Come Homewood Come

Unto the mount I come
Bearing Olive branches for the Son.

Cast aside the earthly mirth
Sin has lost it's power
Enter in this new birth
Come! This the appointed hour!

Unto the Mount I retreat
Bearing aroma of pines sweet.

Proclaim today a joyful feast!
Join the Angelic host in song
Into the abyss falls the beast
Come! To clouds of witnesses strong!

Unto the Mount I bow low.
Kissing wounds with Myrtle boughs.

Repentance is granted today
The chains fall from thee
Quickly now! Ascend the Upper Way!
Come! The dawn breaks upon eternity.

Unto the Mount His Word bids me arise.
Come! See eternity swaying under palm strewn skies.

Why Walk Ye

by John Clare

Whose eyes were those that came this way?
In shadows slant what creatures crept?
Where goes this path at close of day?
Why walk ye as others slept?

Where lurks the dew drenched denizens?
A shiver awaiting days warming light.
Twisting, turning, the never focused lens.
Why walk ye through blur of night?

On bent knee in worshipful dawning,
Images begin the flow of blending.
To the infant sliver of light drawn.
Why walk ye this path never ending?

From edges of bogs comes the dawn,
To my feeble, sinking side so near.
Eyes upon thousand eyes all alone.
Why drop ye thou single tear?

Here's Your Sign

The Long Walk

Into the Valley

At Glen Falls,Highlands,NC

Jordon's Journey Begins...

Father and Son

Today Jordon begins a new journey. Frankie Powers and I took Allison,his daughter, her son Pearce and Jordon to the Jacksonville International Airport to catch the American Airlines flight to Dallas. Jordon, at 17 is going out to Dallas to live with Allison and Lee and enroll in school. Today Jordon and I spent most of the day going to the Social Security to get his S/S card ordered, to the Vital Statistics to get his birth certificate and to Dr Randolphs to get his immunization record. We had misplaced his S/S and B/C since getting his drivers license, so we had to scramble today. After going by Columbia County Bank to get his school papers notarized, we went by Burger King for his chicken strip #9 meal, then on over to my sisters.
With Melanie still in Germany, not expected home until November 3rd, now with Jordon gone, the house seems all the more lonely and empty tonight. Landon and Amber remain for the time being, until they get housing. When Lee and Allison offered to help Jordon while we were in Highlands for Jessica's wedding, we felt this was a good opportunity for him. Here, since his mother had contracted H1N1 this time last year, Jordon has not done well, dropping out of Virtual School, spending much of his time at home with incentive decreasing daily.
In Dallas, Jordon will be enrolled in what Allison says is an excellent school. He will be able to drive one of their vehicles. He will be able to help Lee with his work as an attorney. He will have the large Dallas market in which to explore opportunities. If he chooses, he can go to Costa Rica this summer on a mission trip with the Highlands Park Methodist Church Youth group.
We never expected to see Jordon leave on short notice, but likewise, we never expected to be in the situation we are in now since last year.
Our prayer is that Jordon will make the move without stress and that he will thrive in his new home. We pray that he will find a direction for his life that will find him in the will of God.

Still Life

Today, as we journey to Highlands, North Carolina for my niece, Jessica Powers wedding on Sunday, I have come to the end of my thirty-three day journey. When I undertook this journey thirty-three days ago, it was for the main purpose of seeking gainful, sustainable employment. As of today, that goal has not been met. We continue to live on faith and dwindling retirement funds. Melanie is in Germany until November 3rd, returning with the promise of a part-time employment with North Florida Surgery Center and a determination to make her Herbalife business prosper.
While the goal was not met, as of yet, there are still hours left in the day, I learned much about myself. One, I am still very, very profoundly weak in the faith and fall quite easily into side paths and snares. Two, I will not again journey in such a way, as if at the end of the journey, there awaits prosperity and ease. It is a journey of faith. It is a journey fraught with trials and tribulations, some joy to be found, as a rare coin dug from the sand.
Today I shall meditate upon the past year, the many times God comforted me in the days I sat beside Melanie in her coma and prayed.
Of the many times I looked out that little upper window in her room to the heavens. Of how daily, the buzzard of life and comfort would fly past the window, telling me, I the Lord, who sent this messenger, continues with you. Of the many people I was able to minister to in their sorrows and despair of having loved ones not make it out of CCU 5. Of that day, lost in the Ocala Forest, nearing empty of gas, crying out, and immediately the buzzard soars past overhead, and around the next corner over a hill, a little one pump gas station.
Of the angels that flew in daily upon the heavenly clouds, sending forth arrows and darts to battle the death angels hovering thick.
Of the turn of the vitals when failing. Of seeing Melanie open her eyes in recognition for the first time. Of seeing her mouth the words in silence, I love you, as Chris Tomlin sang Amazing Grace upon the Ipod in her ear.
November shall come, and we shall be most Thankful for the blessings that has been heaped upon us this past year. If we lose the house, the cars, the bikes, the canoes and kayaks, then it was part of the glorious paring down process, of unencumbering ourselves of the earthly, in preparation for the spiritual bodies we all must soon don.
The journey shall continue until that day. I do hope that you shall come along to keep us company.

Suwannee Stonehenge

About a mile south on the Suwannee from Cone Bridge, an ancient, mysterious civilization existed. Little is known of these people, other than the faces they left carved in the limestone along the banks of the river. How was it possible to sculpt these stoic faces, forever gazing upward into the heavens?
Who did these mysterious sculptures represent? A king and his queen? We shall never know. As the rains return, and the river rises, the limestone faces will submerge to again rule the realm of the underworld. Or, sending their gaze upward before the waters rise, perhaps the mother ship will return and take their king and queen of stone home.

Suwannee Pieta

Star of Bethlehem

H.K. White
Hymn 241

When marshalled on the nightly plain,
The glittering host bestud the sky;
One star alone of all the train,
Can fix the sinner's wandering eye.

Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks,
From every host, from every gem;
But one alone the Saviour speaks,
It is the Star of Bethlehem.

Once on the raging seas I rode,
The storm was loud,--the night was dark,
The ocean yawn'd--and rudely blow'd
The wind that toss'd my floundering bark.

Deep horror then my vitals froze;
Death-struck, I ceased the tide to stem;
When suddenly a star arose,
It was the Star of Bethlehem.

It was my guide, my light, my all,
It bade my dark foreboding cease;
And through the storm and danger's thrall,
It led me to the port of peace.

Now safely moor'd--my perils o'er,
I'll sing, first in night's diadem,
For ever and for evermore,
The Star!--The Star of Bethlehem!

Butterflies and Friends