Introduction

During our journey in life, many events, people and words impact us in many ways, some for good, some for bad. I share some of the poetry I've written not as a work of art nor as an English literature professional but just as thoughts and feelings about what is going on around me. Occasionally something will impact me enough to write a poem about. If I have the time and the right words then a poem is born, if not, the thoughts and feelings go unpenned. Over the past few years, God has been teaching me the importance of the family, the basic building block of society. Children challenges us to see children as God sees them and not as the humanists. The Atom Bomb speaks of the devastating effect of the disintegration of the family unit. Aussie Community goes on to describe how our society is crumbling as a result of the fallout from the Atom Bomb. Even the christian church has been affected by this disintegration. Cliques talks about how many christian circles fail to love in practise and how many a new comer is shut out in the cold. I am certainly not saying I have not been one of those to ignore a visitor! Sometimes the truth is not so stark though until you are on the receiving end of this coldness. Loneliness is dedicated to my precious wife who being in a foreign country has known this even more than I.

Blindness talks about the difficulties of having a family when you are blind. the Equal Opportunity push has often meant that blind people grow up with a false sense of what they really can do or how their blindness affects others around them. I had no idea of how my blindness affected others until I had my own family. We live in a self-centred world where square pegs are forced into round holes even though they don't fit. This poem is an attempt to describe the reality of being blind in a sighted world. When I tell people the things which I can't do, instead of offering help or seeing the reality of the need, they retort that I can do all of these other things. The retort is well-meaning but I'm not in need of help for the things I can do, but do need help with the things I can't.

The lessons God needs to teach us are often hard. This Tree talks about the pain of learning and the desire to be conformed to the image of His Son.

I may often come across as a critical person. Critical talks about God's high standard, the standard which applies to all of us. If I seem critical to you, I'm also critical of myself. The goal of being critical is to keep us all honest about our walk with the Lord. May our lives be challenged to always walk what we talk. We can't be textbook Christians who have a verse for every problem without also having the compassion of Christ and the wisdom of having endured afflictions or trials to moderate and apply the verses to a given situation. Doctrine is so important, but so is the outworking of that doctrine in lives which are shaped by trials and tribulation. Let us always be careful we don't apply a Jesus bandade but rather live the Lord's compassion. Inappropriate Christian Cliche can be very damaging though it maybe given with all good intention.

Christianity by Name goes on to describe another form of textbook Christian, those who like the athenians at Mars Hill who spent their life listening and analysing sermons rather than acting upon them (Acts 17:21). Feel free to share these poems but please do not modify them and please quote the Author.