Toil in the Fields

"In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty."

At the local church my family attends, we have been challenged over the last couple of months in regards to being a beacon of hope in our community. Our pastor has asked the question, "People in our community see the church, but do they see the Church?" Our revival speaker challenged us with the question, "What would the response in this community be if this church disappeared tomorrow?" These are very sobering questions that force us to examine our lives and decided whether or not we are going to be the salt and light in our community.

So there has been some exciting talk going on lately. A lot of talk about going outside the walls of the church building and seeking for opportunities to build relationship with the people who live in our community. Chatter about forsaking everything else in order to follow Jesus. Unfortunately, talk is cheap. The fields are white unto harvest, the laborers are few, and mere talk tends only to poverty.

I wish for this blog to be a online journal. The reason is two fold. First, accountability; if I don't post what God is doing around me, then it means I'm not joining in His work. Secondly, as a testimony and witness of what God is doing around me so that all who read will know that there is a God in heaven and He is active in our lives today, seeking those to save and conforming them to the image of His Son.