Winds of Faith - To Those Who Have Stood The Watch

To Those Who Have Stood The Watch

We move through an unsettled time, where nothing seems decided or settled, but I look forward to Christmas like an oasis in the middle of it all, where all things are settled and peace is. I think of all those in my time who have been forgotten, the piano player who played faithfully through the years till age took her gift from her, the Sunday School teacher who took to heart the preparations of her lessons for those she loved and taught, the bus drivers, who rose early and picked up the kids for Sunday School and counted that as their gift. Thoughts of the many unthanked and unthought of persons who made it all happen down through the years. Those who put their armor on and went out to meet the enemy in the field.

A loathsome poem came to some years back. It’s words mark out a life's path to those who have taken

up their cross and followed him. I have been reluctant to share this poem of some 22 years ago dictated to my spirit by his in a time of great decision in my life. It's words were so loathsome, I asked, “O Lord what do you want me to do with that?” His answer was, “Earn it's words and change the atmosphere with it.”
It is called: Feeden With A Sword
The shadow of the headstone reaches long into the fall
The worldly inheritance that followed him was slim to none at all
The cold still earth envelops him and seems to claim her own
But flesh and blood are all she'll claim for his souls beneath the throne
The armor of this soldier now hangs still upon the cross
A worn-out sword is in it's sheath but once it saved the lost
This circuit-rider’s ministry won’t be marked with that of fame
A simple farmer’s path he trod, called in Jesus’ name
The feeden that he did was not for gain or stock
But came from broken heart within for God's own holy flock
The oxen slain; the harness sold; the yoke in sacrifice now burned
The mantel now set full in place to a soldier's life he turned
They say he lived a farmer's life; poor, weak and dull, and bored
but that’s not how his memory comes, cause he did his feeden with a sword
Tim Sanders 9/6/98

Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on

the housetop.