A Hand Along the Journey: Poems for the King from One Pilgrim to Another

  “...He is your life and the length of your days..."  - Deut. 3 0:20   Today is my birthday. For 43 years, I’ve breathed Your air,  been refreshed by Your gracious gifts of food and water,  and always had a place to lay my head at night.   Your Word has intersected with every one of those 43 years i n one way or another,  my constant companion in good and bad times. T he written Word has given me the Word-Made-Flesh.   You have given me blessings  that people in other places and centuries could only dream of: f reedom and education, a mind that could learn how to read,  and eyeglasses to make that possible.   You gave me a wonderful family growing up,  a husband of stability and children of joy,  and health to enjoy life together.  So many kind people have mirrored You in one way or another.   Beyond this life, You give me the promise of eternity  beholding Your face, the end for which I was made  and ...

  ­Revelation 2:1-7   Years of faithful serving And patient laboring, Truth affirming, Evil hating – Yet their light was flickering.   What threatened to their lamp extinguish? Christ said they had their love relinquished. Perhaps loss started undistinguished As cynicism of experience Stole joy, but led to rebuke’s anguish.   Christ’s words hurt, but they could heal; He saw inside all that was real Past duty’s persevering steel To love that had become congealed. He said “Remember, repent” in zeal.   Your eyes look even where I dwell: I’ve served You long, and perhaps well, But Father, Savior, Spirit, tell What is inside – does love for You make my heart swell Ardently unparalleled?   Oh, may it ever, ever be That love for Jesus inside me Is living, vibrant, flowing free Back to the One Who died for me! His love gave all at Calvary.