I really like theology. Throughout my relationship with the Lord, I’ve often found myself more at home in the academic realm than anywhere else. Thick books with big words and complicated explanations concerning the nature of God have long captivated my interest and stirred my heart for the Lord. I get excited when I get a better grasp of a doctrine, and I am thrilled when I get to share with others about possible ways of understanding the God of our salvation and his ways in the world. I desire to know him and to make him known, as the saying goes. But to grow in an understanding of God is to recognize that God will never be fully understood through my studies in this life. Continue reading
Author: joethewaller
Upon the Sea
My life is not what I had thought ‘twould be
When I thought future thoughts in yesteryear.
I saw as if upon a serene sea,
And set the sail with very little fear.
In hope, I left to follow heaven’s Way,
Believing that the path I saw was set;
But storms of life began to cloud the day
Until the plan I knew I did forget.
So have I learned to let the rudder keep
Within the hand of One who knows the course:
The Savior and the Shepherd of the sheep,
He is the destination and the source.
I need not fear though faced with darkest night.
By grace I sail by faith and not by sight.
The Great Commandment
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
1 John 5:21
Question: Do I love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind?
Answer: No. I do not. Continue reading
Unshakeable
The war is won, for one we are
With One who wore the whip and thorn.
He condescended from afar,
For Father’s glory being born.
Into a world that was His own,
For He created and sustains,
He came to claim His rightful throne
For He, in love and justice, reigns.
His own, however, knew him not,
Nor understood His holy name,
Devising their devilish plot
To stifle their salvation’s flame.
But God almighty reigns above
The wicked plans of wicked men.
He brought the victory of love
To light through mankind’s darkest sin.
The depth of man’s depravity
Was part of heaven’s perfect plan.
Infinity in brevity
Confounded ev’ry mind of man.
So do not think that God most high
Could ever fall to circumstance.
Your hope and help can never die,
So trust the Truth and dare to dance.
A Small Ring
As the fellowship makes its way across the pass of Caradhras, their course set for Mordor to destroy the ring of power, Frodo, the ring bearer, loses his footing and rolls backward down the mountain before being caught by another in the party. In the fall, the ring slips out onto the snow where it is picked up by Boromir. As Boromir holds the ring up before his eyes, he wonders, almost to himself, that a tiny ring is the cause of such turmoil among the free peoples of Middle Earth. Boromir, who desires to defend his people against evil, wonders why the ring cannot be used for good, why it must be destroyed if it possesses such power. Continue reading
Conform Me
Let me learn to love your voice.
Help me look to things above.
Save me from the selfish choice.
Show me how to walk in love.
Lead me in the way of truth.
Break me from the idol’s hold.
Keep me from the lusts of youth.
Make me, for your kingdom, bold.
Help me keep my vision clear.
Make me humble, meek, and pure.
Help me know that you are near.
Let me, for your name, endure.
Make me always quick to give.
Let me ever testify.
Teach me how to truly live.
Teach me how to truly die.
God’s Faithfulness and Air Conditioning
I’ve learned to thank God for air conditioning after living my entire life in Louisiana. I’ve especially recognized how much of a blessing it is after it went out in the car a few weeks ago.
Continue reading
The Dead
The day is overcast
I see in skies ahead
The birds and copters flying fast
My heart is filled with dread
The city lies below
From there not few have fled
For therein winds of death do blow
And therein walk the dead
Awake but not alive
Consumed to flesh and bone
The corpses feed to just survive
Together and alone
Detached from what is life
A hunger overgrown
With tragedy their days are rife
Their hearts as good as stone
And such were some of you
But you have been redeemed
The promised cure has proven true
Beyond what man has dreamed
The sleepers now awake
The lifeless voices screamed
And war ensues to fin’lly break
The end the cursed one schemed
Redemption
Heading not his illocution
We have earned our execution
Guilty ‘fore the Father
Ev’ry son and daughter
But the Son, in God’s solution
Bore the curse of sin’s pollution
Breaking through the pother
Found the slave and bought her
Now the veil is torn asunder
Nevermore can Satan plunder
“Righteous,” now the heading
Freed is she from fretting
Heaven’s call in holy thunder
Fills her soul with fear and wonder
Bride adorned for wedding
Perfect love, the setting
You Sneaky Sin
The Ten Commandments.
When you read those words, you probably thought about one of three things: The Law of God, Moses, or Charlton Heston. It’s possible that you pictured Christian Bale, but I’m assuming there aren’t many who made that specific connection. Regardless of what your mind associates that title with, I doubt that the Ten Commandments are totally foreign to you. You may even be trying to count how many you know from memory, listing them off in classic King James Version English (“Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal,” etc. (Exodus 20:13-15, KJV)). Continue reading
as i learn to walk 