A lesson in grace but not integrity;
Reality TV vs. Real Life

Mr. Trump and Miss California
A lesson in grace but not integrity

The Donald did it once again.
He trumped popular opinion.
The words “you’re fired!”
were expected
by the media minions.

The Miss USA runner-up
had fallen down it seemed.
When photos surfaced from her past,
we knew what that would mean.

This one who answered from the right
that gay marriage is not,
appeared to be up to her neck
in water boiling hot.

But Mr. Trump, who once before,
had graced a fallen beauty,
surprised the press yet once again
by saying, “It’s my duty

to stand up for this one whose views
on gays I don’t agree
because this poor girl’s been maligned.
That’s how it seems to me.”

And yet I am a bit confused
by how she chose to pose.
Her actions undermine her words.
They’re fodder for her foes.

And so the moral of this tale?
Feel free to bear your chest.
But if you judge the plight of gays,
don’t play the game of sex.

Reality TV vs. Real Life
The choice is up to us

The Apprentice,
Biggest Loser,
Survivor,
Amazing Race.
Dancing with the Stars
and Idol
plus
The Bachelor’s
bold disgrace.

This reality programming
renders viewers peeping toms
watching those who win a challenge
and those fired who are gone.

Aint it really kind of stupid
to just watch while others play?
What say we turn off the TV
and start living life today?

If only the swine flu was just a nursery rhyme;
Scare Force One

A Little Piggy in Big Trouble
If only the swine flu was just a nursery rhyme

This little piggy has a fever.
This little piggy just sneezed.
This little piggy feels achy.
This little piggy just wheezed.
And this little piggy went
wheeze-wheeze-wheeze-wheeze
all the way home.

The swine flu epidemic
is hardly child’s play.
Much more than steal your bacon,
it can take your life away.

In Mexico, it’s tragic.
The death toll’s on the rise.
But not just there, it’s everywhere
as one more victim dies.

This news is more than headlines.
The pigs have left the pen.
This flu will claim a whole lot more.
It’s just a case of when.

Pork bellies speak of futures,
but swine flu’s present tense.
Let’s pray it all will soon be past
before it grows immense.

Scare Force One
Flying in the face of reason

They called that big bird “Scare Force One”
that buzzed by Liberty.
It frightened New York City mad.
It was insanity.

A photo-op some claimed it was
for our new President.
But those who saw that jumbo jet
were fooled. They thought it meant

another terrorist attack
like eight short years ago.
Thinking the worst they thought there might
be one more Ground Zero.

It only goes to verify
our nightmares gallop still,
that 911 haunts our land
and for a long time will.

O God, please calm our anxious hearts
that find it hard to trust.
We have to leave the past behind.
For goodness sake, we must!

Lessons from the Miss USA Pageant;
Remembering Columbine Ten Years Later;
Seller Beware!

When Losing Means Winning
Lessons from the Miss USA PageantTwo blondes comprised the final two.North Carolina won,but not before a Q and Athat left the viewers stunned. Miss Tar Heel had a leg upon her California clone.The latter stuck her foot in mouth.You’d think she would have known that what she had to say aboutgay marriage wouldn’t fly.But all the same she spoke her mind,then watched her chances die. Although she didn’t win the crown,she won my deep respectfor verbalizing godly viewsincreasingly suspect. Miss USA will have her reign.Miss California won’t.Do you think she regrets her words?Perhaps you do. I don’t.

Remembering Columbine Ten Years Later
Haunting memories and unrealized dreams

Ten years ago
in a not-so-little town
on the front range of the Rockies,
a room designed for learning
became a tomb for those gunned down.
There were bullets and blood
and a reign of terror
followed by a flood of fear.

Wearing black trench coats
to hide their insecurities,
two boys in men’s bodies
lived out the violence
they’d previously caged in their minds.

It was a nightmare that left a nation
blind with rage and grief.
And for those who lost loved ones,
a day without regrets
and lingering sorrow
remains only a dream.

It’s the kind of tragedy we never dreamed
would strike in our own backyard.
It’s hard to explain how and why,
but we try ’cause we must,
while we simply trust
in a loving God who wept with us
and who remains in complete control.

When bullets fly, children die.
And when hearts break, we feel the ache
and reach out to those left alone
trusting alone in God’s Word.
Words that promise
that no one needs to grieve without hope.

Though the slope of life remains slippery,
we are offered stable footing
as we stand at the foot of a bloodied cross
and peer into an empty grave.

Seller Beware!
Want ads with an unwanted outcome

Sellers’ warning!
Craig’s List killers
lurk online quite out of sight.
If you’re peddling massages,
you’re at risk both day and night.Sex-crazed shoppers(some in med school)scan their screens at classifieds.Is Craig’s List a mute accomplicewhen an advertiser’s died? Want ad victims.Wanted posters.Want to know what this all means?Simply that your well-dressed boyfriendmay not be the man he seems.

A ship captain’s answered prayer;
Post-Easter Ponderings

An Easter to Remember
A ship captain’s answered prayer

Much like Pilate did to Jesus,
pirates on the open sea
sentenced Captain Richard Phillips
to unjust indignity.

He was kidnapped, held for ransom.
Satan’s minions laughed and cheered
while an anxious world prepared for
what might happen as we feared.

Doomed to die inside a lifeboat,
Captain Phillips bravely prayed.
Then the miracle we hoped for…
Life trumped death on Easter Day.

Post-Easter Ponderings
Revisiting a controversial holiday

Christ is risen!

But isn’t evil alive and well as well?
How else can we explain the living Hell
that singes our hope
of sweet dreams for our kids?

A world of Somali pirates,
Sunday school predators,
immigration center snipers
and Wall Street extortionists.

A world of evil, hate and greed
where seeds of corruption
and self-seeking pleasure
are fertilized and germinated
in the soil of an unrestrained society.

Christ is risen!

But is He risen in deeds?
Only to the degree we (His Body)
don work clothes
and work out our salvation
will His resurrection
be made aware
to those who don’t really care
about the holiday just past.

Only as we respond
to the felt needs of the lonely,
the marginalized,
and the needy
will our skeptical world
bury its doubts
and give the Church
a second chance

Christ is risen!

But will we rise to the occasion
to raise His standard of righteousness
in our circle of relationships,
in the public square
and in the oval office?

Will we dare to stand up
among those who have considered us
down for the count?

Will we get up
and surprise the crowd
with a life-giving response
to those who sought to do us in?

Will we show up
in places where the power of God
has been written off
as irrelevant and ineffectual?

Will we turn up
the thermostat of love
in a culture that has defined Christ-followers
as cold, heartless and legalistic?

Christ is risen!

But do we treat Him more like
a rosin bag on a pitcher’s mound
than the Lord of life?

He can’t simply be a quick grab
enabling us to get a firm grip
on our own game
as we proceed to
pitch a new proposal at work,
throw our weight around at church
or wind up in some bases-loaded dilemma.

He insists on being the manager of our lives
who signals from the dugout that
(because of Easter)
it’s a whole new ballgame.
A dugout no longer occupied by a dead body
but by living proof that Resurrection Sunday
can’t just be celebrated once a year.

Easter is a holiday that impacts
every day of every week of every year.
And to anyone who has ears to hear,
it is a day that has risen to new heights.

Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed!