Protection

A rush of sound, like a rumbling train
where there could be no tracks.
A dread like no other, for the ones who could feel it.
But the sleeping child, blind and deaf to the cleft in the earth,
Rolling gently from the fallen crib, to the only place
where no leaden object lay.
Some protector had held them at bay.

Pedals spin around, and small wheels on the ground
of a summer street.
A pedal pressed down, big wheels bearing down
at high speed.
But the oblivious boy, blind and deaf to the deadly breath
of the metal dragon,
Turning randomly out of its path, making the only escape
from the grip of fate on that day.
A protector had turned him away.

A spark of fire, from a broken wire that rested against
a dry paper box in the closet.
A flame kindled, when no one was near to see it.
But the studying man, nor any of his own,
could never have known
That the heat could find no air, though just a moment before
it had been ripe for a blaze.
The protector had blown it away.

A black shadow, snaking through the insides of a
broken body.
An unwelcomed invader, which could not be seen or killed.
And the dying old man, half praying for healing and half
ready to leave,
Had now met a danger from which he would not
finally be saved.
His protector would not interfere today.

“Your work was done,” said the soothing voice, “The choice
was one we knew was best.”
“We’ve known for so long, how you’ve longed for your rest.”
And the happy new man, who never again would know tears,
Had now met the one who had been with him
through the years,
and had never left him alone.
This protector now welcomed him home.

What Do I Know?

What do I know, that I could write about?
Horticulture, viticulture? Astronomy, barometry?
Physics, mystics? Chemistry, telemetry?
The mysteries of history—primeval and medieval?
The rhymes of time—paternity and modernity?

No, none of these; nor crime scenes or trees,
nor legalities or “legalese”
or homicide or suicide
or psych- or sociology.

What I know that I could write—
Could put it down and get it right—
Would be the world I find inside
But half of which I have to hide.

My humanity, my insanity? My philosophy, my sophistry?
My hate, my weight, my always being late?
My witicisms, my cynicism?
My wandering eyes, my layered lies?

If I would write of what I know
of friends betrayed and foes obeyed
of faith that’s old, a heart that’s cold
Let alone the roads my sleep-thoughts take
Not to mention when I’m awake!

It seems I would be awfully brave
To spend the secrets that I save…

What can I learn, that I could write about?


[NOTE: This poem is not autobiographical (of course). It is dedicated to all those other people who are too cowardly to write about themselves.]

20 Years

(For Jill on our 20th anniversary)

A shot in the arm reveals a need in me
Not in a partner who loves like she
But that’s what I got
It was just like a shot
When we reached 20 years

I’ve been thankful for the first 19
Truly grateful that she’s on my team
But she took a leap
All-star to MVP
When the streak hit 20 years

The Artist has created a “helper suitable”
And her landscape has always been beautiful
But she took the Grand Prize
For the shine in her eyes
When I’d seen it for 20 years

We have made beautiful music together
And it will ring in my ears forever
But it became much more strong
And my favorite song
When I’d heard it for 20 years

I’ve been intoxicated with her time after time
And the cup of her love is like the best wine
It took the heart that I had
And made it even more glad
When it had aged for 20 years

I’m still inclined to stay Protestant
Nor take the Roman view of the sacraments
But each look at her face
Is a means of God’s grace
When we’ve worshipped Him together for 20 years

Dreams

Worlds you can visit only once,
and never can return, though a world
of riches and time are yours.
Times you lose when you awake
and long for their return, though in time
they never were and are no more.
They never were and are no more.

Swimming through the air above
or falling down, though highs and lows
are only in the landscape of the mind.
The motion and sensations are real
to the soft machine, though it lies in tow
at the end of the borderland.

The guilt and grace are real as well,
but more the first, although the soul
perceives it will be rescued by the dawn.
It fears the consequences of its crimes
and stays its hand, though not as far as in the light,
far by this form of darkness drawn.

If I could choose to stay or go,
I might remain, though I suppose
before too long a longing for the real
would weave its way into my thoughts
and soil the cloth, though if it not,
the caress of the eternal dress I feel.

Remembering

Fading voices calling

Flashing visions passing

A spiral of time, unhindered by

Remembering

Long lost joys emerging

Conquered pains returning

A bittersweet thrill, forgetting but still

Remembering...

(this is the first of a series of posts containing poems I have written...it is the shortest by far, but also my favorite)

An Alternative to the "Dating Game"

For the consideration of young people, their parents, and older singles, the following is a biblically wise alternative to the “Dating Game” that I've put together through years of study and discussion with church groups and Christian school classes. I hope you find it helpful, or at least challenging to your thinking. It's based on the basic idea that romance should wait until you're ready to get married, or in other words, "don't shop until you're ready to buy." (If you want to see more of a critique of the usual approach to dating, see Josh Harris’s book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and for more about the parents’ role, see Doug Wilson’s book Her Hand in Marriage.)

If you are not ready to get married yet:

Relate to members of the opposite sex as brothers or sisters (1 Tim. 5:1-2), and guard your heart against other thoughts and feelings. Be open with your parents about all of your relationships, and ask them to fulfill their responsibility of providing counsel, protection, and accountability for you (Eph. 6:1-2, 1 Cor. 7:36-38).

Stay in groups, don’t spend much time alone with any individual of the other sex (Prov. 4:23, Matt. 6:21). And be friends; if you do spend time together, do it as friends not as a “couple” or “boyfriend/girlfriend.”

If you do get too far along (“too close too soon”), mutually agree to separate totally for awhile (principle of “radical amputation” from Matt. 5:29-30).

Commit yourself to serving Christ with the time and energy you have (1 Cor. 7:32-35), and find ways to fill your life with learning, work, and other ministry.

Stay away from media and other influences that will cause you to long for romance or will generate sexual desires (Rom. 13:14).

Use this time as a single young person to grow in Christ, and to learn and practice what the Bible says about good relationships, and to pray and prepare for the right kind of marriage based on biblical principles (Prov. 31, Eph. 5:22-33, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 2, etc.).

Evaluate carefully, and with godly counsel, the reasons why you think you are not ready to get married. Determine if they are really biblical, wise, and legitimate reasons, especially if you are good friends with someone who could be a good life partner for you (Prov. 31:10‑11).

When you are ready to “date/court” for the purpose of marriage:

Pray a lot about this and prepare your heart and life to be a godly partner for someone, and evaluate any possible partners according to biblical principles and godly counsel from others—not according to feelings, physical attraction, pressure to get married, etc.

Until you meet someone that you want to “date/court,” or if a relationship doesn’t work out, learn and practice being content with the situation of “singleness” you are in (1 Cor. 7:17-24, Phil 4:11).

If a man wants to pursue a relationship beyond friendship with a woman, he should seek permission/approval from her father (or her pastor/elders, if the father is not fulfilling his responsibility). They should continue to be accountable to the protection and guidance of her father, and should again seek His permission/approval for engagement, if things go well (1 Cor. 7:36-38).

Fill the dating/courtship stage with worship, Bible Study, prayer, and ministry together, rather than merely the world’s ways of “dinner and a movie,” etc. Communicate openly about your intentions and plans, focus on serving the other person, and stay away from sexual sin, so that if it doesn’t work out it will not result in a debilitating “heartbreak” for either party.

When you get engaged, make it a short engagement, and get married even earlier if sexual sin is an issue (1 Cor. 7:8-9). But practice self-control and purity even in the engagement period, because if you don’t the problem will carry over into your marriage.

Get some good biblical premarital counseling, don’t go into debt on the wedding, and live happily ever after (for the glory of God)!

Age of Accountability?

A friend sent me an email asking if I believed in an "age of accountability" for children, saying that it didn't seem to be in the Bible anywhere. Here is my response...

The first part of my answer is not pleasant to think about (even to me), but hang with me, because the second part gets a lot better and shows the "silver lining in the cloud."

I do not believe in an “age of accountability,” first because it's not in the Bible, as you pointed out, but also because I believe that all humans, except for the virgin-born Christ, became sinful and separated from God when Adam fell in the garden. “Just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned” (Rom. 5:12, also 1 Cor. 15:21-22).

This is called “covenantal headship” or “federal representation”… the word “Adam” in Hebrew is the same word for “man” or “mankind,” and he and Eve were mankind at the time, so their penalty of death (primarily spiritual, as explained above, but with physical death beginning as a result) passed down to all of us at conception, because we are “in Adam.” “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psa. 51:5, also 58:3).

We do not become sinners because we start sinning at some point in our childhood; we sin because we are already sinners by nature. “You were dead in your trespasses and sins…and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:1-3)

That’s why we don’t have to teach children (cute as they are) to say “NO!” or “MINE!” Instead we must teach them to obey and share. They are born sinners, and therefore are eligible for the just punishment that sin deserves. God may choose to save young children who die, but it would not be based on their "innocence," but merely because of His grace and mercy in Christ. (The Bible doesn't speak clearly to that issue of young children who die, which is probably intentional because if it did, people throughout history would have killed their children to ensure them a place in heaven, or grieved hopelessly if they were known to be in hell. We must simply trust that "the Judge of the earth will do right" as Abraham said in Genesis 18:25, and leave the "secret things" to God as Moses said in Deuteronomy 29:29.)

But back to the principle of representation (or "original sin"): it is admittedly a tough pill to swallow. “I became sinful and separated from God because of what someone else did?! That seems unfair!!” But I have come to accept it because it’s clearly taught in the Bible, and even more because I’ve realized it’s the only way I can be saved from my sins and guaranteed a place in heaven forever. If God didn’t relate to us through this principle, then Jesus couldn’t have lived a perfect life and died on my behalf… but as it is, I can receive all His righteousness and be forgiven of all my sins because of what someone else did. So my destiny is not dependent upon my performance, but on His.

If I had to “stand on my own” before God, like Adam in the garden, I’m sure I would eventually fall like he did... if not right away! And that could happen even if I somehow managed to get to heaven. Who’s to say that after a week, a year, a hundred or a thousand years in, I would not blow it like Satan and Adam did and be cast out? I would never know if I was there for good! But because I am “in Christ” (arguably the two most important words in the Bible), I know that God relates to me through this representative and I am safe forever. How long will Jesus be perfect? Forever. How long will Jesus be loved by His father? Forever. How long will Jesus reign in the new heavens and new earth? Forever. So I will enjoy all those things just as long as He does, because by faith I am in union with Him!

This is the good news (or “gospel”) of grace, which unfortunately many people don’t grasp yet, even many Christians (I was one of those for a long time). It’s been put well this way: “In myself I am more sinful and undeserving than I ever feared to admit, but in Christ I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared to hope.” And that understanding of grace helps us to relate to others in the same way, loving them fully and continually even when they don’t deserve it.