postaday

Sacrifice

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To give everything
without consideration of recompense
to some
would seem ludicrous in the extreme.
Why would you?
How could you?
What would possess you?
to sacrifice
everything?

Could it be…
Nobility? No.
Fame? No.
Some well-intentioned but misguided
balancing of red and black ink?
No.
Insanity? No.
Vanity? No.
Stubborn disregard for the standard mode of thinking?
No.

Ultimate
sacrifice
belies
all attempts
to fit it neatly
within
our human
mind.
The ultimate warrior,
Jesus Christ,
is where we discover
God’s design.

5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

© Joel Tipple
335

Noise

Lord; my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I don’t concern myself with matters too
great
or awesome for me.
But I have stilled and quieted myself,
just as a small child is quiet with its
mother.
Yes, like a small child is my soul within
me.
O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—
now and always. Psalm 131 NIV

Listening to God
is always a choice.
A critical first step
is
to silence the noise.

Getting quiet
is harder than you would think.
Thoughts,
like trains on parallel tracks,
heading toward the brink,
cry out for attention.

Teach me, Lord, not to define my agenda
without diligently seeking You first.
Rather, let me follow Your lead,
and for Your mind
hunger and thirst.

© Joel Tipple
334

For Tears

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your
bottle.
Are they not in Your
book?
Psalm 56:8 NASB

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite
heart, O God, You will
not despise.
Psalm 51:17 NASB

If at the end of my life
my tears are weighed
and found wanting,
let me stay a little longer.
My life does not belong to me,
but please, until then,
let me stay.

If I said no
one too many times,
Let me stay a little longer
and say yes.

If I take credit
for a gift from You Lord,
let me give You the glory, Father.
Let me stay.

If I grow too comfortable,
and decide it’s what I deserve,
remind me of the value
You place in brokenness.
Until then, let me stay.

Lord, you taught me to smile
and You’ve given me
so many laughing days,
but if You call me to be here overtime,
let it be for tears I stayed.

© Joel Tipple
333

The Last Outer Space Commercial

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What on earth has gravity to do with you earthling?
Just cause you say you want to float.
Yet you’re always complaining, earth person,
so you’re stuck there on the ground…
where you mope.

Listen, I’m sincere, earth person.
This is just between me, you and
about seven billion
others…

Gravity is a grave situation,
a heavy feeling holding you to the ground.
At least that’s the impression you’ve been saddled with
ever since you fell short with the ball on 3rd down.
How will you get ahead?
How will you even possibly
manage your way out of bed?

You need
area 54 inspired
patent pending
extra special
shoes.
You need
foot covering
mountain climbing
cloud hovering
river running
chase away the blues
sneakers.

Sneakers that don’t hold you down
like the shoes most of the
rest of your fellow 7 billion own.
For a limited time only
you can get the left one
and for the low low cost of
a very small separate shipping and handling fee…
you can own the right one too!

They’re the
sneakers of your dreams.
You’ll run so fast your feet will glow at night.
Don’t let anyone else on the block get them first.
If they do, you can be sure it’ll keep you
from flying as high as you might.

So the clock is counting down.
We know you have some money left on that card
Don’t be like those other clowns!
Buy, buy, buy!!
Before they’re not around.

© Joel Tipple
332

Intercession of the Spirit

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We do not know what we should pray for as we ought,
but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26

Thank you Holy Spirit for Your work in me,
praying for me in ways too high for me to understand.
I keep my body a temple for You, while you intercede
for me in accordance with God’s plan.

Heaven on earth may not seem possible
due to our earthly circumstance,
but we have an advocate in the Spirit of God
so we are never left to chance.

© Joel Tipple
331

It’s Time

Time, you’re politically conservative,
moving the reverse of NASCAR,
all right hand turns,
and no lefts.
And Time, you’re
bereft
of imagination.
You move
at
a
constant
pace.
You’re stuck in a rut.
Now think, Time, if you were freed from my clock,
not chained to my night stand as a home for my Ipod dock,
what marvelous change you could make.
Yeah! You could make a break,
pull up stakes
and wave your hands in the face of convention.
Sleep on what I’ve said, Time.
Don’t be alarmed if I wake up before you do tomorrow.

© Joel Tipple
330

Missing

It’s no surprise, Lord,
that men can spend their lifetime in search…
of what?
they do not know.
Without a relationship
with the one true God
they start out with a deadly blow.

You are the center.
You are the creator.
Without You to follow
my voice would ring hollow.
The sound would fall lifeless
to the floor.

It should go without saying
that man would be done for
if he tried to replace the author
of the universe.

© Joel Tipple
329

Wellspring

That amazing redemptive spring,
the water that is
living
connects me to You, Lord.
First submerged, then opening,
but for gravity
my body almost floated,
continuing
the rest of the way
to Heaven.

Like the water,
the blood,
Jesus’ sin covering flood.
made it possible
for us to live again.
and now
You can see me.

© Joel Tipple
328

Knowing You

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A man of too many friends comes to ruin,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Most of the rest of the world knows you
from the outside in
but
Jesus knows you
from the inside out

be authentic

there’s something about being real
if you’re not putting up a front
you don’t have to be afraid
of someone looking behind it

Jesus always pleased His Father
and learning to be a follower of Jesus
means opening up to God when you
are up to the challenge of living
but still trusting Him
when you’re not

© Joel Tipple
327

Stand Up

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24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:24-27 ESV

My friend,
the message to men
has been
a man holds his ground
and never gives in.
But if you want
release from strife,
a relationship with
the author of life,
and the living water’s
sender…
brother,
you’ve got to
stand up,
stand tall
and surrender.

To stand up and surrender
is to know you’re not the center.
You don’t have to pretend you’re tough,
playing the paper tiger.
It takes a stronger man
to hand the reins to God
to risk ridicule and rejection
when the world finds you odd.
But the world can’t own you
if you’re already sold out
and no one has a better corner man
when you’re fighting life’s bouts.

© Joel Tipple
326