The Tumbling

Life is so much like this picture
We are smoothly going along and all seems well
And suddenly we are falling precipitously
We run into a rock and that propels us onto another one
We are tumbling this way and that
Feeling like we must be breaking every bone in our body
Then another rapid descent
And a churning, churning, churning
Then there is rest again
And we see that when we conform like the Water
And we become like the Water
We come through not bruised and battered
But cleaner, purer and more wondrous than before
Life is so much like this picture

K. Duane Carter
10-16-08

The Dove

The Dove

I see the Dove
Fire in His wings
In Power He sings
Of eternal dreams
Signs, visions, wonders
He wishes me to behold
Mysteries untold
Mysteries of the presence of God
The wonders of worship in His throne room
The signs of heaven on earth
I say “yes” to You, O Spirit, in my spirit
God Himself dwells in me
The Fire dwells in me
Burning brighter than the sun
Burning, the Fire of the Holy One
Burn brightly and let nothing quench it.
Now the light so bright I cannot see
My eyes go blind
I cannot see with the natural eyes of mine
Open the eyes of my spirit, close the eyes of my mind
So I may see nothing but You,
O Dove with fire in Your wings
In power, in majesty, in loveliness sing
Sing Your dream, sing Your dream
In me

K. Duane Carter
11-23-08

Reality

Reality

I am tired of seeing with these eyes
I am tired of listening with these ears
I am tired of rationalizing with this mind
And coming up empty, wrong and paralyzed
I long to live by the Spirit and in the Spirit
Rise up within me O One that raises the One from the dead
Rise up within me and bring me into the true Life
The life where I know what You say
Not why You say it, not caring why You say it
But simply that You do
Simply that You are
Simply You are Love and Light
And in You is no darkness at all
Let the life within me be Light
And only Light
For I am tired of seeing with these blind eyes
I want to see with the ones You have given me to see with
I want to hear with the ears You gave me to hear with
The ones that are truly me and not what others see
I want to see with Your ears and hear with Your eyes
I want to gaze into the beauty of Your face, forever mesmerized
Let the life within me be Light
Let the light within me be Life
For nothing else matters
Nothing else matters
Nothing else
Nothing

K. Duane Carter
11-26-08

God’s purpose is not to give me answers. God’s purpose is to give me wonder and mystery. God’s purpose is to reveal the One that should be truly worshipped and worship is a response to His wonder, not to mere reasons. But if I constantly seek the reasons and the answers, then He cannot trust me with the deeper wonders because I am too busy asking “Why?” and “What is the meaning of this?” to just sit and listen and dream. I must take the path of childlike trust to enter into His kingdom. Often I will lead my children into places that they don’t understand why we are going there, but they simply follow and they typically enjoy the trip. God please grow in me the childlike wonder. Please restore to me my childhood innocence, my childhood wonder, my child-like trust. I see that You are already doing that. Thank You for Your answers to my prayers, even those where I don’t understand or see the answer. May I be truly loyal and truly trustworthy to share in Your mysteries and wonders.

Practice

I just heard one of the best messages I have heard in a long time. An excellent speaker named Kris Vallotton brought a message in regards to the recent elections. He was asked some questions about if he thought God’s will had been done, and if he thought judgment was coming. He talked about the difference between sowing and reaping and judgment. He showed how God has already judged sin on the cross of Jesus. We don’t want punishment; we want mercy. If God proceeds to punish others then He will have to punish us also. He proceeded to show how we as Christians will have no influence in the world by trashing our leaders and speaking negatively. We will only gain influence by speaking positively into their lives and lifting them up in our prayers. He spoke of the Scriptures Peter and Paul wrote about praying for and respecting the leaders in authority and Kris reminded everyone that it was Nero that Peter and Paul were writing about. He went on to talk about how Abraham Lincoln had an encounter with God before he took the office of President, and how when he took the office he had a relationship with God. One encounter with God can change a person. Then the thought hit me. I was grateful to see people praying and fasting for this election. Many of us are disappointed and feel we have failed. Not so. God was giving us practice so we could pray and fast for our newly elected president. One encounter with God is all it will take. We must quit speaking negatively. We must quit wishing for something bad to happen to show we “were right.” Being right should NEVER take precedent over loving others. I feel that it is time right now, even before President Obama has made a single executive decision, to begin to pray that he will have an encounter with a loving Father, a grace-giving Son, and a powerful Holy Spirit. Why don’t we start praying and fasting for that? Why don’t we start praying and fasting for God to show us how to be an influence in our nation where love changes everything for the better? Why don’t we start praying for Daniel’s and Esther’s to arise, people who love God with all their hearts yet know how to influence kings and find favor with their rulers? Why don’t we do this? Why don’t we let President Obama know that he has our prayerful support and our respect and our encouragement? Don’t’ you think he would respect the opinions of people like that over those that degrade and berate him? I think it is time to live what we know to be right.

Conquering Beauty

The darkened earth has me in its grasp
Held here by gravity
Held here by my own choices
I look at what my feet stand upon and feel the darkness
In the atmosphere the dark clouds hover
They watch over me to keep me in my place
They whisper out, “There is no grace
For the likes of you and your kind.”
I wish I could simply just unwind
The clock and go back to a simpler time
When God abounded in the midst of rhyme
As I reach this point of sorrow
A voice within whispers softly, “There is more…”
I see it there, right in the midst
With brightening clouds, lights in the mist
The sun is about to make its breakthrough
No sky, no earth will hold it back
I must withstand the dark attack
And wait here patiently
To watch the Conquering Beauty do His wonders

kdc 7-13-07

the meeting

there is something here that is a deep and lovely truth
where the water meets the rock
at that place where water, rock and light come together
there is a brightness and purity that wasn’t seen before
there is a source of such intense light and beauty
that I have never seen before
there is something here that is a deep and lovely truth
only if we would take the time to contemplate it
with our hearts and not our minds
with our spirit and not with our eyes
there is something here that is deep and lovely
just like His eyes

kdc 11-1-08