Let’s Hear It for Bridges!

October 25, 2024October 21, 2024 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**A floating bridge connects Mercer Island to downtown Seattle**

We are islands of opinions
separated by our views
and the isolation that results is wrong.
Our beliefs reflect our values
and determine how we’ll vote,
yet the way we live together makes us strong.

Where I live is on an island.
But a bridge from here to there
means I am not left alone with just my thoughts.
I’m connected and am able
to both listen and to speak
and I’ve found I like this interchange a lot.

Don’t you think we need more bridges
to encourage ebb and flow
in a culture where it’s your way or it’s mine?
Building bridges to each other
will allow for give and take
in a world where easy answers rarely rhyme.

In addition to each week’s post on this website, Greg Asimakoupoulos offers daily video devotionals on his YouTube channel. Here is a sample video. If you are interested in receiving these devotionals Monday through Friday, you can subscribe on Greg’s channel.

God’s Birds-Eye View of Life

October 18, 2024October 15, 2024 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**A view of Luzern Switzerland from the top of the medieval fortress**

From where God sits,
He sees quite clear
what’s far away and things more near.
God’s birds-eye view and vantage point
breathes faith inside our lungs.

Just knowing that the Lord’s aware
relieves our minds of needless care.
His knowledge of our stressful world
permits our hearts to trust.

Upon His throne, the King looks down
observing every smile and frown
that punctuate our daily lives.
Our sovereign Father sees.

A Prayer for My City

October 11, 2024October 7, 2024 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**This antique print of Jesus overlooking Jerusalem inspired Greg to write this poem**

Lord, You wept over Jerusalem.
Your heart was moved by wordless compassion
for their hardened hearts
and their disregard for words You spoke.
Likening Yourself to a mother hen,
You longed to gather those
who called the city home
beneath Your wings
as a way of reminding them of their identity
all the while protecting them from harm.

I weep over my city, too.
My heart breaks for the spiritual apathy
and secular pride that defines its leadership
and characterizes much of its citizenry.
Lord, as You know
mine is a city blighted by homelessness,
litter, graffiti and darkness.
It’s a city with a glorious past
that has succumbed to a spirit of lawlessness
where street crime, illegal drug use and theft
is not prosecuted.

God of all cities, I call on You
to revive the churches of my city
by reawakening their passion to love like Jesus.
Renew their commitment to befriend the marginalized,
to feed the hungry,
to clothe the refugee,
to challenge the purveyors of lies
and to work together across denominational lines.

O God, use the Body of Christ in Greater Seattle
to be the hands and feet of Jesus
in spite of being held at arm’s length at times.
Empower them by Your Spirit
to bind up wounds,
heal divisions,
model courageous conversations
and listen with nonjudgmental ears
all the while keeping its eye on You. Amen.

Israel’s 9/11

October 7, 2024 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

Yes, October 7th
is Israel’s September 11th.
Their Ground Zero
was a ground offensive
by Hamas
that blindsided innocent concert goers
giving a human face
to inhumane terror.

It was a kind of
Woodstock Festival
punctuated by rivers of blood
instead of puddles of mud.

Hostages were kidnapped.
Lives were stolen.
Babies were beheaded.
Evil assaulted the vulnerable.
It was a day the music died.

The Land of Promise
promised revenge.
And rightly so.
Untold wrong
had raped the region.
Retaliation was a given
in light of what was taken.

And Gaza
bore the brunt
of a nation
whose pride
had been bruised
and whose heart
had been broken.

Eye for eye!
Tooth for tooth!
Innocent for innocent!
War for war!
Death for death!

Lord, have mercy!
Lord, bring peace!
Lord, forgive!
Lord, restore!
Lord, bring the hostages home!
Lord, hear our prayer!

**This painting is by Udi Merioz, an Israeli artist I met in Jerusalem five years ago. It pictures the IDF at the Wailing Wall praying for peace.

Keep Believing

October 4, 2024September 21, 2024 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**When God closes a door, He opens a window!**

There were dreams in your heart
the Lord planted and grew
but then something happened
and before long you knew
what you longed for and prayed
would in time come to pass
became futile and hopeless.
Your dreams became dashed.

How you wished that your family
would walk with the Lord.
How you planned that your business
would sprout wings and soar.

You had hoped that you’d find
just the right place to serve.
But the Lord appeared absent.
Had he thrown you a curve?

You had dreamed of a mission
that would take you abroad.
It seemed you were called,
but alas where was God?

And where was that healing
you prayed would be yours
When racked by depression
and riddled with sores?

Sometimes it must seem
like your journey’s been wrong
when your dreams are delayed
and your heart’s lost its song.

But lest you grow jaded
and give up your goals,
Keep trusting, believing.
The Lord’s in control!