January 2012
39 posts
Over Thinking The Un-Intended
Over Thinking The Un-Intended
People like to look at words and claim them not as so, they will pick them up and look under them as if there is something hidden below. Cutting words down and looking at their roots, “a word derived from latin!” is often a common excuse.
Scholars tend to think of words like wells, deeper and darker do they like to dwell. Some may spend days, if not...
Don't Bother Raising Your Hand
Don’t Bother Raising Your Hand
Glasses on the crook your eyes glancing over the books, eyeing and sizing those in the room to see if you know more from the loom. You can weave words of wonder, or create responses in the room as quick as thunder, loudly and boldly proclaiming their knowledge - and to think, this is simply college. You thought it would be harder, studying in a topic so broad...
An Excerpt from "Forgotten God"
Exegesis: an attempt to discover the meaning of the text objectively, starting with the text and moving out from there
Eisegesis: to import a subjective, preconceived meaning into the text
I was taught to interpret the Scriptures through exegesis alone. Start with God’s Word; pray that the spirit gives you clarity; then study to see what the text actually says. The Holy Spirit inspired...
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human...”
– James 3:9-12 (NIV)
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.
An evil soul producing holy...”
– The Merchant of Venice, Act 1 - Scene III
Mark 7:5-12
Then the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him (Jesus), “Why don’t Your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ritually unclean hands?”
He (Jesus) answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. They worship Me in vain,...
“What can be explained is not poetry.”
– W.B. Yeats (via bodasdesangre)
WatchJeff Bethke, author of the famous “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” poem that became viral via Youtube, goes on CBS and talks about his poem and his intentions.
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a...”
– Henry David Thoreau
“Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and...”
– 1 Peter 3:3-4 (HCSB)
I Was Never One For Romantics
I Was Never One For Romantics
I’m sure you could never fathom that I’ve been thinking of you in my sleep. Some may like to call them dreams - but I don’t believe in fairytales, or make believe.
Thoughts are intentional, dreams just that - dreams. So I like to say I’m thinking of you, intentionally and deliberately pondering your name, I’ve let my emotions get the...
One Man's Imagination
One Man’s Imagination
If I could possibly lift these letters of the pages, I’d fill my pockets with all these phrases, Lines and letters all scattered and overrun - with them I could create a masterpiece - with them, I could run.
One moment a fairytale, the next a shattered dream all depending upon my mood, and the relativity of its swings. Far too fragile and self absorbed, my...
“Like ships in the night
You keep passing me by
We’re just wasting time...”
– Mat Kearney, Ships In The Night
“When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it is...”
– Proverbs 3:27-28 (HCSB)
News!
If you would like to only follow my poetry and writing, and not all of my blogging, vid posting, or quote posting - then I have good news for you! I have created a separate blog for ONLY my poetry and NOTHING ELSE! No gifs, quotes, videos or anything! Just my writing, and that is it. So if this is you, click the link below…
Derek’s New Writing Blog:
...
“A tear must have formed in my eye
When you had your first kiss
But I’m...”
– Boyce Avenue, On My Way
Between The Corporate Ladder
Between The Corporate Ladder
A silhouette sunrise and a cup filled with my morning routine, It’s quiet here in the company - amongst all the trees.
Life all around me, much louder than I, for I’m taking in colors and watching the sky.
To them it’s a usual occurrence - something that’s lost its edge. But for me it’s a reminder, that there’s more to life in...
“When I look into your eyes
It’s like watching the night sky
Or a...”
– Jason Mraz, I Won’t Give Up
"Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus" - My...
Hey guys, I posted a video entitled “Why I hate religion, but love Jesus.” It’s a poem that was written by a man named Jeff Bethke. And I noticed he and his poem have been getting a lot of negative feedback. Granted, maybe some of his wording was of poor choice- but I feel as though many people are overlooking a few things.
Quite simply, Jeff is a poet - a man using an art form...
thetrentholbertband:
Mandy’s new song “Fear...
“All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and...”
– Matthew 28: 16-20 (HCSB)
“There’s a problem, if people only know you’re a Christian by your...”
– Jeff Bethke - Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus
simplyputchristinamichelle asked: You sir, have a talent with words. I am enjoying stalking your work right now. Have a wonderful night. And do keep writing.
Live Like There's An Ending
Live Like There’s An Ending
We are quite docile, this generation. We tend to meet inside our halls, some dimly lit, while others made of marble, and we like to discuss topics of the Heavens above.
Oh, but once the clock has struck the hour the members all scatter outward and away from the hall, almost as if it never existed at all. It’s there that the conversations will end.
We like...
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us...”
– Hebrews 12:1-2 (Part of 2 Anyway)
“What descends feels like heaven on my skin
Finally I am free to never breath...”
– Oh, Sleeper - Children of Fire
“I found a letter that said
I’m sorry that you were asleep
when i wrote...”
– Motion City Soundtrack, Hold Me Down
“You’re the echoes of my everything,
You’re the emptiness the whole...”
– Motion City Soundtrack, Hold Me Down
What's So Great About "Screamo" Music
Many people dislike today’s music that has been dubbed as, “Screamo”. Why? Some people feel that the screams and lower key of the music is evil. Granted, there are many great examples of metal bands who emit an evil message. BUT, there are just as many who are positive bands or Christian. Yes - Christian “Screamo” bands. That, and many just can’t get past the...
“I’m educating you with mercy.
You say you want, you say you want,
The...”
– Oh, Sleeper - The Family Ruin
I'd Like To Keep A Secret
I’d Like To Keep A Secret
Glancing over from across the room I can see your smile light up like the moon, sharing the light for those in their darkest hours - or convincing others of love within meteor showers.
I’ll stand and and start a conversation, you’ll walk and stray just inside the formation. Follow all the rules, and remember - remember, how you’ve made my...
“So lift your voices high
Higher than the mountains of their spite
We are we...”
– Oh, Sleeper - Hush Yael
“We need to quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death…we...”
– Mark Batterson, Wild Goose Chase
“In the end God will either say, “Well done my good and faithful...”
This One Goes Out To The One(s) I Love...
Tonight I heard a great message at Church. And I am sure after a few of you read the words, “Church”, you will stop reading and write this whole blog off as nothing more than a rant about “religion”. But it’s not…it’s about relationships. Let me explain some more, keep reading, and hopefully you’ll get something out of this.
We, by nature, love new...
Happy New Years
Happy new year folks. 2011 is out and 2012 is in. I am excited for a new year - with it comes new opportunities, a clean slate, and new experiences that God will throw at me. I hope it’s a better year than 2011, and right now (at 12:50 am) I am feeling very optimistic…and I sit here wishing one person would talk to me above all else, and I haven’t heard a single word - it’s...
December 2011
21 posts
“I believe the world is burning to the ground,
Oh well I guess we’re gonna...”
– Matchbox Twenty, Let’s See How Far We’ve Come
“And on days that are rainy and lonely,
and you feel that you can’t make...”
– Mandy Holbert, Waiting For You
Blank Verse
Blank Verse
It was never the words that you wrote, nor the things that you said - nay, what spoke louder than any worded phrase was simply the silence. It was the silence that spoke loudest of all, it said everything you weren’t saying - and it slowly cascaded through my thoughts like a waterfall.
- Derek Ellis
For All Those Still Sleeping...
CHRIST: THE FULFILLMENT OF PROPHECY
By: D. James Kennedy
Some time ago I had the opportunity to speak to a man who had no belief whatsoever in the Scriptures as any sot of divine revelation from God. He was a writer who was articulate and well-educated. While he was well-read, he was completely ignorant of any evidences for the truthfulness of the Christian faith and the Scriptures which...
White
White
White - it’s a color I suppose, something artists tend to like best when covered by strokes. Does it symbolize something? You know, hold a deeper meaning or stir something up in our hearts? It’s such a simple color, that I’ve long forgotten the use for it in art. But I tell you this - White is a color that holds a mist, an air, you can never tell if it’s truthful...
You Can Call It A Name - But Is That What It Truly...
You Can Call It A Name - But Is That What It Truly Is?
A figment, pigments - strokes and the colors softly tell you a sad story, or make you feel as though you’ve lost but have yet to lose. Thinking of thoughts or drowning in dreams, you will find yourself swimming in this ocean of “things”. To think it was all stirred up off the bottom, created with just this image that...
“Brother come on and open up your eyes,
quit believing all those lies
that the...”
– Josh Garrels, Decision
Over The Falls
Over The Falls
And so my tragic tale goes that we could be winding down this river, going as fast or slow as our love wanted to go. And in the end, or toward the middle, wherever it happens - we’d hit a slight bump, maybe turn over a few rapids. Afterwards it’d never be the same, our conversations or small texts would never feel the same, just slightly vexed. Sooner or later, usually...
“I am a troubled mind, I am a calloused heart
A failing engine from driving way...”
– Needtobreathe, Valley of Tomorrow