What is This Picture Worth? (Poem)

Please tell me, Sir, M'am, what is this picture worth?

Summarizing YoU since the day of your birth,

In your basket, what have you amassed?

Only what was done for Christ shall last...

I Wish You Were 'Old' (Poem)

I once was young, and now I am old.

As a child, in the ways of God, I was instructed.

But then, in my middle years, my walk was corrupted.

Now as old, in His ways I am bold!

‘Train up a child in the way he should go,

And from what you teach, he will not depart,

Because the ways of God are in his heart.’

We think that’s from God, but it’s from His foe!

So when our children stray from what they’ve been taught,

At first, before God, we may whine and pout.

Before long, it’s Him we’re tempted to doubt,

When our children, in devilish traps, are caught.

We may wonder, ‘Where in the world did I go wrong?!’

Embarrassed before our family and friends,

We nag and meddle, trying to make amends,

As deeper into darkness, children plunge headlong.

Remember...

This may well be the road YouR parents walked,

As in their light of God’s Word, YoU were raised.

As you grew, the ways of the world, YoU craved.

Thus, it was YouR path that devils then stalked!

Circle of life, comeuppance, reaping what was sowed?

Perhaps, but more likely, something fundamental.

Let’s go back and consider… the quintessential—

Take a peek at Solomon’s proverbial node.

‘Train up a child in the way he should go,

And when he’s old, from it, he’ll not depart.’ ¹

Like me, did you omit this latter part?!

No worry! With this insight, now you know.

So on your holy faith, Christian, tighten your grip!

Know that God’s Word is Truth, and He is faithful,

As with patient endurance, we remain full,

No matter how deep in darkness children may slip!

In those crazy middle years, we ALL go astray!

But good seed, planted in good grounds of childish hearts,

Will sprout, bear fruit that plays its glorifying part,

From what Godly parents taught us ...back in the day.

So in those middle years, be patiently bold!

While not wishing yours or children’s lives away,

In your heart, a silent wish still may pulsate --

My son, my daughter, how I wish... you were 'old.’

But wait! Please, don’t mistake ‘old’ as simply a number.

In His Grace, God patiently waited for you to ‘grow old’,

To enjoy sweet fellowship as you returned to His fold.

To omit growing in wisdom would be a blunder! ²

~o~o~o~

While pondering this poem, ask yourself,

‘Which is true: Aging is distressing, or distress is aging?’

I asked The Lord, “Why ‘…and when they are old?’ ” He led me to Judges chapter 2, especially verse 15. Subsequent generations of Hebrews had not seen God at work, though they were likely well taught by their parents about His past works. But since with us humans, ‘not seeing, is not believing’, these generations strayed, and did evil. Only when they were distressed with the results of their ways, did they (re)turn to The Lord.

Medical science and our experience reveal clear, two-way links between sustained distress and aging -- Distress ages, and aging distresses.³ Thus, an alternative perspective on Proverbs 22:6 might be:

Train up a child in the way he/she should go,

learning to acknowledge God in all his/her ways,

and when he/she is old, distressed and aged

from failing the trials of a life ignoring God,

then and only then [if he/she survives!],

will he/she return to those childhood teachings,

and then… shall NoT depart from them!

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¹ Proverbs 22:6

² According to Proverbs 9:10, wisdom and understanding don’t necessarily come with chronological age.

³ For example, see: Emotional Distress Can Speed Up Cellular Aging

The Whipping Post (Poem)

The Seed God planted in Genesis 3:15,

Became the Root in Isaiah 53:2

I owed a debt that could not be paid.

You paid my debt that on You was laid.

I hear the crack of the cat ‘o nine tails,

As it strikes, it exposes Your entrails.

As each stroke is laid upon Your raw back,

Into Your eyes I look, and know this fact --

These are the stripes that bring to me healing,*

So at Your whipping post, I am kneeling.

I receive great strength as You lose yours.

Thus, You open Heaven’s healing doors.

Once again, Psalm 107 is fulfilled,

God sent You, His Word, so I could be healed.

Ohhhh, such a horrible and bloody scene!

Whipped, though not one law did You contravene.

You, God’s own Son, His sacrificial Lamb.

On You, He opens His full judgment dam!

Hit with this great flood that should have been mine,

Body torn to shreds by that cat ‘o nine.

39 strokes, just one short of death’s blow!

Whipping’s is over. Now, the cross must follow...

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* Isaiah 53:5 and 1 Peter 2:24

If You Were King (Poem)

In earth, exercising mercy, rightness and justice.

Results achieved through His angelic host accomplice.

This declared Terms of Reference (ToR) for Jesus,¹

Shall soon be directly achieved... through us!

Mercy is His Grace favor, undeserved.

Rightness is what’s right in His sight, reserved.

Justice is His righteous judgments, deserved.

Peering into their sphere, this I observed.

For now, we’re stinging, ‘salty’ reminders of what He calls ‘right’.²

Ahhh, but just you wait! Soon after the ‘Great Tribulation fight’,³

We will be far flung as kings across His vast Kingdom global,

Over regions, nations, cities, towns and areas rural.⁴

During His pending millennial iron rod rule,

Gentile believers will likely be His iron tool,

Projecting His awesome power for global transmutation,

Over all survivors of the awful Great Tribulation.

We, spread over the earth, kings over whom Christ shall be King,

While believer Jews in Jerusalem do their ‘priestly thing’.⁵

So pay close attention as His ToR unfold today,

Because soon, you’ll receive your post-Tribulation world mandate!

Imagine...

You, doing mercy, rightness and justice, iron-handed,

Over post-Tribulation populations, hard-headed.

You, then immortal, governing affairs of mere mortals,

Following the patterns that Jesus to us now models.

Consider this…

As you and I, mortals, now rebel against His rule,

Do you think under your appointment, all will be cool??

Though as an ‘immortal god’ you may appear to them,

Iron rule is only needed where there might be mayhem!

So how to prepare for your millennial appointment,

That from many Scriptures is both pending and apparent? ⁶

Through God’s Word, The Bible, deeply peer and perceive,

How Jesus and Angels their ToR achieve.

Moreover, since a king you were re-born to become,

View your new life as in a ‘practice spectrum’.

‘Exercising mercy, rightness and justice in earth’ is He.

‘Do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with Him’, says He.

Ummm…

Could The Law of Sowing and Reaping extend beyond this life?

If so, follow His advice to minimize your kingdom strife.

After all, when you come into your kingdom that Christ selects,

Isn’t this what you would require... of all your subjects?!

 ~o~

Reader, if you agree with this Bible-based view,

Mentally change the title to, ‘When I AM a King!’

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¹ See Jeremiah 9:24

² ‘You [Christian believers] are the salt of the earth…’ (Matthew 5:13)

³  See Matthew 24 and also What is the Great Tribulation?

⁴ If not appointed as a king over a geographic region (Luke 19:17-19), perhaps some of us may be appointed as officials and administrators under an appointed king, to facilitate and project that king’s rule and power.

⁵ See Exodus 19:6

⁶ See Daniel 12:2-3, Psalm 72, Zechariah 14, Revelation 1:6, 5:10 and chapter 20

⁷ Micah 6:8