Posts

Insomnia Attack - A Poem

Two thoughts, though quite different, are equally true - Both what was done to me and what I chose to do, Neither should have happened; they can't be taken back, Now I cannot sleep - my mind's under attack. I still hear them saying "we don't want you here," Not finding their favor is what I most feared, Because their approval is what I most lacked, Now I cannot sleep - my mind's under attack. Yet still through their voices, You called me to stay, But I couldn't take it, so I walked away; Priority values had been way off track, Now I cannot sleep - my mind's under attack. My prayer is that, someday, when You've made me strong, I'll get to go back there and keep pressing on To fight through their noise while still staying intact, Then I will find sleep because You've got my back.

Providing - A Poem

Some fathers will faithfully stay, Some fathers meet an early grave, Some fathers choose to walk away, But God is still providing. Some men will raise daughters and sons, Some will be mentors to someone, If you live well, you may become  The man that God's providing. God is the Father who will stay Always beside us on our way. If we are faithful to His name, We'll see how He's providing. Be grateful for the ones who stand, Taking place of the missing man, Teaching us all to understand  The way God's still providing.

Reviewed

Two days from now, I will be going in for my annual performance review. Having been through three of these since becoming an officer in The Salvation Army, I really don't mind going for it. In fact, I usually enjoy the feedback and recommendations for developing as an officer and as a person. The hardest part of the entire process for me is completing the self-evaluation. I'm nervous that I may mark myself too high on a category and give the impression that I think too highly of myself. I also don't want to give too low a mark on something and seem self-deprecating. Any time I'm in that situation, it feels like a tightrope to walk and balance. I'd much rather just let someone else tell me what they think of me than tell them what I think of myself. But then I remember that God has already given me the ability to appropriately evaluate myself. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:3 (New Living Translation), "Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuri...

Push-ups and Perseverance

My five-year-old son loves to use the word "perseverance." Because of the size of the word and his young age, I asked him one day I asked him if he even knew what that word meant. "It means don't give up!" he answered enthusiastically. I never doubted his understanding again. Over the past six weeks, I've done something that has required me to practice perseverance more than possibly ever in my life - a workout routine designed exclusively to increase the number of push-ups I can do in one set to 100. A couple days from now, I will put my body to the test to see if I can make that 100 mark in a single set. I'm honestly much more likely to believe it now than I was when I started! Six weeks ago, my single-set maximum before my muscles gave out was a total of 16 push-ups. In my first workout with this program, my total after five sets was 37 - not much more than a third of my overall one-set goal. This morning, my five-set total was 215 push-ups - ...

See What I'm Saying

I wish I could write images, because I see things a lot more clearly than I say them most of the time. Words don't come as easily as I would like, or this blog would be a lot more active than it has been. I've been reminded by several of my writing friends that being able to write regularly comes with practice, and so it's practice that I need to get. I've recently found that words don't even flow from me talking as well as they once did, and to be completely honest, I'm not okay with that. And so, starting today, I will attempt to write daily. I'm not limiting a time frame for this because I want it to become a habit. Hopefully the things I have to say in writing will find some way to benefit even one person. At this point, I'm hoping to benefit from them myself as well. One cool thing is, I'm already developing ideas for tomorrow's post. I want my writings to serve two main purposes. The first is, I want my readers to have a window in whi...

Birthday - A Limerick

February seventh, what a date! In twenty-seventeen, ain't it great? Born back in eighty-nine, And I'm still feeling fine 'Cause today I have turned twenty-eight!

The New Civil War: A Poem

We're split down the middle And nobody wins; When one war has ended, Another begins. We don't like the outcomes That aren't for our side, So we fight each other Instead of the tide. We can't hear each other Over our own sound; With feet firmly planted, There's no middle ground. The Red and the Blue is The new North and South; We're not shooting bullets, We shoot off our mouth. I fear that our nation Has this for its end: Brother against brother And friend against friend.