Rhetorical Question

What would Jesus do? 

 

          Would Jesus be an investment banker? 

 

                   In our decaying world?           

– eab, 2/03              (Please note this was written in Feb. of 2003)

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Horizons

Horizons we see but cannot meet,

Arrive where they were they aren’t at your feet.

Horizons so far, so distant, so grand,

We never quite meet one, try as hard as we can,

Run ever so fast, climb ever so high,

Horizons tease onward, where mountain meets sky.

The horizon I speak of, of course, is the one

Where geographic forms collide with the sun,

When the day star slips behind mineral and bark,

Its swift run, won, and leaves us in dark.

But another horizon exists and calls,

Where the laborious wave decidedly falls,

On the water-worn land of a battered old beach,

Where quartz and univalves mutually bleach.

The man who wanders there is pleased to have found,

An horizon he conquers; where sea meets the ground.

Where the Main laps or lunges at his feet in the sand,

And challenges ever the presence of land.

The horizon here found is attainable, close;

Not an illusion – a tangible coast.

A goal that is reached, a boundary that’s set;

This dry solid earth, this mysterious wet.

And man’s spirit here feels so light and so free,

At the very boundary, The boundary of earth and sea.

           –eab, 6/76

Written with chalk on the blackboard in my office at Christ Church, College, and Academy – a favorite of mine.

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Eliza Edmunds Hewitt – birth, Jun. 28, 1851

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

Refrain

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

2.

Enough for me that Jesus saves,
This ends my fear and doubt;
A I come to Him,
He’ll never cast me out.

3.

My heart is leaning on the Word,
The living Word of God,
Salvation by my Savior’s Name,
Salvation through His blood.

4.

My great Physician heals the sick,
The lost He came to save;
For me His precious blood He shed,
For me His life He gave.

 

Eliza Edmunds Hewitt was born this date, 6/28 1851 at Philadelphia, Penn­syl­van­ia. She was a Presbyterian public school teacher who was very interested in Sunday Schools.

She also wrote  “There Is Sunshine in My Soul Today” “Stepping in the Light” “Will There Be Any Stars?”        “More About Jesus I Would Know”  “When We All Get to Heaven” and “More About Jesus.”  She died Ap­ril 24, 1920, Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia.

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Lust or Love?

Lust is selfish

          and has its roots in satan.

 

                    Love is selfless

                              and has its source in the Savior.

 

            – eab, 6/14/09  

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Talent

Define this thing called talent.

Describe its dimensions please.

Does it come in large and small sizes?

Like holes in Swiss-like cheese.

 

God gives to each man one.

But what if He gave him two?

Or three or half a dozen –

Sorting’s a job to do.

 

What if the talents seem to counter?

If they both cannot be done,

Yet both were given by God –

Both have a right to run. 

          – eab, 6/84 

Penned while pastoring Christ Church – Bible Methodist, Friendsville, TN.

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Philip Doddridge – birth, Jun 26, 1702

“How Gentle God’s Commands”

 

How gentle God’s commands,
How kind His precepts are!
Come, cast your burdens on the Lord,
And trust His constant care.

 

Beneath His watchful eye
His saints securely dwell;
That hand which bears all nature up
Shall guide His children well.

 

Why should this anxious load
Press down your weary mind?
Haste to your Heavenly Father’s throne,
And sweet refreshment find.

 

His goodness stands approved,
Down to the present day;
I’ll drop my burden at His feet,
And bear a song away.

 

Philip Doddridge was born this date, 6/26/1702, in London.  The youngest of twenty (20) children, a Nonconformist, wrote some four hundred (400) Hymns/Gospel Songs.  His book Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul is said to have helped in the conversion of many including the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce.  Doddridge died 10/26/1751 in Portugal.

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No Sorrow

There was no sorrow until there was sin.

 

        When sin ends (end of age)

 

                Sorrow will end for all saints!   

 

                        – eab, 5/30/09

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Running the Race

It’s not the man who starts out first,

To whom the prize must go.

Nor to the one whose clothes are just right,

And his part a nice neat row.

It’s not the one whose list of degrees

Are tacked behind for show.

Nor is it the one who emphatically declares,

“I won’t lose, no, no, no!”                 

          – eab, 6/75

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First Methodist Conference – this date, Jun 25, 1744

Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,
And publish abroad His wonderful Name;
The Name all victorious of Jesus extol,
His kingdom is glorious and rules over all.

The waves of the sea have lift up their voice,
Sore troubled that we in Jesus rejoice;
The floods they are roaring, but Jesus is here;
While we are adoring, He always is near.

When devils engage, the billows arise,
And horribly rage, and threaten the skies:
Their fury shall never our steadfastness shock,
The weakest believer is built on a rock.

God ruleth on high, almighty to save,
And still He is nigh, His presence we have;
The great congregation His triumph shall sing,
Ascribing salvation to Jesus, our King.

“Salvation to God, who sits on the throne!”
Let all cry aloud and honor the Son;
The praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
Fall down on their faces and worship the Lamb.

Then let us adore and give Him His right,
All glory and power, all wisdom and might;
All honor and blessing with angels above,
And thanks never ceasing and infinite love

Today in history, 6/25/1744, the first Methodist conference convened in London.  What better way to note it in verse than to have a Charles Wesley hymn here.

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Got a Gripe?

Don’t gripe –

 

          get a grip on your lip!           

– eab, 6/12/09

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