First, Peter ‑ not only
Or not, first to act
Most often rashly ‑ you
Were selected, the first
Apostle to see Christ
Risen; the first preacher
In the fresh era; the first
Welcome. These are some of the attempts at verse that I have made over the years. I trust that they are to the glory of the Lord Jesus - and that putting them here is to His glory too. I have now posted most that I have written at least once but continue in case a new audience finds new blessing. Occasionally I throw in some other verse. Comment are welcome.
Oh hae ye nae heard o Haman the fause,
When, in the stillness of a summer eve,
Thrilled by sweet sadness of the setting sun,
I sit alone, and penitently grieve
O'er all that I have done, and left undone -
All the sad waste of bygone years recalling,
Good half-achieved, and evil undestroyed,
To Him, who can preserve my feet from falling,
I turn, and He is with me. Overjoyed,
My spirit yearns with longing to behold
His image, who, when tempted, never failed.
The past is pardoned, and His arms enfold
One who was faint, and left the heights unscaled.
Long shadows flit around me; no stars shine,
But all is light within me - He is mine!
May 25 1914 (i.e. when he was 20)
Frank Houghton (1894-1972); Houghton subsequently served as General Director of the China Inland Mission.
I need redemption - where can it be found?
“Through His own blood”: there is no other ground.
I need forgiveness - and I can be led
To know it since the Saviour’s blood was shed.
I need peace here, where sins and conscience toss;
God made peace through the blood of Jesus’ cross.
And reconciliation is required -
God reconciled me since His Son expired.
I wish that sin and flesh in me had died -
It is with Christ that I am crucified.
I need propitiation, and through grace
Christ’s death means God shows a propitious face.
Sinner before the God whom I defied,
By faith in Jesus’ blood I’m justified.
If I am to have part with Christ on high
While I am on this earth the Saviour had to die.
To stand for Him where He has been despised
It is unto His death that I’m baptised.
How great the cross of Christ which overthrew
The wall between the Gentile and the Jew. 14/04/2023
Because the blood of Christ was shed through
grace
Boldly I may approach the holiest place.
No one can draw all to him other than
The One once lifted up, the Son of man.
If the Great Shepherd’s brought from with the dead,
It's since blood of the covenant was shed.
Those under law may know they are set free
Because Christ bore the curse upon the tree. 07/02/2024
How does new life before the Lord begin?
The blood of Jesus cleanses from all sin. 14/02/2024
Delivered from the world, since it’s the tree
By which the world is crucified to me! 26/02/2024
Since at Golgotha Jesus died for all
I judge all dead to God since Adam’s fall.
Thus we know none according to the flesh
But now in a creation that is fresh 01/03/2024
If in my life His life is manifested
It will be when His dying is attested.
What answers to, “This do, remember me”?
The tokens of His giving on the tree.
It's none less than the Lamb that has been slain
That is enthroned, and wakes the saints’ refrain.
All was in love, and we may learn it thus:
The Saviour has laid down His life for us.
The Son God gave, through whom true life begins,
Is the propitiation for our sins. 19/04/2024
The obedience and shed blood of One who died,
Of Jesus Christ, is why we’re sanctified. 26/04/2024
We do not need another offering
Because Christ’s work has answered everything. 04/05/2024
He, by the Spirit, offered to His God
Himself to know and bear God’s judgment rod;
And Jesus spotless offering is why
His precious blood has power to purify. 02/02/2025
Because the Lord has died as the Testator
He lives as the new covenant Mediator. 04/02/2025
Through what appeared to be His weakest hour
Through death, the Lord has broken Satan’s power. 05/02/2025
He has been crowned, and He will reign as king
Because He tasted death for everything. 08/05/2025
By virtue of the blood of One who died
The heavenly things themselves are purified. 02/03/2025
Jesus, rejected in a world of hate
Has shed His blood for us, outwith the gate. 04/03/2025
The privileges of the covenant,
Because His blood was shed, are now extant. 11/03/2025
Without the blood there can be no remission,
Redemption, or our heavenly admission.
A living sinner has no entering;
Christ while on earth could bring no offering;
Nothing could meet the sinner’s situation
Outside of Christ making propitiation.
How blessed for the saints who came before
The death of Christ: God righteously forbore. 11/03/2025
And the shed blood of Jesus Christ is how
God’s righteousness is what is witnessed now.
According to God’s will we’re sanctified
Since as an offering Jesus Christ has died. 21/03/2025
St Margaret was the wife of King Malcolm Canmore |
'Dunces' was the nickname of the followers of the the Scottish philosopher and theologian Duns Scotus. |
Chepman and Myllar set up the first printing press in Scotland. Meriel Tilling, author of The Observers Book of Sewing, one of our neighbours, worked on this panel. |
Waulking songs, the songs of women working on fulling cloth, form a kind of Scottish folk song. |
'To a Mouse' is the name of one of the best-loved poems by Robert Burns, Scotland's national poet. |
My sister was working with the last company whose paper mill closed. She got some ribbing about the companies existing for hundreds of years until she started. |
Scotland has three languages: Gaelic, used in this panel; Scots, used by Robert Burns; and English. I have something in Scots brewing just now. |
Loch Lomond in the distance |
The rocks form The Whangie |