Visitor of Renown

Visitor of Renown When Jesus shows up Copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo ON, 2019

Page Turner

Seems quite crazy A new life for This freeloader of chance Always sided to the easy route

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No conflict No hard grind No straining over principle.

But some slippery move The other day Got under my skin Sunk really low With that one.

One day strolling a park Noticed a little kid In wheelchair Watching the swings.

Mother ministered tirelessly

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With smiles coming From I don’t know where.

And he glowed Twisted little chap Drinking up the love and sunshine.

I near wept At the seeming unfairness And I able-bodied Up to nothing good.

Plunked onto a bench.

Heard words unprecedented From within: You could be like that

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Loving and thankful Looking for the good Helpful at no small cost Filling the day Right and true.

Here’s what to do.

Call out to me Jesus To take over And clean up I’ll be up to the task Brother.

Walk Into a Miracle

A casual decision to have a little discomfort in the chest checked out. An uncommon sick-call to the workplace. No truck hauling of steel this July

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day. A drive into St.Mary's Hospital from Elmira. A simple examination turned into a barrage of diagnostic tests under the heart specialist's supervision. And surprising, bracing news: "Barry, as I see it, you have three options. We have discovered massive deterioration of vessels in and around the heart. You may go home and die within the next few days. You may accept multiple by-pass surgery and die on the table. You may survive the surgery, but suffer kidney failure."

Within hours he was undergoing the surgery, under the supervision of both kidney and heart specialists. Surprisingly the procedure took half the allotted time. The kidneys were saved. The heart reconstructed.

During his month of hospital stay, and much to his surprise, Barry was visited each day by the kidney doctor or by some appointed substitute.

He didn't think that busy doctors had such time available. His wife and church friends from Elmira Pentecostal Assembly were a frequent encouragement.

But one day, a jarring revelation from the heart surgeon: "Barry the real battle is fought now, and it is one almost all middle -aged men in your situation encounter. Depression. That sucker kills. I must say, and I am not a religious man, that your case has shown several signs of

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supernatural intervention. Now, do battle with this new threat in your mind."

Shortly after the doctor left, my friend experienced some heaviness and tears. Some visiting nurses saw him in this state and could not avoid the tears themselves. He had appeared so upbeat. Sort of a cranky, persistent sense of humour. Not a man at first blush manifesting the meekness and moderation of the believer. All-weather trucker. Baseball coach. Family man.

In the quiet of his room, Barry did business with God. Confessing that he simply would not yield to the depression, come what may. "Father it is now time for you to have your way and do what you want."

He relates that a strange warmth started at the top of his head and went down through the entire body, completely relaxing him. Never before had Barry experienced anything like this. Not the emotional type.

Undeniably he had been visited, and personally comforted.

Last night, approximately six months later, Barry told me this story at Elmira Pentecostal Assembly at the fourteenth annual Sportsman's Dinner and Program. Discussing a miracle in the midst of a crowd of happy men tasting perch, moose, deer, bear, wild boar, rabbit, buffalo and other uncommon culinary delights. There was Barry, front and centre in the team of hosting, cooking, serving men of God.

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I am certain that the life-changing, life-saving impact of this encounter is far from over. "That's my story," he says, "and I'm sticking to it."

To See Thy GloryÂ

To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

He longed not so much to see the sanctuary as to see his God; he looked through the veil of ceremonies to the invisible One. Often had his heart been gladdened by communion with God in the outward ordinances, and for this great blessing he sighs again; as well he might, for it is the weightiest of all earth's sorrows for a Christian man to lose the conscious presence of his covenant God. He remembers and mentions the two attributes which had most impressed themselves upon his mind when he had been rapt in adoration in the holy place; upon these his mind had

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dwelt in the preceding Psalm, and the savour of that contemplation is evidently upon his heart when in the wilderness: these he desires to behold again in the place of his banishment. It is a precious thought that the divine power and glory are not confined in their manifestation to any places or localities; they are to be heard above the roaring of the sea, seen amid the glare of the tempest, felt in the forest and the prairie, and enjoyed wherever there is a heart that longs and thirsts to behold them.

Our misery is that we thirst so little for these sublime things, and so much for the mocking trifles of time and sense. We are in very truth always in a weary land, for this is not our rest; and it is marvellous that believers do not more continuously thirst after their portion far beyond the river where they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; but shall see the face of their God, and his name shall be in their foreheads.

David did not thirst for water or any earthly thing, but only for spiritual manifestations. The sight of God was enough for him, but nothing short of that would content him. How great a friend is he, the very sight of whom is consolation. Oh, my soul, imitate the psalmist, and let all thy desires ascend towards the highest good; longing here to see God, and having no higher joy even for eternity.

(Taken from Psalm 63 in ​Treasury of David ​by Charles Spurgeon)

Cathedral and Sanctuary

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Countless feet have trod these stones

Come here, from the thrall of days

Racked with pain and stifling moil

Seeking but the Saviour’s ways.

Does He live beneath this vault

Good as all the stained glass shows?

Did he brave the worst of men

Blessing, while He took their blows?

Could I trust my parcel small

To this Friend from Galilee

Does He even care at all?

Hear my cries; my burden see?

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Yes, my spirit answers “Yes”

Most trustworthy of all Kings

Pledging e’en to share His throne

Grasping this, my spirit sings.

All outside is blocked a while

Whispers, echoes strangely bless

Touch His robe, the King of Peace

And the King of Righteousness.

http://momentsmidstream.blogspot.ca/2010/10/melchizedek.html

Not Optional It seemed like the cream-puff option

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A trip to my knees

Petitions launched upward

To Someone, Somewhere

While life and duty

Pressed forward and inward

And anger and self-pity

Almost room-mates.

But that Saturday

In the workshop

Knuckles rapped by a slipped wrench

Curses uttered

The “one day off�

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Becoming tiresome.

Then two words

Out of nowhere

“Listen Son”

“Whassat?”

I couldn’t pass them by

Not just foolish imagination

And a strange sense

Of a Presence.

Then it seemed my own thoughts

Had the podium

‘You complain

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Never content

Self-pitying

Blaming many others

Marriage faltering

Job on thin ice

Never a new day

Faced fresh.’

And again, “Listen Son

And we’ll talk some.”

That was the beginning

Workshop turned cathedral

Time that I never calculated

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Turned holy.

And He was there for me and mine

The Glow returning.

And I started

To lift up others.

ZacchaeusÂ

I have scrimped and saved, I have used the law, I am now the richest publican around.

I have pressed for tax, I know each excuse,

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I am quick to confiscate and to impound.

Strictly business, yes, Ranked among the best.

I am proud that I have risen to the top.

Men all know my name, They seek my advice, But I simply cannot make my conscience stop.

I have heard of one Who heals all the sick, And who speaks of Heaven’s blessings for the poor.

He has warned the rich Not to lust for gold,

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Just to lose to thief or death outside the door.

He has called all souls To eternal goals, And to do good neighbour’s deeds to each in need.

He seeks character, This great judge of men, And I sense his righteous standards have me treed.

In his presence now, I’m a little man, Yet I sense he holds out hope I might amend: “Come down now, Zacchaeus, I must sup with you.”

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He is one before whom no one can pretend Now I hear myself Speaking from the heart For the first time I recall in many years: “I will settle all; I will mend the hurts.”

I sense joy and great relief washed in my tears.

I am broken now By the truth of Him Who insists abundant life must start within you.

I’ll become His man, Restore all I can;

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Surely no work grieving Jesus should continue.

PSALM 34: 18 The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.

Painting by William Hole A site addressing dynamics of prayer: https://sites.google.com/site/conversationabove/conversation-prayer

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