Arguing With 'Truth' 9-23-15

(arguing with 'truth')

You make me sick!  You pester me
right here in my dominion.
Don't contradict what I have said!
I've rights to my opinion!

Get out of here!  You're in my way!
I stumble over you!
The 'ends' will justify my 'means'.
I have great things to do.

I know that only I'm correct.
So hear me!  I protest!
My education proves me right.
I really know what's best.

I argue with you all the time!
You never care a wit!
You never, ever compromise.
You never bend a bit.

I fight you and abhor you too!
You never reassess -
your stubborn, hard validity.
Indignant righteousness!

You speak, but then don't listen and
ignore my arguments.
The silence really angers me.
I'm not at all content.

Your stubborn facts confuse me so.
You make me very mad.
But oh, my friends support me so.
Deception's not so bad.

My mind was made up long ago.
You can't get hold of me.
I'm all wrapped up in my belief
I chase religiously.

Rock solid was your steadfastness.
I thought you were a joke~!
...but wish I'd paid attention to
my conscience when you spoke.

You made me feel so guilty that
I blamed it all on you.
Now I'm alone and so depressed.
Deceptions were untrue.

Ignore you?  I can't any more.
All lies now seem so strange.
As God in all His glory there,
you'll never, ever change.

You've opened up my weary eyes.
Once blind, I now can see!
Thank God you've now accepted me -
for you have set me free!

©2015 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
http://www.ganderpoems.org/

-------

In the Sand 9-20-15

The footprints in the sand have long ago been washed away,

by rising tides and sinful waves that we can see today.

We wander beaches daily searching for them all around,

then wonder why our Savior Lord is nowhere to be found.

We search through our theologies and search our world o'er.

We search so far and long and hard for evidence and more...

...as wars and chaos follow us.  The poor and migrants too.

We are so overwhelmed, we say.  Oh, what are we to do?

We pray for all our sicknesses and great financial woes,

but selfishness is evident and oh, it really shows.

It shows with more vacations and our thoughts in ev'ry pleasure.

It shows with bigger homes and faster cars and ev'ry treasure.

How can we find our loving God when buried in our stuff?

And when do you think God will fin'lly say He's had enough?

But memories still carry truth that someone carried us -

so when we glance back at the shore, remember, it was Jesus.

So don't forget to thank Him for the blessings that He gave,

then pray that He will idle tides and ev'ry sinful wave.

Indeed, if we can witness peace throughout both sea and land

it's then we'll notice once again those footprints in the sand.

©2015 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

-------

Flat On My Face 9-17-15

I labored at busy pace
before I fell flat on my face.

I cried in self-pity and shame.

But as tears subsided,
my eyes (once misguided),

convinced me that I was to blame.

Yes, as my tears dried up,
I saw them both close up -

those scars that went deep in His feet.

I couldn't erase
all the pain in His face -

so how I wished I could retreat.

I'd weasel away
from the viewing that day -

the scars in His feet that still fail -

to tell the whole story
of Christ in His glory

who lovingly took each dull nail.

Accepting the whipping,
the pain and blood dripping -

He watches my new life begin.

So there I had stayed,
because Jesus had paid -

His life that He gave for my sin.

I'm eating a diet
of thoughts.  It is quiet -

except for my own weeping sound.

I cannot compete
with His pierced dusty feet

while lying here flat on the ground.

For Jesus, the Master,
has given much faster -

a life that I've always longed for.

So more than my pain
is the lot of my gain

as I wait, reverently, Heaven's door.

©2015 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

-------

His Stepping Stones 9-12-15

The trees had towered high above with leaves that blocked the sun,

except sporadic points of light with rays that danced in fun,
reflecting smooth and softened light off surface they would share,

from lazy stream meandering through lush, thick grasses there.

The random, yellow flowers sprinkled down along the bank,

had framed a lovely picture 'round the stream where sparrow drank,

as ripples crossed the mirrored stream where it was somewhat wide,

before that sparrow took to flight beyond the other side,

I prayed that I might also find a way beyond the stream,

but there was no where I could cross to realize that dream.

Determined that I'd have my way, I held each leather shoe

and started wading 'cross the stream to get another view.

But splash!  Face down I tripped and fell, then crawled out soaking wet.

I trudged myself downstream a bit.  His truth and my eyes met.

It's 'one' to 'zero'.  God has won and that's the final score.

Still soaking wet from head to toe, I started thinking more...

Sometimes through life we have no clue.  I ponder as I sit -

of what God's done for me and you, just there downstream a bit.

He gives us His instruction and a 'dose of wisdom' loans -

if patient, we can't learn to be, to find His stepping stones.

©2015 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

-------

Proverbs 1:7 (NASB)

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction."

My Special Friend 9-8-15

Sad I, the tiny sparrow was.

I wasn't very big.

Yet happy were my friends in flight,

from limb to branch to twig.

I couldn't eat as others did

and didn't seem to grow.

I'd follow quite a ways behind.

I was too weak and slow.

Yes, they had teased and laughed at me

when I was back in school.

They'd scoff, then fly away from me.

Some kids can be so cruel.

Yet growing up, I was okay
here living out-of-doors.

So optimistically I grew -

but when it rains, it pours.

A violent gust of wicked wind

had hurled me to the ground!

The other birds had seen me fall -

so they had gathered 'round.

A Shepherd came when I had felled -
so sudden and abrupt.

My sore and crippled body then

was in His hands He cupped.

I saw some ugly, rugged scars

cut deep into those hands.

My wing was hurt, I couldn't fly.

This wasn't in my plans.

He raised me up.  It frightened me!
The other sparrows hushed.

Because I didn't know His love

I thought that I'd be crushed!

Believing things that I could see,
I held to physical.
Unknown, the things that I could not,
I feared the spiritual.

Yet now He holds and cares for me

unlike those other birds.

I can't describe the peacefulness.

I just can't find the words.

It's odd that I once feared the Lord

when I was on the mend.

But I have learned He loves me so.

Now He's my special friend.

©2015 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

---

Matthew 10:28-30 (NIV)
28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.