GRATEFUL

Grateful for this day born
 Stirred awake to early mor'n
Once cut from a mothers cord
 New bonds shapened - take worldly form

Love Struck - maternal - in early years
 Nourished, protected from uncertain fears
Your hand swept-up each fallen tear


Set afoot away from home
 Heading not your plan - life unfolds
At stake the virtue of my soul
 Cleaved away my flesh from bone

Deep inside - a still small voice is heard
 Righted now by your word
Forsaken not by The One
 Reborn anew unto Your Son

Wide is the Gate
 for those who take
a view kaleidoscope

When beliefs are a plenty
  we forsake The One
Who gave all creation hope

The Secret is not innocent
 deception with malintent 
Such wide paths take a great toll
 Ballast shifts within a pure soul



An Examined Life
 reveals through our strife
whom truly worship do we

In times of duress
 I still must confess
The mess I had made out of me



Our Father does know
 in our hearts what we sow
T'was not He alone whom I sought

Neither did I manifest
 prosperity when times seemed best
Seek of He at present I stopped

I gave Him no mind
 let go of the vine
A spiritual malady
 to pursue only salary
And trample upon
 any thought of religion

Pride exclaimed it was all about me...
 

Yet sorrows seasons
 usurps the unreasoned
reduced to meakness was thee

Then He gathered up
  this black sheep amok
our fruit now fallen and bruised

Made Whole - Yes RESTORED
 Pure Love He Outpours
Thank God for Heavens Good News!

UNITED

Windows - Water - Time

I watched and wondered before
~ a window's slice of time
to adventures beyond that seen
~ embrace what could be mine

because reflection felt unclean
~ a certain present, i had not
idealized a future dream
~ fortune, acclaim i sought

I leaned deeper into the sill
~ inner voice a murmur
unwanted thoughts anew grew ill
~ fogging vision further

Along creek beds skipping stones
~ slow waters crystal clear
The quite stirs - unsettles rocks
~ view clouded now through tears

Currents push memories along
~ like the leaves submerge in shallows
Patiently await vision from God
~ whom alone I seek to follow

His narrow path toward us does bend
~ when eyes and thoughts held tall
His creation peace and grace does lend
~ when upon our knees we fall...

i know not of
 my earthly father's mind
or why his faith life
 had worn blind
heart broken by years of strife
 he knew not The Way - The Truth - The Life

a village named Depok
  journey began
weaving three continents
 across which he spanned

fifth of nine kids
 amidst 2nd world war
fire fights - unspoken battles
 violence de jour

prison camp survivor
 living hell on earth
savaged by warriors
 devalued human worth

by 19 - a dad to three
 fugitive in Freisland
an Indonesian escapee
 
here a new love
 thought he had found
two families and now four children
 young lives came unwound 

geographic relocation
  opposed two distant shores
sons and daughters now separate
 through healing - restored

Hoboken, yup, Jersey
 Mitch_Again next - he'd not stop
settled down in west oakland
 wasn't much yet a lot!

a trained electrician, thanks Dutch PT and T
 doggedly earn a hi-tech Double E
in oTown shipyards
 earn'n dollahs - scrubbing floors
language barriers he'd break down
 ambition held back never more

lifting cable, back broken
 slowed by pain - surgeons knife
in EPA a belly grows
  in '62 - i'm alive

American Dream on Susan Way
  1226 targeted acquire
suburban bliss - so it seemed
 achieved a long held desire

a New Year Baby
  dad served as the consummate host
upwardly mobile design engineer
 outward expressions?  a frequent toast!
Lincoln Conti with back doors suicide - so he'd boast
mink coats and live band parties
 impressed we least the most
 
unmet needs and wounds unhealed
 toll began from him to take
a BRAND NEW house in Orchard City
 start fresh AGAIN were forced to make


dad finally tipped his hand
 summer's end of 72
introduced us two youngest sons
  of daughters he'd long knew

he loved us all that summer whence
 his heart shown nearly full bloom
A decade later his eldest son commenced
 from LA to our living room

Fenian Drive unlike HIS rainbows
  a promise never delivered
but you reconciled each one of us
 a courageous act by a true father figure

twenty plus two years since we last saw eye to eye
 i pray palms turned to heavens sky
my entire family you'll meet 
 
kids, grand - great - and greater
 born unto and through you
  itself a miraculous feat


And that each one of us
 fruit of the vine
HEAR the WORD and SEE the LIGHT
 written down behind each line
Let each of us worship fully
 our Father God devine


Dedicated to:

Willem Edward Jonathans 

01.01.29 Depok Indonesia to 05.24.89 Malaga, Portugal

Genuine Love

My sights are set
- I've taken aim
My heart is pure
- I'm in Your Word

But yes again - I've fallen short

Your Grace reclaims - my life once more

We overcome when temptation met
- through a Risen Son for a world unkempt
His likeness in - we all must grow
- Enduring life for those He knows

A genuine love - Holy and Pure

Undeserved Grace -  my Soul Restored

Heads lift up - let Christ proclaim
- our life through death - we'll rise again
As we sing out - rejoicing praise
- He is The Way - The Truth - The Life

By You today  - Identify

He is the Way - The Truth - The Life

TOWARD YOU

Dawn awakens
 Grey skies part
I seek a path
 Unto Your heart

Set upon a path to find
 Surrender from a labyrinth mind
Quieted now I strive to hear
 Your truth and will as I draw near

Toward You as my center
  No longer lost
Oriented now
  By the sight of Your cross

As my journey turns and I twist away
 By faith and grace God's work displayed
Certain only for this day
 Lead me in each step today
Let me hear You Lord - dare I pray
 
A lone carpenter's saw
  cuts my sin of past
A door now heard - suddenly open
 Through it I walk - at long last

Foot steps paced - now open stride
 heart beat pounds
His arms held wide
  In His Glory we'll reside

Let your LOVE for those un-known
 though our live's NOW be shown
Moved us from chaos toward content
 All shining jewels before Your throne


 - Composed at The Stone Labyrinth Walk, 1st Congressional Church San Jose

THE SOCIAL NET's WORTH

... am I Checking-in or Checking-out?

I am NOT an avatar

I am NOT a job title

I am neither the words you WANT to hear

... nor am I a _Profile Status_.

Who am I?
Possibly, at this moment

I am a mirror poised to reflect each of us

I've been that iDad...

way too plugged-in

STILL searching for _An App4that_

So immersed with capturing iPleasures

that i'd managed to screen out the lives around me

AN IMAGING PROFESSIONAL

so willing to impress others by focusing my lens on you

that i'd abandoned an entire family

So NOW my prayer is to become like THAT Man

Sweeping EACH child up into His arms so...

... THUM - THUMP - THUMP - THUMP...

they would know A heart reverberates with pure love

passion, contentment and commitment

I am NOT a TO DO List

Nor a HONEY DO list

... i'm no A-Lister

I am neither UnEMPLOYED - Self/iEMPLOYED nor UnderEMPLOYED

I am not a 2010 Census figure or a Neilsen Demographic

Not a Boomer or a GenX'r or an xBox'r

Nor a Targeted Mass Consumer

While I am NOT who I was... 

AM I WHO I SHOULD BE?

... but what is Good?

- to do justice

- to love kindness

- and to walk humbly with Your God

I Pray we may each perpetuate His Truth

a fellowship acknowledging that our LIVES and SALVATION

we owe to Christ.

Host Celebration

An immigrant son
born to this Christian nation
... a journey pre-destined - Your will my intention.

Borders unbounded
through truth and wisdom
when missions align
to expand the Kingdom
... gratefully accept His grace and salvation.

Set upon this earthly path
- temptations
- complications
... overcomers opposed to His wrath

--

Affect in brokenness
no greater than Cause
... a season beholden we must simply pause

Our time here
... so brief  - know only by You 

I worship through prose
and lay before you the fruit of our life
Crowns for your Glory
Deserving our best
I deliver His Story
... from a most favored guest