A PREACHER I WAS

1967 Graduation

I have preached a lot of sermons in my life.

I am seventy and I am entitled to be reflective.

I grew up in a family that attended church in an era when attendance meant Sunday mornings and evenings. Such churches are hard to find today. Not that I want to find one. I can remember as a preacher with 23 years of making and delivering sermons under my belt, the silent squeal of pleasure when the elders first and then the congregation approved the end of regular Sunday evening services.

As a boy and youth I had heard some effective preachers. Their fluency and colorful story telling and insightful examination of scripture inspired me.

MISSIONS FEST 2013 - A MINI REUNION & MUCH MORE

This is the logo of Mission Fest, recognizably registered and used here simply to draw attention to a remarkable gathering of Christian agencies, service organizations, schools, camps and missions both local and international.
Each year a three-day conference is held under this name here in Vancouver and in other major cities across Canada. Informative programs, seminars and exhibits interest, enlighten, and recruit thousands of people because there is something for every age group.

HEAVY-EYED CONUNDRUM

What prompts one’s unconscious mind in the middle of a dream as a race starter to say inaudibly,  “On your mark, get set,” and then shouts as loud as he can, “Go!”

From the person next to me in bed came a most exasperated “Good Grief.” The start of the race had roused me too, so I got up and went, downstairs, and I’m writing about it now.  I’ll learn what my bed partner truly thinks in the morning. It might be a long night.  

LOOKING FORWARD AT YEAR'S END

LOOKING FORWARD AT YEAR’S END

At precisely the stroke of twelve last night,

My birth year came to a progressive end.

Seven decades furnished to me to tend.

I reflect on them with grateful delight.

I crowded this gift of years with child’s

Play, aspiring art and a loving wife,

Came children, studies, work, a selfless life

Lived in service to others and God smiled.

Sounds immodest perhaps, I speak of call

From God to whom I’ve been obedient.

No option when seeing the greater gift

Of Jesus who by dying gave it all.

Here I am Jan 1 conscious I’ve been sent,

Years to invest and then divine uplift.

(Although I prefer free verse, I like the occasional challenge traditonal poetry. Here is a poem styled after the Scottish sonnet, with rhyming pattern of ABBA,ABBA, CDE,CDE and with ten syllables to each line)