Archive for May, 2020


Wilderness Experience

Heaven help me, I just need You.
Somehow this life has gotten so overwhelming
That I can barely keep my head up,
So, I’m reaching out again in my distress
Because I don’t know what else I can do.
It feels like I can’t even pray these days.
I read the scripture in hopes that I can hear You
Even though the words feel like they droop on the page.
I feel like a desert in the summer heat
Without a drop of rain for miles and miles—
Truly a wilderness experience right now.
Still, somehow I am choosing to believe,
As parched as I feel, that You haven’t left me.
This dry patch of lethargy and ennui needs to dissipate.
I know You are faithful in my wanderings.
I’m asking, O Lord, that you bring me back to You again.
Let me hear Your voice, please, Jesus.
Show me, once more, the value of the secret place.
I’ve forgotten how to rest in You,
But You… are still You,
Glorious, high, and exalted above everything,
Especially me and my foolishness.
I choose You again, Lord, over all I feel,
Because You. Are. My. God.

Wait and Hope and Pray

What can you do when all you can do
Is wait and hope and pray?
You wait and hope and pray with all your might,
But sometimes it’s not enough.
Sometimes you hope in vain.
I keep remembering again
This life is just a blink of an eye,
A foreshadowing of eternity
With all the uncounted time stretched out
Just on the other side of death’s door.
So then I wait and hope and pray for Jesus
To step into the equation and somehow transform
Death into eternal life.
Oh Lord, may my loved one walk the path of life.
Have mercy, Father.

Trusting in Your Goodness

As my thoughts meander through the corridors of change,
All I need to know is that you hold me in your hands.
Still I wonder every day how things could be so strange.
With everything I see and feel, I’m looking for your plans,
But I can’t tell from all that comes how things will still work out.
I’ve come to just believe beyond what I can see and feel.
I’m trusting in your goodness, God, and quashing all my doubt
Because of my experiences; I know you are real.
What comes will come and no amount of worry can affect
The outcome of my situation whether good or ill.
Your word says thankful prayer petitions gain your good respect,
So I will lay my heart before you, trusting in you still.
You’ve taught me through the good and bad to lean on holy faith,
So, somehow in this season, I intend to do the same.
Though I can’t know what’s coming, I still know that I can wait
As I’m planting my feet firmly on the Rock that is your name.

Word of God

Stepping stones sit firm beneath my feet—
Your words of grace and wisdom in my ear.
The bread of life protects me from defeat—
The priceless, living word I long to hear.
I can’t get enough sustaining peace…
Without the scriptures, I cannot be whole.
Keep me hungry; help me to increase,
So I may find completeness in my soul.
You say man can’t live on bread alone.
Lord God, fill me up with all your words
Until I overflow before your throne
With mercy, grace, and truth like all the birds
Who sing your praises loudly all day long.
I will proclaim your faithful word is strong.

Prayer for Renewal

You beckon me, again, to come
Into your presence, Lord.
You call me out of my heart’s slump.
You’re speaking to my core.
I hear your whispering voice
Beneath the cacophonic noise.

But I’ve forgotten how to move.
I feel so frozen still.
I sense you call me to improve;
Please mold me to your will.
I’m nothing without you
To come and change me through and through.

I’m very tired of feeling numb.
Life seems so tasteless now.
I really want to overcome,
But I just don’t know how.
Somehow that I can’t see
Please, Lord, set my spirit free.

Out into Sunlight

Determination creeps up on me and pounces
Like a lion snatching its prey from the jaws of indifference.
Till now I have simply existed—
Wandering from day to day with some bewilderment,
Wondering if my days held any real substance.
It’s a terrible state to be in.
That tepid, tasteless miasma blankets everything
Until I can’t tell what the point is:
Wake, eat, work, eat, function minimally, sleep, begin again.
Somehow, though, I sense I am coming out into sunlight.
My mind feels sharper.
My eyes seem clearer.
My ears are more finely tuned to hear Your voice.
Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening.

Love (for John)

I find myself thinking of you a lot, and I do mean A LOT.
You are on my mind a goodly portion of Every. Single. Day.
How you look, things you say,
The affectionate way you… surround me…
Like the shoulder rubs in the mornings,
Or the frequent, extended hugs in the evenings.
It’s so very odd in one sense.
It doesn’t have the same euphoric feel of being “in love,”
Yet I could easily call it that and be accurate.
All these years since we met and I’m still happy with you.
Sure there are the goofy little things,
But I love being your audience when you play guitar.
I love the heart of gold that motivates you to preach the gospel.
I love the way you play with your beard,
Stare into my eyes and smile at me.
I just plain and simply love you.
I couldn’t imagine life without you, Love.