Soul Count

I'd like to have a thousand souls in tow
when I shall cross the finish line at last,
some strangers I've encountered, some I know,
from all that I have prayed for in the past.

If not, at least a hundred I have met,
whom I have loved and cared for in my wake,
to all who've cared for me I am in debt,
I hope the ones who've loved me I can take.

If I could bring but ten or so to You,
my wife and parents, sister, brother, please,
my son and daughter and their children too,
a few friends, loved ones and their families.

Actually, Lord, for all eternity,
I would be glad if You saved little me.

                      -- by Pete Voelz         8/10

How Can One Not

How can one not love God when God's so good?
All goodness comes from God so He's the best,
goodness is hard--to do the things we should,
yet when we're good, it's God Who's most impressed.
 
How can one not love God Who is all true?
God knows what's true since He knows everything,
I too want truth, to know it through and through,
I like to know what's really happening.

How can one not love God so beautiful?
All beauty has its start in His perfection,
our beauteous work is not some miracle,
but just in us the work of His reflection.

With truth, Lord, good and beauty all in You,
I'd like to have a little of them too.

                              -- by Pete Voelz       6/07

Night Visitor

Mere words cannot describe the way I feel,
when I first think of God as He appears,
and with an overwhelming wave so real,
He comes to comfort me and quell my fears.

Like when the night clouds part, the moon breaks through,
to flood our vision with her stunning light,
God's presence all at once breaks into view,
abruptly ending all the dark of night.

His dawning scatters all our worries dark,
my troubled thoughts of all my problems cease,
my battery of faith begins to spark,
as comforted, I sense His calming peace.

I'm grateful, God, You brighten and console
the dark discomfort of my burdened soul.

                                -- by Pete Voelz        11/07

How to Choose

God gives me moral choices all day long,
I’m forced to choose between what’s bad and good,
I must decide to do things right or wrong,
I’m supposed to try to do the things I should.

My morals I revere or I disdain,
I have a choice because God made me free,
my choices give me spiritual loss or gain,
so I choose free my eternal destiny.

I pray to God to help me choose my fate,
the devil lures me while God offers me grace,
to get His strength I must cooperate,
my prayers show my desire to win the race.

I must be still, O Lord, to hear Your voice,
then to respond or not is my great choice.

             -- by Pete Voelz       9/28/12

God's Answer

God is the balm for every broken heart,
the solvent to each knotty problem's pain,
the antidote of any poisonous dart,
the elixir for all good done in vain.

God is the gift that fills each empty soul,
that heals the wounds of sin's infirmities,
the tonic fortitude for self-control,
the miracle cure of spiritual disease.

God warms the frost of frigid apathy,
He thaws the selfishness of icy greed,
He melts the chill of glacial gluttony,
He cools the flame of lust's volcanic need.

God's remedies work better than our aid,
with mercy deep for every debt unpaid.

                     -- by Pete Voelz     8/10

Body and Soul

The more I adore my body, the less my soul,
yet when I keep my body in its place,
and have its members under my control,
the more my soul has access to Your grace.

Your grace, Lord, is Your power great in me,
it’s You I must, with body and soul, adore,
then I--both body and soul--am truly free,
and we will truly love each other more.

The worship of my body leads to sin,
I’m supposed to give them both together to You,
my soul and body must be joined to win,
if we’re to have us joined in heaven too.

They’ll be there--physical and spiritual,
one me in my eternal miracle.

                     -- by Pete Voelz       9/26/12

My God War

I am the battleground of good and ill,

I’m the geography of peace and war,

the fight goes on within my heart and will,

rarely reduced to just an either-or.

I know what’s right and wrong in my own mind,

I hear temptation’s call from many voices,

My feckless will is weak, but I’m not blind,

It’s dark, but basically I see my choices.

The demon’s on one side, God’s law is there,

My pleasure or salvation—what’s my goal?

I’m tempted to not even reach for prayer,

God’s biased in this struggle for my soul.

And yet, O Lord, I know I have an ace,

If I just cast a glance upon Your face.

                      -- by Pete Voelz       9/25/12