The good news of Christ
A service station attendant was swarmed with last-minute customers on a holiday weekend. He shook his head and said to a preacher who was in the line, “It is funny to me that people always wait until the last minute to prepare for a trip they know they are going to take.”
“I know,” said the preacher, “I have the same problem in my business.”
See Matthew 25.1-13; 1 Thessalonians 4.13-5.11
In the end, there’s only you and me,
For all the love that flowed endlessly
Among my closest friends and family,
Standing on the sands of a timeless sea.
Gifts and gladness filled my days and years,
You gave me strength to overcome my fears,
You taught me through the trials and bitter tears,
With faith that lasts until the darkness clears.
Final words are hard to choose and say,
Knowing there’ll not be another day,
With awe I take the very last step this way,
To live a life beyond this mortal clay.
What yet can be, for all man lost and cried,
A place to rest, where peace and joy abide;
You’ve walked with me, always by my side,
Go with me now to cross the great divide.
Confused the mind when fixed upon earth,
And earthly things turn eyes from heaven.
I’d see, O Lord, your saints abide
In eternal homes, where titles are dead,
And Mammon has lost its mad control,
Where love is pure, and labor is sweet.
What joys must circle our jealous Lord!
What peace surrounds your powerful Head!
Your kingdom at last will come to all,
That day that evil’s cast down to hell,
And righteousness will reign supreme,
The sea no more, in justice’ calm.
With pangs of hunger do beggars ask why,
Or do the sufferers look to the sky?
One man seeks to learn from pain,
Another sees no obvious gain.
The body over time decays,
The aging mind has tricks it plays.
O God, where does existence lead?
And what is man’s most basic need?
Do not our hearts yearn most for you?
Where will we go when life is through?
Lord, still our hearts and wake our minds
To truth in Christ which in freedom binds.
His faithful answers satisfy,
To questions his silence the best reply.
Today, my Father, make me live,
That I might freely serve and give;
Of every moment make me aware,
To deeply breathe the morning air;
Let not an hour of time pass by
That I don’t see the powers on high;
Of weeks and years let me yet dream,
Both present and future, help me redeem;
But, more than seconds on the clock,
Of eternal ages may I take stock.
This life will end, O Lord, when the cloud
Transports the Savior here below;
When the angel blows the trumpet loud,
I want to rise to Him and go Continue reading “For every tear I ever cried”
Your people, rooted in eternity,
Beyond the physical, visible world can see;
By faith we measure walls and streets and gates,
A heavenly gift to lighten earthly weights. Continue reading “Let zeal enlarge our sight”
Our God in heaven, whose name
Is life and love and peace,
Who is eternally same,
Our comfort in death’s release,
Give hope, the surer sign
Of brighter, heavenly things,
Where you gloriously shine,
And the throng of angels sings, Continue reading “Around the heavy bier”
O holy Hope, what else have I
On earth beside this white-hot wait?
This fired desire, with sights set high,
No worldly lure can e’er abate.
In prayer the lips move fevered pleas,
“Lord, come!” We’ll meet you in the air;
I love you more than all of these,
Let angels line the heavenly stair.
Th’ eternal span gives time below
A worth beyond the final fire;
And man, who stumbles to and fro,
To life with God may dare aspire.
I know not on the morrow
What earthly joy or sorrow
May fall to me to bear,
The future, weary or fair.
As long as breath may tarry,
Whatever weight I carry,
No burden can compare
To heaven’s golden square.