Rod's Wildside Photography and Poetry

There’s been many a time at communion

That I’ve gazed at the bread and the wine.

So often in fact, that often I lack

To comprehend fully the sign

That these elements demonstrate to us,

The story they bring to our mind.

Of why they are used, so often abused,

Yet ignore it ? Yes we’re often  unkind.

I know we are there to remember,

The death of our Saviour, God’s Son.

Yet we get so familiar, it all seems so similar,

That the meaning is beyond us – undone.

It becomes to us second nature,

To receive the cup and the bread.

The fact He was killed, is our mind ever stilled?

No, we forget that He ever was dead.

I’m aware of my sin, there’s enough of it,

I’m reminded of it each time I pray.

It’s there in the Book, each time that I look,

That fact will I think, ever stay.

Yet the same book speaks of forgiveness,

That the price of sin has been met.

No more do I owe, I can now let it go,

For God has said He’ll forget.

 I gazed into the cup set before me,

Then a question I asked my dear Lord.

“Did you ever stop, to count every drop -

That that out of your body poured?

How many drops does it take Lord?

To wash away all of my sin?

I then felt a tear, as He spoke in my ear,

And such love overwhelmed me within.

I knew all that the Bible said about sin,

And that shedding of blood was required.

But the answer I got, that erased every spot,

Was nothing short of inspired.

I had pictured in my mind a river,

That at the least would be needed to stop

My journey to hell, I knew that so well,

Yet He said...No, just one drop!

One drop of my blood is sufficient,

To erase from your record, your sin.

I said, “That can’t be, I’m so black, you can see,

I’m filthy without, and within.

“Look no longer at what you have done or said.

 This all belongs in the past.

Fix your gaze upon me, as I hang from the tree.

That drop will eternity last.

So whenever the cup and the bread are served,

I can never again feel condemned.

What Christ has done, the victory He’s won,

Through the blood that was not stemmed.

Can I ever forget the word that He spoke?

That forced my doubts to stop.

That one single act, an indisputable fact,

The cleansing that came from one drop.

We went to town last week to do some bits and bobs.

Nothing in particular, although there was one job.

When we had a grandson we saved up our loose cash

And once in a while when there’s enough, to the bank we would dash.

We did the same this Saturday, and as we stood in line

A thought dropped into my head, that there would come a time

When Zach would be quite old enough to know he had a sum

That bit by bit had mounted up and then the time would come

When with his bank book in his hand he could draw some out

He didn’t have to worry, he didn’t have to doubt.

While too young to understand, or even be aware

Resources are building up from those who love and care.

It didn’t depend on what he did, the kind of boy he was

The money was simply there, I have to say, because

His Gran and Granddad love him just the way he is,

He didn’t have to earn it; the fact is it was his.

To do with as he wanted, to spend it in his own way

We wouldn’t dictate just where it went, we wouldn’t have a say.

So we’ll go on saving, until the time is right

And when we hand it over we’ll share in his delight.

This got me kind of thinking how just like life is this?

A truth that stares us in the face, and yet can so easily miss.

That in our name a bank account is there in time of need,

To draw upon, to benefit, if the truth of God we heed.

He says to me in weakness, His strength will make me strong.

When I mess up, do stupid things, do something that is wrong,

For me there is forgiveness, a massive stash of grace,

But I must go and draw it out, if the future I will face.

The Father put a huge sum of credit in sending us His Son 

It seems so sad to waste it, with all that He has done.

When next you go into a bank to draw some money out

Remember all that Fathers done, you never need to doubt.

If in any way you lack, in spirit or in soul

It need not forever stay that way; He wants to make you whole.

You may not realise in Him how rich you really are.

It’s something that’s not measured by size of house or car.

It’s also not dependant on how much is in the bank

As a son or daughter of the King it is how high you rank.

If Father owns the cattle upon a thousand hills

Then all is at His disposal, and can give it as He wills.

So never think you’re wanting, or a need that goes unmet

These weather poems were featured on BBC Guernsey Guidelines during December 2009

It’s in every conversation that we seem to have each day

We have to comment on it no matter what we say

There are sayings all about it, we blame it for our ills.

Sometimes it makes us boiling hot and other times it chills

But the British are famous for it, so we’ll look at it this week

Each day will be quite different – on the weather I will speak.

I’ve kept the best till last I think that you will all agree,

That out of all the features it’s this one we like to see,

Its presence cheers the heart for sure; on our face it puts a smile,

It’s great for sitting out in at least for a short while.

We all feel better for it, when we’ve had a bit of sun,

I’m always saddened by the fact that summer’s come and gone.

Again I see a miracle each time I see this star

Not just for the warmth it gives us but when I consider how far-

It is away from us and yet it’s presence feel

If no sun was ever to shine again the earth would be as cold as steel.

Yes too far away and we would freeze, too close and we would fry,

Yet where it is is so precise way up in the sky.

It isn’t just coincidence the place that it is found

Such measurement is so exact the figures do astound,

It’s so much bigger than the moon, the distance greater too,

Yet when in time just now and then it can be hid from view.

Do you remember the eclipse ‘Twas awesome don’t you think,

Yet greater far the one who made it, I hope you see the link.