Rhyme

Rhyme
We all long to live in poetry
Not merely in beguiling drudgery
Yet we always seem to lack the rhyme
When we search for it in the bounds of time
We seek to do instead of to be
We want the answer instead of mystery
And then we stop and wonder why
Our living river is completely dry

We all long to live in poetry
Not merely in beguiling drudgery
Yet we refuse to move out of the ditch
We cover ourselves with tar and pitch
Then wallow in the muck and mire
Refusing to see where we can inspire
Is a place of clean simplicity
I think I’ll rest beneath this tree

K, Duane Carter 12-11-10

Timeless

Timeless
Time is a created thing
Which means there is a place
Outside of the realm of time
Which means there is a trace
Of something eternal in our rhyme
I wonder how one gets there?

Wouldn’t it be so nice to be
One who dwelt in eternity,
Unconstrained by how long we had to be there?
I wonder if the gate is the air
I wonder how does one get there?

A thought occurs to me, it seems
That we enter there in a land of dreams
Where we see things before we see them
Where feather, flight, light and gem
Dance through cloudy visions
But unlike our apparitions
They are very much more real
So I slip into the world surreal

And let timelessness lead me on

K, Duane Carter 12-3-10

Experience vs. Reason

I just watched a video that was subtitled “how a genius proved the existence of God.”  It was a video on a German professor teaching young kids that God, if He existed, must be evil because He created evil.  A child stands and explains how cold is the absence of heat, and darkness is the absence of light and how we don’t study cold and darkness but heat and light.  He then goes to argue that evil is the absence of God and that God did NOT create evil but that evil is the absence of God’s love in man’s heart.  The video goes to say that it was Albert Einstein that stated this.  Now I don’t know if Albert did that as a child in a schoolroom or not, but this isn’t proof that God exists, it is just an argument that answers an opinion.  I’m beginning to think that one cannot “prove” God exists in the logical, geometrical, scientific sense of that word “prove.”  Now I have read enough of C.S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer and Ravi Zacharias and William Lane Craig and others to know there are brilliant reasons to show He does exist.  However, I am not sure that we can just hold up some human ideas and formulas and go, “SEE??  THERE HE IS!!!”  The reason I think that is because if God is really Who He says He is then He is beyond the scope of our reasoning.  I think we have put such a heavy weight on humanity’s ability to reason, that we think we gain all of the right answers that way, and there is no greater question that must be answered than, “Does God exist?” so we tackle it with only our reason and even after thousands of years of thinking and reasoning we STILL can’t come to a consensus as human beings whether our Creator is there and if He is whether He is good or not.  I’m beginning to wonder if this question can only be answered out of experience.  I’m not denigrating reason or apologetics or any of that.  God created our minds.  But I believe we have become slaves to our minds.  “If our mind can’t grasp it, then it doesn’t exist” is the predominant thought of the day.  That thought is absolutely ridiculous and is the open door for all kinds of error.  This is difficult to put into words even because words require systematic thought, but I just really sense that one of the great shifts in this new age coming is that we will know God exists because we experience Him.  This is what is coming.  Experiences are coming in which one will have to basically turn his/her brain OFF to say God doesn’t exist.  He always seems to know ways to get to our hearts even when our brains can’t grasp Him, and He is coming soon to knock on the door of your heart also.  Don’t let your brain talk you out of meeting with Him .  

This Place

This Place

my heart is yearning for a place in the light

where there is nothing but color, nowhere is night

it is so close I can sense it

I can hear it in the music, flowing in three’s

I can see it in color in the midst of the trees

I can glimpse it through the vision of my periphery

I can feel it in the heartbeat of a spirit that is free

I feel it moving, moving

Entering from the left

And no soul, no spirit

will be left empty or bereft

my heart is yearning for a place in the light

and this world as no one knows it is coming quickly to sight

right into this place, right here and now…

K, Duane Carter 11-29-10

The Deep

I was finishing up my exercise routine this morning, and I looked up to see one of my photos of Colorado.  I have been thinking about publishing an inspirational calendar with poems and photos, and that got me to wondering.  I began to wonder why inspirational products sell so well.  Obviously our country must have a lot of people that desire to be inspired and encouraged.  Now the next logical step would be to say that obviously life can be hard and stressful and people need that inspiration and encouragement to get through those difficulties and hardships.  But then I felt something deeper.  What if down deep what we are really seeking is that something that life is really supposed to be here on planet earth?  I’m not talking about the yearning for heaven either.  I’m talking about releasing the glory of God here on this earth we live on.  What if we humans have put up with disappointment and hurt and discouragement and pain and suffering and death for so long that we have buried that real yearning and power and faith that is deep within us telling us it really doesn’t have to be the way that we see it?  What if that fire burning deep within the mountainous pile of ashes is that quiet voice of God saying, “You were born for much more than this…you were born for much more.”  What if God is just waiting for that one woman, that one man, that one boy, that one girl who is willing to say, “God, you told us to pray that Your will be done on earth and Your kingdom to come to this earth and for it to be on earth as it is in heaven.  You gave us back our dominion over this planet.  I’m ready to walk in that”?  What if we quit accepting excuses like, “That’s just the way life is”, and “God allows bad stuff to happen to help us be better” and started to live out the truth that He has called us to greater works than Jesus by resting in our identity as sons and daughters of God and the beautiful bride of Jesus?  What if??  I’m beginning to see it…and it is more beautiful than we can think or imagine.  You were born for more than this.  Go for it.  The earth is crying out for you. 

Responding in Truth

This morning I read a tweet from a prominent speaker in our country, and it said something to the effect that God doesn’t respond to our need, He responds to our faith.  I immediately had a “no” in my heart and I thought of the story of the father who brought his son to the disciples and they couldn’t heal him.  He asked Jesus to heal his son IF He could.  IF…there wasn’t a lot of faith right there, you know?  He then admitted to Jesus that he needed help with unbelief and Jesus gave him the miracle of healing his son in order to do just that…Jesus boosted the man’s faith.  Jesus didn’t respond to the guy’s faith.  He responded to his need so that He could give him the gift of faith.  I’m not sitting here gleeful because just one more preacher dude made a mistake.  That’s not the point.  The point is I am tired of the church sign approach we Christians have to the truth.  We often say things that sound so pious and right and cute and cuddly, but when you really start digging into a lot of these platitudes they aren’t right at all, and I think that they also harm because somewhere out there is a hurting person that DID believe and they didn’t get what they asked for and now they are floundering.  The last thing that person needs is a 2 x 4 across his head making him think he didn’t believe “enough.”  I think God responds the way any good Father would respond.  He does what He knows is best in the situation and based on what will bring us the most good and help us to grow.  Truth isn’t straightforward.  It just isn’t.  If you don’t believe me then read Proverbs 26:4-5.  I am learning that God is more often a “both-and” person and NOT an exclusively “either-or” type of person.  And somewhere, somehow we are going to have to quit acting like we know it all, and we are going to have to start acting out of the place that our faith contains mystery and unanswered questions and there is not one human being on this planet that has it all right including (and probably especially) myself.  If we lead people to the Answer instead of trying to have all the answers, we might go far.  Just a thought… 

Picture

Picture

picture yourself here

sitting in the rising sun

stillness moving through the air

the sound of autumn leaves falling to the ground

like heavy rain

yet touching lightly, musically

a wren sets off in flight from your left

and you know it is a sign

today you fly

today you soar

to places never known before

it is so because He says it is so

now go

walk it out 

it is good to do the walk about

and see the world like you’ve never seen it before

experience the more

the more that is always available for you

picture yourself here

and you will find yourself here

it will be much better than you could ever imagine it…

K, Duane Carter 11-13-10 

Thoughts

Just a regular blog entry today folks....


I was wondering something today as I read an email from a good friend of mine.  She was recounting the story of the 12 spies who went to the Promised Land and how 10 of them basically by negative news kept at least a million people out of what was to be their destiny.  That got me to thinking about how we as Christians are often known for what we stand against and not what we stand for.  What would happen if we began to quit praying against evil and started praying for the release of good?  What would happen if we would quit spending hours getting all of the bad news in our emails about all of the garbage going on and quit spending hours praying against the schemes of the enemy, and we began to take that time and pray for the release of the kingdom of God on the earth?  What if we began to pray for the release of love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, gentleness, meekness, self-control, justice, and righteousness, and JOY?!  What if?  It’s not bad to know what is going on, but I am beginning to wonder if it is not good to react to evil instead of proclaiming the good.  I wonder if our humanity tends to react to evil more in soulish and fleshly ways, and our proclaiming good operates in more of the spiritual dimension and opens us up to being invaded by God Himself.  Just a thought.  I wonder if anyone out there is willing to step into this.  Let's focus on praying for His Presence in situations, and I bet all of the bad stuff just bends its knee to the God of the Universe.  That isn't just revival...that is reformation. 

The Chasm

Sometimes living poetry

Is like looking into a deep, dark chasm

I see nothing

I feel nothing

Yet I know something is out there

In there, within the darkest depths

And suddenly and without any explanation

There I just step

Falling, falling, falling

Into a place I know not

To a destiny I know not

Yet I feel the air around me growing thicker

And there is a slowing of my descent

And I feel my wings getting stronger

Strong enough to simply put them forth

And the air builds up below me

And now I am headed back up towards the lights

Able to see where I just journeyed

Seeing creatures and creation like never before

Seeing myself like never before

And it all started at the edge of a dark chasm…

K, Duane Carter 10-18-10

Droplet

In the way a drop of water

Changes the desert in ways unseen

The earth vibrates with the life that it brings

And there is resonation

There is a sound

That moves on throughout the universe

And it brings us into rain

I hear the thunder

In the droplet that fell

I see a well

That pours out upside down from the skies

By Love I have been mesmerized

It has fallen on the earth

K, Duane Carter 10-4-10

Choose

Choose

My mind is a barren wasteland

Quiet in a hardened steel kind of way

I feel the pull of the tug to join into the fray, yet

That is just a place of distraction, diversion

It is truly not the place where there is quiet rest

That place is found in the garden of the nest

Where wings of love and goodness cover

Where dreams untold are now discovered

Where truth and beauty are always revealed

Where the steel of my mind does bend and kneel

To the greater gift of goodness, to the greater truth of light

And in that place I truly discover the purpose of the night

I still am in the barren, yet my feet have begun to move

To find the land of goodness I simply have to choose

And not put it off for another day, another time

Today I will enter my rhyme

It is time

K, Duane Carter 9-13-10

Honeysuckle

This is a picture

A picture of Jesus dancing over us

White robe, gold crown

Beauty, beauty all around

Golden sweetness falling off of Him

Like water vapor off a cascade

He sings and gives us quite a parade

With angelic beings and creatures never before seen

We don’t know what it all can be, what it all can mean

All we know is we are in the throes of His dance

And life is nothing less than to dwell, to bask

In the honey of His glory

K, Duane Carter 9-9-10

The Baptism

The Baptism

I fall in backwards

Into the cold, wet grave

My hands placed neatly across my chest

Laid into a place of rest

My eyes still open I see

The bubbles bubbling over me

They climb up toward the towering trees

As sunlight still pierces the surface

And as I reach the depths I notice very quickly

That I cannot stay there

I begin to rise

As the water bears me up

It brings me up to the surface

And I rise with the oxygen toward the light

And I come up

A new man

A new creation

A new son

With a new love

And a new heart

Making a new start

As the old stays down on the bottom

My eyes take in the light

And the wind whispers through the trees

Strength returning to my knees

So I may now walk in the difference                               


K. Duane Carter 9-17-09

The Shore

I often wonder if I am a wave on the shore

Wanting to go just a little further

But there is something that says, “No more”

And I just quietly go back to where I came from

Mingled in with everything else like me

I wait for the power and the force of the wind

I determine that I will try this again

But this time I will not do so alone

I hear the sound of the boat that groans

Against the force of the coming gale

I now am riding with the breeze

I determine to reach the heights with ease

And I am carried even beyond my sight

And notice I am filled with peace and delight

I am resting in a place much further on than I expected

And it all came from the place where I rested

And waited on the wind

Wow, I might have to do this again…

K, Duane Carter 8-28-10   

Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis

I have felt the darkness of the bats

Their furry, fluttering wings, elastic

And their gnashing teeth bombastic

And it is none too pleasant to deal with

I have stepped out into sun

Basking in the glorious one

Wielding heat and warmth and light

Chasing away the darkest night

And in that have seen the butterflies

Yellow and dancing,

Flying and prancing

A picture of my destiny

A metamorphosis like no other

I turn from enemy into brother

And dine at a table like no other

Where even the memories don’t hold me like they used to

In fact they don’t hold me at all

I found a cushion from the drastic fall

And it is light and love and joy and peace

A calm serenity has been released

And it dances on the clouds like the butterflies

Right here is the picture before me

Moving and hovering on gentle winds

Where all of goodness calls me friend

And lover of wonder all at once

K, Duane Carter 8-26-10

Delight

Delight

Splashes of color

Filled with delight

Delicate leaflets

Reaching for light

Heaven is knocking

Right on our door

While we are wondering

What we are here for

Infinite wisdom

Creating infinite wonder

Just stopping to see it

Can cause one to ponder

Splashes of color

Filled with delight

Delicate leaflets

Can fill us with light

K, Duane Carter 8-17-10

On the Road Home

On the Road Home

No one but God can do a sunset

Unearthly pinks and golds and blues

He takes all of His palette’s hues

And puts together one mesmerizing event

And raises up clouds

Angels gigantic in their forms

And creatures I know not, enormous and warm

Bending their backs in exultation and praise

As golden light rods spring up through the haze

And enter into infinity

Where even the stars come out early to see

The show

No one but God can do this

No one but God can create this bliss

And no one but God could let me see

No one but Him could let me be

And so is the same for you

K, Duane Carter 7-27-10

Motion

Motion

I love to study each and every wave

Especially the ones close to the shore

Every single one created by a push

Created by a pull

Sent forth by a breath of wind

Drawn forth by a dream or so it seems

And the closer it comes

The more it reflects the light

When the timing is just right

Oh what goodness is seen at the shore!

I think I will go forth and look some more

I think I will go and enter the mystery

That is displayed by the beauty and the depths of the sea

K, Duane Carter 7-24-10

Techno

 

I am wondering with all of this techno

When is the last time you simply let go

And actually looked someone in the eye

Actually looked into their soul, not to pry

But to see reality and beauty and meaning?

I am wondering while you are on facebook

Do you ever see the pain in someone’s look

Or happiness for that matter

Or does your heart just pitter and patter

The way that it always does…frozen?

It’s not that I don’t like eBay or Twitter

It’s just that I wish we could all consider

That while our life is on hyper drive

We don’t know the meaning of being alive

And that really concerns me so…

Techno….

K, Duane Carter 6-29-10

Sunday Mornings

Ambiguity seems to be the order of the day
Especially from ones who claim to pray
To a Being they have never seen or known

Dishonesty seems to play a part
Particularly in the religious art
Where those who have never seen or heard
Are telling me I am a raucous bird
Because I speak with Him every moment

Distraction seems to be the key
To attempt to allure and bury me
Into a place where there is no reality
There are only rules and regulations

I must have love and I must have real
Forget all about this curb appeal
That doesn’t get the orphan fed
And doesn’t give the hungry bread
It just sits and consumes the sunlight

I sit and I sit here quietly
And God just sits right next to me
And that right there is the meaning of life
And that right there is the ending of strife
So I’m just going to sleep in on Sunday morning
And meet with my family in another way.
My goodness, it is such a beautiful day!

I sit with Wonder, I sit with Love
I rest in the Goodness, I am placed above
I walk through darkness as I am bathed in light
I watch True Love simply blow away fright
And know this is just where I am meant to be

Totally free….

K, Duane Carter 6-19-10

Life

Life

It is quite simple

Water plus sunshine gives rainbow

And right there is the meaning

The meaning of life itself

It is just that simple

K, Duane Carter   6-5-10

Flower

 

Flower

There is so much more beauty in a flower

Than one can gain in half an hour

There is so much more beauty to pursue

That is a deeper but mere reflection of you

We long to live, we long to gasp

At wonder that lies beyond our grasp

Yet there it is within our reach

All we can gain is all we beseech

Into the depths of wonder we go

We rise in ebb and sink in flow

We love in hate and are weak in power

Oh, there is so much more beauty in this flower

K, Duane Carter   5-31-10

What is Real

 

What is Real

I am looking for tethers whose ties are not there

And in the process tethers come that tie me down

I am praying for chains to be broken that do not exist

And in the process I become even further bound

I am looking outside for God when He lives within

And in the process He becomes so much harder to see

I am praying for things He has already done

I am enslaving myself when I’m already free

I look to a world of illusion and shame to find what I think is real

All the while I turn off that which is true by ignoring the Truth that I feel

Is there an answer to this circumstance?  Is there ever a bird that can fly?

The answer is to sit at the feet of the Truth, and there is where you can let out your sigh

For where the sigh is released in spirit and truth, it is there that the true God we meet

It is there where we love, it is there where we live; we are changed as we sit at His feet

K, Duane Carter   5-27-10

I don’t normally explain my poems, but I feel like this one is something from the heart of God and I want to make sure people get it.  I am learning that most of the heartache and hurt and disappointment I have had with God in my life is because of the lies I believed about Him in my head.  For years I have attempted to grasp God with purely my rational mind, and that will only lead to heartache and disappointment and hurt because one ends up with a god no bigger than his/her brain when one tries to comprehend Him that way.  As I go even deeper with Him I have begun to realize that this world I see with my two natural eyes is not the greatest reality in the universe.  The spiritual reality where He dwells, what we would call “heaven”, is the greatest reality and it isn’t the place that defines that, it is the God Who dwells there that defines it.  Heaven is heaven because God dwells there.  Wherever He dwells is heaven.  Now all of a sudden verses like what one reads in Ephesians of how we dwell RIGHT NOW in heavenly places are becoming alive to me because He dwells within me.  Even our little children can understand that He lives within us, but why can’t we understand that we carry heaven with us wherever we go?  When we fail to understand such a truth, we become bound to a lesser reality.  Why can’t we understand that because we dwell with God that we live ABOVE our circumstances, and therefore the enemy CANNOT touch us?  In fact it implies (and there are verses that state it more plainly) that God puts us where we are seen by the enemy but not touched, and this is a torment to our enemy because he sees us receiving the very thing he wants:  authority from our Father.  We are here to PUNISH our enemy by living out a loving relationship with our Father and with our King and our Husband.  “But Duane, what about illness and poverty and disease and death?”  Yeah, what about them?  Jesus kicked their butt on the cross, and took back all the authority over them, and in the resurrection showed us the true power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us and then He gave all that authority back to us with the understanding that this world was created for human beings to co-labor with God and take back what was stolen, but we believe we can’t do it so we chain ourselves right back up again.  Can you see this??  Do we really believe what we say we believe??  NO, we don’t and that is why people stand around asking questions and moaning and complaining instead of delivering the Answer.  That’s why we stand around wondering about all the problems and we don’t deliver the Answer.  It’s time to believe and exercise real faith.  It’s time to simply sit at His feet and release these sighs, and then let Him release those awesome words that He sends to heal us, free us, and empower us.  I am sick of powerlessness.  The greatest power in the universe, and the greatest reality is Love.  It is time to release that.  I’m not kidding.  It is time RIGHT NOW to release it.