" . . . but my ears you have opened;" Psalm 40:6

Shhh . . .

. . . listen.

Shut the mouth,
open the ear,
be attentive,
and believe.

Trust.

Then love
and obey.


Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Psalm 141:3
Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD;
keep watch over the door of my lips.

Proverbs 10:19
When words are many, sin is not absent,
but he who holds his tongue is wise.

Proverbs 18:13
He who answers before listening—
that is his folly and his shame.

Proverbs 19:20
Listen to advice and accept instruction,
and in the end you will be wise.

Proverbs 19:27
Stop listening to instruction, my son,
and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

Psalm 95:7b-11
Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the desert,

where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.

For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways."

So I declared on oath in my anger,
"They shall never enter my rest."

Matthew 12:33-37
"Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."

James 1:19-27
My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

+New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society+

Just a Taste

I've been reading some great poetry by my friend Austin Givens, from his new book I Cry Enough for My Father and other poems. Here's a sample:

On How To Be Human

"I" being the

host tree,

"You" the

ruthless banyan

and soon "I" become "We."

and "You" much bigger then "me."

--------------------------

Read more, buy, download Austin's book here.

An Open Letter to My Favorite Poets and Musicians

Dear Away With Vega, Rodeo Ruby Love, Owlsburg, Frank Schweikhardt, Austin Givens, mewithoutYou, Anathallo, Switchfoot, Chris Tomlin, RelientK, and Delirious?,

This past week I boldly sang your songs and quoted your lyrics to people whose situations related to them. And they loved them. So much. I was dumbfounded, but I should not have been.

So, to you, for you, because of you, at you: wow. You are amazing. Thank you for writing beautiful music and honest lyrics from your hearts. You are changing me, changing others, or at least poetically communicating what we ourselves cannot say, will not say, refuse to say, or want so desperately to say, either ignorantly or knowingly. Thank you.

In Jesus' love and peace,
your brother Scott H.