What If Wonderful?

Remember when you were young

and with the car window rolled down

your hand could fly in the jet stream

almost breaking sound?

God gave you imagination

to see more than with your eyes.

So if a still small voice is saying so,

maybe you should fly.

What if wonderful?

It’s more than just a word.

What if God’s best you rehearsed?

What if fantastic and amazing occupied your mind

instead of just existing,

getting by.

What if wonderful?

Think beyond the tried, it’s true,

you won’t always know how the Lord can use you

until you step out.

What if wonderful?

Not just another day.

What if amazing? A highlight reel play.

Jesus lives in you, if you believe.

He wants the best for you, so conceive.

Build something

with your two hands.

Make reality

out of your plans.

Write a book,

or paint a scene.

Give arms, legs and a brain to your dreams.

What if wonderful?

Don’t let lack of trying

make you set your goals aside,

and don’t ever let dream breakers

cut your imagination down to their size.

What if wonderful?

Ask questions of your direction;

do you have one?

Or are you adrift, without oars?

Have you sought God’s will for your journey?

Without his direction you’ll surely drift off course

and miss the wonderful.

What if exciting? Life lived to the fullest.

What if energy infused your walk?

What if every day, or at least most

it matched your talk?

What if wonderful?

What if you started each day, seeking God’s face,

expectant and childlike, no matter your age?

What if the most high God, full of justice and grace,

were to mold you?

What if now?

What if astonishing?

What if wonderful?

©Joel Tipple
#6/15

A Better Broken

I once made a foolish mistake that caused me to ruin my car. I made a sudden u-turn just before an on-ramp and the car in back of me didn’t have enough time or room to avoid plowing into my side. Thank God, no one was hurt, but my car was totaled, broken beyond the reasonable cost of repair.

Have you ever felt like that? Irreparably broken? Was it due to one major event that turned your life upside down? Or was it a long list of trauma, some bigger, some smaller, just piling up one on top of the other until you were simply so weighed down you felt unable to move?

Many of us at some time in our lives feel broken… maybe so badly we couldn’t believe anyone would want to invest in us, love us, value us. We buy into the lies the world tells us about who we are and what we should or should not expect to be possible in our lives. Before the hands of time have barely moved, we assume they’ve passed us by.

While where we find ourselves in life is certainly a combination of circumstances within and outside of our control, it’s never too late to turn our lives over to God. Beginning with recognizing our need for salvation and inability to save ourselves, we begin a new life. As God searches out and heals those broken areas of our life we discover our need to be… broken.

Although we can claim salvation the moment we recognize our need and ask for it, becoming a follower of Jesus is a daily journey. Every day we seek God. Every day we look for ways to find God’s will for our lives and do what He asks. But even when we know in our hearts our decision making ability is at best a distant second to God’s, out of habit and our still active sinful nature we keep trying to impose our own will. At its core, being broken and contrite before God is realizing and acting on the knowledge that God is God and we are not. For most of us being broken means the constant need to consciously surrender our will to Him. Not the broken we were when we came to God,
a better broken.

You took me in when I’d thrown myself out.
Words weren’t enough to save me.
Psychology and self help couldn’t breach
the walls I built to hide me.

Then God, you pushed through all my barriers,
and my fear of being exposed
fell away before your love and mercy.
Before your light my shadows fled.
Now I’m not afraid to be the me you made.

No longer broken,
but seeking a better broken.
Lord please exchange my will for yours.
You’ve kept all your promises,
though I often faltered.
Your guiding hand helped me through the door.

A better broken, Lord.
Lord, a better broken.
A better broken, Lord.
Lord, a better broken.

When I built my life with pride,
a stubborn stance on feet of clay,
from such a lofty height
came my greater fall.

But when I’m broken,
that’s when God can reach me.
When I’m broken,
my noise just fades away,
like fog dried by the sun,
then swept into the sea.

Struggles take on new meaning
when I’m broken.
Hurdles only mean I’m closer still
to the destination you saved for me,
toward your will
and design.

No longer bitter,
better broken.
Reconciled
by the words you’ve spoken.
A better broken, Lord,
a better broken.
A better broken, Lord,
a better broken.

©Joel Tipple
#1/15

Somewhere A Prayer

Somewhere a saint is praying.
Somewhere hope is held out to the night.
Somewhere a restless soul is stirring,
gearing up for a spiritual fight.

Somewhere a child is kneeling,
A little one’s prayers have wings to fly.
Forbid not the children, Jesus said,
for of such is the kingdom.
Uninhibited,
their pleas to God,
no limit to their sky.

Somewhere a prayer of thanks goes up.
Somewhere a fearful parent cries out.
Somewhere a soldier’s spouse prays alone.
Somewhere a family prays as a loved one breathes their last,
while next door joyful prayers greet a newborn.
Prayers go out to save a marriage, a home, even a life.

Someone questions and prays for an answer.
Someone prays in the sand, drawing like a dancer.
Someone prays with groanings,
unable to find the words.
Some pray with desperation, not knowing where to turn.

Somewhere someone’s interceding,
standing for those who can’t.
Some pray sacrificially
putting themselves in the gap .

Somewhere a saint is praying
Somewhere hope is held out to the night.
Somewhere a restless soul is stirring,
gearing up for a spiritual fight.

© Joel Tipple #35/14

Words Tumble Out

Photo by Urban Wall Art & Murals

Words tumble out
of the basket next to me.
Don’t you have one
there by your desk?
They come in quite handy
when you need them.
The hard part is picking
the best.

© Joel Tipple
#34/14

Patron of The Hearts

Wouldn’t you like to be
a patron of the hearts?
The love of Jesus feeds the body and soul
it seems.
Let’s not neglect one for the other,
for such could be the foundation
of whole hearts
and dreams.

© Joel Tipple
#33/14

The Gospel

let me feel the gospel
Lord
anyone could say the words
so don’t let them pass right through me
hardly pausing on their way
let them change me
rearrange me
I’m willing to learn
God, you hear what my heart has to say.

let me carry the gospel
Father
its bright colors spilling forth
with grace to balance justice
east west south and north

friends we’ve become
your gospel and me
it’s the truth that shines
from the eyes of the knower
but it’s not only a companion
that wants to hang around
it would much rather be with
those who are sowers

gospel moves through music
through songs that inspire
through words lifting hearts
and taking us higher
like a good rain
washes the world clean
the gospel takes the scales from our eyes
while the riches of God it leaves

to everyone
around the world
to every land
and every flag unfurled
till the people all know
that Jesus died but now lives
we’ll share the precious gospel
just like our savior did

© Joel Tipple
#29/14

Creature of Hope

You were drowning in despair,
just waiting for the end.
Then you came up for air.
A message from a friend
spelled new beginning for you.

Now you’re a new creature,
a creature of hope,
a child of Jesus,
giving out warm
as the world grows colder.
You can’t contain it.
Why would you want to?
And so, you’re growing bolder.

This is victory,
now you can see
beyond you.
Your eyes open wide,
seeing possibilities
you never saw before.
God is alive in you.

Feed the flame, feed the flame.
Call out His name,
creature of hope.
Feed the flame, feed the flame.
Call out the name of Jesus,
creature of hope.

Let the world know
for them the stone was rolled,
creatures of hope.
For those who were healed,
to those the truth revealed
share the message
of death, resurrection, and new life…
Creatures of hope, creatures of hope.

© Joel Tipple
#19/14

Start Again

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 ESV

The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Psalm 138:8 ESV

Start again.
Oh, go ahead and do it.
Set aside
the doubts lingering at your mind’s door.
Begin again.
There’s nothing for it.
Who’s to say that’s all there was and nothing more?

Putting one foot in front of the other
isn’t so simple
for those who cannot stand.
But you’ve got to trust God.
You’ve got to know God
will hold you steady
on your world of shifting sand.

Jesus, I trust you…
my pilot, yes, my guide.
Through the murky waters of this life
You have brought me and will bring me,
almighty, sanctified.
Jesus, I love you,
please hear and be pleased by my praise.
These hands you’ve always held
will forever be raised.
Forever Lord, my hands I raise.
Forever Lord, be praised.

© Joel Tipple
1/14

The End of the Beginning

Sometime around Christmas of 2012 I decided to challenge myself by posting at least once a day for a year beginning January 1, 2013 to a newly created blog. From the beginning the toughest part of this challenge has not been posting “something” each day. Posting something I was truly happy with, now that has been a whole other bottle of ink. So, I made up my mind to make this year a training ground of sorts. I would allow myself to experiment with various styles of poems, devotions, short stories, editorials… really, any sort of writing that I could come up with in a day. I made it as fun and meaningful as I could, both for myself and anyone who cared to take the journey with me. I tried to not pay too much attention to the number of people reading or “liking” each post and I tried to give myself enough room to fail now and then. One of my favorite lessons to take away from the Bible is that God expects us to fall down once in a while. Anyone who has gained a reasonable amount of life experience knows that’s part of the process. I failed just enough to learn some, I think.

My prayer throughout this year has been that I might be an instrument of God to bring healing to those who need it. That sounds like a lofty goal, and I guess it is. If I may be bold enough to say so, I think followers of Jesus bear the responsibility of expressing healing words to those we encounter every day, whether they are spoken in what we might consider an artful manner or not. I don’t consider myself to be that sophisticated. Most of my training in writing has been to write clearly and succinctly. Conveying thoughts through the various means of creative writing can be tremendously therapeutic for the writer, as well as (it is hoped) for the reader.

So what will I do for 2014? To begin with, I will continue to post here at least once a week. Going from seven days to one will allow me to branch out into other projects. I would like to publish my first book before the year is up. Naturally, you want to know what kind of book I have in mind. Right now I’m considering that. Using a word I learned reading Mark Twain, I’m “cogitating.”

To those of you who followed this blog during the last year, I want to express my deepest appreciation. Thanks for reading, commenting and just hanging in there to read again when you had no idea where I was going. Thank you very much indeed.

© Joel Tipple
384

Do That

Imagine you are near the end of your life.
Those you love are with you to say goodbye,
and you say I wish I had…

Do that.
Say that.
Be that.

I’ve said it before,
but it’s a drum worth beating.
God implants within each of us talents and dreams more real than we believe.
So it bears repeating…

Do that.
Say that.
Be that.

We are meant to add
something noble.
We are meant
to enrich.
Potential
is gold deep underground.
Until you’ve done the work
to bring it to the surface
and use it,
you’re not finished.

© Joel Tipple
380