Journeyings

Hi, folk! Off to India today. I have left some guidance for Rosie to do the postings I have drafted - but she's not sure where the on switch is let alone anything else! And my draftings will, I find, be posted to the day they were drafted and not, as I had hoped, to the day published.

Pray for me!

ELIAB

That boy! What’s he doing here
Leaving the sheep to the wilderness?

Where’s the kid off to now?
Seeing the king!

What does the lad look like
Happed up in a real man’s armour!

But look now - that youth is off
To play giant-killer!

See him - a young man against
An experienced man of war!

Here, did you see what my brother
Did to Goliath?

What a man!


1 Samuel 17

HIS GLORY

What glory, Lord, was Thine
Before the worlds began:
Ineffable, divine,
Beyond the mind of man.
We bow to Thy divinity,
Both from and to eternity.

What glory has been seen
In Thy descending grace,
Thy lowly mind and mien
That took a bondman's place.
Through Thy down‑stooping Thou didst show
Thy moral glory here below.

Upon the cross of shame
What glory was displayed!
Though haters scorned Thy Name,
Though lovers were dismayed:
When Thou, O Lord, wast crucified
The Son of Man was glorified.

We see Thy glory shine
As at the greatest height:
The Father made it Thine
For Thou art His delight
And now the Spirit's power is known
Since Thou art on the Father's throne.

What glory Thou dost give
To those Thou hast acquired,
Who in Thee newly live,
And whom Thou hast desired
To be with Thee that they may see
The glory God has given Thee.

ARM

I am plucked
From the swelling sea
Through the long arm
Of His mercy.

I am carried
Through the wilderness
To His own house
By the strong arm
Of His grace.

I am embraced
Into His house
By the warm arm
Of His love.

ONLY JESUS

No one lived as Jesus lived
For He never once demurred
When He knew the Father's will;
Since His joy was to fulfil
All the details of God's word
No one lived as Jesus lived.

No one died as Jesus died
Since, despite the public shame,
He was shown to be God's Son;
And because His work was done
While He glorified God's name
No one died as Jesus died.

No one rose as Jesus rose
Since the glory of God's might
Brought Him scatheless from the grave;
Since He came with power to save
And emerged through His own right
No one rose as Jesus rose.

No one saves as Jesus saves,
For eternity and time,
To the uttermost extent;
Since in graciousness He went
To atone for every crime
No one saves as Jesus saves.

No one loves as Jesus loves
For He laid down His own life,
And He shed His blood for me;
Since He would not go out free
For His Master, children, wife
No one loves as Jesus loves.

HOUSE

In the Father’s house
All in normal, and nothing
Is ordinary.

INAUGURATION

He took the loaf ‑ an object which He found
Conveniently for His desire and time;
And made its emblematic truth resound ‑
The banal, at His hand, became sublime.

He took the cup ‑ an object which He found,
Ready to hand, in a convenient place.
His touch made its symbolic truth redound
In praise that answers God's majestic grace

ORBITS

I am no wandering star
Headlong moving with levity
To destruction.

But I can move in a vast
Elliptical orbit - glowing when near the Sun, cold
When a distant comet
At the fringe of attraction.

Help me, my Sun,
To be a planet ideally
Circling, heat, light, and attraction
At their optimum - where love
Have placed me.