Jesus

I’m Not Superman

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I’m not Superman, I’m not Batman,
no I’m surely not John or Bruce Wayne.
But what God would make of me
if only I trust him is greater than all that fame.
Show me a man better, stronger than Jesus.
You can’t show me a man better, stronger, than Jesus.

I may not be a light, but I can be a lighthouse,
reflecting the light of Jesus Christ
all day, and through the darkness.
not by my power, but by the power of the one
who went to the dark for me.

No, I’m not made of iron
and anger doesn’t make me stronger.
But since I’ve been born again death here reigns no longer.
Now I can fly and you could say I’m X-man-now-man-of-God.
No, I’m not Superman. No, I’m not Superman.
But life is better, man. Now I’m getting better, man.
My heart is healed by the blood of Jesus and I’m a better man than before.

©Joel Tipple
#2/16

The Way Forward

I’ve learned
there is one who’s been where I am.
Despite the world’s complexities,
God’s provided a plan.
He must have a sense of humor
or he wouldn’t have chosen me,
but he chose you too. Don’t you see?
Here’s the way forward.

We are made by our creator
for adventure,
but in our walk, we aren’t always
the best navigators
of the way forward.
Pray, search God’s word,
take the best co-pilot with you
on the way.

Don’t let the world define you,
it’ll be all for you, then against.
It loves to drag your eyes
and your will from the present tense.
If God wanted you stuck in the past
here’s where you wouldn’t be.
Since Jesus paid for your sin
and your mistakes
shouldn’t you make peace with God
and be free?

You can’t call yourself a failure
if you aren’t yet in the ground.
The struggle’s not for nothing,
you can hear the angels’ cheering sound.
Bruised and bloodied but not beaten,
you can go another round.
God’s in your corner.
There’s the bell’s sound.
Stand up and go forward.

Use your freedom
to lift others along the way,
man of God.
Spread the good news
man by man, man by family.
Count the cost,
then go the distance
he’ll open hearts
and help the blind see.
Just go forward faithfully.
Go forward faithfully.

©Joel Tipple
#1/16

A Gift of Kindness

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He has told you, oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

Justin sat on his bed with a pad of paper and pencil, his legs crossed and eyes drawn together as he concentrated on the task at hand, writing what ostensibly was to be his yearly Christmas list. He’d been following what was now his yearly tradition for some time, since he decided he was too old to ask Santa for anything directly but not too old to make a list and hint to his parents that they could pass on ideas to the jolly one if they wanted to. It was normally as easy a task as you’d expect it to be for a boy his age. Just like anyone else he was bombarded with advertisements for this toy and that, games galore, electronics sure to make him the envy of his friends. Those things still held a strong attraction, but his perspective on the world and his place in it was changing. There was something in the air, something tense, like the feeling he got before a test at school when he hadn’t studied enough. It seemed like he was noticing the adults in his life getting more and more irritable, a little like when the flu went through his school and so many kids were out sick.There was this mean way people were treating each other that was going around. Once, when his grandfather caught him being mean to his little sister he sat him down and said, “Justin, do you know how important you are to your little sister? “No,” he said. “Well, you are. There are some things that she will learn best if she learns them from her family. If you teach her how to be kind she has a much better chance of growing up to be a kind person. That’s very important. It’s what Jesus taught. It’s also a fruit of the spirit.” So, it was with these ideas that seemed on the verge of being a little too big for him and God tugging on Justin’s heart that he began his list, though, as he wrote, it seemed more of a plea.

Justin’s Christmas list.

Mom and Dad would you be kind this Christmas?
Please, for that day set aside the words that hurt.
I’m sure you plan on giving us the best of all the toys,
but maybe you forgot what little girls and boys
need most of all.
Please be kind for Christmas.

In Sunday school we’re singing
Peace on Earth.
If it’s not too hard,
I wonder if God could start
in our house?
I don’t know exactly how it all works.
It takes all I know to write this verse…
I just hope he understands, anyway.

Could we maybe talk about being kind
for Christmas?
I know I’m just a kid,
and it might be a big thing,
but if it’ll help I’ll clean my room…
How about that?
For Christmas, could we please be kind?

Yesterday at the store, Mom,
you used your outside voice
with the lady who was helping us.
I think her kids
go to our Sunday school.
She looked really sad.
Did she do something bad?
Please if it’s alright,
could we get her
some of what I want
for Christmas?
I could share.

Will there be extra kindness
for Christmas?
I think all my friends at school
could use some too.
If we have some to share
I’ll bet we could.
If I ask real nice
I think you would
for Christmas.

How much does kindness cost?
Here’s my piggy bank.
That should be a good start, I think.
How much is enough?
Quite a bit, I’d say,
but just how can you get more of it
by giving it away?

If I fall down
will you kindly pick me up?
If I can’t reach
will you help me be tall?
If I don’t know the answers,
will you help me
ask better questions?
Then, maybe my brain
won’t feel so small.

Will you be the one
to tell me all about Christmas
by showing me how Jesus lived?
I’d rather know all that
from you, Mom and Dad.
For me it would be
the kindest thing you ever did.

©Joel Tipple
#14/15

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

No Prisoners

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“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18-19 ESV

Love, as God’s gift to us,
is not merely decoration,
and not in league with money,
cares nothing for our station.

Love whispers confidently.
It has no need to be loud.
It radiates confidence
without the bluster of the proud.

When it enters a room
it becomes the natural center.
It is attractive without insisting,
force not being its nature.

Love is always active,
dispersing darkness with its light.
It’s the warmth of a healing fire
when we’re surrounded by the night.

Love mostly eludes definition
giving without being owned.
The food of all good growing,
the harvest of all good grown.

But love defined itself best
as the Son of God on Calvary’s tree,
when instead of taking prisoners
love set the captives free.

© Joel Tipple
#13/14

Jesus Strong

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A day in the world can take you down.
Let alone serious life events,
I’ve seen simple drama,
things less intense
turn your good days
all the way around.
Stop looking for the answers
in a bottle or a body,
the top 40
or a shiny new car.
Anything the world gives
will tarnish in time.
So listen up my brother,
it’s time to draw the line.

You’ve been
majoring in the minor leagues,
looking for worldly guarantees,
living your life on the cheap
so long.
I played
that foolish game
way too long.
I got tired of the lies
and the pull of the throng,
a crowd going places
I didn’t want to go.
I made up my mind
not to go along.
I got Jesus strong.

Old days to new days.
Old ways for new ways.

A lot of people assume that since Jesus
preached a message of compassion and peace he was weak.
But this carpenter was not only strong physically, he
was strong mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
He spent 40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan
and emerged victorious. He never took the easy road
and He told those who would follow Him that their road
would not be easy either. In Matthew 10:34 Jesus said:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.
I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Jesus meant
that like a sword severs, so some families would be severed by
the choice to follow Him. Following Jesus can
mean making hard choices sometimes. In this way we daily
pick up our own cross. But before we ever picked up ours,
Jesus picked up his.

Old days to new days.
Old ways for new ways.
Old to new…

Jesus build a man in me to weather the storm.
From my hands to my spirit make me tough.
But let your strength resound so that I never boast.
Because where my strength is not, Your strength is enough.

© Joel Tipple
#5/14

The Words of Jesus

Life beyond this life.
Hope beyond this hope.
The sustenance of my every day,
the words that Jesus wrote.

He wrote His words upon my heart,
every word He said.
They’re with me in the morning, when I rise,
and at night when I fall to bed.

For the words that Jesus wrote,
their refrain and their release,
though every Bible in every hand may close,
they never…
never
will cease.

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
Matthew 24:25

© Joel Tipple
#2/14

Christmas Sails

Christmas sails on,
another season blows through,
at breakneck speed
we rush
into and out of it.
We gather ourselves,
brush off bits of wrapping paper
and fir needles,
then begin the focus
on rest and recovery
until the next one.
Always an opportunity for growth,
and trying to focus on Jesus the most.
It seems with humans nothing is worth doing
unless it’s overdone.
But still, amid the fun,
God, we remembered Your Son…
was the reason.

© Joel Tipple
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The Heart of a Carpenter

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It takes the heart of a carpenter
to see a building whole
with only a sketch or blueprint
to guide.
It takes the heart of a carpenter
and vision
for the completed building,
to make possible the possibilities.

It takes the heart of a carpenter
to see in a man
beyond what he can see in himself,
to see beyond rubble and debris
and dreams knocked over on shelves.

Let me see with your eyes,
dear carpenter.
Give me hands like yours to work.
Make everything I am and ever hope to be
your vision of me,
on earth
and heaven.

© Joel Tipple
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