“But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” – Joshua 24:15 (New International Version)
Do you remember Back in '81 It had all been done Lighting our boots With low grade gasoline To ignite the spark And let it burn
The show is the show With jagged rhythms And the leads that flow We didn't know Didn't know Got to let it roll Let it roll, let it roll
Jet black, Marshall stack The plan of the attack Not a note, did we lack Not a regret to take back The solid wall of sound Came crashing down Like a thunderclap wearing a jester's crown
Gotta slow the tempo But hey, what did we know We were punching it hard Not to be the Strip's discard Playing it full throttle From bottle to bottle Let's trust in one more good time
But I was a different man Believing my own truth Doing what it was, I think I can Youth gone wild A bit defiled I was coming on strong Playing for keeps even when I was wrong
Do you remember Back in '81 The I said that I was done Left the band, brother I was hurting Thinking my soul was deserting Leaving me one of the living dead Guess that really was, something that I said
(c) February 2, 2022 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
” To prevent crimes, is the noblest end and aim of criminal jurisprudence. To punish them, is one of the means necessary for the accomplishment of this noble end and aim.” – James Wilson (1790)
The things that come along to discern this That God places use where we can learn goodness How then can we make the most of it and embrace Where God has put us in our time and space
To make the most of heart, soul, and mind To work out the best of what we might find Most of our challenges are fought from the inside And projected outward where these cannot hide
In the design of what makes up our minds We find the patterns that too often bind Are found in a world of changing conversation We never truly bridge toward our destination
Edge to ledge forced forward to the brink It is what we choose that brings us to think Like Paul on a path of the untraveled road From adversary to advocate of the Gospel told
Damascus is calling in his prideful persecution Until in a pivot of grace, he is saved from destruction In thinking, too often convinced that we do right We are blinded before receiving the wisdom by light
By humility and gentleness comes the best appeal To all that all that is good and holy to reveal We are best off to approach the truth with kindness Learning to turn abrasive to persuasive in our blindness
Perhaps a little less blindness in the face-to-face It's better to be tactful in truths we embrace Perhaps moving past being too overly oblivious And resolving the problems that are obvious
Though we live in this world in need of His light We do not fight the world through dark of night We instead need to provide the light of love's power To demolish the arguments captive in this hour
There is a need for gentleness not circumspection With a need for grace in its full contemplation Obedient in Christ and in our every single thought To bring about the peace needed and always sought
The resolution to problems comes in different thinking Not in the same process continuously linking Where then are the life stealing tensions And how might we best these through right intentions
Changing our thinking to change what it is we see Our strongest thoughts giving way to possibility What comes out in the traces of our minds Comes out in our lives, so it is that we find
What is allowed in and then allowed to root Becomes the basis of all we ever contribute We give power to what is most paid our attention This is why we must wisely live with intention
As we think in our hearts so then are we Be careful then of what we take as authority The Bible's lessons make the radical difference And should be held in much accord and reverence
God's world is worn as our badges of signification To be worn gently despite the glory's magnification God's Word gives us the thrust of our authority As students of this Word, we must share our legacy
(c) January 31, 2022 Michael Doyle All Rights Reserved
“Tyranny seldom announces itself. … In fact, a tyranny may exist without an individual tyrant. A whole government, even a democratically elected one, may be tyrannical.”– Joseph Sobran (1946-2010)
“I … place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared.” – Thomas Jefferson (1816)
Heading out of Australia to escape this Aussie winter. First stop Japan, then UK/Ireland and if work doesn't call me back, onto Chicago. I will make it up as I go along