He sat among the ashes
Of his joys and dreams
His eyes dried out with weeping
His body taut with pain

His children all were taken
His wealth spread to the air
The ones he’d loved forsook him
His wife counseled despair

His friends offered no comfort
They sought to find his sin
His heart knew he was righteous
But doubt was creeping in

He cried out to his Maker
He begged to understand
But Heaven gave no answer
To this broken man

And yet he knew God heard him
He trusted God to see
He waited in his anguish
To finally be set free

His answer was quite simple
When others said, “Just curse”
He didn’t know God’s purpose
But he knew God is worthy of trust

Though He slay me
Yet will I trust Him
He is my God
I am His man
Though he slay me
Yet will I trust Him
I know in my body
I will see His face

God is good
When I am hurting
God is good
When I am well.

God is good
In Heaven’s glory
God is good
In fiery Hell.

God is good
To rich Zachaeus
God is good
To Lazarus low.

God is good
In days of plenty
God is good
In years of woe

I am learning
By my God’s mercy
I can trust
Where e’re I plod

God is good
Not by my feelings
God is good
Because He’s God.

I wonder why He loves me so
I cannot understand
I laughed and mocked and spit at Him
When He offered His hand

And yet He still to me stretched out
Those hands for me to see
How ripped and torn His hands had been
By nails – t’were nailed by me.

His loving face He shows to me
The marks of thorns across his mien
The side to which He draws me close
Once bled to show
His grace unfeigned.

My sin! My sin! Has done this crime
And yet He loves me so
He loved me when I hated Him
And loves me even now.

I sit at this well-laden table, rich beyond all measure
It is not most the meat and drink and sav’ries that I treasure
But more than gifts and more than wealth and more than I can say
I’m thankful that our feast is shared with joyful company.
With friends and kin and companions who share our well-blessed way
We bow and thank our loving God on this Thanksgiving Day.

Everybody knows
The world is filled with prose —
With words just fit in place
By space
And time.

But when I stop to hear
Beyond my earthly ear
I wonder at
The melody
And rhyme

Long lay the world in shadowed expectation,
Till God Himself softly stepped into time;
Not crowned with pow’r, nor clothed in celebration,
But veiled in flesh, the Word made light divine.
He came not first with judgment or with glory,
But light to pierce the darkness of our night—
O hear the truth the angels first made known:

The Light has come; now every heart must bow.
The Light has come; now every heart must bow.

Born on sand, and built upon it
We learn to lean on shifting ground
We hold our place through constant effort
Keeping up but never sound

We seek a place that holds our weight
And all the weight our life applies
Our feet sink in but we don’t panic
We trust our skill and inner lies

We brace ourselves against the slide
Call balance strength, call motion free
We name the strain of staying upright
The price of being “truly me”

Each step requires a fresh correction
Each breath a wager we might stand
We grow adept at constant motion
But never learn to trust the land

We scoff at those who kneel for footing
Who stop and test the ground they’re on
To pause feels like a kind of dying
So stillness strikes us as a con

Yet all the while the sand remembers
What we pretend we’ve not been told
No craft can turn a shifting surface
Into a place that truly holds

We build our towers high and frantic,
To prove the desert can be won,
But find at last that tired shadows
Are all we cast against the sun.

For though we master every tremor,
And claim the grace of moving fast,
The earth remains, the sand still settles,
And only what is grounded lasts.

We reach the end of all our striving,
Where effort fails and shadows flee,
To find the Truth we spent a lifetime
Designing ways to never see:

Beneath the drift of our delusions,
Beyond the reach of grain and gust,
There sits a Weight that does not waver,
A Silence we can finally trust.

She’s beautiful
As she smiles that smile
That makes me smile
That special smile
That starts in her eyes and shines like a warm Spring sun
And lightens me
Like a warm summer wind after coming out of a chill
She’s my joy
And she’s beautiful.

She’s beautiful
As she whispers to me
Whispers words just for me
When I’m tired
and worn
And weary at heart
She whispers reminders, “It’s ok”.
“HE knows” “Just keep going”.
She’s my strength
And she’s beautiful.

She’s beautiful
As she dreams
Big dreams, technicolor dreams that live
And carry us away.
Dreams that set fire to my dreams
Dreams that lift us up like the flames
That raise our gondola to heaven
She’s my inspiration
And she’s beautiful.

She’s beautiful
As she loves me
Loves me when I’m hard and cold
Loves me when I’m lost and unloving
And wrapped up in my passions.
A living love she gives me
That gives more than she can afford
Trusting I will give back because
Her love believes the best of me.
She’s my love
And she’s beautiful.

Well, the trees all bowed low
’Neath the weight of the snow
And the cold made the ’leaguered limbs creak
And the wind whipping past
Made them dance like the mast
Of a ship on a storm labored sea.

My Dearest and I
Took refuge inside
To rest in the warmth of the fire.
When she smiled at me
Summer’s hope I could see
And my winter heart melted away

I think of a night,
So many nights past,
That night when we forged
A love that will last.

The roses in bloom,
The bloom in your smile,
Your hand in my hand,
We paused for a while.

The bench made of stone,
The stars overhead,
The vows still unspoken,
But words we both said.

I pictured a life
Of seasons and years,
Of joy and of laughter,
Of comfort through tears.

And there in that garden
Our two paths became one —
Two hearts in the twilight,
Two souls in the sun.

Well the cars, they all slip
As the tires fail to grip
And the drivers white-knuckle their wheels
And the hills, take ’em slow
It’s as bad, don’t you know,
Going up as it is going down

Now the curves—say a prayer,
Ease on through if you dare,
’Cause the ditch is still hungry for more
And the stops—count to ten,
Then count five once again,
Just to make sure you’re stopped on the floor

Out on back country roads
You can creep, you can coast,
Let the snow do whatever it will
But in town, bless your heart,
Every sign wants a start
And your brakes want a say in the deal

I’m in the afternoon of life,
The hottest part of the day,
Morning days have run their course,
And set me on my way.
My path is set before me now,
My labors well begun,
The dreams of youth, though softened now,
Still glimmer in the sun.
The mirror shows a weathered face,
Lines carved by joy and strife,
Each wrinkle tells a tale of grace,
The chapters of my life.
My steps are slower, yet more sure,
I’ve learned to weigh my load,
The heart still dares, though tempered now,
To walk the untrod road.

I remember a time
T’was many times past
When times seemed so long
That now seem so fast
The sun filled the days
with promise and light
And rain played a tune
On the tin roof at night
The grass was so green
The hay smelled so sweet
The apples were crisp
The blackberries a treat!
The stones held their warmth
The creek flowed so cool
And summers forever unshadowed by school

I remember that time,
Now half my time’s passed,
Oh, how I wish those
Old times might still last.
Though Time drives us on
In hurried unrest,
My heart still remains
In summers loved best.

I’ve spent my time on foreign shores
And wandered distant strands.
I’ve swum in seas both salt and sweet
And walked historic sands.

I’ve seen the people bustle by
Intent upon their way.
I’ve heard their thoughts
And shared their dreams
And joined them as they pray.

I’ve spoke the tongue of ancient race
And read their storied past.
I’ve heard the songs of ancient days
Seen relics unsurpassed.

I’ve settled now upon my chair
My children gathered ’round.
And, though my wandering feet have stilled,
My memories won’t be bound.

I tell my children many tales
Of lands so far away.
And though my heart would hold them close,
I hope some day they stray.

And bring me stories new and old
Of places they have seen.
Of people they have spoken to
Of dreams that they have dreamed.

Upon the surface of the lake there lies
A silver glowing sphere that draws my eyes
A light that isn’t really there, I know
As I gaze upon this light below
Just a Moon-image I know to be
Reflections of a light I cannot see
A Sun that shines on other lands than mine
Who’s twice-reflected light becomes my sign
That though twixt He and I there nightly stands
A world of mountains, rivers, rocks and sands
Yet still the day is bright and light is clear
And soon my own sweet dawning will appear

As the leaves start to fall
I sit and recall
All the life and the light we have seen
When the snow turned to mud
And these trees began to bud
And the hills put on their cloaks of green.

When the green turns to gold
And the summer seems old
I remember the joys that have been.
Warm breezes at night
And the fireflies’ light
Dancing soft where the shadows convene.

Now the air grows crisp and clear
Whispers of winter draw near
Yet the heart holds the warmth of the past.
Through the seasons’ grand turn
Love and memories burn
In their glow, every moment will last.

Storm stones pile up a wall
Imprisoning Apollo
Lightnings probe and pry
Seeking His friends
Spearing Hope and Joy
Light fades and I can smell the
Rain is coming

I hear the echoes of her laughter
In the hollows of my heart.
I close my eyes
To see her smile
And just…
Imagine
For a while.

I feel the tears
Trace the place
Her gentle fingers
Felt my face.

I sit by her chair
Wish she was there.
I talk to her memory.

“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio”
Alas, a life ’presented so
Nothing left but grinning bone
And, memories

The hope and help he might have been
To one who has no other friend
Are lost in this unstrengthen’d skull
And, memories

His words are lost in whistling air
His kindly gaze in open stare
His knowledge hollow in the bone
And, memories