The Damsel and the Villain

Oh so good....  The Damsel and the Villain .  Hope you can take seven minutes to enjoy a bit of cool jazz and this modern poetry retelling of the True and unbeatable Story.

Allegiance

The Lord, he is God and he is good.  

It is he who made us, we are His. 

His love pursues us forever. 

I’ll trust His love and sovereign might

and receive with thankfulness what he gives me today.   

His Word is my guide and my delight.  

His command, my privilege to obey.  

The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, 

who loved me and gave himself for me. 

The life I now live in this world, I’ll live as a light for the praise of my King,

honoring Him and others with love and humility.  

I will gladly sell all to have more of the joy

of God, my great Treasure, my Wisdom, my Way.  

I give all that I am for His glory,

in my character, relationships, learning, work, play.

His joy is my song.  His Word, my anchor and sword.

I live all by His grace and all for His glory.

I pledge my life to my Savior and Lord!

There's a book about habits that starts off with a story of training soldiers, of drilling them with commands that they need to learn to obey with immediacy and precision.  And it struck me how practice and training and rote memorization also have a part in my work of growing up these treasure kids that I love.   

So...Cheers!  Here's a K family pledge of allegiance that I hope will stain our hearts with His beauty as we mull over the wonder and lavish great goodness of God- that we get to live in His love and walk in His ways.  May the words of this pledge be a spirit-true prayer from our hearts and lives... as we pursue Him together who first loved us.  

Oh for this....

Oh for a passionate passion for souls.
Oh for a pity that yearns!
Oh for the love that loves
unto death,
Oh for the fire that burns!
Oh for the pure prayer-power that prevails,
that pours itself out
for the lost.
Victorious prayer in the
Conqueror’s Name,
Oh for a Pentecost.

- Amy Carmichael

for peace in storms...

This poem from Amy Carmichael (and to me, in a book from Emily M. Thank you friend) will be one for memorizing at our house...

Thou art my Lord Who slept upon the pillow, 

Thou art my Lord Who calmed the furious sea;

What matter beating wind and tossing billow

If only we are in the boat with Thee?

Hold us in quiet through the age-long minute

While Thou art silent and the wind is shrill;

What boat can sink when Thou, dear Lord, art in it?

What heart can faint that resteth on Thy will?

Edges of His Ways, daily devotional, October 6.

Lest You Be Hardened

More exquisite, penetrating poetry from John Piper..... posted just days ago here.  

"Lest You Be Hardened"
Hebrews 3:13

Your thoughts, your words, your ways
     Are high,
So far above my place
     That I
Sometimes perceive your broad
     Daylight—
Your brilliant blue, your sun—
    As night.

You love me with some shock,
     A threat.
Am I then in the dock,
    In debt?
You answer, "No, you're blest.
     It's my
Alert, my kindness, lest
     You die."

I see. Then, Lord, invoke
     Your Dove.
Cause me to feel this stroke
     As love.
Come, teach my heart in this
     To rest,
To savor and to kiss
     This “lest.”

A Little Hymnal

When our niece Maelee passed away, I knew I would want to see her name in glad places in our lives.  So this little hymnal I think of as Maelee's, finished to mark two years of missing her here on earth. These songs are to correct my thinking, exhort my heart when storms (like grief or even just everyday battles) come strong against me.  Some other songs are for lifting our voices to sing along with Maelee and all the saints who have gone before... yes, even with all the angels and all creation as we'll one day lift our voices in right adoration of our King.

Maelee's mama told me once that she wanted to learn more hymns and I know I desperately need every help I can get to set my mind on the truth, to lift my soul from the messes that I am constantly cleaning and sometimes sinking my heart into.  May the Lord lift our eyes and hearts with these words...

If you don't have these tunes, you can find them easily on iTunes.  I would be happy to share this hymnal (Word document) with you if you let me know an email address where I can send the file.  It's yours to print- laminate- post however and wherever you want to be ready to sing!


Sovereign Grace Music:  Together for the Gospel
A Mighty Fortress is our God
It is Well with My Soul
How Firm a Foundation
Oh the Deep, Deep Love
Come Thou Fount
How Deep the Father's Love for Us
My Hope is Built on Nothing Less
I Will Glory in My Redeemer
Arise, My Soul, Arise
The Power of the Cross
My Song is Love Unknown
And Can It Be
There is a Fountain Filled with Blood
Before the Throne of God Above
In Christ Alone

Jadon Lavik:  Roots Run Deep
Blessed Assurance
Tis So Sweet
My Father's World
I Surrender All
Wondrous Love
Turn Your Eyes
I Need Thee
Take My Life
What a Friend


Michael Card:  Hymns  (Several songs here are the same as the Sov Grace CD above.  Choose your style. Card's music might not strike my generation or younger as "cool" to begin with, but it is timeless, treasureful beauty in my eyes now.)
Look, Ye Saints

Aaron Keyes: various

Dwell

Psalm 62:  My Soul Finds Rest in God

To Make Your Name Great

Martyn Layzell:  Glimpses of Worship
Oh Church Arise


Grace Community Church:  Lavished Grace
Jesus I am Resting Resting


Libera:  Angel Voices
Abide with Me
Be Still My Soul (also can try The Kry Unplugged if you don't like the boy choir version)


(And of course, if a different version of the song appeals to you more, choose your artist!  These are the ones I've chosen for our home :)  And if there are songs you want to add.... the word document is yours to add to!)

I have only listened to the free songs from these two albums  (Scripture Lullabies) but I know that these are songs I want to add to this often played list in our home...

O Church Arise

O Church Arise
by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

O Church Arise and put your armour on
Hear the call of Christ our Captain
For now the weak can say that they are strong
In the strength that God has given
With shield of faith and belt of truth
We’ll stand against the devil’s lies
An army bold whose battle-cry is Love
Reaching out to those in darkness

Our call to war to love the captive soul
But to rage against the captor
And with the sword that makes the wounded whole
We will fight with faith and valour
When faced with trials on every side
We know the outcome is secure
And Christ will have the prize for which He died
An inheritance of nations

Come see the cross where love and mercy meet
As the Son of God is stricken
Then see His foes lie crushed beneath His feet
For the Conqueror has risen
And as the stone is rolled away
And Christ emerges from the grave
This victory march continues till the day
Every eye and heart shall see Him

So Spirit come put strength in every stride
Give grace for every hurdle
That we may run with faith to win the prize
Of a servant good and faithful
As saints of old still line the way
Retelling triumphs of His grace
We hear their calls and hunger for the day
When with Christ we stand in glory

Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music

Oh that this would be the tune of my heart as we finish this cold winter.... 

From the Getty's site, you can watch a video/ hear the tune if you're interested.  

Disturb Us, Lord

I've posted this before, but today I need it before my own eyes and heart and so I'll share it here again too.




Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

by Sir Francis Drake, late 1500s

Astounding Grace

A magnificent poem for the Christmas season....     

Astounding grace, that God the Son 

should choose to leave his Father’s glory 

and refuse to clutch his dignity

exploit his right

make himself a no one in our sight

The word made flesh

the Son of God

the timeless God clothed in a mortal span

now born a baby in a cattle shed

transcendent God who suffered and bled

Astounding grace that Christ should suffer death 

and know first-hand

the grave’s cold clammy breath 

that he the Prince of Life, creation’s Lord

should take the curse which we could not afford

He died our death, buried all our sin

He tore the veil, we boldly enter in

He saw our bitter hates, our dreadful lust

He bore our guilt and then declared us just

Astounding grace that I who could not hear God’s warning judgements 

now should come to fear impending death 

the certainty of hell 

yet find in Christ my fears completely quelled

Once I was blind 

in shoreless wastes I drowned

but now I see the lost sheep has been found 

my guilts forgiven I gaze upon his face 

exalting Christ 

and His astounding grace

Amen.

D.A. Carson read this poem at the end of his excellent sermon “Sin and the Fall”   on Genesis 3.  I wish I had proper punctuation down for this poem but I just recorded it as I listened to his recorded sermon....  thank you for grammar grace.

lullaby

I do not wish you joy without a sorrow,
Nor endless day without the healing dark,
Nor brilliant sun without the restful shadow,
Nor tides that never turn against your back.

I wish you love, faith, strength, and wisdom,

Goods, gold enough to help some needy one,
I wish you songs, but also blessed silence,
And God's sweet peace when every day is done.

I heard this song years ago from a New Zealander who told me it was a national lullaby. Since then I've searched a bit online and only found it credited to Anonymous or a Hallmark card. Poor unrecognized New Zealander...

The tune is magical and I love that our kids tend to quiet down well when they hear these words, this melody beginning. A sweet prayer, blessing, to rest our eyes and hearts with at the end of the day.

Flame of God

I keep thinking to myself, as I read this, "it really doesn't get any better than this."  I love this poem.

We've been enjoying reading poetry together at the breakfast table a few times recently.... helps keep the morning squabbles contained.   Even beyond that, there's lots of benefit in enjoying these words together!

From prayer that asks that I may be

Sheltered from winds that beat on Thee,

From fearing when I should aspire,

From faltering when I should climb higher

From silken self, O Captain, free

Thy soldier who would follow Thee.

From subtle love of softening things,

From easy choices, weakenings,

(Not thus are spirits fortified,

Not this way went the Crucified)

From all that dims Thy Calvary

O Lamb of God, deliver me.

Give me the love that leads the way,

The faith that nothing can dismay

The hope no disappointments tire,

The passion that will burn like fire;

Let me not sink to be a clod;

Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.


~by Amy Wilson Carmichael

All Those Dreams

For Greg and Heather, as you grieve through this first Mother's Day and Father's Day ahead. Your sweet baby Maelee, our precious niece, is already home with Jesus, not here to celebrate the gift you are to her.

We celebrate you.

We honor you for your love for your daughter. We bless you for the way you both served Maelee, and Greg, the way you served Heather, the whole time of holding her within. We honor your courage to grieve hard for her, to grieve in such a way that your hearts are made soft and tender, not bitter and crooked, by your pain. We honor your sorrowful, grace grip on God's goodness and sovereignty as you hide in him through this time of mourning.

Dear friends of ours here, L & A, blessed us with help and recording/guitar/drum skills to put this song together for you. It is very poor, especially in the verses, as far as songwriting skills go... but we hope that this humble gift will bless you still. Much of it was inspired by 1 Peter 1, that has Maelee's name on it.

We love you so much and are trusting God to comfort you on this weekend retreat. May he come and breathe on you and sustain you with his peace.

All Those Dreams, May 3, 2010

Your journey on a child's dream

Has begun differently

Than all we had prayed for, than hope eyes had seen

Your ears her heartbeat, you both felt her kick

Now it should not be, it should not be like this

It should not be, no- Maelee should have lived

What happens to all those dreams?

You're gasping for courage, hope holds you to stand

Your girl is home now in Immanuel's Land

You're left aching without her

But you know the Way there

And as you travel Him His suffering you'll share

What happens to all those dreams?

What happens when our hearts tear at the seams?

Blessed be the God who keeps those dreams

Who faithfully redeems

All our suffering

Blessed is He who gives and takes away

Our Living Hope remains

He tenderly sustains us with peace

Your victory in Christ, is still ahead
Your story is still to be written by His hand
Though this sad chapter has you forever changed

it is not the end, no it is not the end

truth in our hearts

Here's another Kevin Hartnett poem that is fast becoming a joyed over jewel in our lives. Isaiah loves getting to celebrate the Word as God's sword. I love dwelling on these words together with them while we go, while we live...

Honored be Thy Wondrous Word! -- K. Hartnett, March 1999

With Your Name supreme exalted,

Honored be Thy wondrous Word!

Safed from mankind's ill persuasion,

Has Thy truth thus been preserved.

Warnings sure, but comforts better!

One the witness from its parts;

Fire to heat the studied preacher;

Hammer cracking stony hearts.

Could there work a keener power,

Strong and sharp to meet its ends?

By it stand the stars of heaven;

With it, angels swift He sends.

Piercing down 'tween soul and spirit,

Finer than a two-edged sword;

Strength prepared to smite the nations,

Poised to slay the devil's horde.

Agent of the great Creator,

Moving surely through the earth;

Sowing seed that brings salvation,

Watering the souls You birth;

Daily feeding thankful thousands,

Earnest trust of those in need;

Faithful to fulfill Your purpose,

'Turning not 'til You succeed.

Light of Life dispelling darkness,

Lamp before the pilgrim's stride,

Let illumined truth resplendent

Richly in my soul abide!

Turn these eyes from worthless pastimes,

Teach me all Thy ways aright;

Open up Your wondrous statutes;

In Thy law is my delight!

Job Poem

I have been grateful for the writing and excellent poetry of David Gunner Gunderson at RAW CHRISTIANITY. I’m pasting a poem of his below that he wrote for a seminary professor whom he dearly loved, when he lost his daughter in a car accident. These words also now perfectly fit our family. I’ve replaced his professor’s name at the bottom with the name of our brother and sister.

JOB 1-2

by David Gunner Gunderson

There was a blameless man who was so godly he would pray

For the sins of all his children at the dawning of the day:

“Perhaps these ones I love have cursed the ever-blessed God;

So I slay this lamb and beg that You withhold Your gracious rod.”

Still, God saw fit to bruise them in His dark, mysterious grace.

But “behind a frowning providence He hid a smiling face.”

For the Lord is not so simple as to strike without an aim;

The brightly-burning furnace is a purifying flame.

There was a tested man who lost his all and then some more.

He buried his face into his hands and bowed upon the floor.

Then he cried, “Shall we receive so much that’s good from God above,

But reject His hard calamity that strikes with equal love?”

There was a weeping man who said that God was to be blessed

Both in poverty and riches, both in safety and distress.

So the Lord received his praises both in honor and in shame,

For this broken man found strength to say, “Lord, blessed be Your name.”

There is a lamentation that says “Blessed be the Lord,”

Whether skies be blue or black and whether grace or piercing sword.

There is a hopeful countenance that praises God for all,

Saying “Blessed be the Lord” both in the still and in the squall.

There is a throbbing man who is so very dear to me.

And just like the shattered Job of Uz, he’s picking up debris.

His life is now bereft of one that he had so adored.

Still, I hear him say with quivering voice, “Oh, blessed be the Lord!”

The Lord is always giving, yet He sometimes takes away.

But the Sun still shines as brightly in the night as in day.

Greg and Heather, please keep saying, as you feel the piercing sword:

“Oh, blessed be our sovereign God. Oh, blessed be the Lord.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grether, it hurts us so much to think of how foolish our words must be when we desire to comfort you so badly. We know that all of our words fall so short of the peace and hope we long for you to have or the changes in time we wish that we could make! Still, we do trust that in time, you will stand firmer in the Lord, and be more full of precious qualities of His heart because you have suffered through and been refined in the furnace of this tragic loss. Although it sounds painful to exhort you so, it is still needful and good and right to encourage you with the last lines of this poem. We bless the Lord that we see and have heard it from you already. You are grieving well.

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
– Job 1:20-22

“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
– Job 2:10