Month: August 2012

Get in the wheelbarrow
Before it’s too late
The night is coming on.

Get in the wheelbarrow
To heaven’s gate
Oh please don’t wait too long.

Cause the end is near
The time is at hand
Judgment awaits us all.

Do you fear that day
Do you know where you’ll be
When last the trumpet calls?

Get in the wheelbarrow
Trust Jesus today
Let Him take you across.

Get in the wheelbarrow
Let Jesus take you
Oh He seeks to save the lost!

Don’t listen to voices
That rationalize
That say you’re fine on your own.

Don’t look to the world
And its crazy ways
Look to God’s saving throne.

Get in the wheelbarrow
It’s leaving soon
There is no time for bargaining.

Get in the wheelbarrow
Get saved today
Make Jesus Christ your King!

(Tony Nolan was at my church, Fortified Hills, yesterday…
more on his story and message at TNT ministries)

Teach me your way, O LORD, that I may walk in your truth. Psalm 86:11

Here we are again
Right where we started.
Hopeful? Perchance.
What do we want from this year?

“Another year” – how trite
But where is my heart?
Is it open for the business of God
Or closed for remodeling?

Is what I want
Aligned with what God desires?
Am I looking for barely making it
Or His joy to be my strength?

It’s all a matter of perspective…

The greatest hardship of faith
You endure in the will.
In releasing all of yourself –
Whatever is, whatever will be – to Him.

“Can you walk in the dark?”
Someone asked demonstratively.
This visual, a blast from yonder,
Comes to me now.

Well, I’m learning.
So it’s steady on,
Straight ahead.
We’ll see when we get there.

Don’t be so quick to burn bridges
You never know what God has in store.
When you feel ‘washed up’,
When your life seems its weakest
Maybe then you trust God more.

Don’t be so quick to let go
Of what He started.
Although efforts appear in vain
God continues to honor faithfulness
But rewards aren’t always plain.

Don’t be so quick to give up
Are you viewing life through one lens?
There are other views,
Other factors involved –
Do you know all of them?

Don’t be so quick to walk away
To let yourself be jaded,
But setting your face as flint
Get up again,
Refuse to be placated.

Don’t be so foolish as to say
That things will never change.
Go check outside this morn!
A new bird sings, a fresh song lifting
The air has lost its scorn.

Don’t be so childish in your ways
You’re to give that over to Him
He wants you to grow up,
To do the tough things –
Not live for pleasing men.

Don’t be so anxious in thought
Why your thoughts drive your feelings.
Get a hold of God’s Word,
Learn it over and again –
Let Jesus to do the healing.

One day we’ll be free from this world
There will be no sin;
No need for creature comforts
We’ll just be praising Him.

One day we’ll not cry in defeat
Or mourn for one another
But sing in the paradise
Of heaven’s loving cover.

One day we won’t worry about bills
We won’t work long hours;
Anxiety has no place
In the heights of heaven’s towers.

One day it won’t matter
What we look like, what we wear
No one will even notice us
For Jesus only care.

One day we’ll finally see Him
Not the evidence or just ‘by faith’
When He appears we’ll be complete,
Transformed into that glorious state!

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2

Yet I am always with You.
For we have become one.
Tethered together, we’re bound forever.
United through the blood of the Son.

Yet I am always with You.
For my heart is where You abide.
Your Spirit’s fire feeds on the ashes
Of my surrendering pride.

Yet I am always with You.
I cannot get away.
The highs and lows of emotions
Suddenly a mere call to pray.

Yet I am always with You.
And You take me by surprise.
As I stretch my lead rebelliously
You break me in loving reply.

Yet I am always with You.
For You hem me in.
You dare call me on my misgivings:
You point out this dastardly sin.

Yet I am always with You.
Not as if You tag along.
You are the one, initiating and leading–
You chose my heart for a throne.

Yet I am always with You.
So it will be til the end.
As the world falls to darkness I am at rest
Happy in forgiveness of sin.

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. Psalm 73: 23-28

Initially reading this verse, “Yet I am always with you”, I understandably took it in as if God is the address-or, the “I”. (As in Jesus’ statement in Matthew 28, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”) However the thought of this, that I am with God, invited a picture of my hand in His. And practically speaking, we have to put our hand in His to walk on in faith.

How much happier we can go along, swinging arms, hand in hand with God, once having freely reached out for that hand of forgiveness and grace…

Hide me away
Be a melody in my ear
Oh that every inflection
I would hear.

Hide me away
In the shelter of your wings
Teach me to live
For the important things.

Hide me away
While the world rattles on
Going about business –
Such resounding gongs.

Hide me away
Show me greater means
Feed my hope
Of what faith can bring.

Hide me away
I’m soul-tired, quite weary
Only You can replenish
Oh please hear my query!

Hide me away
Take me to higher places
Ensure no way back
To the valley of the faithless.

Hide me away
I will wait for You patiently
Knowing You have
Much much more for me.