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My Poetry

Thank You LORD For Failure
Todd Carpenter

Thank you LORD for failure.
It reminds me that success is yours alone to bestow;
That no matter how many
talents, abilities, virtues, or credentials
I may bring to a task,
All that really matters is that I am willing to serve
– you and others.

In reflection
I see that moments of triumph
are void of lessons for the soul.
Yet what we call “failure”
is a paid tuition
to learn at your feet.

Until I meet you face-to-face in glory
I daily need to learn:
Humility
Trust
Servanthood
Meekness
Love
Faith
and Joy.

You mercifully allow me fail
from time to time
to gently remind me
the lessons aren't over yet.

Playing in the Rain
Todd Carpenter

At last today is Friday,
but the clouds are moving in.
"No playing in the rain!"
Momma tells us once again.

But maybe she's forgotten
or just can't comprehend...
That God made rain AND kids,
why can't they both be friends?

We drink the purest water
and we have to wash ourselves.
Why is it we must hide and run
from God's cloudy water shelves?

He brings it to the heaven's
with fog (Evaporation).
And after cleaning sends it down
In the form of Precipitation.

I love to watch it fall to earth,
but in it I can not play.
Momma tells me rain is good...
Why won't she let me stay?

I hope someday she'll understand,
I mean not to be rude.
But I'd rather play out in the rain,
than eat my favorite food.

I'll stay inside, now, if I must
but from my window pane -
I'll pretend… Momma and I
are out playing in the rain.


Original Quotes I like to use

I have no fear of being wrong.
Once I discover what is right
...I'm not wrong anymore.

"There is no need to live in the 'Land of WHAT IF'
when the 'Land of WHAT IS' brings us God's blessing and abundant life."  
The 'Land of WHAT IF' is a land of slavery to doubt and despair."

"You know more than you think you know...
but you don't know as much as you think you know!"

"A computer will always do what you tell it to do…
you may not know what you just told it to do,
BUT it will always do what you tell it to do."

"Rule number #56 – read the screen"

"Life is street theater."

"Life stinks! We live in a fallen, sinful, stinking world,
surrounded by fallen, sinful, stinking people,
fighting our own fallen, sinful, stinking desires...
Once you accept that as a baseline of life,
You can be an optimist, like me - it's all uphill from there! 

"It’s ALL good! God said so!  Romans 8:28"

"Life is like an onion.
No matter how sweet, it can still make you cry. 
BUT hold it under the living water (Jesus)
and the tears will cease."

 "If you want to pass the teacher’s test,
use the teacher’s answers."

"Be more than good, be Godly!"

Other Quotes I Like

"It is what it is..."

"To err is human.... To really foul things up requires a computer."

"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."

"Good judgment comes from experience...
Experience comes from poor judgment."

You can fail to achieve any of the things you planned
and still live a happy and fulfilled life, because of opportunities
that come along that you never planned for.
But these opportunities can be missed if you stick doggedly
to your preconceived blueprint.
- Thomas Sowell


Attitude
by Charles Swindoll

"The longer I live,
the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts.
It is more important than the past, than education,
than money, than circumstances,
than failures, than successes,
than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.
It will make or break a company
... a church ... a home.
The remarkable thing is
we have a choice every day
regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do
is play on the one string we have,
and that is our attitude...

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me,
and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you...
we are in charge of our Attitudes."


STAND STILL AND SEE
a Poem by Betty Stam, martyred with her husband in China, December 8, 1934.

 I'm standing, Lord
There is a mist that blinds my sight.
Sharp jagged rocks, front, left, and right.
Hover, dim, gigantic in the night.
   Where is the way?

   I'm standing, Lord.
The black rock hems me in behind
Above my head a moaning wind
Chills and oppresses heart and mind.
   I am afraid!

   I'm standing, Lord.
The rock is hard beneath my feet.
I nearly slipped Lord on the sleet.
So weary, Lord and where a seat?
   Still must I stand?

He answered me, and on His face
A look ineffable of grace,
Of perfect, understanding love,
Which all my murmuring did remove.

   I'm standing, Lord.
Since Thou hast spoken, Lord I see
Thou hast beset; these rocks are Thee;
And since Thy love encloses me,
   I stand and sing.