Had he done it then

After I Samuel 24:1-12 

Had he done it then,

they would have known,

they would have grasped,

they would have accepted

and recognized and

applauded and even

cheered, celebrating

the death of a crazed

king who somehow

justified evil as good.

He could have done it then,

and the world would have

rejoiced. But he refrained;

his purpose was not

to please the world but

to please something else,

someone else.

 

Photograph by Chandan Chaurasia via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Part of a Christian’s Job is to Point Out That Modern Life Stinks – Samuel James at Digital Liberties.

 

Return to Chesterton – Maisie Ward at The Imaginative Conservative.

The First Sunday of Epiphany: Jesus' Baptism -- poem by Malcolm Guite.

Cutting corners

After I Samuel 24:1-12 

He could have had

it all, the kingdom,

the power, the glory,

respect, admiration.

He could have ended

the threat to his life,

the threat ongoing,

right there and

at that moment.

He could have made

a simple thrust, 

a surprise, and

they all knew

the king would do

that in his place.

Instead, he cut

a corner, a corner

of the robe, a cut

that said he could

have killed a king,

but refrained, that

said that, in God’s

time the piece,

the corner becomes

the whole.

 

Photograph by Erol Ahmed via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

A not so exhaustive list of male Christian fiction authors – Mark at Thoughts of a Sojourner.

 

Can you share a lesson from American church history? – Stephen Nichols at Ligonier Ministries.

 

“Mother of God,” poem by William Butler Yeats, and “Magnificat,” poem by Megan Willome – at Poetry for Life.

 

Attentive Parenting in the AI Age – Scott Hurst at Mere Orthodoxy.

He might have

After I Samuel 24:1-12 

He might have ended

the push me – pull you

condition, the constant

fear, the constant

hardship of his life

on the run. The love-hate

hate-love relationship

could have stopped,

could have been

stopped, right there

at that moment, 

the threat removed, 

the fear expelled,

the hardship ended.

He might have done

all that in the darkness

of the cave. Instead, he 

held himself and his men

in check, and acted

in another way, the way

he should have, the way

he knew his God would

honor.

 

Photograph by Mario Álvarez via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

Six Reasons for the Virgin Birth – Mitch Chase at Biblical Theology.

 

Christmas and the Common Birth by Anne Ridler – Malcolm Guite.

 

Ghosts of Christmas: What the Damned Might Say – Greg Morse at Desiring God.

 

Shepherd Feet – Susan Lafferty.

 

My Winter Walks in the City – Spitalfields Life.

The cave

After I Samuel 24:1-12  

In this mouth

of darkness plays

out a drama,

a story of fear,

of opportunity

prevented,

of opportunity

refused. There

in the cave,

the king would

have died. There

in the cave,

a king could

have risen. But

the opportunity

was refused,

confounding human

understanding. But

the man who refused

it knew it was not

his opportunity

to seize.

 

Photograph by Bradley Dunn via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Friday Readings

 

Let the Stable Still Astonish – Leslie Leyland Fields at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

Just a Stay-at-Home Mom – Lara d’Entremont. 

 

Christmas Should Humble Us – Seth Lewis.

 

More Light, Lord – poem by Esther at From the Wildwood.

 

The Word became flesh – poem by Jody Lee Collins.