Psalm Eight

Posted on September 8, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

When I look up into the night skies
And see the wonders that Your hands have made,
I see the moon and I see the stars,
And I marvel that You bother with man.

Yet You made man to be just lower than angels
And put a crown of glory on his head
And You placed him in charge of the whole earth.
May the wonders of Your ways fill the world.

Yes, You made man to be just lower than angels
And put a crown of glory on his head
And You placed him in charge of the whole earth.
May the wonders of Your ways fill the world.

About This Song:

“Psalm Eight” is based on these verses…
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?

5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
(NIV)

I normally pray while lying in bed going to sleep. One thing I especially like to do then is praise God for everything He is. He is so far beyond my ability to comprehend, and dwelling on that fact helps me to grow in my faith.

I often say something like, “Lord, I can’t see the night skies from my bedroom, but if I could, I would feel just like the Psalmist who wrote Psalm 8.” I proceed to express my marvel that someone as big as He is could care so deeply about someone as small as me.

No wonder this song means so much to me.

The next time you look into the night sky, let the Psalmist’s words–or the lyrics to this song–flow from your heart as you meditate on God’s infiniteness and our finiteness.

A lead sheet for this song may be found here. I don’t have a recording of it.

Please feel free to leave a comment and come back again next week. Better still, subscribe to receive posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Links you might be interested in:

I’ll be back again next Wednesday.

Best regards,
Roger

Posted in Angels, Man, Night Sky, Praise, Psalms, Wonder, Worship | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In His Father’s Love

Posted on September 1, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

Jesus, born in a stable,
Didn’t lie and wonder about His holy past.
For Jesus, lying in a manger,
Slept so very soundly in His Father’s love.

Jesus, growing up in Galilee,
Didn’t sit and dream about His holy past.
For Jesus, growing into manhood,
Had a sense of purpose in His Father’s love.

Jesus, out among His people,
Had no time to ponder about His holy past.
For Jesus healed and taught the people
So they’d come to recognize His Father’s love.

Jesus, suffering on His cross,
Could not bear to think back on His holy past.
For Jesus died to give us new life
That’s how much He loves us.
He is His Father’s love.

About This Song:
RogerCapped - smallerI’m the first to admit it. “In His Father’s Love” isn’t based on actual Scripture. It reflects things that make sense to me, though.

Since Jesus was fully human as well as fully God He wouldn’t have been apt to lie in the manger and think. About anything. Babies don’t think. That requires the use of language.

The Bible doesn’t say much about Jesus’ childhood. But it does talk about the incident at the temple when He was twelve. That’s the time when he astounded the religious leaders with His probing questions. Questions which I suspect helped the human side of Him recognize who He was and what His purpose in life was to be.

As an adult, Jesus was always busy teaching and helping others. He apparently used His prayer times to stay in tune with His Father’s will, not to commiserate about what He’d left behind in Heaven. He lived the life of a servant, not the life of the Creator of the Universe.

Even while dying on the cross, Jesus focused on the task at hand: Doing what God the Father wanted Him to do. If He hadn’t been more concerned about us than about Himself, He would have cried out for legions of angels to come rescue Him.

In my mind, this song says it all adds up. Since God is love and sent Jesus to earth to die for our sins, Jesus is truly God’s love personified.

Do you feel the light of His love in your life? Feel free to leave a comment.

A PDF lead sheet for this song is not available. However, if you think this song might prove useful for your needs, please Contact Me at my website to make a request for it. I can’t promise to honor your request, but I’ll do the best I can.

Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Eighteen Novel 4x6 Postcard         

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in God's love, Jesus' birth, Jesus' Death, Jesus' Humanity, Jesus's birth, Jesus's childhood, Jesus's Death, Jesus's ministry, Jesus's Resurrection | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is There a Man Who’s Religious?

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

A home audio recording of this song may be heard here.

Is there a man who’s religious
And does what he thinks he should?
I tell you unless his tongue’s under control,
His religion’s no good.

The tongue’s such a small thing,
Like a bit in the mouth of a horse
Or like the rudder in a ship’s stern
To keep it on course.

But the tongue’s more like the small spark
That sets the whole forest aflame.
Unlike the wild birds and animals,
The tongue’s never been tamed.

Is there a man who’s religious
And does what he thinks he should?
I tell you unless his tongue’s under control,
His religion’s no good.

About This Song:

In my humble opinion, the misuse of the tongue creates as many problems as anything else I can think of. The apostle James must have thought so, too. He wrote the Scripture I based “Is There a Man Who’s Religious?” on. Check James 1:26, 3:3-4, and 3:5b…

26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.

5 Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.
(NIV)

What more can I say? The Bible–God’s instruction book for how we humans ought to live–hits the nail on the head this time as well.

The next time you’re tempted to speak in anger or to gossip or say something unkind about someone–I still have those problems, too–think about this Scripture and ask God to help you do a better job of controlling your tongue.

If you have a comment, I’d love to hear from you. Better yet, why not subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss any posts.

Best regards,
Roger

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in James, Religion, Rudder, Tongue, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Only Hope I Have

Posted on August 4, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

A very old audio home recording of this song may be heard here.

God’s love and mercy never fail;
They’re fresh as every brand-new day,
Sure as every sunrise.
God helps those who place their trust in Him
He is the only hope I have.

I know how it feels to be punished by the Lord,
Locked in His prison, with no hope for release,
Thrown into such darkness that each day seems like the night,
And choked by the poison of my own bitter thoughts.

Then in my depression, hope returned.

God’s love and mercy never fail;
They’re fresh as every brand-new day,
Sure as every sunrise.
God helps those who place their trust in Him
He is the only hope I have.

About This Song:
RogerCapped - smaller
The prophet Jeremiah wasn’t the only person in the Bible who let his depression show when he was in bad circumstances. Poor Jonah really poured his heart out to God during his time in the whale’s belly. (See “Jonah’s Prayer”.)

The most depressing part of “The Only Hope I Have” is based on Lamentations 3:1-18. I’m including only verses 7-9 here, but take my word for it (better yet, look it up yourself in the Bible), the rest of it is depressing, too.

7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.
(NIV)

The transition from depression to hopeful comes in Lamentations 3:19-21.

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
(NIV)

When hope comes in this passage, it’s like a blackened sky that fireworks have suddenly brightened like daylight. Here are verses 22-25…

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;
(NIV)

I began this song with the same stanza it ends with for a reason: to focus on hope rather than on hopelessness.

Most of us–perhaps all–experience at least a small bit of depression at times, but we’re not crippled by it. I’ll never forget one period of time in my life when I went right back to bed after getting up; I couldn’t face the circumstances of being awake.

Yet my depression wasn’t as bad as what a number of people suffer, and my heart goes out to those who are crippled by severe depression on an ongoing basis.

When we’re going through times like those, don’t we sometimes tend to blame God for our bad circumstances?  Although He’s big enough to listen to those accusations without growing angry–He listens compassionately–He’s not to blame. God didn’t create bad things or evil.

The free will God endowed each of us with resulted in sin, and sin has brought about suffering and death. And, yes, the evil that surrounds us and seems to grow worse with every passing day.

No matter how deep into depression we may sink, those of us who’ve become God’s children through faith in Jesus Christ have a special source of hope others don’t have. Whenever we examine God’s Word, we  come across numerous reassuring promises God has made to provide for His children.

Through Him, nothing is eternally hopeless.

God may not provide for our needs in our choice of times or ways, but since He is unfailingly faithful, we can trust Him to always do what He knows is ultimately best for us.

Can we expect less from our Heavenly Father than we do from our earthly fathers? Will He fail to provide the best for His children, even if that sometimes means allowing us to suffer the results of bad decisions and wrong words and actions?

No matter what my circumstances, God is the only hope I have. God will fulfill His promises in His own time and His own way.

Do you have that hope?

Feel free to leave a comment and come back again next week. Better still, subscribe to receive these posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Eighteen Novel 4x6 Postcard

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in Depression, God's Promises, God's Provision, Hope, Lamentations, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Special to God Almighty

Posted on July 28, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

A recent home audio recording of this song is available here.

I am special to God Almighty,
For He made me in His image,
And He always wanted me to be His child,
To be His child.

Long before the start of earth time
God planned my life in detail;
He knew everything I’d ever be and do.

In my mother’s womb He formed me;
He handcrafted all of the pieces,
And He made sure each part fit in place just so,
In place just so.

As I grew there till it was birthtime,
I remained safe in His watch-care
I developed just as God Himself desired.

Now that I’m born and I have grown up,
I’ve begun to call God ‘Father,’
For I know I’m who I am because I’m His.

God knows everything I’m feeling;
He knows what I will think next.
He knows what I’ll say before one word is formed.

I’m surrounded by things I don’t grasp,
While God understands them clearly.
Can I ever hope to understand the Lord,
To understand Him?

Where is there that the Lord can’t find me?
Can the night hide me from His eyes?
What’s more special than His constant love for me?
What’s more special than God’s constant love for me?

About This Song:
RogerCapped - smaller
“Special to God Almighty” is based on Psalm 139. If you’re not familiar with it, let me just share that it’s one of pro-Lifers’ key passages–and probably one of abortionists’ most hated.

Here are just a few verses from it in the New International Version. . .


13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

Often when I pray I thank God for making me exactly the way He made me. That’s a lot better than griping about my face or my hair or my height or my weight. It’s also better than wishing I had the talents this person or that one has.

God intended for me to be the person I am. That should be enough not just to satisfy me, but to make me be proud and to make me want to live up to God’s highest expectations of me.

My awareness of God’s love also makes me extremely thankful that I came to be a Bruner through adoption rather than being killed by abortion. Tell me, are you thankful you weren’t aborted? Can you imagine how different the lives around you would be if you didn’t exist?

I’ll be back again next Wednesday. Feel free to join me then or, better still, sign up to receive these posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Eighteen Novel 4x6 Postcard

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in Abortion, God's plan, Pro-Life, Psalm 139, Psalms, Satisfaction, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Jigsaw Puzzle

Posted on July 21, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

Life can seem like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces just won’t fit;
Sometimes we struggle hard to fit a wrong piece into place,
While with our best intentions we ignore the better choice.
Life can seem like a jigsaw puzzle where the pieces just won’t fit.

We can never see how the picture looks till the puzzle is complete;
Each piece put into place brings changes that we can’t anticipate.
We cannot be sure which piece placed where will make the picture whole.
We can never see how the picture looks till the puzzle is complete.

God Himself designed the puzzle; He knows where each piece fits.
He knows all about our struggles and the choices we must make.
He wants so much to help us; all we have to do is ask.
God Himself designed the puzzle; He knows where each piece fits.

About This Song:
RogerCapped - smaller
I’m not sure whether I wrote this song just before or just after my father’s death in 1993, and I can’t ask my mother because she died a year later. But I do recall sharing this song with her and her expressing concern. “Do you really feel that way?”

Yes, I did at that time, and I occasionally still do. Life is full of things that can’t be explained–bumps in the road that keep us from having a totally smooth ride as we proceed towards our inevitable earthly death. Bumps that just happen.

People often get caught up with asking God why. At least they seem to recognize that He knows why, even when He chooses not to explain.

The older I get, the more satisfied I am with leaving things in His hands. The more I rely on Him and the less I attempt to rely on myself–that doesn’t mean I don’t use my head or my talents to solve whatever problems I can–the closer I come to being the jigsaw puzzle God designed me to be.

What could be more special than that? How about leaving a comment?

A free lead sheet for this song is available here.  A VERY old home recording can be heard here.

Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Eighteen Novel 4x6 Postcard

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in Designs, JIgsaw, Life, Picture, Puzzle, Questions, Struggles | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The More Like Him I Grow

Posted on July 14, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

God is my Heavenly Father;
He made me who I am.
He wants all that’s best for me;
It’s written in His plan.
His Son is like a big brother
Who guides me as I go.
The closer I walk beside Jesus,
The more like Him I grow.
Yes, the more like Him I grow.

The more I come to love Jesus,
The more I learn about me:
Who I was and who I am
And who God wants me to be.
It’s a lifelong transformation;
The changes seem so slow.
Yet the more I seek to please Jesus,
The more like Him I grow.
Yes, the more like Him I grow.

About this Song:

While I was away on a mission trip to Australia in 1995, my daughter, Kristi, made a profession of her faith in Jesus Christ at our home church; she was eight years old at the time. I wrote this song soon after my return, dedicating it “to Kristi at the beginning of her Christian growth.”

She sang it with me at our church not long after that and again at the Windsor District Baptist Church in Australia on a family trip in 1996. Never has her singing been sweeter. A home recording of her and me singing it together is here.

Not one of us is born an adult anymore than a new Believer begins her Christian walk at full maturity. Our growth into human adulthood takes years, and our growth into Christian maturity is apt to take even longer. As this song states, the growth into being who God wants us to be “is a lifelong transformation.”

Christians don’t necessarily mature equally. But those who “seek to please Jesus” will continue to grow into the kind of people God wants them to be.

If this post has spoken to you, how about leaving a comment?

A free lead sheet is available for this song here.

Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in Children, Growth, Kristi, Maturity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Like a Dog Chasing His Own Tail

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Roger E. Bruner

Like a dog that is chasing his own tail
In a circle around, as he goes to lie down,
So my life’s been a cycle of searching
For happiness that disappears
As soon as it’s found.

Like a dog madly scratching at his fleas,
As if to say, “Please get rid of these.”
So my life’s been an everyday battle
Against fears and failures
And my weaknesses*.

Like a hungry dog that is wolfing down a big meal,
Slurping water everywhere, trying to get his fill,
So my life’s been spent thirsting for truth
And trying to sort through
The things that aren’t real.

Like a lost dog that’s finally found his home again–
No more to be alone, no more to roam–
So my life’s found a safe home in Jesus;
I’ll live with Him forever,
For I am His own.

*I pronounce this as “weaknessees” to force an amusing rhyme with fleas, please, and these.

About This Song:
RogerCapped - smallerWhen I was growing up, we always had a dog. First was Melina (that’s from  Greek for black, my father said), a mixed breed pup some friend of my parents brought back from the South Pacific at the end of the second World War. She lived to be seventeen or eighteen.

Then during my college years came Elsa, followed in turn by Fancy. Both were German Short-haired Pointers. Despite their high breeding, they proved too nervous to function as show dogs. They made great pets, though–once we got used to their skittishness at being touched or petted. The last dog I remember–this was long after I grew up–was a miniature Schnauzer named Schneider.

As a mid-lifer, I had to take Schneider to be put down because my father was seriously ill at the time. Too ill to do it himself. In fact, I’m not sure he knew what my mother and I were doing. If I recall correctly, she was relying heavily on his acceptance that we had done what had to be done. He accepted Schneider’s death as gracefully as possible once he got better.

When my father’s 70th birthday was approaching, a dog-themed song seemed an appropriate gift. That’s how this song came into being. The framed copy of the lead sheet I gave him that day is hanging in my hallway.

Now flash forward. From 1981 to 1991. I was on my first volunteer mission trip–to do ministry activities at the Windsor District Baptist Church about fifty miles northwest of Sydney, Australia. Our host pastor, George Stubbs, was a diligent worker, and he determined to work our team as fully as he could. He was–to be blunt–a loving slave driver.

One of our activities was presenting Scripture lessons in the public schools. When Pastor Stubbs told us the lesson was to be about the lost sheep, he looked at me as if I might easily pull something out of my head. I nearly panicked. I didn’t mind talking to kids. I just didn’t know how to do it. And what was I to sing? I’d never written any children’s songs, and I’d never written one about searching for and finding the one lost sheep.

But then this song came to mind. All of the stanzas dealt with our need for Jesus, and that final one dealt specifically with lostness and coming home. God worked a miracle in helping me introduce that song in a way the children could really relate to, and I ended up using it in other Australian schools and on mission trips in other countries.

I hope these lyrics not only make you smile, but inspire you to appreciate what a privilege it is to belong to belong to God and to depend on Him for your needs.

Are you a dog person? Can you relate to these lyrics? How about leaving a comment?

A free lead sheet (lyrics, tune, and chords) is available for this song here.

Look for me again next Wednesday. Better still, subscribe to receive these weekly posts by email.

Best regards,
Roger

Links you might be interested in:

Posted in Australia, Birthday Present, Children, Dog, Lostness, Missions, Searching, Windsor District Baptist Church | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment