ALL I AM IS YOURS            Johnny D. Taylor

Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be

Whatever you need you can have for free

I’ll give it all to see you smile at me

‘Cause all I am is yours.

So ask me for all of your heart’s desire

Ask me to pay the price your joy requires

I gave my love and there is no cost higher

So all I am is yours.

If you would be my Lady I’ll be your Knight

‘Though my armor’s rusty and I’m more black and blue than white

I’ll be your champion, fight with all my might

‘Cause all I am is yours.

My faith in you will evermore endure

My hands are rugged but my hold is sure

I ain’t pretty but my heart is pure

And all I am is yours.

And when it’s time to face the setting sun

And we look back on all we’ve been and done

We’ll understand just how the two become one

‘Cause all I am is yours.

If there’s a love that conquers life and time

That can’t be broken, faded, or left behind

I swear to you it will be yours and mine

‘Cause all I am is yours.      

My Strength, my Breath, my Life,

My Heart, my Love for you my Wife

All I am is yours.

Judgment Day before God is a scary thought, because we usually associate it with being confronted with all His laws we broke, bad things we did.

But what if God on Judgment Day, asks you why you didn‘t follow your God-given dreams?

“For it is God which works in you both to desire and to do His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13

What if He asks why you neglected your greatest gifts, settled for mediocrity, and didn‘t help a languishing world that needed you?

What if He wants you to explain why you listened to the voices of discouragement when you could have followed the Voice of the Great Shepherd?

“Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.” James 4:17

Believe me, I understand.

The moment you think about taking a step to “be somebody”, it‘s as if the whole world rises up to put you back in your place of obscurity, mediocrity, and meaninglessness.

And the loudest voice of all is the one inside your own head.

“What will people think? What will they say?”

But let’s put it in perspective.

There are 6 billion people on the planet, and you only know about 1000 of them.

What if you set aside that 1000 and their “opinion”, and be a blessing to the rest?

You probably won’t ever know what most people think and say about you anyway.

But one thing is certain; you will know what your King thinks and says about you, for you will appear before Him one day.

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world”

Get busy.

Father’s Day

As we celebrate Father’s Day in June, let us remember that the best way to change our world is to fill it with Godly Christian men. Everyone in the Kingdom of God has vital work to do, but upon the men of God has been laid the responsibility of leadership.

Maybe we can learn from the mistakes of the first father, Adam, and be more like the greatest Father of all, our Heavenly Father.

Now the serpent was more subtil than  any beast of the field which the Lord God had make. And he said unto the woman, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Genesis 3:1

Adam strolled with Eve through the Garden of Eden. She amazed him with her winsome ways and intriguing perspective. He could listen to the sound of her voice for hours, whether she was speaking with him or with one of the fabulous creatures of the Garden, such as that beautiful serpent. But as wise and witty as it was, Adam knew it would never match Eve for sheer glory, insight, and persuasion of speech. He listened in amusement as the two of them bantered and sparred with words.

The serpent was speaking.

“By the way, has God said…”

Satan carefully spoke his first recorded words in this world, through the forked tongue of the serpent, and planted the seed of his original thought in the fertile mind of Eve. Subtle but solid, there is was: “question the Word of God.”

Adam listened to her reply.

“We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’.” Genesis 3:2-3

    That wasn’t quite right, Adam thought, what was she up to?

    Satan saw his opening and took it, pressing the point of his lie home.

“Ye shall not surely die…”

And when the woman saw that the tree was good…she took of the fruit thereof…

    When Eve touched the fruit, two things did NOT happen:

    First, she did not die. Maybe the serpent was right, and God had lied to them.

    Second, her husband did not intervene. Adam stood silent and passive.

Unengaged, uninvolved, and uncommitted, the first man became a bystander, and willingly watched as literally the whole world fell apart.

Why didn’t he knock the fruit from her hand?

Why didn’t he pull her to safety and get between her and the serpent?

Why didn’t he chop that snake into wiener-sized pieces?

Adam, when faced with responsibility, chose inaction, and lost.

Today, we Christian men, still sons of Adam, are also sons of God. But the game is still on, and the stakes are still high.

As we watch the world around us fall apart, when sin and hopelessness ravage everything and everyone we claim to love, can we do better than Adam?

By the grace of God, yes!

We can intervene, speak up, and be assertive. We can become engaged, involved, and committed. We can reject sin, protect our loved ones, and fight against the Adversary wherever we find him.

Or we can, like Adam, step passively aside, with our hands in our invisible pockets, and let darkness reign.

What will YOU do?

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:14-15

A Lad works at the menial tasks, and meaningless jobs of the yard and kitchen. He learns the basics of living on earth.

When he is strong enough, and used to following orders, he is called upon to become a Page, the assistant of a knight. He cares for the equipment, horse, and obeys whatever commands his master gives him. He becomes familiar with the trappings of manhood.

When he is ready, and has been himself trained to a point of minimal competency, he is put to the test. If he passes the rudiments of manhood, he is dubbed a knight. Green is his color, because as a new knight, his greatest task is to learn what it means to be a knight.

He grows in strength, prowess, and experience, and finds that he is strong. He can have his way, by his might. He becomes the Red Knight.

But getting his way through brute force leaves him dissatisfied. The voice in his heart convinces him that there is more to his life than living for himself. He wrestles with higher thoughts, discovers the beauty and importance of Truth. Now his life and service has found new meaning, and in his search for significance, he knows that he must live and fight for what is right, for the Truth, and for the oppressed. He becomes the White Knight, the one in shining armor.

But the trouble with the White Knight is that he is self-contained. He is always right, and he doesn’t need anyone. He is constantly fighting the good fight, rescuing the damsels, righting wrongs, serving and protecting. But he is unapproachable, unreachable, and above the common man. He lives alone in the high and lofty realm of Ideals, and all his strength is sealed up and protected inside him.

Until he is wounded. When his shining armor is pierced, and stained with his own blood, he falls crashing to the ground. Through pain, injury, and loss he discovers that being the Champion of Truth isn’t enough, and even more devastating is the realization that Right doesn’t always win. Goodness doesn’t always prevail. And for the first time in his adult life, he needs. He cannot heal himself, save himself, win the battle, protect himself, or even keep himself alive. He finds that he is after all, completely dependent on others. Faced with his own mortality, he has no choice but to cast aside his shining, broken armor, and put himself in the care and under the control of others.

As he heals, he finds common ground with common folk. He remembers the simple joys of a simple life, the satisfaction of a day’s labor, the contentment of time spent with friends. He reconnects with people, and relearns all the lessons from his previous stages. He will work hard, do as he is told, use his strength for those he cares for, learn humility, lead with grace, and become approachable. He becomes the Black Knight.

The Black Knight is not the symbol for evil, but for death. His mortality has made him truly alive. His wound has allowed his pent up strength to flow out to those around him who need it. Knowing by experience that life is precious and fleeting, and that people are of great intrinsic value, he has matured, ripened, looked into the jaws of death, and learned that each day, and each of his people, are gifts from God above.

It is the Black Knight who creates beauty, whether in poetry, painting, gardening, or calligraphy. He is in touch with his feelings, for though his wound is closed, it will never fully heal. He has made peace with himself, and allows himself and others to be less than perfect. He doesn’t always do the right thing, for he doesn’t always know what is right. He just does the best that he can for the people he cares about. He knows how to kill, and he knows how to heal. He can fight, and he can love.

Now he is fit to be King.

Wise, compassionate, fierce, just, approachable and forgiving, he is the Beloved Monarch for whom the people have been waiting.

Long live the King.

Where Science meets Art.

One of the interesting things about the human appearance is that a person’s ears and nose continue to grow throughout their entire lifetime.

That means in another decade or so, my actual photograph will be identical to my current caricature.

Science becomes art.

Thanks, God, I appreciate Your sense of humor. “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

I have a Walmart bag stuffed full of Walmart bags.

Cannibalism? You decide.

Fog in the treetops

Leaflets amid the green twigs

Spring slowly rises

    ~haiku