Big Sky Buckeye

A writer's journey continues

Monday Memories: Back in Time

Posted on April 14, 2025 by bigskybuckeye

**Walking along the ancient canal towpath fills my mind with thoughts of years ago . . .**

Early morning walk, going back in time

Autumn’s breath creates thoughts, filling with rhyme

Trekking along canal’s ancient pathway

Thoughts caress past moments, plenty to say

Gentle breeze, sending leaves twirling on down

Mind arrives at different time and town

Dreaming . . .

More simple times, without high tech living

Days invite, delightful and forgiving

Riding bareback along this old canal

Looking for trees to climb with school-age pals

Fishing one final time, nearby pond waits

When icy winter comes, change to ice skates

Creepy, storm-filled nights, reading classic prose

Edgar Allen Poe’s words, scary shadows

Looking for literature’s lighter themes

Whitman, Hawthorne, Melville adding to dreams

Quiet evenings filled with family time

Gathered around for radio’s primetime

Crisp, fall afternoon, gridiron titans clash

College football rivals looking to smash

Romance blossoms, courtship takes center stage

Life filling with sweetness, each turning page

Back to reality . . .

Journey runs into closed gate at Rager Road

Turning around, grateful for time borrowed

Looking forward to walking here real soon

Fondest memories, let them sing a tune

**A quiet place for fishing, conversation, and winter ice skating.**

Originally published October, 2020.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer Quote

Posted on April 9, 2025 by bigskybuckeye

If Jesus returns tomorrow, then tomorrow I’ll rest from my labor. But today I have work to do. I must continue the struggle until it’s finished.

From Galatians 6:9: “So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”

German-born Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a Lutheran pastor, theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. Many of his writings express the role of Christianity in mankind’s daily lives. He paid the ultimate price for his activism against the Nazi regime during World War II.

Love Comes Alongside

Posted on March 20, 2025 by bigskybuckeye

**Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com**

In tomorrow’s shadows

Worry waits to jump out

Disappointment crashes in

Filling waves with doubt

Aspirations seem dashed

Sunrise seemingly locked

Yesterday not forgotten

Seeing future blocked

Breath of sorrow surrounds

Hope seen flowing away

Another storm standing tall

Searching through its gray

Dreams no longer brightened

Today’s voyage postponed

Been at this moment before

Feeling self disowned

Freedom shares patient heart

Journey no longer drowned

Faithful love comes alongside

Sailing homeward-bound

Faith’s Risen Place

Posted on March 12, 2025 by bigskybuckeye

From Joel 2:12-13: “Yet even now, says the Lord, return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.”

**Photo by stein egil liland on Pexels.com**

Even in our darkness

Hearing call from God above

Troubled waters’ rising tide

Vanquished by boundless love

Caught in sin’s wilderness

Mourning with daily fasting

Come now, embrace repentance

Trusted peace, long-lasting

Born in sin’s emptiness

Pursuing redemption’s door

God, create one more clean heart

Wandered away, no more

Broken righteous spirit

Escaping evil’s fire pit

Better days waiting ahead

Restored faith now submits

Hope’s journey pursues light

Thirsting for faith’s risen place

Glory waits at Calvary

Witnessed in Savior’s grace

**Photo by Alem Su00e1nchez on Pexels.com**

From Psalm 51:10-11: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your holy spirit from me.”

Randy Pausch Quotes

Posted on March 10, 2025 by bigskybuckeye

**Photo by Israel Garcia on Pexels.com**

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

When we’re connected to others, we become better people. [Both quotes come from Pausch’s “The Last Lecture” given on September 18, 2007.]

Randy Pausch (1960-2008) was an American educator and professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University. His life was cut short by pancreatic cancer, but he persevered to share his final lecture a few months before his death.