Arguing With 'Joy' 10-1-15

(arguing with 'joy')

I know that you are kidding me!

I am not a believer!

It's happiness I care about.

You're but a deceiver.

My entertainment is a must.

I want to laugh and joke.

Do you think you can handle that?

Now give me one more 'smoke'.

I want the comforts I hold dear.

I like my TV show.

I want to watch my team play ball -

and I want you to go.

I'd rather be intoxicated

on fine, red berry wine.

I'd rather live in merry bliss

than walking your straight line.

I have a bad hangover now,

so please just go away.

If some day I should be content,

I'll let you, with me, stay.

---

An evil life, man can now live

and he, his life destroy -

but only God has perfect love
which will bring perfect joy.

©2015 louis gander - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

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Arguing With 'Love' 9-29-15

(arguing with 'love')

There's not one speck of you in me.
I'm macho, tough and strong!
Go back to those who have soft hearts.
Go back where you belong.
I have no fear of anything
as long as I have breath.
I have no fear of failure and
I have no fear of death.

You make me whimper in my pride

You're not for men like me.

You are so difficult to say
and cause such jealousy.
My ears have heard the saddest songs

that man could ever sing.

You cannot give me what I want -

You are not comforting.

You melt my heart and kill my soul

when everything goes wrong.

You make me sad.  You make me blue.

You string me out so long...

...then break my heart and make me cry.

You made me very sad.

You make the tears run down my cheeks.

I've no more words to add.

For God so loved the world, you say -
a world with many views.
So am I not to judge all those
who don't live in my shoes?

Their cultures are so different

so tell me, must I start -

to show you to my enemies

so they can see my heart?

You also tell me Someone died -

that sacrifice begins

(despite a very cruel death)

to save me from my sins...

...that you are something different -

and something I must share -

to someone I don't even know -

so that they know I care.

Am I but showing off to friends?
Will they make fun of me -
if they should see me shed a tear
or see me on one knee?
Well, humbled, I will tell of you
until I get to Heaven -

for you are the most precious gift

that God has ever given.

©2015 louis gander ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://www.ganderpoems.org/

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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/

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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/

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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/

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