Red Spot

Red Spot II, Wallisy Kandinsky

A surfboard, a spider and an eclipse
Met with some triangles and guitar picks.
Fresh green and clean red--no color to lack--
Bright yellow and blue, pure white and deep black.
Their shapes slightly giddy; all slightly a-whirl,
They danced and they partied like blithe boys and girls.

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7 ESV)

I don't endorse Kandinsky's theories of art, but I recognize his amazing artistic ability.
For other people's thoughts on this same image, click here.

This particular poem by JLS is public domain, 2012.

God With Us

From Blog12

God with us
  in our mornings and our evenings
  in our working and our resting
  in our waking and our sleeping
  in our living and our dying

  Not just over us, but with us.
  Not just a king with us, but God.
  Not just with someone, but with us.

All praise to Him!
 

Praise the LORD! 
Praise God in his sanctuary; 
   praise him in his mighty heavens!
         (Psalm 150:1 ESV)

The Moon Is Whispering

From Blog12

The moon is whispering tonight
Of winging bats
And yowling cats
And other things like that.

The moon is whispering tonight
Of mating frogs
And sleeping dogs
And fetid bogs.

The moon is whispering tonight
Of scenes of long ago...

Old Jacob's dream
And Cleo's barge
And wars writ large.

The moon is whispering tonight.

He made the moon to mark the seasons
--Psalm 104:19a

Apostasy

From Blog12

Apostasy appears slyly at first,
Disguised as tolerance,
Disguised as a broader gospel,
An advance of faith.

It wears a smile
And waits awhile,
Mixing subtle lies
With loads of truth.

Then, once it's grown,
It shows its truer self,
Tolerating everything
But the truth about Jesus.

Apostasy is
A hungry lion in the nursery,
A rattlesnake in the baby's crib.
A poison pill in the bottle of medicine.

If you let it grow,
You'll be left with
A hollow faith, rejecting the real Jesus.
Confident in lies, abandoning Truth.

You'll have religion without redemption,
Spirituality without the Spirit,
Songs without salvation,
Respectability with eternal death.

Wake up!  Repent!
The Lord commands you to obey.
Return to him with fiery zeal.
Kill the lies before they kill you.

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
--2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV

Related articles

• Are We Victims Of A Great Deception Or Is It Just Another Conspiracy Theory? (pastorpaulvbsblog.blogspot.com)

A City and a King

image: Lee Friedlander

I have a city and a king,
But not the city Broadway knows,
And not the king the stages sing--
No, not the king this photo shows.

I have a city and a king--
A king who's strong, but knows my name;
His presence makes my glad heart sing
And dance with joy and praise his fame.

My city reaches skyful height
And yet it shines beneath one's feet.
It's always day there, never night,
And gold is pavement on the street.

I haven't seen that city yet,
Its king is not just yet in view,
But he has promised we will get
To be there--home--forever new.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, 
coming down out of heaven from God, 
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
-Revelation 21:2 ESV

...for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.

--Jeremiah 2:13 ESV

From Blog12 For other people's thoughts on the New York City image, click here.

Obedience

From Blog12

The joy of obedience
Fully is known
Once we are raised and are
Facing God's throne.

The path of obedience
Sometimes is hard.
We must be careful and
Stay on our guard.

This holy obedience--
Fighting sin's pull--
Helps us to grow; to have
Life to the full.

After the battles, the
Riches are vast.
The fruit of obedience
Tastes sweet at last.

...through whom [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations...
--Romans 1:5 ESV

Related articles

• Obedience Song (pastorcoleman.wordpress.com)
• Obedience is the Price (missiontough.com)

I Roamed the Serengeti (Humor)

I roamed the Serengeti
And thought of J. Paul Getty
Out standing on a jetty
While eating cold spaghetti...
And then I thought, I'll bet he
Has never seen a yeti.