The Poetry of Music: How Can They Live Without Jesus

 I have really enjoyed my short time as part of the Poetry Friday community.  Up until a month ago or so, I would just occasionally see links to it on some of the blogs I follow.  It wasn't until 4 weeks ago that I started posting there.

I love music, and I have a very eclectic taste in music.  There are many things I enjoy about music, but I think overall I am drawn to the lyrics.  Today's "Poem" is actually lyrics from a song that I think would make excellent poetry.  I think once a month or so, I will share some of these songs here and post them as well to Poetry Friday, which by the way is being hosted this week by Janice at Salt City Verse.

Today's Poem/Song is How Can They Live Without Jesus by the late Keith  Green. 

Before I reveal the lyrics, a few quick comments about them and the writer.  Keith Green was a contemporary Christian musician (CCM)  from the mid-'70s to the late '80s who died in a plane crash in 1982. He was a gifted pianist, singer, and songwriter. 

This song has a very strong and clear Christian message. It is a message that many may take umbrage with.  I don't share it here to be divisive or evangelical.  While I agree with the tone and the message of the song, I share it here because I think it's great poetry. I find it thought-provoking, and at the same time, it is enjoyable.  

How Can They Live Without Jesus 

How can they live without Jesus? 

How can they live without Gods love?

How can they feel so at home down here,

When there's so much more up above?

Throwing away the things that matter,

They hold on to things that don't.

The world has gone crazy, 

But soon maybe,

A lot more are gonna know.

For maybe they don't understand it

Or maybe they just haven't heard

Or maybe we're not doing all we can

Living up to His Holy Word.

'Cause phonies have come 

And wrongs been done

Even killing in Jesus' name

And if you've been burned,

Here's what I've learned:

The Lord's not the one to blame.

For He's just not religion

With steeples and bells 

Or a salesman who will sell you

The things you just want to hear

For His love was such

That he suffered so much

To cause some of us

Just to follow, follow

So many laughing at Jesus

While the funnies thing That He's done

Is love this old stubborn rebellious world

While their hate for him just goes on

And love just like that

Will bring Him back

for the few, He can call his friends

The ones He's found true

Who've made it through

Enduring until the end

The ones He's found true

Who've made it through

Enduring until the end

If you are interested in hearing the song, here is a rendition by the CCM vocal group, Glad.

How can they live without Jesus appears on the Kieth Green album, No Compromise.  

I wrote a poem this week which will have to keep until next Poetry Friday.  For more of this week's, festivities click here.

Down to the Last Strike: A Six Sentence Story

 I am participating today in the Six Sentence Story Thursday Link Up at Girlie on the Edge's blog. 

The basic idea is to write a story consisting of six sentences only.  Each week a word prompt is given to base the story on. This week's prompt was: strike. 

Down to the Last Strike. 

Frank only understood one thing in his life, baseball; everything else was like watching a movie in one unintelligible language with subtitles in another unintelligble language.

Baseball had absorbed his life for too long now: obsessed with it as a kid, endowed with an incredible gift to play his favorite game on a high level, and then lucky enough to get drafted by his favorite team.

His luck and his signing bonus-grubbing wife ran out nearly simultaneously after a career-ending injury before his professional career really even started. 

He stumbled at first but soon, Frank was making the transition from player to scout; until he got the news about his Dad's cancer.

Frank only understood one thing in his life, and that was baseball - everything he knew, his Dad had taught him; the greatest of those lessons was you play the game down to your last strike. 

Frank knew that life wasn't all peanuts and Cracker Jacks, and was now absorbed with something more than baseball: rooting for the home team.  

For more six-sentence stories, click here.

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #7: Little House on the Prairie

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #7: Little House on the Prairie:   

What Jim Edmonds Greatest Career Catches has to do with my ADD

My ADD gets in the way of my everyday life but it often leaves a pleasant wake in it's path.  Today, right now in fact,I was getting ready to leave the house on what will be a very busy day. I couldn't find my phone and when I found it it was totally uncharged so I needed to charge it.  I noticed it had earbuds in it that were not working on my phone last night when I was trying to listen to Moby Dick before I went to bed.  So, instead of plugging in the phone and continuing to get ready to leave.  I took the earbuds plus the phone to the computer to check if the earbuds worked on the computer, which they did.

I thought the best way to check it, would be to go to YouTube .  Instead of going to the video I was going to look up, I got distracted by a Jim Edmonds video and began watching the video of his 8 amazing catches.  I liked it so much, I decided to post it here. I also googled Jim Edmonds HOF and found this good article about his qualifications to be voted in by the veteran's committee.  I was right about to go back in my archives and see  if I voted for him on my mock ballot when he was eligible, when my wife walked by and asked if I found my phone and then reminded me it still needed to be charged.  I'm going to go back now to my busy day, which I just made a little busier for myself. Thanks ADD!.

When I post this in a few days, the today referenced at the top of this (6/24/2022) will actually be in the past.  How long in the past? Only my ADD can say for sure.  For now: enjoy this video of great Edmonds catches that my ADD left in it's wake. 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #6: Moby Dick

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #6: Moby Dick: 

Poetry Friday: For The First Time

I hope you are not confused by the title of this post.  It is simply the name of the weekly blogging event  I am participating in, and the title of my poem which will appear therein. 

I did not mean to imply that I was participating in Poetry Friday for the first time.  This, in fact, is my 4th appearance in as many weeks.  Prior to that, I was an irregular reader of some of the entries through links to some of the other poetry blogs I follow.  My blog is not a poetry blog as such, it is more a mixed bag of miscellany in the shape of a blog. It is true that I am certainly on a poetry kick these days. While this is not the first time I have posted on Poetry Friday, this is the first poem I have written specifically with this blogging event in mind. 

I really enjoy these blogging events.  Back when I was homeschooling my kids, and this blog was called Home School Dad, I participated in weekly blogging events called Three Things Thursday, Works for me Wednesday, Wordless Wednesday, and my favorite the Carnival of Homeschooling.  Some of my favorite posts in my 13 + years of blogging were when I hosted the aforementioned carnival.

In a few months, I will be hosting one of the Poetry Friday's which I am very excited about and have already begun drafting.  One thing I will put an end to, at least for the week I host it, is this whole Poetry Friday on a Thursday thing.  This is very typical of all the blogging events I've ever participated in.  If you want to be one of the first posts on the Linky list, and who doesn't?, you need to post the day before.  Now I must ask you my fellow existentialists, is it really Poetry Friday when you post it on Pre-Poetry Thursday? 

Therefore, When I host in August, my post will drop at 11 p.m central time on Thursday Night.  That's because it will be Friday in New York City and if that's good enough for New Year's Rocking Eve it's good enough for me.  

I believe that's more than enough pre-amble/rant.  Here is my poem for the week ...

 For The First Time

Meeting someone

Is like

Walking

Into the middle

Of two movies

They walk into yours

You walk into theirs

You both walk into

What could be

The pivotal scene

Of your lives

Poetry Friday is being hosted this week at Reading to the Core. 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Either Giraffes or smaller these days or Trees are bigger Edition

For more Wordless Wednesday: click here.
 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #5: The Great Gatsby

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #5: The Great Gatsby:

"A Song About Baseball"

I saw this on Bob Bennet's website just about 30 minutes too late for Father's day.  I worked Father's Day at a K.C. COugars game selling concessions.  Kids were playing catch with their Dads.  I watched them do it and remembered playing catch on that field with my son just a few years ago.  

I really enjoyed this new look at one of my favorite songs.

I Can't Skip

 It's Poetry Friday again and this is my 3rd straight week participating.  Before I share today's poem I'd like to thank everyone for their kind words about The time we're given experiment.  I just thought it would be interesting to start 2 poems with the same line, I had no idea what would come from it.

We've been doing some Spring cleaning around these parts and a few weeks ago my wife and daughter found one of my old college writing assignments. It was for a non-fiction creative writing class which I may put on the blog later.  On the back of one of the pages, I scribbled a poem.

I Can't Skip.

I can't skip.

Don't ask me to

I can't,

I won't.

I don't

Skip ...

I'd like to skip

It's fun,

It's free.

It's me,

It's who I want to be.

But I can't.

So, I won't,

And I don't.

Skip  ...

"Can't you skip?"

"No."

"Everybody can skip."

I can't.

This week's Poetry Friday is being hosted by Michelle Kogan.

I have 100 posts in draft status.

 Blog Insider: An unsolicited and superfluous look beyond the minutiae 

Today's Episode: Draft Status 

Back when I started blogging getting to your hundredth post was kind of a big deal.  People would celebrate the accomplishment in different ways.  When I got there I made a list of 100 people I knew who who influenced me.   At 500 I wrote a parody to I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles). Since I consolidated all my blogs here I have been in the process of consolidating all posts from all those blogs here as well.  Because of that I'm not quite sure what number post I'm at exactly but I am nearing 1,300 for the ones that have been written or transferred here.  

Earlier this week, I discovered a different century mark.  I noticed that I have 100 posts here in this blog that are in draft status.  That means they are not currently accessible to you. the reader. I was astounded that it was that many.  

When I consolidated the 2 other blogger blogs here it also brought over anything in draft status from those blogs.

The most recent of my posts in draft status was from May 26th.  Over the past 3 years I have had  35 more identical posts/  They have no title and no content whatsoever.  I don't think I was aware that i was leaving phantom drafts 

The oldest of my drafts is originally from my sports blog.   It is from January 10, 2012 (more than 10 years ago!) and entitled A thought on Harold Baines and the HOF.  It was written right after Baines was removed from the HOF ballot by failing to received more than 5% of the writer's vote.  Written is too strong of a word as the only thing written was the title of the post.  Baines was eventually voted into the HOF on the veteran's ballot in 2019.  So since the motivation for my post (expressing my opinion that Baines is HOF material) has been for all intents and purposes been achieved there is really no reason to keep it in draft status.  

The most recent of my posts in draft status was from May 26th.  Over the past 3 years I have had  35 more identical posts/  They have no title and no content whatsoever.  I don't think I was aware that i was leaving phantom drafts.  That's more than 1/3 of the 100 drafts and those will be easy to delete. There are other posts like the Harold Baines post that are title only with no content. 

The remaining posts  are basically in the following categories. 

* You Tube videos.  

I post quite a few you tube vidoes straight to my blog.  Since I have had in the past more than one blogger blog at a time, when I put those videos onto my blog I get a screen shot like the one below.  

If I accidentally put the video in the wrong blog it usually gets trapped in draft staus in that blog without being immediately aware about it.

* Consolidation

When I moved my sports blog and vlog to this one, I also brought whatever blogs I had in draft status with me, like the aforementioned Harold Baines post.

* No longer relevant, No longer interested, could not do it justice

These are actually 3 very similar situations.  In each case I start a post and put it aside to finish.  By the time I get back to them they are not worth finishing for one (or more) of the above reasons.

* Work in progress

After I have finished this post, this should be the only category of posts in draft status that remain.  These are posts that I am either still working on or do not want to give up completely on.

* Ready to publish/overlooked.  

There are a few posts that are in draft status by mistake.  When I find those I go ahead and put them into the blog as was originally intended.

100 posts in draft status is not an achievement I ever anticipated achieving.  Now that I'm finished achieving it, I'm going to spend a few minutes behind the scenes and unachieve it.  

 

More Than a Song: Bob Bennett

Yesterday, I was cleaning out some junk from my room and decided to put on some music while doing so. I chose a Randy Stonehill You tube video, that I had previously shared here.

The video is from a series called More than a Song which is part concert and part interview.  After the Stonehill segment had ended I found there was another artist form my big 5. Bob Bennet, who was also in an episode.  I liked it and thought I'd share it here as well

 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #4: Whose Body? (Plus Next 10)

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #4: Whose Body?:   

This was not only my 4th book of Summer Reading but my 30th book of the year. This puts me on pace to read 67.17 by year's end.  My last 5 books read were Bury The Lead by David Rosenfelt and the first 4 books of my summer reading lists including this one.

Next Ten

Moby Dick - Herman Melville

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Knowing God - J.I. Packer

Between Heaven & Hell - Peter Kreeft

Little House on The Prairie - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Immanuel: Reflections on the Life of Christ - Michael Card

 

Inside the Voyage of the Dawn Treader - Devin Brown

Writing Poetry from the Inside Out - Sanford Lynne

What to do on Thursday - Jay Adams

The Collected Short Stories of Louis Lamour - Vol I

 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #3 Where the Sidewalk Ends

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book #3 Where the Sidewalk Ends: 

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 2: Ten-Second Rainshowers

Leap of Dave Summer Reading Blog: Book # 2: Ten-Second Rainshowers:  

Death of a Brother: 14 lines after 13 years

 I am participating in Poetry Friday for the 2nd week in a row.  Last week I contributed this sonnet  and mentioned I had written a 2nd sonnet with the exact same first line

One of the many differences between this sonnet and last week's is that today's is an Italian sonnet and the first one was an Elizabethan sonnet.  Each one has 14 lines but the rhyme scheme varies.  Today's sonnet has the rhyme scheme ABBA ABBA CDE CDE.

Death of a Brother

14 lines after 13 years

The time we're given  is quite brief

For some, it's much too short

One April morn I got the report

I'd lost my brother Keith

Such news was so beyond belief

That I had no retort

Of snappy comebacks, I'd fallen short

So anguished by my grief

My brother died in a nursing home

At the age of thirty-eight

While he was watching M*A*S*H

13 years later as I write this poem

Though my grief is not as great

My heart still bears the gash

As I mentioned last week, in my opinion, this is the lesser of the two sonnets.  Maybe I feel that way because it's so personal.  

Buffy Silverman is hosting Poetry week, click here to see more.  

Made To Fly (Original Song)

I just sent a letter to Allen Levi. If you read this blog you know he is a singer-songwriter who lives near the Alabama Georgia border.  In the letter, I told him that my favorite song of  his is House of Mercy from his album Rivertown.  (You can check it out at Bandcamp by clicking here.  Or listen to it on Spotify by clicking here.)

After I sent out that letter I realized that I had set up this song to play today.  It reminded me that almost every song of Allen's is among my favorites.  

Wordless Wednesday: Frog in the Rain

 

For more Wordless Wednesday stop by Comedy Plus.

To Live Each Day

As part of my summer reading I've been reading a book about writing poetry.  I enjoy writing poetry and learning about different poetry forms.  This week I decided to write a an Elizabethan sonnet and a Petrarchan sonnet that both started with the same line.  

I am sharing the Elizabethan today as I think it is the better of two and will share the Petrarchan next week.

Both types of sonnets have 14 lines.  The rhyme scheme for the Elizabethan is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.  Karen is hosting Poetry Friday this week.  So I am linking it there as well.

To Live Each Day

                                                                      The time we're given is quite brief

                                                                      Our days are of finite amount

                                                                      Our object than should be in chief

                                                                      To live each day and make it count,

                                                                       Each person is a thing of beauty

                                                                       The Psalmist says wonderfully made

                                                                       I think it then should be our duty

                                                                       To live each day that work displayed

                                                                        Each day we contend with the urgent

                                                                        The important may be left behind

                                                                        We need to stay still and observant

                                                                        To live each day with peace of mind

                                                                        To live each day as we are able

                                                                        To live our lives - strong, good and stable. 

For more Poetry Friday click here.