From Lego to Loyalty: A Heart Full of Thanks!

From Lego to Loyalty: A Heart Full of Thanks Today, I pause with a thankful grin, For all the joys that life lets in. From Lego bricks, since I was three, To Star Wars tales of destiny. The works of Tolkien ignite my mind, With realms of courage, richly defined. A yo-yo’s spin, a Rubik’s twist, Simple joys I can’t resist. Great action movies or classics that amuse, Laughter and thrills, I gladly choose. Gus, my sidekick puppet since college days, Helping kids learn in engaging ways. To hiking trails and drones that fly, Through nature’s splendor and the open sky. Photography capturing God’s great art, And Apple tech that’s sleek and smart. Yet none of these, no earthly cheer, Compares to family, friends so dear. Their loyalty through highs and lows, Their love a constant that always shows. Through Kidology.org, my calling clear, Equipping others, year by year. To reach the kids, to teach His name, To share His love, to spread His fame. For Jesus Christ, my Savior and King, The source of every song I sing. Despite my flaws, His love remains, He guides my steps, He heals my pains. So on this day, my thanks I…

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May I Come In?

May I Come In? By Doug Bastian God came in among his earthlings Cloaked, concealed in human frame, King to be, clothed first in swaddling, Given Joseph’s revealed name. He grew up a pure example For the work he was to do, Shocked the rabbis in the Temple With his wisdom which shone through.   Worked like all men to make ends meet, Helped his dad make things of wood, With rough hands and dusty, tough feet Fit right in where e’er he stood.   Blended with his people’s goings, Did not tell from whence he came, Saw their plight and their souls’ longings, Saw their leaders’ crafty game.   Then his cousin John came calling By the Sea of Galilee, Choosing hides to be his clothing— Locusts with his daily tea.   John called out for true repentance To the crowds that gathered there, So that they’d avoid the sentence Holy God will bring to bear.   Look! Watch your Messiah enter, Breaking on the earthly scene, Heaven’s dove shows John his Mentor, “This your Lamb may now be seen.”   We are glad he came to show us How to step into the Light, How to bear our…

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Time Flies When You Are Serving God

Saturday, May 12th, was one of those days that makes you feel old… but so happy too. It was a day of seeing another of my K.C. Krew kids getting married! The last time you’ll see “Cheek” after Krista’s name!Krista and Karl Today…. Karl and Krista in 1998! Cool Krista! (wearing a costume for Kids Church) Krista getting married, and that’s Sara’s dad doing the ceremony! This was a very encouraging day for me. You minister and invest in so many kids in your life, and you don’t always get to see what God does with their lives. Some you never even get to say good bye to, let alone, get to see them again years later. It was so nice to get caught up on what they are doing and how much they have grown up! Krista’s little sister Erin, Gwen, (me), Laura and Amy Joy. And YES, I have old pictures of all of them: (hope they still love me after this!) Erin back then! And Amy Joy too! I’ve got special stories with each of these girls, and it was fun to tell them over again at the wedding. Laura, second from the right, graduated from Moody…

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CLEAN THAT ROOM OR ELSE!

OK, enough serious poems for now. You may not know that I was once known as the “White Boy Rapper” and could hold my own in rap fights with the ‘brothers’ in high school. I was the new kid, having just moved to Chicago in time to start 11th grade. I was surprised when I arrived to see how separate the whites and blacks were in my Chicago south suburban high school, when in my previous high school in California there did not seem to be the obvious racial separation. I made a bold move to sit in the “black section” at lunch and it began an adventure that turned out to be a highlight for me in high school. Persecution? Some, but I made some great friends, and after telling these ‘brothers’ for weeks about a “white boy rapper” I knew who could whoop ’em all in a rap fight… I finally set a day for them to meet him on a lunch break (we had open campus at lunch) and after waiting and waiting, when there was only 15 minutes left to lunch, I pulled out a pair of black 80’s style shades (well, it was the 80’s!)…

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Through a Mother’s Eyes

Tonight a father and son came over to watch the The Passion of the Christ at my house as part of their Easter preparation. (I have a pretty sweet home theater in my basement that they wanted to ‘borrow’) It is a movie that I can handle watching about once a year. It is a powerful experience. If you have not seen it, you really should. (Read my review on Kidology.org) It is a very fitting film for Easter time as you can no longer be flipant or casual about Jesus’ death after seeing this film. Anyway, as I continue to post my long-lost poetry, (torture to some I’m sure!), I was moved by the film to post a poem I wrote about the Crucifiction titled “Through a Mother’s Eyes.” It also is a song written in B minor, bu you’ll have to use your imagination for that. Through a Mother’s Eyes She stood there looking at her son, She said, “I thought you were the one, The Scriptures promised so long ago, Who’d come to make us finally whole.” But now He hung there on a tree, Bleeding, dying, in misery, She saw the wounds, she heard his cries,…

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