Know-Love-Obey God

“Worship Christ, the newborn King!”

I had spent the past decade or so—more than 25% of my life and about 50% of my Christian life—immersed in music ministry (or “worship team”). Worshipping God with voice and instrument had been my driving passion, not only on Sunday mornings with the congregation but all the time.
I sang [...]

They’re called Geofix. Have you ever seen them? Years ago our boys’ Great Grandpa bought them while he was vacationing in Australia. Geofix is a clever connecting toy made of plastic geometrical shapes that snap together. I had just stored away the Geofix box in the basement, waiting for the next [...]

Gabriel told Zechariah
the child in his wife’s womb will be
“great in the eyes of the Lord.”
This child is John, the same who insisted,
who said of Jesus, “He must increase
but I must decrease!”
and that stepping down fulfilled
the angel’s prophecy
for God indeed exalts the humble
and in his decrease, John was,
to God,
great.
(Reflections from Luke 1:15 and John 3:30)

There are two kinds of personalities in this world, and you are one of the two. People can tell which, as soon as you walk into a room: your attitude says either “Here I am,” or “There you are.”
- Anne Ortlund, Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman, p. 95
There you are, lovely or unlovely.
There you [...]

Bonnie asked, “How do you hear from God?” Sometimes I hear from Him via low-budget flicks. Low-budget because I am both producer and director, the screen is somewhere in my head, and the theater is the living room floor as I lay belly-down on the gray carpet. The film playing on my [...]

Garlic, brown rice, green onions, chocolate chips, heavy cream, oats, prunes, asiago, sesame oil, . . . These are some of my staples—items I like to always have on hand in my kitchen. They are regulars on the grocery list, things I know I will need or want. I have “staple prayers,” [...]

At the library I see Danika, one of the best children’s specialists the Rockrimmon Branch has ever known. At the checkout counter I see Nancy scanning our weekly checkouts, two dozen or so on a typical Friday. I walk one building over to the Safeway, where I see Paul bagging our chocolate chips, [...]

The color of morning coming
through big windows behind me

The color of morning
on a door ajar

And on the other side of the door
a crack of black
unknown

I love the light on this side
of the door
I know what is here in the morning
light
But what if He calls me to open
that door to the dark and step
to the other [...]

It was the first day of April, and I was a fool
to think the fire would not burn again.
Months ago, months ago it scorched
blisters bright red with its poison
and its pain. Helpless, I confessed
and cried gasping tears, My God!
and He heard, and He healed.
Fire extinguished, safe again,
toxic black and choking smoke blown clear.
Months of [...]

To celebrate my first blog-iversary, I am reposting one of my first contributions to the High Calling Blogs Random Acts of Poetry. This is not my first poem for the RAP prompts, but since the first anniversary is traditionally the Paper Anniversary, I am posting one of my first blog poems, “Paper,” originally posted [...]