postaday

Time Lines

Past, Present, and Future got together for their regular lunch.
In what was usually a futile attempt to keep the peace, Present
sat in between the other two.
Past usually arrived early.
Present was right on time.
Future was always late, but just how late
varied
from week to
week.
The waiter to serve them was chosen on a rotating basis because of the stress.
Example:
Past: “Could you please make sure my coffee is fresh AND hot. Last week it was not the former. The week before that, it was not the latter.”
Present: “Whatever is back there, I’m sure it’s fine.”
Future: “There will be no tip for you if the beans are not Moroccan.”
A nurse stood watch just inside the kitchen to check the server’s vitals. There was never a guarantee he would even make it through the meal.

To be continued…

Uncertainty

For from of old
they have not heard
nor perceived by ear
nor has the eye seen
a God besides You,
Who acts in behalf
of the one who waits
for Him.
Isaiah 64:4

Part and parcel of being human is uncertainty. Consider the insurance business: We may guess that our house will stand for a given number of years and we can take measures to provide for its protection, but any number of calamities can take our property away. The same principal applies to health, automobile, life, etc. Our efforts to provide for ourselves in the face of unforeseen circumstances are prudent, but at best they are the product of educational guesses. We simply can’t predict every twist and turn between our present and our tomorrow.
How you react to uncertainty depends greatly on your personality type. Some of us spend a great deal of time digesting forecasts, while others would rather experience life on the fly. Whether the concept of “not knowing” makes your heart stop or beat a little faster, the future is coming; it’s up there, just around the corner.

Carefully, like Elmer Fudd,
with comical stealth and guile,
there I go,
stalking my future.

If I stop
suddenly,
turn
fast enough,
will I catch it
stalking me?

I’d rather spend
my life
in breathless anticipation
because I trust God for
what’s over the next rise,
than in a perpetually dizzy state
because I keep
looking back
to see
what’s gaining on me.

Power of Pizza Fridays

Now, you know…
I believe the greatest power in this world or any of the others yet to be discovered is the power of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Through His death and resurrection we are able to claim a place in God’s kingdom. When we plead for God’s forgiveness, it is only the blood of our Savior that washes away that which would separate us from Him.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

I also believe, along with I think most Christians, that we cannot serve the spiritual needs of our brothers and sisters while ignoring their temporal needs. I love outreach programs like water recovery and purification and those programs that teach people how to be self sustaining. The many farm and livestock assistance programs are a great example. These are ways as Christians we can shine. In my opinion, if you give a man a peaceful way to earn his own pride and dignity, you’re not only lifting the status of that man, you’re building safety and security into the area of the world where he lives.

In that vein, (and slightly with tongue in cheek) please allow me to propose a plan which I believe can change the world, make Fridays a little safer, and give us all some peace and quiet at least one day a week. I call my plan “Power of Pizza Fridays.”

And it goes a little something like this:

Yeah, yeah…
work it out
work it

work that dough

2 3 4

My main man mr. pizza
earned his way
through toil and sweat
he got his start
in the pizza business
and it hasn’t failed him yet
but one morning mr. pizza woke up
he said God I read about the wars
so many people are so angry
and they don’t even know what for
he said God what can I do?

I’m just a pizza man

God said I’ll give you a day
P said which one?

God said,
Friday.

Friday?

Yeah, Friday!
Okay

Take some pizza ovens
where the shots are being
fired
advertise it all the other days
make your pizza wherever anger grows
give it away free on Fridays
make the ones who wanna eat
trade
guns and bombs
for cheese and meat and dough

thick or thin
even haters stop hatin’
while they’re eatin’ that pizza pie

any topping they want

they might forget about making war

it’s a beautiful thing

so quiet on Fridays

you could hear a pepperoni drop

Search My Heart

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24

Search my heart, Lord,
the One who sees no difference
between night and day.
For you they are both alike.
Every hour you see all the same.
When the fog in front of my eyes is so thick
my hands could pull it apart like a veil,
You ask for my faith you will see me through
as though you were trimming my sail.

Search my heart, Lord,
purify, burn away all my dross.
All that I carry that is not of you,
I will not count as loss.
Let me value each day as a gift from you, Lord.
As I submit, let me be a gift too.
Guide my steps toward those hurting,
make the words I pen worthy,
while all in me your spirit renews.

Bribing Spring

23494_104526786236628_100000379204555_114172_2028252_nDear Spring,
On behalf of myself and all those who eagerly await your arrival, please consider this official request.
Okay, I know you must be rolling your eyes.
I know.
I know.
Here’s this guy who lives near the coast in the north of California. He spends most of his time in a marine climate that sees little in the way of extremes. Mostly what he has to worry about are earthquakes. A warm jacket when outdoors and a little extra caution while driving take care of things, pretty much. Now, you could understand the distress of those living in the grip of winter’s wrath, the mountains of snow, the inches of ice, the difficulty of… just doing anything outside. But this guy? With HIS cozy little micro-climate? Not so much.

Alright, Spring. Guilty as charged.

But hey, Spring?

I love you.

i love…
little buds peeking out on branches all over
before exploding in colorful blooms
i love the way our world fills with hues
until it seems there could be no more room
to hold so much grandeur and majesty and joy
unseen since the dawning of earth
nature fairly weeps for sights so exquisite
as the ecstatic ground gives birth

Now Spring, I can see you have blushed. If need be, I apologize for making you rush. It’s just I can’t wait for your start. Please accept this bribe of words. They’re all straight from my heart.

Sincerely, Joel

My Dad and Merv

When I was a kid, I watched a lot of television. After school, especially on days when the weather was not especially inviting, I would sit down and tune in to one of the three channels available. Since the public television station didn’t come in as well, that meant we really had two choices. One of the talk/variety shows airing at that time of day was the Merv Griffin Show. Merv’s was one of the first of this style of shows, and he became quite successful with it and the game shows he produced, like Wheel of Fortune. I believe his style of interviewing was one of the reasons he did so well. He had this way of leaning toward the person he was talking to and looking at them as if they were the most fascinating person in the world. It was almost, but not quite, as if he was a scientist peering through a microscope, discovering a previously unknown species. He was probably able to get more out of the celebrities he conversed with than he otherwise might have. Later, during my journalism training, I think this helped me when I interviewed people for various stories.

Also, when I was growing up, our family owned a service station in our small town. My grandfather owed the business, my grandmother worked in the office, and my dad managed it. As a boy, I spent a lot of time cleaning up and seeing how my dad worked with his customers. Like Merv, he was also a good listener. Often, the customers who came in weren’t very knowledgeable about their automobiles. Like many of us, they simply knew when they weren’t working or when they were doing something out of the ordinary, like making an unusual noise. At this point Dad would become a detective. He got as much information as possible and gradually narrowed down the list of possible causes and remedies for the various issues until he had a direction to go toward solving their problem. He seemed to enjoy this part of his work. People trusted him to take care of their issues. There were many aspects of his job that I know were frustrating, but I think this part made made his job more rewarding. I think watching him work made serving people later on in life more enjoyable for me as well. It also helped me listen for important details.

When I speak with you,
I hope I
pause
often
during our conversation.
I hope
if only for a
moment
to make what you say and think the
world.
It may be the only time today that anyone does that
and there is always a chance
when we will part,
we will each be the richer.

Forever Means More

Whenever I worship you, God
I forget about what’s wrong with me
and remember what’s right with you.
I set aside my worries and cares
and I’m thankful for the storms,
because forever means more.

I’m familiar with the war.
I’ve been through some of that before.
Yes, I carry the scars.
It’s a battle that started
in Eden long ago.

Forever in ways is similar to the world we think we know,
but side by side it’s more vibrant and distinct.
It’s like the difference
between behind the curtain
and the very front of the stage…
where the crowd roars,
forever is more.

Everything else fades away
when I think about how much
you mean to me
and the forever home
you’ve readied for your own.
All those things
that seem grand here
are just a portion, Lord
’cause forever means more.

When it’s time for us to rest,
and we’ve learned to give up striving
and passed the test,
I’ll be so grateful for the struggle
and for what you have in store.
I know
forever means more.

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.