Anticipation
Weekly worship
Word and Sacrament
Community response to God
Empowerment
Quest
Righteous justice
Transforming unruly sheep
Father dispatches Good Shepherd
Deliverance
Creator
Inviting us
Come to Him
Receive compassion, teaching, healing
Everlasting
Mount Rushmore National Monument is located in South Dakota’s Black Hills. The sculptured figures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln stand watch.
Behind the cloud the sun is still shining.
This country will not be a good place for any of us to live unless we make it a good place for all of us to live in.
From Lamentations 3:22-24: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,; says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him.'”
Simple acts of faith
Filled with love for man
God pulls at heart strings
Part of Holy plan
Life hungry for hope
Man’s health in decline
Liver in failure
God opens hotline
Future growing dim
Darkness can’t escape
Searching for donor
Life’s faithful landscape
Seeking live donor
Doctors’ preferred choice
Humble man steps up
Quiets hopeless voice
Two lives now at risk
Surgery takes place
Success accomplished
Miracle brings grace
One man’s health restored
Donor’s body mends
Hope’s hunger fulfilled
God’s faith never bends
This poem brings a true story, which is close to my family’s heart. The living donor is my son-in-law, married to my youngest daughter. The two of them will be back home in a few days (about one month since the surgery). Many lives have been changed by this simple, humble act. God’s blessings to all living donors.
There is within human nature an amazing potential for goodness.
A man dies when he refuses to stand up for that which is right. A man dies when he refuses to stand up for justice. A man dies when he refuses to take a stand for which is true.
From Exodus 20:1-3: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before Me.”
Jesus tempted by Satan
Making His choice very clear
Placing Father always first
Walking in trust, without fear
Moses affirming God’s law
Following the Great I Am
Leading Israel to truth
Bearing faith of Abraham
God deserves our attention
Casting away sinful ways
Stepping in footprints of Christ
Hearing treasured Word each day
Always first, focus on God
Needing Christ’s mercy and love
Entering Kingdom’s blessings
Forgiving call from above
From Psalm 100:1-2: “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing.”
Having a contagious, positive attitude toward God does not mean living unrealistically where you tell everybody nice, upbeat things all the time, whether they are true or not.
From Joel 3:16: “The Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.”
Father of the bride
Totaling up wedding bills—
Empty bank account
BLT for lunch
Scratch lettuce and tomato—
Lovin’ my bacon!
Seeing plant’s beauty
Wading into lush ivy
Poisons today’s plans
Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skin, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact.
Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.
Circus shows once filled with excitement to delight
Few spectators now attend circus magic each night
Generation ago, numerous children experienced it all
Now mighty Big Tops have vanished with a huge fall
Sitting in the crowd with a perfect seat
Thrilled to adore another tasty treat
The ringmaster keeps the thrilling show moving along
Audiences soon realize that each act lasts only so long
Three rings keep crowd’s enthusiasm mounting with ease
Here come zany clowns, filled with foolishness to please
Dazzling jugglers and daring acrobats delight
Children dream of being in the circus spotlight
Sitting in the crowd with a perfect seat
Eagerly watching performances so sweet
Lions, tigers, and bears—Oh, what a sight to behold
Bravery shown by animal tamers, awesome and bold
Always pleasing are gigantic elephants from afar
Their majestic presence makes them the stars
Evening’s ultimate act flies high above three circus rings
Trapeze artists dangle with suspense from their swings
Sitting in the crowd with a perfect seat
Looking forward to each astonishing feat
Fewer circus companies still travel the globe
The “Greatest Show on Earth” needed to fold
Audiences once filled the Big Top’s nightly crusade
Now dying out, precious memories stumble and fade
New generation of young children shall never wonder
How circus night brought applause as loud as thunder
Sitting in the crowd with a perfect seat
Recalling circus images that will repeat
Often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.
Big Sky Buckeye 