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?
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that a person’s relationship status can easily become an idol. Individuals sacrifice time, money, and emotional well being to serve this ever hungry god, finding again and again that the idol can never truly be appeased. No matter how much you give, you will find this false god always demanding more. Continue reading
Truth is a subject often in dispute
When two interpretations disagree.
Two brothers – neither list’ning – turn to shoot
The other dead rather than bend the knee.
Assuming that there is no middle ground,
No chance that God is wiser than their minds,
They trip and trap and trigger all around
The body harsh divisions of all kinds.
And as the fights erupt, the mission fades
And is forgotten ‘neath the cries of war.
The rescue ships no longer act as aids;
They leave the dying stranded on the shore.
True doctrine does deserve our strong defense.
Contentions of convictions? Recompense.
Starting something new can be exhilarating. I love ordering books for a new semester of classes, I love thinking of intriguing paper topics, and I love purchasing new notebooks. Almost everything about a new semester excites me. After a couple of months, however, the excitement usually fades away into feelings of laziness and apathy. I don’t love those feelings quite as much as the first. Continue reading
Perceptions of obedience to Christ
Are often apprehended by our hopes.
And flesh, the lowly subject, turns to heist,
And seeks to send the true service to the ropes.
For in our work for heaven, we presume
To warrant some promotion, pleasure, prize.
Desire conceived breeds sin within the womb.
The idol soon is fixed before our eyes.
Conviction then gives contest to the beast,
Reminding us that God is not so poor.
And we, in comfort, trust that he will give,
And see our Maker merely as a door.
Through subtlety the serpent can subvert
A heart for holiness to lust for dirt.
as i learn to walk 