Song of Ascents Project (4/14) – Psalm 123

I’m skipping ahead to Psalm 123 because I need to rerecord Psalm 122.

Psalm 123 (Have Mercy On Us)

To You I lift my eyes

To You entrained in the heavens

As a servant looks to the hand of his master

So our eyes look to You, O God

‘Til You have mercy on us, have mercy on us

Have mercy, O Lord, on us 

For we had more than enough contempt

Our souls have more than enough of the scorns of those at ease

And the contempt of the proud

Have mercy on us!

(We look to you.)

Comments? It’s a classic lament. When times go hard, we look to God. It seems like those in the bible tend to face rather hard times with people around them (Psalm 121, 123) I feel like I broke out of the meter concept and suffered a bit with it.

Psalm 122 is on its way. I got teary eyed writing that one, which surprised me. (Shhh.)

Song of Ascents psalm 123.m4a Listen on Posterous

Psalm 120 (Song of Ascents 1/14)

Psalms_120_(Song_of_Ascents_1_14)_demo.m4a Listen on Posterous

It’s a rough sketch before I go to bed from the first psalm of ascents, Psalm 120.

Arise, God

My heart seems inclined to worship anything but God sometimes. It’s a sick thing, and I will no longer dwell on this subject, because I realize it seems to rejoice in its perverseness and it almost sounds boastful and arrogant. The emphasis should not be on the sinner but on God who is mighty to save. Now, to Jesus. You are the resurrection and the life. You are the way, the truth, and the life. You are the lamb of God. You love us. I lift my eyes. I bow my knees. May my knees be calloused from worship. Why is it that we are so rebellious when You are so good? Why is it? We don’t understand ourselves. I don’t. Or maybe we don’t understand You. You withhold no good thing for those who love you. You are good, God, and I long to be with you. Something is holding me back, and I’m not sure what it is. May it be some heresy, or something I believe to be truth but it’s false, may these things perish and your truth remain. May your holy word clean me.

Arise, God!

Stories, deployment, and home

For Mom

3/20/11
For Mom

EMPTY NEST

After long day of work
She struggles to sit up in bed
Her tired eyes fight off sleep
Her small strong arms at her sides, with hands holding the holy book
Her lips, without a sound, say a prayer for her children who are not in the home but away
Her treasure is found in heaven
Where the greatest Prize awaits her As her unfocused eyes finally shut, her eyes are fully fixed on the Son
who promises heavenly rest

In dreams – last OWTID

I hope you enjoyed this series though I missed some weeks

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=eqT8gi5V358

In case you’re wondering, that song is Jurassic Park 800x slowed down.

May grace of the Lord be with you all. May our crosses, though heavy, be bearable because of his spirit working in us.

Again I can’t wait to see you again.

Posted via email from Joseph’s posts

OWTID – Once A Week ‘Til I Deploy

You may have heard of OWTID, my one video a week until deployment series. Shot with my Canon Rebel T2i. Why am I doing these videos? I thought it would be fun. I also thought it would be a nice discipline to be constantly producing material on a regular basis. Note, I may be going underwater soon so I cannot guarantee a video next week. But I'll try to have it premade and packaged if I have time. In case you've missed them, here are the videos so far:

OWTID 1:

OWTID 2:

We Are Dust But You, Glorious (Psalms 103) – Original Song

  
Download now or listen on posterous

We Are Dust But You, Glorious.m4a (4202 KB)

I was thinking today how I used to make videos but now I don't really so much anymore. I tried watching some of them but found them a bit sad: My v-logs were my creative side colliding with pride and some conflict at home. In addition, I think videos are too easy, actually, to consume. We take our eyes for granted and we don't think so much about what we see. I find it more a blessing to read and write words, poems, and songs. I hope this song reminds us of our short time on earth and God's unending nature and love.

When?

A shallow pool of water
Is my heart on days like these
There is no depth nor desire
To go deep into the deep

I long for simpler days
When I just went out to play
When I was small and did little at all
When I was in the third grade

One lazy years of video games
When weeks melted into days
I wasted my time and wrote some rhymes
Into cyberspace I gazed

But how long will I be simple?
And when will I open my eyes?
When will I hear with open ears,
Mature and become wise?

(photo credit: Celeste Li)

The Train Tracks

We were like a pair of train tracks

Side by side for miles

Racing on by on that dusty desert trail

Leading out from Indio

 

Well, time passed us by

Like the sound of a train in a dream

It chugged and choo-ed

Whistled and spewed some steam

As it moved quite slowly

Along the flat desert land,

Over our tracks and special plans

It seemed like the Builder did something special

Seemingly eternal

By giving us distance.

 

Yet when I saw you, how I longed

for our tracks to finally meet.

 

As the train continued on,

The pebbles between us shook and leaped,

The dust brewed a storm, and I

Couldn’t see you right there.

 

I had to ask:

Where are you?

Could our parallel ways be pulled apart?

Could my tracks be selfishly, leading elsewhere?

Or could they graciously be leading to you?

To tell you the truth, I didn’t know

 

When the dust settled, and

I saw that it was the wooden boards

And iron nails that held us together–

That was our firm foundation,

Firmer than I’d originally examined.

And I saw our trail lead into the sunset sky

And I trusted the Builder without doubt in mind.

 

(Photo from http://www.outdoor-photos.com/)