Copyright©
	All poems are ©copyrighted and registered at the Library of Congress. Feel free to contact me if you want to use one of the poems and God bless you in your labor of love.

For Prayer

Subscribe To receive a daily poem or short story.

Saving the Pieces

It was such a loud noise it made When it came crashing down And broken in sunder to tiny parts When pieces went all around So scattered it was to surely no hope Of putting it together again Was there one that could help to save The heart that seemed without mend I’ll gather the pieces in my hand And search quietly ‘til I can find Someone who knows how this is done To make one these pieces of mine Life is now more precious to me Since I first began in this walk To find what love really is To know it’s more than just talk Oh where can I find the mender of hearts Who I’ll know is my friend And put it all together again To Him my love I will send I’ll find it in the Blood of the Lamb Wherein I’ll place all these parts And know He’ll take care of it all To remold this broken heart No one else is able to do The job the way that He can Bring hope and joy back to my life And give peace to a fallen man I’ll thank Him now for work well done And wait ‘til He shall return My new heart that is made just for me With all these things I have learned

Say It Again

As the day was approaching I thought how different it was going to be this year. I tried to figure out you celebrated Mother’s Day without her. I knew how much it had meant having her in my life, and the many unspoken things she had done for us while we were growing up. How there was always just enough of everything; even though I often thought someone was doing without. Daddy had often said she had a way of saying,“ I love you “ that took care of a mountain of problems and complaints. You knew she meant, her life proved it. Though it was sad, in a way leaving this life was her reward from God for all the love she had shown in this life. I realized she would always be here, because of the memories she left behind. When you would tell her “ I love you “ she would reply, “say it again” like it was reward enough for all she had done for us. She would shake her head and give a peaceful sigh. It seemed to be her Mother’s Day no matter what time of the year we told her. More important than any card, flowers, or other gift we could ever give her. And yes even now when I say it again, I know I mean it Mother…….I…Love…You

Saying Good-bye

We were sitting around the pastor’s house trying to decide whether to wait until morning to return to Tennessee or try to head back. When we came out of church that Sunday night the snow was falling fairly steady and home was about eight hours away. I was tired from preaching a three-day revival and the children were all restless. The telephone rang and the pastor’s wife answered and said it was my brother calling to see if we had left yet. It’s hard to explain the feeling I had when he told me they had rushed our father to the hospital, and he had passed away from a massive heart attack. He had been sick for the last two years, but I had kind of thought everything would be fine. His seventy-second birthday was in two months in April. The two-hour drive to Fayetteville was somber; it gave me a little time to think back on the events of that afternoon. We had decided to drive down to my parents after the Sunday morning service. It would give the girls time with their memaw and papaw. They got to visit with them four or five times a year, usually around holidays. It had been a good day and everybody just kind of drifted outside to play. I found myself sitting beside my father on the couch, while we talked about our lives over the years. I leaned over and laid my head on his chest. He told me he wished he had been a better father and I replied I wished I had been a better son as we swapped tears and a hug. The I love yous were icing on the cake of a very peaceful feeling. Thinking about it all, I thanked God for what had happened that afternoon. Remember, we never know when it’s the last time we’ll talk to someone. This is a true story that happened on February 3, 1978.

Sea of Forgetfulness

Oh a sight of beauty I saw Tho in a vision, yet so real The sea was of crystal, clear as glass It’s waters flowing, yet stood calmly still As I stood still in time to view The wonder of this scene To gather all within my mind It grew to life serene As angels walked up to the sea With buckets of crimson red And words written on both sides By my thoughts to the sea I was led I walked upon a road of clouds To gaze upon this sea Was all I could anticipate As clear as clear can be Each bucket poured into the sea Was darkness black as night Yet when poured into the sea Disappeared into crystal light As now the words that I could read Upon the buckets crimson red Was the name of one born again And the other forgiven sins what it said So now I know that all my past My sins are put to rest The angels took in the Blood of the Lamb Thrown in the Sea of Forgetfulness

Search the Land

Go forth; go forth the word is now To tell it all you heard Carry it swiftly with the wind As on the wings of a bird Shout it, shout it need to say Of what the Father has done For each and every man on earth He sent His blessed Son Down the street across the bridge To places wide and far From dawn of day and setting sun Continue beneath a star Search the land for those who need From their sin to save Tell of the Blood shed on a Cross When to us His life He gave

Search Until I Find

Why would I feel this thing would pass? When all seems against that end On any chosen side I now look There is no help for me lend Perhaps this thing will always be And bear me down ‘til I die Though’ the world around still stands I can’t find a room to cry Surely, surely there is life at it’s best To be found I’ll continue my trip And yes I found a way to my hope When I boarded “The Old Gospel Ship” It wasn’t in the places I searched ‘Til I looked inside my own heart For the right way was to look up to Him And freely His love did impart And now is the time to look at those days Before fear was taken from me For I know He’s standing with life With the Blood shed on Calvary

Seeing Our Shadow

Just what do you think you’re doing I said Following so close to me Maybe I’ll just change your shape And you won’t look back to see I often wonder why you’re behind And then you’re sometimes ahead But if I don’t like the path you take I’ll change the place I am led Oh silly shadow you’re not in charge I’ll go wherever I want And when I decide to change my way I’ll go even if you don’t Even in the darkness of night I know you’re hiding from me For I see you when I pass through the light Will you ever let me go free? For all our ways are written down Of things we have done here below And when we stand to face our life It’s just like seeing our shadow

Seeing Time

Years had passed since first it was I found you in my view It came as the rising of the sun Like seeing the morning dew Staying on when time had passed Beyond what I should know More than a fleeting memory It still remained to show Even now as you have grown And things around us change Looking at your life until now Is like watching time arrange So going now to once again That moment alone was mine From then to now your life unfold Is just like seeing time

Seek to Do Your Will

I will accept this I said For surely is good for me When those around don’t understand I know this thing must be In your steps I gladly follow To face life’s setting sun Onward in this thing you give Til life’s work is done For once upon your knees you prayed In a garden left alone To accept from your Father above Your life from you had gone So in this place I find the same Within my heart to fill For others save the life you gave I seek to do your will

Senseless Poem

I’ll be down if you come up We can walk a crooked mile We’ll talk about silence is golden And frown a pretty smile Round the square table we’ll sit Singing Home, Home on the Range Nothing like this will happen again So why should you think it strange Been a brick in a house of wood Rain on a sunny day Just write me your story Tell me what made me this way We’ll laugh at life and cry at a joke In a place that won’t take our money Where rivers of ice make us warm And dark clouds make the sky sunny Well I see it’s time to go I’m glad this poem’s about over Nothing is worse than a senseless poem Than finding a one leaf clover

Shared Dream

There was a dream I had I thought was mine alone It came upon my soul one night To its life my heart hold on Was not a dream to slip away Or casually dismiss To push aside as another thought As though it didn’t exist Into this dream my all I gave ‘Til I would know was true What lay ahead to just believe And share a dream with you I saw to stand upon a cloud And look across what’s new For heavens and earth had passed away As the parting of the morning dew With untold numbers washed pure white Stood before the Great I Am To proclaim eternal life Through the Blood of the precious Lamb But once I told this dream of mine To share it with a friend I found that others dreamed this dream Was a number without end Receiving now this dream as truth Was much more than it seems For the gospel that I heard about Was now more than a dream

She Liked Christmas

The child I knew had changed so much It seemed in such a short time Her dreams, her ways, her likes, her mind Had all written new lines Those moments spent together today Were now more precious to me We talked of life and things so good The way it all should be I long once more to talk to her And hope for peace in her heart Tho’ in other places we stay In spirit we never shall part I know when all things are said About this child I knew She’ll stand tall and weather life’s storms These words I know are so true The birth of Christ was a glad day for her She liked a lot that was The songs, the feeling of warmth inside When we talked, she liked Christmas

She Liked Pencils

I wanted to fuss at her every time a pencil disappeared from the classroom, but somehow didn’t quite have the heart. She had that look that made your heart melt, maybe even give her a big hug. How could you say something to her, coming from the poverty stricken home she was born into. Sometimes trying to help a family became a frustrating thing, not just for myself, but for others that tried. I would try to figure it all out and even asked her a couple of times, “What are you doing with all those pencils?.” “I just like pencils,” was her only reply. I would end up just replacing the pencil, whether it was mine or one of the other student’s. I was shocked when I received a call saying she had been hit by a car and killed. I was told a pencil had fallen through a hole in one of her pockets, and when she realized it she ran back into the streets to get it. Her parents asked me to stop by the house, there was something they needed to show me. In her room were broken down dresser drawers, not full of clothes, but letters written on every kind of paper you can think of, including shoe box tops taken from the neighbors trash. It looked like she had written a letter to everyone she had ever met. Her parents who couldn’t read, said she would read the things she wrote about all her friends at school. In one drawer, scattered around, were pencils of all shapes and lengths, many without erasers. Her mother said her friends gave her pencils all the time to write them letters with, and she was always afraid she would run out of something to write with. Though each letter was different in it’s words, they all ended with the same little poem. Words are hard for me to say So here is what I’ll do I’m asking you to be my friend In this letter of love to you Krissi BE A FRIEND TO A CHILD This is not a true story but was written so that we might learn to look on the inside, and go beyond what we see with the naked eye. God bless you and yours.

Short Journey

Though it seems like a long road Life is short and days are precious So compared to that which shall be eternal And understand that only things in Love will remain Love is eternal: Because pain, anger and all things that harm Will pass with this tabernacle of clay The day will dawn into the life that He prepared For those who pass through the Shadow of the Cross Into the Sonlight of His Resurrection So when we understand the shortness of our journey In this place we call life We follow Love as it leads us Through all things we face Connecting us to our Father Who patiently awaits our arrival Then absent from this body We are present with Him

Silent Love

Sometimes when I am near you And sit in silence still It’s not any words I could say Or stories your mind I would fill Never would be that you’d go away To another time or place And not as if you wouldn’t be missed For each moment I’ve learned to embrace So often said silence is golden And this I’ve found is true For when I ponder life’s meaning To secure my thoughts of you I say that hope springs eternal For I know I’ll see you again And from your youth I’ll remind you Of pictures and laughter back when So dear child to know priceless moments Are spoken with nothing to say No matter your life in its glory I’m proud and love you today

Simple Faith

What can a heart hold I asked Was it made for only pain To live a life its own To be broken again and again Sadness, sorrow, like blades of steel Pass quickly in and out But yet the hurt remains the same To bring sanity to doubt Its hands reach out so cautiously With eyes in search of love Was it just a shattered dream To hope in God above Find me, find me, Lord I pray Cries the heart of broken man To create a heart anew That He only can And this alone is required Believe to us He came To bleed and die and rise again And done in Jesus’ name

Simply Said
	It was a story simple told Of a man sent from old Lived to die upon a tree Rose again life for me To all He is the same Salvation came in Jesus' name

Sin's Death

Struggle not with the matters of life That belongs in the hands of Him For He it is that has promised And not for us to keep them It is He and He alone That shall stand when all else fails No nothing in this world can work When our soul across life’s sea sails Down in a place where no one dare In your sorrow too deep overcome But yet he’s there standing with you Till passing to comfort is done And now in honor I praise You For there is no one like thee Who came to the Garden Gethsemane And accepted sin’s death for me

Sing On Ole' Song of Love

Sing on ole song of love ‘Til all your tune is heard For she shall yet pass my heart To the nest as a fledgling bird When entering to that blessed place Where time stands still for truth And brings again those joyous times When we were then in our youth I know the memory shall not fail It has a task to do To bring again what was before That was for me and you It’s not so far at it once was I see it’s light draw near And reviving hope that was once lost For the love I hold so dear I anticipate it’s graceful touch And remembering what it brought The warmth of someone I need In life and not just thought

Soldier Search

I have not seen this thing before How should it arise to face me There is no cause that I know for this I will check my heart now and see Yes now I see that dark spot It must have been hiding quietly Waiting for a time to show up And strike out despitefully Oh this treacherous thing I found Malice against an unsuspecting one Move Holy Spirit in my heart remove Until all your work for God is done Rid my life from things that hide Yes that I might refuse to confess So once again my life is complete You can turn Your Face to me and bless Is good your Spirit can search Anything lacking in my life for you And cleanse until I am whole A soldier of the Cross tried and true

Somedays It's Just Good to Be Alive

Oh yet for all it’s darkness told It holds man in its’ grip As life in troubles shackles then Like a raging sea a ship The sun has ceased to give its’ shine The road came to an end With mounting fear you grip the rope You pray the limb won’t bend Your shadow you no longer see Life is covered in a debt If the end of the tunnel is near You haven’t seen it yet In all the things a life can hold There’s one we know for sure That walks with man willingly A friendship that is pure Oh Lord, oh Lord, what can I say Upon your word we thrive Assurance to know you stand with us Somedays it’s just good to be alive

Someone's Missing at the Table

I walked quietly into the room Where was a table spread And people sitting all around Prepared with the wine and the bread What could this be in my dream Of things that would come to be The Marriage Supper of the Lamb Was what I came to see In all His Glory and Majesty The Lamb was standing there Bidding me come and dine with Him As I saw an empty chair This one thing I felt for sure His Love did beckon me Then behind the Lamb I saw The image of an Old Rugged Tree Oh His Blood He shed for all In this I know He’s able But until your chair is filled Someone’s missing at the table

Something God Wants, You Have

What are we this I ask That One as great as Thee Would look to earth searching for Such a one like me Is this thing we might have Of interest to God above That His Son would live, die and rise To show us all His Love I have not money, beauty or fame That He should look upon And surely if to speak the truth ‘Tis nothing I have done This word I know would speak And wisdom to you impart Something God wants you have To all men He wants your heart

Something I Needed to Say

Yes I’ve known for all these years These words I know for truth Bound forever in my heart From cradle and into youth Not taken lightly a precious thing In time as I watched you grow Handling carerfully a gift from God To teach these things I know Though failures came and then they went I stood firm in His way To hold your hand and lift you up So in His light you’d stay And with age you are your own As we come to this parting day To say again I love you child Was something I needed to say

Something Touched My Heart

Broken heart just hold on For there is peace to find Joy will come in the morning With words to ease your mind Though despair shall pull your strings And leave no place to touch In all this is hope in Him Though fire surround you much Oh heart look up in time of need For all His Word is true Not just for others to show But all especially for you Come quickly to my heart I pray It seems no time to spare When I cry aloud just now Can I find one to show care And when in darkest hour of night As if my soul would depart I felt a peace flowing in When His Love touched my heart

Sometimes I Want To
	Be complimented Have my hand held Be told I love you Have someone listen Be by myself Cry Laugh at myself Call a friend Be left alone Run away and hide Be included Change my life Scream Scream loud Visit an old home place Walk down a path Sing a song Stay in bed late Try something new Talk to my parents again Thank God Thank God Thank God for Jesus

Son of Our God

If life is hard and times difficult If it seems you can't go on All reason has passed to unsure Child know you're never alone There is no place in life for you That I cannot be found Though tears may fall during the night I'm there when I hear their sound No sickness or pain that man can know No burden to be placed upon I'll stand beside and place within My joy til victory is won Fear not for things that this life May come against to destroy But stand upon my Holy Words Your strength is in My Joy Not life or death or things to come Things past from the road you trod My Love I showed upon a Cross I Am the Son of Your God

Songs I Don't Know the Words To

I hear the song that they sing But yet mean nothing to me Their senseless words rolling on To nowhere that I can see Turn these melodies of man That tell not of God's Love To speak only of earthly things And not those things from above These songs bring nothing into a life That endures the test of time No help in steps of this world Whether in mountain or valley you climb So turn them off and open your heart To the words of what He will do In your soul rather than in those Songs you don't know the words to

Sounds and Smells of My Memory

A time of remembrance brought to my mind By a fragrance from long ago When as a young child of tender years As my memory just started to grow Or maybe a sound of a whistle blow While a train moved along a track A bicycle tire on a gravelly dirt road Would all seem to carry me back I'd love to see those things once again What the years have slowly replaced With family and friends from days gone by As in my mind they are traced I'm glad for sounds of spring in the air The look of fresh fallen snow Lightning bug's glow on a summer's night The colors of autumn's rainbow They're all like a friend in a time of need Like family just stopping to see I'm so glad when they wander by The sounds and smells of my memory

Special Love

Wait, I’ll explain how I feel There’s no need to leave now For days are slipping slowly by And I need to tell you somehow I never said how I feel enough Too often too much to do And put it off to another time How I feel about you Years now have disappeared To a plane called memory So now I’ll be sure this very time To say what you mean to me It’s been a good life that God has gave And I’m glad I spent time with you The place in my heart I have saved And will always remain there too I love you, I love you, I love you I say And hope you know that it’s true And like no other can be said This special love is for you

Stand In His Word
	No more will be said today All is passed to yesterday What could be done is gone away Were things to regret is what I say   Now to do those things for Him Go tell His Word to them Before their light of life is dim Fall downward to a place of grim   So stand, still stand in His Word alone Until all that hopelessness is gone As before His Holy Throne Your soul cast forth its pleading moan
Staring Over
	Why is this burden so heavy I ask? It seems more than I can bear Why, oh why is all I pray While my soul lies hard in despair They say first day of the rest of my life But why does it start this way I prayed and read and trusted in God But I still can’t face this day Should each day be like starting over? Or building my life once again Questions and questions pour into my mind Am I buried this deep in my sin And then as though the breaking of light It all opens up to me The words I read now to appear Clearly for my heart to see For I found the source of the light And was true all I’d been told Starting over each day in the fire Was making my life shine like gold

Storehouse of Hope

I know that you are God And all belongs to you To set our eyes and heart toward And give our lives to you You are the keeper of our soul The beginning and the end None can compare your righteousness And love you freely send So now this prayer I ask of you For all I know and love Friends and family send to them From your storehouse of hope above I know that there is enough To meet the needs of all So send that blessed hope to them As upon your name I call And now I close this prayer for hope To all that you would send For I myself received from you From the storehouse of hope within

Story Once Told
	The words came forth to be said Of things that once were done It happened upon a certain day It’s time and date only one And written down in memories of time Never it’s ending to change Though often repented to disavow Or even its lines rearrange So be careful what your life writes To use the wisdom of old For words that come forth from your lips You can’t change a story once told

Stranger Things Than These

Why, oh why is it this way I said within myself It seems that love and all I know Is sitting on a shelf If I was just a taller man Might be that I could reach The shelf to take the love I have For someone else to teach Or could I find a ladder help And there on I could climb And search the shelf where it lies Would it ease my mind Yet I do know where my hope is In this life is just one place To find all within my Lord A peace that I could trace To find or reach what's on the shelf I only ask Lord please The things that happened in my life Are stranger things than these

Survivor

How should it be said to call by this name Ah, but is strange at the least Perhaps because of this tent wherein my soul remains Remains, yes that is a word to be reckoned with Probably true concerning what is left Those that have gone without memory Truly are better than I For this pain stays while I yet breath Not hidden by eyes that are closed to reality But those that have seen these horrid things Why was there such hate How did it arrive and where did it come from As an angry bear to ravage our lives They came with such fury Without mercy God’s people are cut asunder Where is our deliverance and why did it tarry It did come as an eagle, but woe did it find Ah, sad eyes for those who died Yet the pain continues for us alive And shall as long as memory lives Great is the weight of the things we saw and felt Yet still feel and see Why then such a word to call us survivor.

Sweet Child Jolena

Taken from a petal of rose Such a flower blooming in life Know that I am there for you In all your pain and strife You search for love in strangest of times You look for life unsure And in the end peace can be found For God’s love is always the cure You are loved by many that you don’t know Though you may try to understand It seems your world has changed so When you’re doing the best you can Life has a lot of love for you And you have for it the same But you must reach together with it To lose it would be a shame But I should think the best of you And know of life so mild And call you once again to say You are a very sweet child