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Following in the footsteps of the Acts of the
Apostles, written by St. Luke, Shepherd's Cross Christian Helps Ministry
exists by the grace of God to further the first century Apostolic tradition
serving in the Great Commission. |
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Poems for Reflection and Devotion
In Jesus name, From Brother Richard, MS Ed
-------------- I have heard so many stories about love and romance, yet I am far from both. As one is unable to catch the wind, so I haven't been able to hold onto love. As the scent of the flower fades, so my motivation has responded to love. Drawn by Thy Holy Spirit, my heart is stirred within me. As the sun has shined upon the lilies, so my heart has once again been inspired and has opened up. I am born again. Memories of You ----------------------- I saw a rose today it reminded me of you. Jesus where are you when I need you? The fountain water sprays up a water exhibition for what purpose? People scramble to and fro passing the water fountain display while contemplating their own life without observing the pretty lights. The old mission bell is attached to a high beam. Closer observation reveals it is attached crooked. People have grown accustomed to observing pretty displays and pretty objects. It may appear by observation; people have not taken the time to smell the cherry blossoms until the cherry blossoms are no longer in season. "We love him, because he first loved us."--1 John 4:19 Behold the Man --------------------- Behold the man. He is unlike any other man. For Him, He had no equal peer to walk beside, to complain to, to help encourage him. He had only those to alter His plan of life. He only had the Father and the Holy Spirit ever by His side. Unlike us, He came to earth to die - We know not what hour it will be for us to die – He knew all along and yet He strived to do "Thy will 0 God" - To die on Calvary - to die upon that tree in order to set mankind free. 0 precious blood that flowed – Some say Salvation in free – However, what price it did cost, Thee - Only Begotten Son. The Coming of Jesus ---------------------------- No one knows the hour, no not even the Son – In the hour you think not, the Son of Man shall appear. We spend our lives focused on our dust. Dust that blows in the wind, that will burn in the presence of Thy coming. What will be left when You shall appear? Only that which is spiritually wrought- Oh, that my spirit would be conformed to Thy image. Oh, that Thy image would conform me. Memory ---------- The ocean spray splashes into the air causing a mist to form softly falling upon my face. I close my eyes only for a moment in anticipation to feel this mist as it touches gently upon my features. I can smell the scent of the sea as the breezes woos the fragrance from the water over the glistening hot sand to where I am. The aroma enters within my nostrils. I inhale clearing my mind in order that I may envision your image. 0 Precious Jesus, the wounds that Thomas handled are there to remind me I am never alone. My Lord and my God, my soon coming Bridegroom. Maranatha, Lord Jesus, Maranatha. Three Years Three Days ------------------------------- For the past three years many temptations have come our way each causing us to face our fears, ourselves with our wills being tried. Accompanied with your presence enduring these tempests our hearts seemed to have learned to make improvements. I know I have grown weary my eyes have grown tired. Living in this day and age knowing I have missed the mark my human spirit is heavy under the load of my sin. Self-reliance turns about as you leave our presence for the very last time. Our countenances and hearts sink as we see you crucified. Three days later the time of the squall line ends leaving behind a rebirth of clean crisp air ending our spiritual drought. Grace has given birth to salvation like a torrential rain gives life to a plateau on a mountain side causing it to become rich and green. As the night flees away a new morning light begins. A face of golden radiate glory shadowed by a beard and hair of ruddy brown breaks the stillness, you have resurrected! Jesus May 1977 ------------- Come see a man crying Come see a man dieing His form causes crying and yet joy. For you see before you a young man dieing. He is sighing and even crying but it is for you. His broken body hanging upon a cross is a reflection of sinful mankind that is lost. It is a reflection of mankind past present and future. It is a reflection of sin at its height of pleasure. Satan, himself has been its instigator. The figure -- is it a man? I cannot tell can you? Though the blood is mingled with water running down His side, His beard is plucked by hand out of sight and the bruises are deep purple so bright, and yet there is a beauty that Satan cannot hide! The more I want to let go I feel compelled to look upon the man that I learned about so long ago. (This is a narrative poem from a man who saw Jesus die on the old rugged cross on the day of His crucifixion and his reaction to it). I remember this man; He was so young to die about thirty-three years I imagine. All I know about Him is that He took time to live for those around Him and not for Himself. When others went about to take pleasure in men’s sin He took time to pray for them. He never wrote a book but His words were a very important part of Him. He didn't speak as the scribes and the Pharisees His words would flow with grace and with peace. He spoke with such magnitude that His words would go into your very heart shedding light upon the chambers that were very dark. Wherever He did travel great multitudes did follow but at His tomb only a few handmaidens did travel. Where was the blind man He touched at His trial? I remember the day when I was so far away from the spiritual truth that He spoke. I didn't know that I was one of the stray He referred to in the parable of the ninety and nine in that warm month of May. He would leave His all and travel to dangerous cliffs when He discovered one of His lost ones was gone from His midst. Yes, I was there under the cross and I will tell you one thing when I heard the thief on the cross crying out for mercy I thought of myself because I too had been a thief in that had stolen my life from God. When the thief cried only to be remembered, Christ promised him entrance into His kingdom unhindered. When He spoke to the thief something miraculous did happen. At that instant the thief's face did shine as angels do shine and peace was found upon a man dieing for sins he did commit. Then I saw upon the cross not just a man but the savior of the human race. Thank God for His marvelous grace. ~ After His death He rose as He had planned with victory in His hand. Not for the thief only but for all those who would accept Him as the Pascal lamb. My heart did rejoice when I saw upon Christ's face the love that drew Him to the cross to die for such a sinful race. For He looked upon me too and His eyes did say to me, "I'm dieing for you too, even though you nailed me to this tree!" Love Today and Tomorrow? ------------------------------------- The falls flow free through water formed crevices on the mountain side created over time. Trees have grown tall beside the falls and sway from the warm breeze. Leaves fall down now abandoning themselves on the strength of the rivers current. What does tomorrow hold for those who love today? Living Poem ----------------- The sound of the horses hoofs as they gallop over the fallen leaves which lay upon the side of the brook stream breaks the stillness of the day. A combination of gulls and ducks express themselves as each within their own feelings share the sun's rays and the chilling wind's breeze which shimmer over the top of the lake. Listen to the sound of the flapping of wings as birds pass through in search of a resting place and finding none go on their way. What is a touch? What is a grasp? What is intimacy? Is there a common bond between the three? Is it wrong to want and to hold for the little time that we have left? Is it wrong to want to be touched and to touch -- to experience the closeness that all of us need both rich and poor, bond or free? Intimacy needs to be experienced. A poem needs human expression. Human expression needs poetry. We are the poem of our Creators expression! Crucifixion --------------- Early in the morning before the rising of the cross stood Jesus of Nazareth ready to meet the job for which He had come… To shed His blood for an offering To appease the wrath of God. To sanctify a chosen people for Himself for whom He would die for upon the old rugged cross. The soldiers gathered around Him nailing Him upon the cross and lifting Him high above them was the Redeemer of the lost. Soon His water and blood would flow from within His heart down His side to free us from the power of sin and of strife. No matter what anyone would have to say, looking upon God’s Lamb, Jesus would only say, "Father forgive them!" Moreover, surely, His blood did flow making white our darken wool. God, the True Shepherd, of the flock, laying down His life on the cross for His fold. Angst ------- I cry out to the Lord - squeezing tears upon my cheek to no avail my heart is hardened! I think of Pharaoh, what he must have gone through Back and forth, back and forth to no avail, to no satisfaction of relief. Whatever the call, Pharaoh was not making it. “And what about me my lot to Thee,” I cry out, “Why me?” “Even in this poem, I am squeezed, I have confessed to Thee, Oh God.” “Unto Thee have I sinned?” “Would I have been better off than to have never been born?” “Even that phrase seems so foreign to me.” My Friend Classmate and Fellow Barb March 6, 1998 --------------------------------------------------- "Would anyone have imagined in the town of Globe, on August 6, 1901, those two little hands and big eyes would one day entertain Royalty and see audiences from around the world applauding her musical talent?" You're a choice cut stone, made from the hue of a rock by the breath of our Creator. Your presence has filled me with warmth. I will always remember you. Violet Stallcup Wightman: A Flame Within Silhouette March 6, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- When we first made eye contact, Your soft eyes revealed your vulnerability, My heart's defenses could not resist. Love within me, That those storms of life had silhouetted, Just flooded forth Renewing my life vigor. The expressiveness, of your face That I have seen, Have left lasting life sketches On the canvases of my mind. Samuel ---------- Samuel, my Christian brother, you came to us from the other side. How could I have helped you when I did not understand your East Indian style of life? Could you have reached out in time and try to tell me what life was like from your inner mind or where you blind like so many others who felt no one would understand? So you did not take a risk and a stand to reach out to me who was raised in another land. Guilt and sorrow fill the room while many people scramble through. Each one is dealing with their private conflict why they did not reach out to you. But I reached out to you my friend if only with an open heart to lend. But you withdrew and did depart from my offer that came from my heart. A bullet was struck into your wife's back blood flowed out. Cries of mercy were spoken loud but you just turned the music up to drown it out. After not being able to strike your wife's heart you turned the weapon upon yourself. I wasn't there and know not what you felt. Samuel I wasn't there upon that day but on the job I was there most every day. I asked you to see me at one or two work sites but you refused saying, "It wasn't right." Did you not know or were you uptight not to recognize my attempt at friendship before that fateful night. There is no more now that I can do to help you Samuel with what you were going through. You chose the direction you wanted to go now it's hmm no longer up to you. You pulled the trigger the bullet did enter. Now Samuel your body will be in your coffin for an earthly forever. Les Miserables --- How Miserable -------------------------------------------- Did their intellect betray them? They perceived their government's tyranny oppressing their fellow countrymen and they discerned their social condition. They rose up within their intellectual ranks. Within this equation, they did not calculate the fact that their countrymen were not as perceptive nor discerning as they, therefore their intellect did in fact betray them. On behalf of their countrymen they rose up against the armies of their government. What they began as a fight for freedom, was perceived by their government as terrorism and the discernment of their fellow countrymen concurred Peace / No Peace ----------------------- The weather had been serene. Now as the storm clouds gather together over my head the wind is easily blowing through the treetops that lay just ahead that line along the riverbed. Each tree is lined up one alongside another in antiquated symmetry. There are so many trees blended --- so many shades of green. People travel the world to see scenic landscapes like these. Would it not be keen that these same architects who create such beckoning landscapes be called upon to create foreign policy? The weather is once again serene. A few ducks silently patrol down the river under the bridge into the cove where a waterfall brings fresh water. Would it not be something if these ducks were ambassadors for us and in union with us they would be able to bring together the currents of the world's streams which empty into the great Seven Seas and through doing this peace would be found upon the world's great water ways? Bridges are erected over decades that span a lifetime for generations. The bridge builders give their life to construct these bridges. Would it not be profound for these same bridge makers with such intense determinism be bridge builders of peace to span from country to country … Peace --- What is it? Can it be measured? Can it be reached? Peace can not be reached as long as mankind is not at peace with the Prince of Peace his creator the source of eternal peace. |
