Bible

Jesus in a New Light

Blow the dust off of your Bible
Unclose your mind
turn back the night
If you’re weary of this dreary world
see Jesus in a new light.

He cast out demons
healed the lame
turned water into wine
He healed the centurion’s son
and even healed the blind.

He fed 5,000
without reservations.
Yeah, he raised Jairius’ daughter to life.
But look out dude cause He withered the fig tree
and said, “all things you ask in prayer, believing,
you will receive.”

See Jesus in a new light
Watch out for lightning
Jesus in a new light
Don’t you be frightened
Jesus in a new light
He’s bad!
Jesus in a new light
Oh c’mon, I didn’t mean it that way.
Jesus in a new light
Chillax!
Jesus in a new light
We’re out.

Like Sheep

All of us like sheep have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the iniquity
of us all to fall on Him. Isaiah 53:6

Sheep have been unfairly “branded” with the stupid label. The primary reason for this lies in their flocking behavior which causes sheep to group together and play follow the leader, at times to tragic results. Since nature hasn’t equipped them with great individual defensive abilities, their best bet is to join together in a group. We also tend to value the individual over the group, but a sheep on its own is vulnerable to being preyed upon.

The verse refers to the passion of the Servant, our savior Jesus Christ, who suffered vicariously for our sins. His punishment obtained well being for us.

While we are all vulnerable on our own to temptation and being misled, this does not absolve us of our responsibility for becoming informed through scripture and prayer so that we might better defend ourselves against the onslaught of the enemy. At the same time, the body of Christ must join together to pool resources and search the word for edification and reproof.

When to Worship

Honestly, the book of Habakkuk was not on my radar. It’s a small book near the end of the Old Testament, written by a prophet we don’t know much about. A theme in much of the Old Testament is man’s relationship with God. In a nutshell, man has always had a habit of forgetting God when things are going well and complaining when the situation worsens. The reigning king at the time of Habakkuk, Jehoiakim, was described by the prophet Jeremiah in this way: “your eyes and your heart are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, and on shedding innocent blood and on practicing oppression and extortion” Jer. 22:17 It was against this backdrop, during a time of increasing evil in Judah and oppression by the Babylonians, that Habakkuk writes of praise in chapter 3. I quote chapter 3:17-19 here: “Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places.”

It’s easy to praise God when the sailing is smooth and complain when we are buffeted by storms. The self discipline required to stop for a moment to consider how we might grow and learn during those times is neither automatic nor easy to come by. However, God is always worthy of our praise and deference, and although we may not always be able to understand His ways, He remains on the throne. Of that we can be certain.

God, please accept my worship.
Let my song be lifted high.
When I focus on what’s difficult in my life,
help me remember the times
you’ve renewed my strength and joy,
carried me when I couldn’t walk.
When my foundation felt unstable
You were always my solid rock.
Increase my understanding,
in the darkness let it be my light.
Give me the same breath to sing in the valley
that I breathe when I sing on the heights.

God’s First Bandmember

First, a couple notes:
1) Friends who are drummers, don’t get a big head over this.
2) I won’t pretend there is any biblical basis for my poem. I am not adding or subtracting from what is between the covers. I’m just sayin’.

Do you think something was left out?
Maybe it was just inferred.
Perhaps when God wrote Genesis,
He assumed we’d understand that in his word,
in the background sometimes subtle,
sometimes quiet,
sometimes loud,
is the presence of a great drummer,
who, thank God, is not proud.
Although he or she could certainly be,
because when God first considered man
and everything else in creation
and (come on, of course!) the first band,
for His first band member, He found a drummer
who could put Buddy Rich to shame.
If you’re too young, or not into big bands
you’ll have to Google his name.
For proof I offer my heart,
or yours,
or a friend’s.
I imagine at the end of the first day
there was a drum solo no one wanted to end.
So the next time you hear music
of, I suppose, any kind,
imagine God’s first band
without a drummer to keep time.

Bible Drama

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I like a book
Times I can tell by its cover
it won’t be like any other
it’s a hook

Draws me in to read
just a little of the lead
I have to know
more of the story

One thing leads to another
like the Bible story of the brothers
Cain and Able
they each brought something to the table

Cain was the first human born
not created
God said his sacrifice
compared to Abel’s
was lower rated

and Cain was jealous
he was a pretty angry fella
he struck out
and Abel went down

“Where is your brother?”
said God to Cain.
“What is that sound,
his blood crying from the ground?”

so God cursed Cain
for Abel’s brother things were never the same
he was left to wander with a mark
a sign for those tempted to cause him harm

Am I my brother’s keeper?
Does God see what I do to the least of these?
Am I an honest seeker?
Is it me or God that I seek to please?
God examine me as I drop to my knees.
God please look in my heart as it’s You I seek.