Don`t cry yet;
there`s still God!

~ Carissa Cooper
When you have exhausted all the possibilities,
remember this -
you haven't.
~ Thomas Edison

You will ask me where I get my ideas...I cannot tell you with certainty; they come unsummoned...in the silence of the nights, early in the morning... tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have set them down in notes.

~ Ludwig Von Beethoven
Beware of paying attention
or going back to what you once were,
when God wants you to be something
that you have never been.
~ Oswald Chambers

Experience is something you don't get
until just after you need it.

~ unknown
Creativity
is a way
of living
Life
~ Madeleine L'Engle

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves,
for they shall never cease to be amused.

~ unknown

"Maybe you've not yet tasted
your favorite food"
(regarding the feast prepared for us in heaven) 

~ Randy Alcorn in Tell Me About Heaven
I would like to
paint the way a bird sings.
~ Claude Monet
It is the nature of grace
always
to fill spaces
that have been empty.
~ Goethe
Doubt comes from a struggling mind.
Unbelief comes from a struggling will.
~ Chuck Missler

One good thing about being wrong
is the joy it brings to others.

~ unknown

My best friend is a person who
will give me a book
I have not read.

~ Abraham Lincoln

Even if you're on the right track
you'll get run over if you just sit there.

~ Will Rogers
Two classes of human beings defy
psychological categorizing
and are full of surprises:
Poets and Saints.
~ Sigmund Freud

When God wants to show you what human nature is like separated from Himself, He shows it to you in yourself.

~ Oswald Chambers

Use what talents you possess:
the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang there
except those that sang best.

~ Henry Van Dyke

Remember that
the darkest hour
only lasts 60 minutes

~ on the girls' bathroom wall/Gordon College

Is prayer your steering wheel
or your spare tire?

~ Corrie Ten Boom
a children's book is
any book
a child will read.
~ Madeleine L'Engle
All shall be well
and all shall be well
and all manner of things shall be well.
~ Julian of Norwich
Poetry takes something
that we know already
and turns it into something new.
~ T.S. Eliot
Planting seeds
inevitably
changes my feelings
about rain.
~ Luci Shaw (from her poem "Forecast")

Start by doing what's necessary,
then what's possible,
and suddenly you are doing
the impossible.

~ St. Francis of Assisi

Hope means hoping
when things are hopeless,
or it is no virtue at all.
Faith means believing the incredible,
or it has no virtue at all.

~ G.K. Chesterton
The first demand any work of art
makes upon us is surrender.
Look.  Listen.  Receive.
Get yourself out of the way.
~ C.S. Lewis

When writing,
be more or less
specific

~ unknown

Spiritual warfare
isn't just casting out demons;
it's Spirit-controlled thinking
and attitudes.

~ Dean Sherman/YWAM
I loved Christmas
until I grew up and realized
I had to make it happen!
~ an exasperated customer at the Living Cornerstone bookstore
If you're going through Hell,
don't stop!
~ a great song I can't remember (anyone know?)
The best translation of the word "love"
is the name Jesus;
That will tell us everything about love
we need to know.
~ Canon Tallis
Do not have your concert first, and then
tune your instrument afterwards.
Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer,
and get first of all into harmony with Him.
~ Hudson Taylor


Previously featured cool people

Current Feature: Jesse Young

Lisa says... Jesse and I met when I joined the Mid-Hudson Christian Church in 2003. Jesse is the sound engineer, and since I was soon part of the worship team, we became friends in the pursuit of great worship from our team. Jesse was an enthusiastic supporter of each of my recording projects, and encouraged me to keep bringing the new songs I was writing to the worship environment on Sunday mornings. I’ve worked with enough sound guys to know a professional when I meet one, and sure enough, Jesse revealed that in his “Before Christ” days, he toured with big rock bands and did their big stage sound. I always joked with him that having him on the soundboard always made me sound good. The true test for me of whether we actually found that place of free worship was to watch the sound booth. If Jesse was letting go and dancing around up there, we had touched something alive.

Before too long I discovered that Jesse “used to write poetry” and I wouldn’t leave him alone until he started to write again. Jesse was an example of someone who should be changing the world with his words, but they were locked up inside of him. The first day he shared a “new” poem with me, I held my breath as I saw his future change. I’ve been reading his new poems ever since. Then I discovered he used to perform his poetry, and when I heard him do it once, I knew this was another area in which he was a professional. In his poetry readings, words come alive and the performance then goes beyond those words. I dare you to be bored.

Jesse is a Cool Person because he was brave enough to start writing again even though he had given it up years before. And he’s brave enough to stand up in front of a group of people and perform his poetry, an emotional and physical act! But this is not your average poetry reading I’ve seen people who say they “don’t get” poetry sit transfixed while they watch and listen to his presentations. It doesn’t get any cooler than that. Let Jesse change your world.

My favorite Jesse quote:
"When The Rocks Cry Out is my theme song"

Next to each poem, Jesse tells you a little about the poem and his motivation for writing and then performing it. I was surprised to find myself in his storyline. You will be delighted to read how the smallest of things will inspire our friends to be who they were meant to be.

I hope you take the time to enjoy getting to know my Cool Friend, Jesse Young, through his poems we’ve presented here. Thank you.

Do you have a response to these poems? Tell Jesse by sending him an email HERE

Better yet, consider inviting him to do a performance at your church or retreat. Bring the art world into your fellowship setting!

THANK YOU for encouraging the Cool People Who Are Changing the World!

Read more of Jesse's poems
Click photos to watch Jesse's poetry performances

John's Dream

This Heart
     
Sing a Song
of Africa

Beautiful Rose