O Father, help my heart to feel
The truth my mind affirms,
And stop the doubts that seek to steal
The hope the truth confirms.
Secure in me the surety
Of your eternal hold,
And pardon the impurity
Of my ill ways of old.
But neither let emotion rule –
It too is slavery –
For then I would be as the fool,
Storm-driven on the sea.
Grant me a balance by your Word
To walk the narrow way,
And let your guidance undergird
My life from day to day.
C. S. Lewis penned something that has long confused me. In Mere Christianity, one of his most influential works, he wrote,
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
– C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
While I don’t disagree with him, I’ve never truly understood what he was getting at. I always wrestled with his point here, trying to accept it without truly comprehending it. But recently, I think it’s begun to dawn on me. Continue reading
Success is measured not in thought alone,
Nor victory in mind’s imagining.
Accomplishment is not emotion shown.
Fulfillment ne’er forsakes the offering.
But faith is evidenced by faithful deeds,
By empty pockets and by calloused hands.
It proves itself in prayer, in meeting needs,
In bringing light and love to darkened lands.
It stands against this present apathy
And challenges the heart of selfishness.
If Christ was crushed for sin instead of me,
Then let me never speak but to confess.
True faith compels me to apply the Word
And testify to Christ till all have heard.
Let my life be more than just existence.
Let me look beyond the day to day.
Teach me the importance of persistence
Till inner resistance falls away.
I am prone to wander, apt to tarry
When the time has come to carry on.
Be for me, therefore, a holy ferry
Through the night until the light of dawn.
Make me know the measure of my being.
Let me look beyond forgiven crimes.
With each passing moment, keep me seeing
Your eternity within our times.
May the purpose of this present moment
Far outweigh all former faults and fears.
Focus me in view of the atonement.
Fetter me to thee for all my years.
I spent my fourth through twelfth grade years participating in Bible Drill. Bible Drill is a program teaches kids to know the Bible in a competitive format. We memorized numerous verses, both individually and as tied to key themes in Scripture, and we practiced looking up the passages in under ten seconds (or eight seconds in high school). The program was great, and not just because it got us familiar with Shakespearean-era English before we took college literature classes. Continue reading
Let my life be more than just existence.
Let me look beyond the day to day.
Teach me the importance of persistence
Till inner resistance falls away.
May the purpose of this present moment
Far outweigh all former faults and fears.
Focus me in view of the atonement.
Fetter me to thee for all my years.
Have you ever had the same illness so often that you learned to recognize it even from the earliest signs? Continue reading
Cleanse me lest I perish, Lord.
Purify my lep’rous skin.
Break these hands that hurt and horde.
Save me from the curse of sin.
Tame this tongue that tears apart.
Wreck this will that seeks its own.
Now ignite my lifeless heart.
[Present death, be overthrown.]
Turn your sword upon my soul.
Sever the deceiver’s hold.
Have in me the full control.
Shatter visions of fool’s gold
Till I learn to follow Thee,
Walking in your righteous way.
Grant me, Lord, the eyes to see.
I surrender all today.
Allow me to set the scene for you.
Moses, the legendary leader of Israel, is dead. The wanderers have returned once more after forty long years to the edge of the promised land. Only the Jordan river lies between them and their inheritance. As Moses’ life drew to a close, a younger, God-fearing man named Joshua stepped up to claim the mantle as the leader of the people of God. Israel now stands on the cusp of a new journey, a journey full of war and grace. Continue reading
Lust:
Layers upon layers of
Links to pages where eyes shouldn’t look,
Every one doubling as
Pieces of a chain with an eternal hook.
Lust:
Line after line of text,
Every word weighted with wrath
Yet
Floating like feathers,
Fixing themselves in the mind like
Phantoms: Thoughts that haunt
And never seem to die.
Lust:
Unwanted glimpses of
Skin not yours to touch,
Lips not yours to taste,
Rights not yours to take.
Lust:
Unwelcome houseguest, unsought snake,
Sneaking around so silently
At times you
Might believe yourself to be free,
Might forget the enemy,
Could be
Right in the wrong place,
Left unguarded against the trap.
Lust:
Temptation’s plague upon the mind,
Meant to mar souls, to murder men and women.
Lust:
Masked and manic.
How many more must you take?
as i learn to walk 