ANGER

ANGER

"19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." (James 1)


ANGER is... (an ode to wrath)

No matter my choice, somehow there is anger.
Somebody is shaking their head and giving me the "fanger"!
Make a bad turn in traffic, and there is now danger.
You now have an enemy, who before was a stranger?!

Anger is insidious.

On my new, unblemished truck there is now a ding!
Some fool in the parking lot cares not how that stings?!
Isn't life really about me and all of my things?!
The answer is surely known by Google, or maybe Bing?!

Anger is pandemic.

I am a conservative, and you are a liberal.
Cross me again, and it might be your funeral!
Far from the Garden, we yet suffer from the Fall.
Right or left, white or black, angry are we all?!

Anger is pervasive.

Take a deep breath, and for a moment, step back.
Ask, "for my part, what is it that I lack?"
With no Wind in our sail, how can we change our tack?
Where are we headed?  Calm seas, or into the black?

Anger is destructive.

Is it greed or poverty causing all the stress?
Maybe I just need contentment, with much or less?
With His grace I have already been overly blessed!
Now, how shall we respond to what may be His test?!

In our anger, biting and clawing, will we all be consumed?
I fear lest we change we are all surely doomed.

40 YEARS

40 YEARS

Wandering around forty years in the wilderness,
Without faith they had sorely failed the test.
Back to bondage in Egypt they thought they'd go;
What He was doing, they stubbornly just did not know.

Forty years ago, together, we this journey began.
All I can say is "I would love to do it all again!"
In faith we have watched Him cause the waters to part.
Providing and guiding, we were always, ever in His heart.

Like father Abraham, we left family to a land unknown.
Like two sparrows, by the Wind we were ever blown!
Yes! His eye was upon us, always,  wherever we went.
Though, sometimes His guidance was barely a whispered hint?!

Friends we have made all along the winding way.
Without them we would not be the same today?!
Many, many are the memories, both joys and tears.
But, O, so quickly have slipped by the years.

A new child came, every time the anchor we'd hoist!
Thinking of them now, only makes my eyes moist.
Along came a princess, and then, next came two prophets.
Now they have grown and flown, with their own little eaglets.

Long ago, You planned these forty years of bliss,
With us journeying on, collecting "what is this"!
We have picked up grace, mercy,  and forgiveness for starts.
Two becoming one; the whole greater than the parts.

Decades ago, I nervously reached for your soft hand.
Later, though foiled, a stolen kiss was my wishful plan!
So far, forty years we have thankfully been given.
Two decades more? Maybe! But, forever together, beside you in Heaven!

For ever and ever!
Melanie and Jerry.

Thank you, Jesus.

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES

Sometimes, I almost touch the unreachable.
Sometimes, I almost hear the silence of eternity.
Sometimes, I almost see the invisible.
Sometimes, I almost comprehend the mystery.
Sometimes, I almost taste that for which I hunger, but cannot obtain.
Sometimes ... moments of ...  glimpses of the secret ... sometimes ...

O Father,
Lift me up to unattainable heights, craggy aeries! beyond the starry constellations! into your very Throne Room!
Whisper in my ear what even angels cannot hear.
Open my eyes to visions of the other.
Wrap my mind around fathomless truth.
Seat me at your banquet table and let me ever feast.
Not sometimes, but always and forever!

REGRETS

REGRETS
1. All the books not read.
2. The novels I never wrote.
3. All the lost untold.
4. Places not seen.
5. Time wasted.
6. Sins indulged.
7. Insights eluded.
8. Love unexpressed.
9. Friends neglected.
10. Opportunities squandered.
11. Hungry unfed.
12. Destitute unhelped.

TRIGGERS

TRIGGERS

Let worry trigger prayer.
Let anger trigger prayer.
Let envy trigger prayer.
Let greed trigger prayer.
Let lust trigger prayer.
"...put to death what is earthly in you..."

Christian?

Christian?

Called
Conviction
Consecration
Complacency
Compromising
Controlled
Contemplative
Carnal
Cool/lukewarm
Consumed
Conflagration/on fire
Crazy fool
Construct-only/form
Core/inner man
Cross-bearing
Crucified
Crowned

MERCIES

Impunity is an illusion.
Elusion is a delusion.
Wild oats will sprout.
One reaps what is sown.
Blood will cry from the ground.
Mercy!
May my heart never harden beyond sensitivity to Your touch.
May my conscience never scar beyond recognition of Your voice calling me home.
Thank You for pain.
Praise You for the nauseous gut.
Never let me go.
Show yourself to be merciful and mighty!
Forgive me!
 Overwhelm me with the peace of your presence.
The devouring horde has done its due.
Restore the beauty; replace the squandered.
Rise up and show us your glory!