postaday

All Right

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Some days
I dunk my head in a cup of coffee.
It doesn’t have to be any way but hot.
By the time
I’ve sipped it down I’m feeling more ready
for whatever wonky things this day brings.

The clatter of leaves blowing in like fall
brings news of changing weather. Change is coming.
But it didn’t ask me, didn’t ask me, didn’t ask me.
But it’s all right.

It’s all right and I’ll just roll right into heaven.
No reason to stop just cause this life ain’t cake.
It’s all right all day and into evenin’.
It’s all what God gives you and it’s surely what you make.
It’s all right.

© Joel Tipple

Heaven in Our Hearts

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5 1-5 “For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.”
The Message (MSG)

Heaven in our hearts,
a bit of beautiful against a background of despair.
So much is haywire in the world
and it does battle with the question we all carry to the cradle
and forward…
is it fair?

This notion of justice we apply with no schooling,
maybe before we ever speak at all,
have you noticed?
Somehow we know.

In our anguish,
we seemingly hire God
and fire Him
at will.
Evil speaks itself into our world
and our notion of justice
becomes one of proximity.

But,

God is still God,
whether an innocent child
dies
in Belfast,
Kampala,
or
Des Moines.

Now, that isn’t the typical
winning marketing formula
espoused by Madison Avenue.
“Thank you very much, Mr. Tipple. Ah, we have your number. No, no. We’ll call you.”

But,

At the same time,
a child is born
in Belfast,
Kampala,
and Des Moines
For those who have passed
and
for those who live,
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
English Standard Version (ESV)

© Joel Tipple

Eloquent

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i’m not
all
ways
so eloquent
words
all run for the door
to be met
by the
gate
keeper
who checks to see
if they’ve been said before

and yet
i watch as the words
tumble forth
forgetting
their
place
in line
what i hoped
would be
rhapsody
turns out
not so
sublime

good soldiers
words
train some more
letters
lift
and run
cycle then
until the wheels
go and
spin up
the sun

© Joel Tipple

Ego

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I opened the door one day,
to the room
where I had decided to keep God.
It was a nice room
I thought,
decorated lavishly
but tastefully.

To my dismay,
revealed
where I believed
I had left God
was
instead,
my ego.

It was then
that I realized my mistake.
I had built a special room
for God,
while allowing my ego
full roam
through the house
of my life.

In that moment
of clarity
I realized I had managed
to get it all
quite backward.

© Joel Tipple

23 But Jesus didn’t swerve. “Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. You have no idea how God works.”

24-26 Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?
Matthew 16:23-26
The Message (MSG)

Vision

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much is expected from whom much is given

but all the same

so much more

He will do

through His children

the children of the Lord

often He waits only

for the moment we dare to ask

and then step out

believing He wants

to strengthen our bodies

for the task

our minds, too

to focus

on not small things

but great

for there is victory

in climbing daunting mountains

and reaching for a higher fate

© Joel Tipple

8-10 So don’t be embarrassed to speak up for our Master or for me, his prisoner. Take your share of suffering for the Message along with the rest of us. We can only keep on going, after all, by the power of God, who first saved us and then called us to this holy work. We had nothing to do with it. It was all his idea, a gift prepared for us in Jesus long before we knew anything about it. But we know it now. Since the appearance of our Savior, nothing could be plainer: death defeated, life vindicated in a steady blaze of light, all through the work of Jesus.

11-12 This is the Message I’ve been set apart to proclaim as preacher, emissary, and teacher. It’s also the cause of all this trouble I’m in. But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.

13-14 So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.
2 Timothy 1 8-14 (MSG) The Message

Duologue Quiver Imbibe

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friend
i love to converse with you
our duologues
make
my mind
and heart
quiver
words imbibed
between us
are more intoxicating
than
liquor
i love
that though we
discuss
we really never
fight
my favorite
conversationalist
my best friend
my
wife

© Joel Tipple

Green Granddaughter

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This week I managed to go out three times cycling, twice to work, which is 15 miles away. Since my bike is part of my exercise plan and a way to save money on gas, I came home satisfied, though tired. As I came through the back door, I could hear my six-year-old granddaughter in the living room, so I went in to say hello.

Me: “Hey Cynthia, how was school?”
Cynthia: “Good. Hey Papa, why are you wearing that?”
Me: “These are my cycling clothes. I rode my bike three times this week. Isn’t that cool?”
Cynthia: “Yeah. Hey Grandma, Papa’s recycling!”

© Joel Tipple

sure

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sure as the clouds
play hide and seek with the sun
come a time
the things we’ve done
will be revealed

of our own volition
or without
because of our condition
come a time
we’ll need
to be healed

we can’t get all we need
from those we love
right relationship you see
starts from above

where you are
is where you’re placed
your obedience first
when you seek His face
will nourish you
and those you touch
with the living waters

© Joel Tipple

Matthew 6:33-34
The Message (MSG)
30-33 “If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.

34 “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.

Flight of a Tear

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a tear
has gathered
enough volume
to detach
from the corner of her eye
it now falls
toward the note
she has written

as gravity takes it
downward
it reflects the room
in which she sits
this chill morning

the angle of her face
and the position
of her note
cause the tear
to land just between
the a and i
in the last word
on the page

pain

© Joel Tipple

Pets

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And then you have your pets.
Or do they really have us?
I guess it all depends on who you ask
or even who you trust.

They say,
whoever they are,
the authorities on such things,
that people were the ones
who made animals like human beings.

And since I’ve brought up making.
what about their genes?
Is there a cogent reason
if there ever really was
for breeding mutations
like too short legs
to go above a dog’s paws?

We doom animals we breed
to what nature didn’t choose,
make them vulnerable
to respiratory disease
and other assorted bad news.

Now before you get all up in arms,
or legs, since that’s my subject
let’s talk about that designer breed
that some of you covet.
Please remember that I love them all,
I just have little patience with their humans.

At the risk of being labeled a long legged dog and cat fascist,
I have to question the wisdom of breeding cats with a short leg characteristic.
That’s a cat that can’t jump. Does that make any sense?

I’m not a scientist.
I don’t know how long
it would take for the dog and cat population
to breed out what we’ve done wrong.
As we’ve found out with other stupid stuff we silly humans have done,
it’s a lot easier to sing, than to un-sing a song.

© Joel Tipple