The Thrush Still Sings

No matter what disaster brings,
The sun still shines, the thrush still sings;
The mountain stream still tumbles by;
The wolf still wails its mournful cry.
The wind still waves the prairie grass;
The moon still makes its nightly pass.
The flowers bloom; the earth renews
In brilliant reds and pinks and blues.
The sea still swells its foaming tides,
While 'neath the waves the whale still glides.
The deer still walks the forest glade;
The oak and elm still spread their shade.
The snow still falls on mountain slope;
The heart still fills with love and hope.
The ocean still erupts with waves;
The blood of Jesus Christ still saves.
No matter what disaster brings,
Almighty God, supreme, still reigns!

BEAUTY VANISHED

Why is beauty so treasured?
It’s the quality of the heart that will be measured

Considerable lines upon my face
Not one badge of honor would I erase

A brittle back that’s slightly bent
Attests to sufferings Satan’s servants sent

Hair so thin and yellowed-white
Shines in Glory in my Savior’s sight

My vision growing dim and blurred
Sees from memory, what now is obscured

Beauty vanishes in a flash
What’s in the heart will forever last!

Waiting for You

Lord, how should I plan to meet you?
How do I welcome You right?
With my heart, I long to see You-
My hope and my soul’s delight.

Please awake me Holy Lord;
Keep Your Light within my breast
To do in my spirit humbly
Everything that pleases You best!

My soul will put off its sadness;
Your glory I will then proclaim;
With all of Your strength and gladness,
I will gladly serve Your name.

In my deepest degradation;
Devoid of all joy and all peace;
Then You, as my soul’s salvation;
Come to me to bring Your release.

I cried in deep dark groanings;
You arrived to set me free.
I kneel with my shame bemoaning;
Coming only to honor Thee.

Your glory You have given me;
A treasure that is safe on high
That will not leave or fail me,
As my earthly riches die.

Your love caused Your crucifixion;
God’s love brought You back to me.
You died for my salvation
While procuring my liberty.

Your saving love beyond telling
Led me to Your caring embrace.
In You is love most excelling;
The only salve for our lost race.

Rejoice all you sad-hearted-
The ones sitting in their gloom;
While mourning over joys departed
Now can proclaim freedom from doom.

Lord, how should I plan to meet you?
How do I welcome You right?
With my heart, I long to see You-
My hope and my soul’s delight.

Please awake me Holy Lord;
Keep Your Light within my breast
To do in my spirit humbly
Everything that pleases You best!

My soul will put off its sadness;
Your glory I will then proclaim;
With all of Your strength and gladness,
I will gladly serve Your name.

In my deepest degradation;
Devoid of all joy and all peace;
Then You, as my soul’s salvation;
Come to me to bring Your release.

I cried in deep dark groanings;
You arrived to set me free.
I kneel with my shame bemoaning;
Coming only to honor Thee.

Your glory You have given me;
A treasure that is safe on high
That will not leave or fail me,
As my earthly riches die.

Your love caused Your crucifixion;
God’s love brought You back to me.
You died for my salvation
While procuring my liberty.

Your saving love beyond telling
Led me to Your caring embrace.
In You is love most excelling;
The only salve for our lost race.

Rejoice all you sad-hearted-
The ones sitting in their gloom;
While mourning over joys departed
Now can proclaim freedom from doom.

Rev.4v9-11

Job 39 • Pinions and Plumage

Job 39 • Pinions and Plumage

Do you know when the wild goats are birthing?
Have you seen the faun born of the deer?
Do you have any skill to know when they fulfill?
Do you know when their time's finally here?

They will crouch down when bearing their offspring;
only then will their birth pangs adjourn.
Then the ones who survive will grow stronger and thrive;
when they leave, they will never return.

Tell me, who gave the wild ass its freedom;
loosed the rope and allowed it to roam?
For I've given it land that is nothing but sand,
making salt flats and wasteland its home.

And it scoffs at the noise in the village;
drivers’ shouts never reaching its ears.
Through the mountains, the ass roams in search of green grass,
then moves on when its food disappears.

Will the wild ox consent to your service?
Will it stay for the night in your stall?
Will it furrow a length if you harness its strength?
Will it harrow your valleys at all?

Can you count and rely on such power?
Will you leave it to manage your chores?
Will your trust be in vain lest it gathers your grain
and then brings it to your threshing floors?

Now the wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
but compared with the stork's -- there's no match!
For her eggs can be found there on top of the ground,
keeping warm in the dust till they hatch.

That the eggs might be crushed is forgotten;
or be trampled by some wild beast.
Her young's treatment infers that they're not really hers;
that she labored for naught in the least.

For God did not endow her with wisdom,
neither gave her a share of good sense.
But the contest is done once she gets up to run,
and she laughs at the horseman's expense.

Have you given the horse strength and vigor;
or the mane flowing down from his head?
Will he take off in fright like a grasshopper might?
His proud snorting strikes terror and dread!

He paws fiercely the ground in the valley;
and he charges hard into the fray.
And he laughs, unafraid, and is never dismayed;
from the sword, he does not turn away.

And against him, the arrows will rattle,
as will javelin, lance and the spear.
He cannot stand around but devours the ground
at the blast of the horn in his ear.

He defiantly snorts at the trumpet;
breathes the battle's scent into his mouth.
Is it by your insight that the hawk soars in flight,
as it stretches its wings to the south?

Does the eagle mount up at your bidding;
building nests in the crags of the sky?
It elects to abide on the steep mountainside
on the cliffs in its fortress on high.

And from there, for its prey it keeps searching;
keeping watch with its eyes on the ground.
And its young make a feast on the blood of a beast;
near the slain, it will surely be found.

The Values We Hold

Sex appeal, money, power and gold
The only things valued, or so we've been told
By members of parliament, peasants and lords,
By businessmen, beggars and marauding hoards.

So much for ideals of commitment and friends
And the folks who would willingly go to the ends
Of the planet to aid other people they know
And on whom they had chosen their word to bestow.

Everything's changed proclaim pundits and scribes
We've unwisely appointed as leaders and guides;
From foundational truths we were taught long ago
To our basic ideals we're now taught to forgo.

From unchallenged truths we had always embraced
We have come to adopt a form sorely debased.
We have strayed from original precepts we've held;
Our claim to the high road's no longer upheld.

As a people we wander, we aimlessly drift
Direction less, lost in a sea now bereft
Of the clear moral compass we formally used;
And longitude, latitude now seem confused.

From where does our moral ineptitude come?
Is it Hollywood, Broadway, the standards of some
Governmental committees whose members decreed
That our outdated rules we no longer must heed?

And what can our future conceivably hold
As summarily we discard all we have sold
Of our most basic mores, our firm moral base,
And our hope in retaining our undeserved grace?

Poor fools who cry out in a bleak wilderness
To oblivious morons who couldn't care less
Like the prophets before them and those who come late
Those who dare to speak out now will all share their fate.

So what can be done now to deal with this tale
Of ephemeral loyalties, values for sale
And the narcissists caught in their self centered greed
While oblivious to any precepts or creed?

No matter what others decide or decree
I can and I must make decisions for me.
I'll try to choose wisely, ignoring the cost
And I'll not be a part of the multitudes lost!