WWJD

49, 5-9, SHOW NOTES & COPYRIGHTS, (Scheduled 3/25/2022)

Today we are going to read poems and discuss our need to ave faith and trust and hope in God over everything. It is not the world that is going to save us. No, it is not!

Discussion:

The first poem s from Living in God’s Rhyme and is found on page 176.

OF TRUTH AND LIES

Is it the truth or the lies,

Which one wears the disguise?

There are the hows and the whys

That hide as one of these dies.

Perhaps I have believed

That as I was deceived,

Believed in the message so strong

Never thinking that it could be so wrong.

The sky is blue, this is true.

The earth is round, true it sounds.

Water is wet, though there are those yet

Who do not understand their head is in the sand.

Is it the truth or is it the lies

That in the end will make my heart cry

Because I never tried to know who lied,

Because I do not know how to try?

It is up to me to look beyond the words.

Beyond the one who one or the other does speak,

It is up to me to question what I have heard.

It is the truth, not the lies that I must seek.

Whether the road takes you to the left or the right,

You must never give in without a fight,

A fight within your mind, your soul so that you might

Know the truth when and where it shines its light.

Discussion:

This next poem is from God’s Rhyme and is found on page 117. I’ll read the reflection on the poem first. It is titled Living Truth.

Reflection:

This poem is a result of a Facebook conversation I had after posting a comment about a comment someone had made about the devil and how he was good. The devil's advocate wrote that there was no way I could prove anything about God, His existence, His creation, this world. He wouldn't give up. I finally realized that I was arguing with someone who didn't understand his position. And I was tired so I simply finished by writing that I had majored in philosophy in college and found that there are only three things you can do with a degree in that, write, teach or be unemployed. Good or bad, that is what I did. And I did get a good night's sleep.

How do I live in this world

that hates the One I love,

a world that rejects the truth

and those who profess it?

The truth, what is it the world asks.

The truth is me, I hear it said.

What I desire cannot be wrong.

All I require I have in me.

The truth of the world, there lies the lie,

The truth of the world, caring not why.

The lie of the world, there is not proof,

The lie of the world, there is no truth.

Yes, no truth they say!

Their truth is lies and deceit,

to believe what you may

without payment, without receipt.

I have been told there is not proof

that God exists, much less created.

Therefore, He is an imaginary friend

Having no beginning, gone in the end.

My faith is faithless, based on nothing.

Apparently the nothing the world believes

created all we know and all we are;

our earthly existence, the northern star.

You have faith in something you cannot prove.

Who said that, was it the world asking or was it me?

From nothing to something by nothing,

one must have faith to believe such a thing.

(There is that word, faith)

But does the world know their faith’s face?

Though they believe not in a creator.

they certainly believe in a ruler

and celebrate and exalt its very being.

How do I live in a world

that believes lies are true

and truth has many shaded hues,

where right is wrong and wrong is might?

I live by faith,

Having seen God’s face

in the meek and the poor,

knowing beyond life there’s more.

I have talked to God

and He has talked to me.

I have heard His word

In all that I see.

I have lived in the world,

have lived it lies,

seen with my eyes

unfulfilled joy that hurts.

God has touched me,

I have felt his hand

as He helped me stand

amid rising seas.

I have felt His love,

His forgiving touch,

and the sorrow of His faith

that as I sinned He loved me.

He loves me, not as the world would,

He loves me as only a Father could.

He has always loved me and always will.

He has a love that is never still.

There is one truth

I pray that we all know,

that is we all seek love;

that is how we grow.

Now if the world would only seek that love

from the God of heaven above!

What could we do, what would the world be

if every soul believed and were set free?

(sometimes it feels right

just to sit and write.)

Discussion:

God’s Rhyme was first published in 2015. This poem was written probably in 2014. as I reread it again today, I can see that I had the same concerns back then as I do today about so many in the world denying or even considering That God is real. Without God, we and the world would not exist. Faith becomes truth only when God is behind it.

Note: As I am putting these show notes together I am again being reminded that as a chid of God I need to profess my faith more often, boldly and in love. I can no longer sit back and not talk about the ways of God and those of the world. ( 3/17/22, 12:22 pm)

Then ten minutes or so later as I was looking for the page number of the next poem in the book index, the poem Faith Without Trust caught my attention. I’ll let you read it to yourselves. It is on page 11 of Living In God’s Rhyme.

The next poem is from Living In God’s Rhyme and is found on page 63.

HIS WORD MAY IT LEAD US

Matthew, Mark Luke and John,

Paul, Peter, Timothy and Jude,

Books and letters written

To show us the way to God’s love,

The love of his sacrifice,

The love of his grace,

The love he has for us,

The human race.

Jesus said,

Believe,

Be baptized

And spread the Gospel.

We should not only pray,

Pray every day,

For those who have not heard

His mighty saving word.

We should speak

So that we reach

Those souls we know

Of the gift we have received

So they will not be deceived.

We need to shout

To the world about

That Jesus saves,

He is what God gave

So the end will be better,

So it will not be bitter.

After Thoughts

As believers we can meet in clusters

So that faith and desire we can muster

That as we leave the room

We do not have a sense of doom

But the faith to share,

Share that we care,

That others hear

What we hold dear

To our hearts

So they may start

To see what they can be

That when with Jesus

They will be free.

Discussion:

The next poem, One Thought Became Another, is in from Living In God’s Rhyme on page 75.

We’ll start with the reflection:

Reflection on One Thought Became Another

As I have written before, when I pray for not just direction, but the words, poems do not go where I thought they would. I had the last two lines of this poem come to me at work. On the drive home I thought about writing stanzas of praise and thanks to God. I was going to call it Random Thanks and Praise. I just thought I hadn’t written enough praise and thanks into my poems lately. The title of today’s poem should tell you what happened.

ONE THOUGHT BECAME ANOTHER

He who spoke creation into existence

By his word was one with God.

Watching God’s creation from Heaven

As man strayed he answered God’s call.

Born into his creation he became man.

As one of us he did live

That he might show the way.

To those he loves, his life he did give.

From the beginning he was a blessing

To all of creation, especially man.

Before the beginning, beyond the end

In Jesus we have found more than a friend.

We have found a Savior

Who overcomes our behavior.

This man Jesus as God,

By his life he has saved us.

So we give thanks and praise

For the life God did raise

For the lives Jesus did save

Through the life he gave.

We now have the hope beyond our lives

That it is by God’s saving grace we do strive

To honor and praise the Almighty God

And the Savior Son he does love.

Knowing what lies ahead,

Turning from sin to God instead,

Just as Paul did running toward the goal,

So must I with all my heart, all my soul.

An After Thought (from before)

Amazing Grace, I have been found,

When you spoke, I heard the sound.

Now blessings are all around

And your love knows no bounds.

Through grace

You spoke

The blessings

Of your love

Discusssion:

I think the next and last poem for today may express my thoughts for today.

The Writer of Words is found on page 77 of Living In God’s Rhyme. Again, I’ll read the reflection that comes after the poem in the book first.

Reflection on The Writer of Words

I was trying to stay a couple of days ahead in my writingfor Facebook in case I ran into writer’s block. But, as happens at times, God has other ideas about writer’s block. I had written the previous day’s post for Facebook a couple of hours before this one. I had an idea for a poem, then God took over. This is about the soul of a writer who tries to obey when God talks. Now, I just have to listen in the rest of my life.

THE WRITER OF WORDS

The writer of words of thoughts and dreams,

A never ending stream flowing through his mind,

Sometimes, most times, not knowing what he will find.

In reflection, wondering what it all means.

There is a call that his quiet voice

Will without sound become his choice

To be the messenger of your glory,

Of all the ways only you, God, are holy.

Oh, there are day dreams

And every day schemes

That make his life seem

To be without a rhyme.

There are the times without rhymes,

There is the day with nothing to say.

There are wanderings in his head

That are better left unsaid.

But when he does pray that what he does say,

That what he has heard, is the voice of your word.

Turning everything over to you,

There is nothing he cannot do.

You, Lord, know the readers hearts.

You, Lord, have restored the lost chord.

You, Lord, are there before the day starts.

You, Lord, are above the earthly horde.

So this writer of words does pray

That what you have to say

Will come through to others,

To his sisters and brothers.

The writer needs the reader of his verse