Rahab: A Matter of Reputation

Rahab: A Matter of Reputation
by Michael Doyle

We step out past the transactional,
Living our Christianity as transformatiional.
We're celebrating our blessed priority
Knowing Jesus is loved with sincerity.

What we're known for may not be our reputation,
As we lead through mistakes and found a nation.
God's path is filled with amazing grace.
It's a matter of finding our right place.

Rahab was such a woman of low reputation,
But came to play her part in the disputation.
She believed in God despite her immorality.
Still, she played her part with intentionality.

The story of humanity's holy redemption
Offers a lot of complexity for contemplation.
Consideration must be given to our reputation
We must try to cultivate by our inspiration.

As followers of Christ, we must have credibility
That moves past anyone's reasonable credulity.
We must do our living best
To live lives that pass God's test.

Subjects and objects are matters of discerning
As each of us navigates life and is learning.
Opinions change as we learn and grow.
We have softening hearts the more we know.

Building bridges through our given explanation,
It graces us better than simple definitions.
Scaffolding is the walk of life in our story.
It shares the secrets of our hearts and glory.

Experiences in life become forgotten scenes.
But these seasons are seldom the human beings.
These become the worn labels, incompletely true.
It's a matter understood as points of view.

Respect for the Lord begins all wisdom,
And reputations overcome are the keys to the kingdom,
Opening doors for the heroic acts of feeding life.
This happens in peace but more often in strife.

Tumbling down the walls of Jericho,
God's truth dictates where you'll go.
Moments of revelation tell our destination,
Setting up the next shots to be played with distinction.

From the Heavens to the Earth below,
Learning about God reveals all we know.
There is a God, and He has spoken
In full illumination of what's real and unbroken.

The fullness of God is revealed in Christ.
This is the truth that must not be missed.
Testimony shows that the Enemy knows our story,
And we must focus, if we're to know full glory.

Shaken to shape our true destiny,
Perfect theology is not always met in history.
Not knowing better is alright in His outspokenness.
God accepts and loves us all in our brokenness.

In our God, we find our security.
This brings us humility tethered in Christianity.
To rise above our life's circumstances,
And take the moments that provide our chances.

Destruction or deliverance depends on perceptions.
It forms the Hell of faith through our conceptions.
Obedience to God brings us to living mercy,
This is the theological aspect of human history.

There are no lost causes where God is concerned.
This is a lesson to be discerned.
We must crank up the volume of love,
From places of shame to Heaven above.

(c) May 3, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: God’s Love Calls Us To Move Beyond Fear. We Ask God For the Courage To Abandon Ourselves Unreservedly, So That We Might Be Molded By God’s Grace

“God’s love calls us to move beyond fear. We ask God for the courage to abandon ourselves unreservedly, so that we might be molded by God’s grace, even as we cannot see where that path may lead us.” – St. Ignatius Loyola

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First Principles: Have I Not Commanded You? Be Strong and Courageous. Do Not Be Afraid; Do Not Be Discouraged, For the Lord Your God Will Be With You Wherever You Go

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9 NIV

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Across the Flickered Flames

Across the Flickering Flames
by Michael Doyle

Following the path inside the shadow,
Footsteps led to breathing shallow.
The smoke filled the last hallway,
Still, courage called along the way.

To save the next life was what truly mattered
The rising heat causes windows to be shattered.
Pushing forward, knowing only to wholly persist,
Each fireperson knows that they must assist.

Across the flickering colored flames,
I read a brave hero's scroll of names.
All the firemen who live, filled with purpose
Each who breathed their last in the name of service.

God lingers there watching in the shadows,
Watching the embers as they caused some to swallow.
Knowing that to save lives might cost their own,
But they will not allow any others to die alone.

Rest now, your battles done, my fallen brothers.
You gave your all that you might save others.
There is no greater love than to give your death,
Offering courage and hope to your very last breath.

Across the flickering colored flames,
I read a brave hero's scroll of names.
All the firemen who live, filled with purpose
Each who breathed their last in the name of service.

In all ages, brothers and sisters have done their part,
Each of them knew their chances from the fire's start.
Rest easy, firepersons, you have answered your last call
Met with a courage that was at least 10 feet tall.

Adrenaline and excitement burn crimson into the night.
Geared up, the firefighters engage in their noble fight.
Those who have passed away were too young to have died,
I've kept this truth inside as I have prayed and cried.

Across the flickering colored flames,
I read a brave hero's scroll of names.
All the firemen who live, filled with purpose
Each who breathed their last in the name of service.

(c) May 2, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved

This weekend is kept in remembrance of all the
firefighters who have died fighting so that others
may still live. May God bless them and those who
love them and have been left behind. My sister was
fighting wildfires in Kansas two weeks before
succumbing to breast cancer that took her life.
I miss my best friend more than I know how to say.
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Thought For the Day: If Prometheus Was Worthy of the Wrath of Heaven For Kindling the First Fire Upon Earth, How Ought All Gods Honor the Men Who Make It Their Professional Business To Put It Out – John Godfrey Saxe

“If Prometheus was worthy of the wrath of heaven for kindling the first fire upon earth, how ought all the gods honor the men who make it their professional business to put it out?”– John Godfrey Saxe

U.S. flags will be flown at half‑staff nationwide this weekend in observance of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend, an annual tribute honoring firefighters who died in the line of duty. The military, the police, and this weekend, our firefighters deserve our honor and gratitude for putting their lives on the line for essentially ‘ strangers’.

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First Principles: Any Single Man Must Judge For Himself Whether Circumstances Warrant Obedience Or Resistance To the Commands of the Civil Magistrate

“Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other.” – John Locke

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Tennyson

Tennyson
by Michael Doyle

It had seemed a sturdy step to take,
And as suddenly, it became my mistake.
Lying in this emergency room hospital bed,
Time was given to think on things Tennyson said.

I found myself n the boundless deep,
Setting there the emergency room's keep,
And wondering about the roots of poetry again.
I settled in to study the word doodles of Tennyson,

It strikes me as odd that he's become less known,
At least, as the interests of the elite have shown.
For me, he's someone with whom I'd conspire -
Who better than the Poet Laureate of the British Empire?

His twelve narrative poems have always felt vital,
And it doesn't get any better for a recital -
Whether it be splendid moments of knightly gallantry,
Or Tennyson's visionary idylls turned into poetry.

Words rightly strung together have their own melody,
Pronounced as they are with sincerest empathy.
Tennyson's articulate despair beneath an abysmal sea,
These are the things Victorians found as fantasy.

Tales told were at once filled with the ancient,
And brought forward by the echoes from the patient.
Songs that were suddenly a kind of modern magic,
Only a few of these hinted at being tragic.

Whispered terrors filled Tennyson's cosmology,
At times, this ran deeper than ancient geology.
New love, new legends, worldly science, and skepticism,
All these joined to form his pessimism.

Tennyson's soul was a turmoil of polite revolution,
Stirred as it was by loss of God, extinction, and evolution.
Each impacted his intelligence and deep-set emotion.
The problems of destiny and identity led him to devotion.

(c)April 30, 2026 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Noise Pollution

Noise Pollution
by Michael Doyle

Page One, it's understood.
It's under investigation.
Who is the bad; who is the good?
It's the secret initiation.

The misery won't back down,
And the mayor has to be a secret clown.
They talk about the dirty and gritty.
That's just the feel of New York City.

People talk a lot about responsibility,
As if they have any reasonable capability.
All of us need some absolution
In a world filled with this noise pollution.

It will take a lot of luck and love,
Unless we're protected by someone above.
"When the law breaks the law, there is no law",
Is more than a line from Billy Jack to recall.

The back and forth of retaliation,
It leads to a climate of targeted assassination.
Rumor has it that it's not who we know,
But what will bring an end to the show.

People talk a lot about responsibility,
As if they have any reasonable capability.
All of us need some absolution
In a world filled with this noise pollution.

How do you temper the darker impulses
Without fearing the worst of blood feud losses?
A raging bull has been loosened and set free
In this merciless world, there is no sympathy.

How, then, is it that the city sleeps
Filled with naked sleaze and creeps?
These are the days we live in,
Every day is a walk through vapid sin.

People talk a lot about responsibility,
As if they have any reasonable capability.
All of us need some absolution
In a world filled with this noise pollution.

(c)May 1, 20206 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
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Thought For the Day: To Be Successful In Life, You Must Get In the Habit of Turning Negatives Into Positives

“To be successful in life, you must get in the habit of turning negatives into positives.” – George Foreman

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First Principles: The Constitution Only Guarantees the American People the Right To Pursue Happiness. You Have To Catch It Yourself

“The Constitution only guarantees the American people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself.” – Benjamin Franklin

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