A Valley

A valley covered
In a blanket of red.
Come lie with me here
And lose all your cares.
As the wind gently caresses.
Watch with me as the poppies
Dance above our heads.
Feel the cool ground on your back.
Taste the grass between your teeth.
Get lost under the crimson canopy.
Fall asleep next to me and pull the blanket over
Rest, laugh, roll, love in the sublime.
High on the opium of life not yet
Destroyed or extracted by the hand of man.
A valley on fire, a valley of blood
A valley of forgiveness, a valley of love
A valley created by the brush strokes of a Master Artist.
Lie with me here in this Monet-like painting
Lose all your cares as the wind gently caresses.
Watch with me as the poppies
Dance above our heads.

cjb

George Scott Railton

I intend carefully to instruct my children that if at any time they see The Salvation Army a wealthy, respectable concern, the majority of whose “soldiers” simply go where they please to attend its’ “ministrations,” leaving the godless undisturbed to perish; and if they see another set of people, however they may be clothed or despised, who really give up all to go and save the lost, then they must not for a moment hesitate to leave the concern their poor old dad helped to make, and go out amongst those who most faithfully carry out what the founder of the Army laid down in his writings and acts, may God preserve them from such a day by keeping the Army free from the love of money and ease – George Scott Railton, An Autobiography, Full Salvation, Jan. 1, 1894.

_______________________

Are we wealthy with..

“respectable concern”?
Do we leave the…
“Godless undisturbed”?

Children, follow not
Your father’s cause,
If it strays…..
From the will of God.

Better to leave …
The comfort, the cash
To go to Hell’s kitchen,
To claim souls back!

Serve the Living Water,
To a world that thirsts
Get your hands dirty,
Go for the worst!

This is our call!
This is our mission!
Self preservation,
Is not our commission.

Fight as a soldier!
Soldiers of the cross!
Fight for the perishing,
The despised and lost.


The Love of money
The Love of ease…
Lord, Keep our Army
Free from these!

cjb

A-B-C

Emma : Mommy what starts with the letter "A"??
Mommy: Apple, airplane.....Alastair!
Emma: (giggle) -- That's daddy's name!
Emma: "B"!
Mommy: Baby, boy, balloon. Give the baby boy a balloon!
Emma: The girl gets a balloon too!
Emma: How 'bout "C" ??
Mommy: Cat and Carole! (pause) Carole is my name! (big smile)
Emma: (Laugh) NO mommy! You're silly! Your name ISN'T Carole it's MOMMY!!

Sugar coated sin

It is all a lie that we drink in
Like poisoned Kool-Aid from Pastor Jim
The friendship and the love we share
With earthy charms and worldly cares.

Disguised as if it will not harm
Is sin that sets off no alarm
Dressed not with red pitch fork in hand
But dressed to please the eye of man

Why do we drink it down with ease?
Are we that blinded by a need to please?
Driven to satisfy, to seek our own will,
We believe the lies that it won’t kill.

Sugar coated or dark desperation
Sin brings death and a separation
It defiantly kills, it aims to destroy
Its purpose, its goal, to steal our joy

So check your glass and train your hearts
He who deceives, who shoots his darts
Will find his pleasure in all that is lost
Will laugh at what our choices cost.

Death has no sting! Christ died for the lost.
The victory is ours! Over sin by the cross.
Be not deceived, give deception no ground!
For we who are free should never live bound!


cjb

Holiness will be my gain

Why do I hold on so tightly?
To the perishable and tangible
To the things that pass away?
I’m distracted by the visible

Give me eyes to see.

Give me eyes to see your face
To know you more each day
That this may be-- my reality
My focus, come what may

Give me more of Thee.

Teach me to walk with you
Immerse me in your Spirit
Hearing the heartbeat of my Lord
Finding my pace within it.

Draw me closer Lord, I pray.

My efforts are not in vain
Empower me to follow through
Your holiness will be my gain
When I let go of ALL… but YOU.


cjb

Advocate

This past week I had an advocate.

My advocate went with me into a meeting and sat next to me.
My advocate knew my rights and spoke up on my behalf to defend those rights. When those who were opposing my best interest spoke half truths to me, hoping to deceive me, my advocate jumped in and exposed the erroneous information.
My advocate enabled me to speak up with confidence.

I was somewhat like a small dog on a leash. I could bark and defend because I knew I was not alone. It didn’t matter how big the other dog was, as long as I was on the leash. If the advocate had left me on my own, I would have cowered before the bigger dog.

I left that meeting thinking of the advocate we have in Christ Jesus.
He is always with me.
He defends me and knows my rights as a child of the King.
He exposes half truths and deception so that I will not be deceived.
He enables me to speak up with confidence before man and at the throne of God.
As long as I am bound to Him, I can “do all things” and even witness the fall of the enemy before me. It doesn’t matter how big the problem is, when we have one who intercedes on our behalf.

He does not restrain me with a leash but with His undying, passionate love.


1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (KJV)

Hebrews 7:24-25 “…because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” (NIV)

Romans 8: 26-27 “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.” (NIV)

Intercede for me Lord!
Be my advocate
Come before my
doubts and fears
Put them all to rest.

Intercede for me Lord!
Be my advocate
Deception comes
Distorted truths
Stand up in my defense.

Intercede for me Lord!
Build my confidence
So I may conquer every foe
Then claim your righteousness.

cjb

We think no one knows

We think no one knows
We think no one sees
But these are the lies
That trap you and me

He who made eyes,
He who made ears
Can see all we do
And Oh! He hears!

He reads our minds
He knows our hearts,
Deceit is not in him
He’s pure from the start.

Do we think He’s silent,
So we can sin more?
No! He weeps, standing,
At our heart’s door.

Repent?
Who needs that!?
It’s such an old word.
What have we done?
What have you heard?

Judge me no more
I’m better than most!
These are the words,
Some dark hearts boast

Pray for a breakthrough!
Do more than coast!
Bring on conviction
Dear Holy Ghost!

cjb

unusual request

Has God ever asked you to do something unusual?
I’ve been thinking about God asking the Israelites to walk in silence around the wall of Jericho. It’s an unusual request, an odd plan for bringing down a city.
What about Ruth risking her reputation and lying at the feet of Boaz? Strange advice! Advice given by her mother-in- law but blessed by the Lord.
Think about Moses being told to go to the Pharaoh and ask for the freedom of the Israelites, Noah being asked to prepare for rain when rain had never been seen before and the list goes on.
Even the cross is considered foolishness to those who are perishing. God took the most despised and shameful way of death to glorify His Son.
So I am thinking if this is how our God works, if He has been known in the past to make unusual request of his people to accomplish His will here on Earth, than shouldn’t we expect him to ask unusual things of us?
Has God ever asked you to take a step of faith that seemed to the human eye crazy or at the very least…unusual?