stand!

                                      STAND

STAND

   I KNOW WHO I AM IN THIS WORLD

   I AM HIS, A CHILD PROTECTED

                          SO

   I STAND.

THE GROUND AROUND ME

   TREMBLES AND QUAKES

WITH A THOUSAND PROBLEMS

               STILL

I STAND.

THE ENEMY USES THE TONGUES

   OF THE VERY PEOPLE I HAVE LOVED

AND HIS ACCUSATIONS STING

           BUT ALWAYS....

I STAND.

UNCERTAINTY AND FEAR WOO ME

   TO PERSUADE ME TO ALLOW THEM TO BE MY CONSTANT COMPANIONS

BUT THEY WANT TO BREAK ME,

   TO MAKE ME FALL IN PIECES OF DEFEAT.....

SO I LOOK AWAY FROM THEM AND

          STAND.

ONE DAY I WILL KNEEL

   I WILL FALL

I WILL LAY ON MY FACE

   TO GIVE MY ALL

TO THE ONLY ONE WHO

   GAVE ME POWER THROUGH HIS LOVE

TO STAND.

TJ JAMES 2009

W.W. J.D.

   I have been thinking a lot lately about the saying" What Would Jesus Do?" . I hear it alot. I see it on bracelets and t-shirts and posters. It was catchy and made   you think before you acted....... but sometimes I dont get people's obsession with the question. I wonder if you have to stop and think, What would Jesus do, are you really walking in His Spirit?
   Does He desire a people that have to stop and think and decide what course of action is best to do what He would do? Or would He rather have a people who are filled with Him and just instictively do as He would do?
   What kind of believer in Christ am I? What kind are You? Do we need to stop and think WWJD? Or are we so filled with His Spirit we walk in the values and emotions, and faith that He walked in? I hope I am part of the latter group. I hope that I allow His Spirit to so live in me that I react to this world and the people in it the way He would, without having to stop for a second to consider "WWJD?"

Failure....... it's a beautiful thing...

Failure......... it’s a beautiful thing....

A pat on the back, "good job"

An award for the best of the best

A certificate that proclaims that you achieved, you completed, you learned

A trophy that bears the number 1 complete with a big shiny ribbon......

    We strive for these things, as children, as teens, as adults.

    We want to feel smart, educated, successful, and able to achieve.

But tonight I earned something better........

    Something sweeter, something so much more fulfilling.

    I failed.......

And in the failure, I learned many things.

    I learned that I am still valued even when I don’t shine

    I learned that a teacher that gently teaches is worth more than a teacher that berates.

    I learned that when I am slowed by sickness or grief, my life is still precious to those who love me.

    I learned that I am treasured for who I am, rather than what I can accomplish.

In failure I earned the right to feel that I am who I am, not what I do........

    And to me that is the biggest trophy I have ever received.

a poem about the whispers i heard concerning clouds.........

                                 I want to be a Cloud

No matter what the world below holds…

   Clouds are unchanged by it.

As men and machines scurry about

   Hurried and frenzied, never seeming to relax,

Clouds float, unbothered, slowly dancing their way above it all.

When life below is stifled with sameness, boredom

    And monotonous routine,

They shift and change into new shapes and colors.

    The shifting comes from the breezes that carry them.

Allowing newness with every wind.

While the earth and people below wither…

     Parched by the heat of the day

Clouds puff up to shelter us with their shade,

    Then quench our thirst as they rain down

The cooling water that nourishes our world. 

I want to be a cloud for my Creator

   To shift by His breezes into what He needs me to be.

Not changed by the world that surrounds me.

   Formed only by the currents of His Spirit.

When those around me are dry

    Their hearts heated to dust from the pains of their world,

I want to be puffed up and filled with His Spirit

    To be able to rain down His living water upon them.

As people around me feel their spirits heat in anger, or sadness

   Let me shade them with His love, His words, His Character.

And yet to also know when to become just a wisp, hardly noticeable

    To those who are doing well… who do not need me in that moment.

Yes, I want to be a cloud Lord…

   For you,

For those You love,

  And for myself

Where the only thing shaping me is the breath of Your Spirit...

T J James

2010

Why Whispers?

   For a long time I have tried to start a blog....... but just naming it was too much for me to figure out!
My life is a swirl of so many pieces, so many things that are important to me... how was I supposed to come up with a title that encompassed it all?
   Today it finally came  to me that no matter what part of my life I blogged about, whether the good , or the bad, or even the seemingly blah..... the whispers of my Creator have been the one thing that is constant.
   The good days are better, brighter and full of beauty because He whispers things to teach me.
The bad days are bearable because of the things He whispers that strengthen me.
The blah days find new luster and excitement because of the things He whispers that enlighten me...
    So whispers it is......