Did you like the snow when you were here or
when the harvest moon filled the atmosphere?
What about the summer sea
when you walked in Galilee?
I can see you everywhere I go
in the moon light and the snow
I see you by the summer sea
walking on the water you rescued me.
I dreamed I was flying, the sole purveyor of the spectacular beauty below
with my Eagle eyes I could see exactly where to go
I flew over the spines of breathtaking mountains and white capped oceans vast
Flying up to the High Heavens all the galaxies in my path
while the gold dust of the stars showered me like rain
Photo by Matteo Badini
The way I see the colors
got no good reason to hide.
Where the sky and sea collide
the Sunrise is on the other side.
I will die a wanderer in a foreign land.
Listen to the Living Water calling me home.
That living call bids me Come, for sure
down to the River edge
flowing so rich and pure!
Photo by Baskin Creative Studios
The River Song shall make us glad
when the mountain’s snows melt above.
The swelling waters giving drink below
it’s melody quenching our thirst for love.
The River Song shall lead us homeward bound
where heaven and earth can never meet
Here we shall find His Kindness all around
it’s melody reveals the hope we keep.
So take me down to the River
Take me there where I may also sing
Of the beauty of your Holiness
And worship you as my King.
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:5 NLT
Photo by Jou00e3o Cabral
There are no more people on the boulevard
they have been locked away with paper chains
The humans became a commodity in exchange
the Truth has been lost in the game…
God have mercy on the boulevard
Bring your children home
Do not let these paper chains
bind our hearts stone cold…
Photo by Pixabay
Dreamlike orbs of light float by. I feel removed from afar. I compartmentalize the uncertainty of these times. It lessens the sharp edge of the unknown, of false information, and loss around every corner. This must be similar to wartime trauma, although in many ways no where near it. Yet still there is communal suffering in my world and there is idle time that cannot be healthy. Texas summer heat is unleashed. The sun beats down in all of it’s glory, unrelenting. Dozens of small wisps of clouds seem motionless in the watery blue of the summer sky.
Yet, in this stillness and overwhelming simplicity I know the Presence of God washes over me. Steady and strong, I know I am meant to live in this time. Right now I am alive. The sharp edge of the unknown lessens because of the Power of the name of Jesus. Yes, I am one of those who cling to the Power of the blood shed on His cross and the indescribable power of His Resurrection! Jesus alone!
I am able to live in the present most of the time as it is the gift He gives me. I am comforted by Him. The Alpha and Omega…The One whose name is Faithful and True. Today is what I have.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.” Revelation 1 9:11
Photo by Negative Space
I take up my pen to write again of the love you give to me.
No one else was there in that dark night of despair when I saw how much You had to bleed.
You tenderly wrapped my dead body in your shroud of forgiveness, and sealed it with the balm of your Grace.
Your kindness brought me to repentance, and you held so sweetly my tear streaked face.
People say they have heard it all before, and I hope that they too have seen,
The One who knelt beside me and cried along with me.
The chief of sinners, I was your enemy yet still you died to claim.
I will tell you Jesus loves you and me and by no other name can we be saved.
Photo by John-Mark Smith
The crowds were waiting. The sick, the lame, the blind, the demon possessed were all waiting for Him. The One who they had glimpsed in other crowds on other days healing everyone he touched. Where was He? Those other men were his followers so He must be close by.
Jesus was away at a distance. He could see the crowds below growing larger. Jesus was praying. Jesus was here for a reason but today it was not to go down to that crowd and heal them physically. Jesus was going on to “to other towns” to preach the Gospel. It is not that he did not love and care for the infirm and helpless ones at the bottom of that hill. He did and does care but His primary healing is/was to be done to the souls of the human race. His Gospel is this, Sin kills, Hell is real but God is Merciful and He, Jesus is the Way to Life. Jesus is the passport we need to The Kingdom.
I confess I have often prayed and used Jesus Salvation for me as a means for “life” not to be hard or uncomfortable here on earth. I have prayed for healing for myself and others. I pray every day for a “not hard life” for my children and grandchildren” but that is NOT why Jesus came. Oh do not doubt, Jesus cares for our trials on earth but He cares more that we receive Salvation from our sin and spend eternity in His presence.
Jesus promises those that receive Him will have eternal life and that He will never leave us nor forsake us and as one of my favorite quotes says, “you cannot find the Cross of Jesus on your own. It is Jesus who must lead you there, as if you were a blind person.”
So, I confess I tried to manipulate my relationship with Jesus by asking Him to not let me or those I love suffer but in His Gracious infinite Love and Wisdom He forgives me and says, “now walk with me and tell everyone that Jesus Christ is Risen and the souls of man can be saved forever.”
Mark 1:39
Photo by Ray Bilcliff
As I sit by the ocean and hear it’s deeply powerful roar.
The waves seem so angry and crash on the shore.
Brother against brother like I have not seen before.
My heart cries at the hatred, it is a Civil War.
Everyone is talking but it is just a screaming noise.
Oh God show us mercy for all we’ve destroyed.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1John4:8
John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Photo by Ir Solyanaya
There were many who could accuse her, she knew it was the law.
The very men who used her now want to see her stoned.
She remembers how it started, so hungry and alone.
She rode the tide of shame and commerce, with nowhere else to go.
She heard about the Holy man healing all the sick.
They said he spoke of God’s love for all, even those who have no hope.
So now she stood before Him and prepared herself to die.
He then wrote something in the dirt and gazed up into her eyes
And said, “no man here can accuse you and neither do I.”
Oh the washing of her soul a deluge fell that holy day,
and she followed Him from that time on, He is The Truth, The Life, The Way!
Jill Autrey Dorman 