AN EMPTY LINE?

AN EMPTY LINE?

No dove through the window, sitting on the line?

A sign from heaven that all would be just fine!

Affirmation?  Confirmation?  Why won’t you say?

Some direction, some guidance, show me the way!

 

Why are you mute?  Why are you so quiet?

I wait in the dark, for a flicker of light!

Whatever you say, wherever you send –

I’d quickly arise, and surely “amen!”

 

With mixed counsel and conflicting advice,

Is my uncertainty and fear so much a vice?

“wait on the Lord” and “wait seven days”

Are precepts from above that I will obey.

 

Casting nets from a boat, in which you did sleep,

I, empty, float along, pondering the deep.

“fishers of men”?  I remember what You said!

Loyalty we all pledged; then I cursed and I fled?!

 

Oh, for a chance to do it all again!

To walk and to talk, the way it was then.

But how can it be?  I’ve looked back from the plow.

“unworthy” He said!  He’s through with me now?!

 

The Cross says He loves me!  The empty grave says even more?!

Restarts?  Second-chances?  Life He has and will restore?!

Not sure, I will just fall back and “do what I know”?

What else can I do?  I just do not know where to go.

 

Hey look!  Who is that calling over there on the shore?

That voice?  I know it!  We’ve all heard it before!

The fish, y’all can keep;  I’m jumping in for the swim!

He’s back!  He’s calling!  Never again will I leave Him!

 

Three times I denied Him;  Three times “do you love me?”

I do not deserve this; and , not sure how it could be.

Forgiven,  reinstated, “fish for men” and “feed my sheep”!

Simon Peter is the sign, that even losers, He will keep!

 

So, here I live with questions still floating in my head.

But, this I know, Jesus is alive!  He’s risen from the dead!

 

Rom.5  “while we were yet sinners … how much more, now …”

SECOND CHANCE SANDALS

SECOND CHANCE SANDALS

                “Ben…why do you have to keep so much clutter?!  …just look at those old, worn-out sandals!   … throw them away; you cannot keep all this stuff!”

                (patiently, sighing) “…my dear Hannah, I am sorry to upset your sense of order, but you have no idea how special these sandals are to me.  I have had them since I was a small child, and I intend for our little Joseph to get them.  It seems like only yesterday when I asked my grandfather why he kept them around.  I remember his eyes welling up with water and he began to tell me the saga of these sandals…”

                “… are you for real?!  Your family heirloom is a worn-out pair of sandals?  What else did you inherit in the estate, an old, moth-eaten kippah?!  We have to stop hoarding!”

                “dear wife, granddad, as a child, asked his dad where he got those old, dry-rotting sandals, and he was told of an old man, dying in his tent, thirty-five years into “the Wilderness”.  As he struggled for his last few breaths, they called to him his family.  Then, he looked at his oldest son, Tobias, and handed him these sandals.  He whispered into his ear, ‘I wore these sandals, thirty-five years ago when I was one of the “Twelve” sent in to check out our new home.  We failed the LORD.  We had seen so much, but we focused on the giants, not God!  He has purged and pruned us.  You do better!  Trust Him.  God has preserved these sandals for decades now.  When you get there in a few years, He said, forty years, you put on these sandals and march in to take the land, faithfully and fearlessly!”

                “I had no idea … this is awesome …”

                “Oh, there’s more.  Papa Toby strapped them on when they marched around Jericho those seven days!  But, as they conquered the land, he put them up, and preserved them.  To me, they say, ‘the LORD preserves us!’  Hannah, are you not listening to this?  Where are you going with those shoes?  Do not toss them out!”

                “…dear husband, we will NEVER throw away these sandals;  I am putting them up on the mantel for display and protection and veneration.  The LORD does indeed protect and preserve his people!”

Simon Peter – the “D-sciple”

Simon Peter – the “D-sciple”

Declared undying allegiance.

Defended, nearly decapitating, in the garden.

Deserted, as all the others.

Denied, three times, with curses and oaths.

Disappointed with himself, deeply.

Dropped tears of grief and shame.

Desired to turn back the clock.

Dreamed “could it be?!”

Drawn back to His side!

Dispatched anew with a commission.

Destined to lead the flock.

Driven along, sustained by the hope He inspired.

Drew last breath, upside down, having turned the world upside down!

WITHIN FAILURE

Within failure can be found success.

Within the ugliest beast can be found beauty.

Even down within the depths of the abyss can be found escape.

For, even within the darkness can be found light!

Surely, within deception can be found truth.

And, within defeat is found victory.

Within ignorance can be knowledge.

And, within the grave can be found life.

Yes, even in rebellion can be found submission.

And in confusion, can be found meaning.

Out in the wilderness there can be found the way.

Within murkiness can be found clarity.

And, in dimness, there can be found brilliance.

Within despair can be found hope.

Even in hatred, can be found love.

Often, within doubt, there is faith.

And, in the prodigal, there is penitence.

Within waywardness is stability.

In the pilgrim can be found home.

Within the coward, there is bravery.

Even in the pervert there is decency.

Within the traitor, there can be found honor.

And, within the arrogant can be found humility.

So marred and scarred; so disfigured and destroyed.

Yet, deep within, a spark flickers.

A memory, a shadow remains, though hidden and denied.

He said the last shall be first, and also said the least shall be the greatest!

“Father, forgive us, for we do not know …”

Even I was once a little boy, bright-eyed and boundless.