Midnight Storms

The sound of the rain beating down upon the earth jolted him awake. Storms are frequent in this part of the country, but not like this. There was something powerful behind this rain storm. Jumping out of bed, he ran over to the window, tripping over the mound of clothes strategically placed around the room. Pulling back the curtain, he strained his eyes to see through the dark. It looked like he was underwater. Never before had he seen rain fall with such power and fury as to completely reduce visibility to nothing. A flash of lightning lit up the night sky, at least what he could see of it anyway, followed quickly by a loud clap of thunder which forced him to cower in fear.


“Man this is some storm,” he thought to himself, trying to shake the sleep off. In a moment of dread he realized he had left his car windows down last night. Without stopping to change out of his sleeping attire, he bolted down the stairs and quickly opened the door. What greeted him next was a sight that won’t soon forget.

Down the street floated what looked like a neighbors deck on it which stood a small jazz band playing the old Louie Armstrong tune ‘What a Wonderful World.’ Dazed, and apparently confused, he took a few steps towards them, drawn in by the peaceful music. It reminded him of his last vacation, a cruise to the Bahamas’. Ah yes, the cool white sand felt luxurious as he strolled across the beach. The crystal clear blue water teemed with animal life captured his attention as he waded in the warm tropical water. A refreshing breeze blew from the east, bringing with it the aroma of the tropical paradise. Certainly he wished he could stay forever.

Taking a few steps closer to the floating band, he found his surroundings drastically changed. No longer was he on his street, he was now on a ship, looking over the edge of the boat, staring into the crystal clear blue waters. What he saw next was utterly disturbing, but incredibly intriguing as well. A giant shark cruised the side of the boat, as if to warn the passengers of the previously mentioned boat that he owned the waters. The shark was massive. It must have easily measured 18 feet in length and seemingly half that in width. Could this be? Might this be? Was his lifelong dream of seeing a Great White Shark coming to fruition? His heart raced as he watched this magnificent creature glide effortlessly through the water.

Suddenly, his elation turned to terror as two crew members cried out, “there he is! There’s the one who is responsible for this calamity brought upon us. Toss him overboard!” Suddenly, he felt the hands of many people grab him from behind. He strained his neck to catch a glimpse of his captors, but their faces escaped his sight as fell to the water and meet his dream face to face.

The force of him meeting the water caused a brief loss in consciousness... Or was he dead? He wasn’t quite sure. Had the Great white shark got the best of him? Was he torn, limb by limb as the shark hungrily devoured his prized feast? He quickly reached for his face, checked his legs, wiggled his fingers, scrunched his toes, yeah, whew, they are all there. Looking around, a bit dazed and apparently confused, he tried to ascertain his current location.

The smell of bacon waffled through the air, with it came the aroma of coffee that seemed to snap him back to attention. Looking around he was sitting in what seemed like a big kitchen, it kind of felt like home. “Are you ready to order now?” questioned the waitress in one of the sweetest country accents he had ever heard. “Why yes ma’am I am. I’ll have a Meat Lovers Omelet with home fries and a sweet tea.” She responded “The food I’ll get for you, your drink, get up and get it yourself.”

He suddenly realized where he was at. Could it really be? Could it really be Home Place Restaurant just around the corner from Deals Gap? He jumped up with excitement and ran out the door, completely forgetting about the breakfast he ordered and jumped on the motorcycle parked in the parking lot. He assumed it was his; after all, there was no one else around. With the excitement of a kid at Christmas, he leaned on the throttle, hardly able to wait to hit the first curve on the Tail of the Dragon. This was one of the dearest places on earth to him. The serenity screamed at him as he rode along the highway, mountains on the left, and a beautiful lake on the right. His palms began to sweat as he made his way up the mountain. Soon he would be engrossed in 318 turns in 11 miles.

“Yes!!” He thought to himself as the first curve appeared ahead. Scanning for hazards, he drifted to the far right outside part of the lane to set himself up for the curve. Leaning the bike as far to the left as he could, sparks flying, heart pounding, he took the blind left turn, straightening the bike up for a second before leaning all the way over to the right to take the next curve.

His eyes grew large with excitement has he spotted the first switchback. Setting up for the turn, he held his breath as he pushed his motorcycle to the limits. Sparking flying from the highway pegs, engine working hard as he snapped his head around to find his line through the end of the switchback. Excitement turned to sheer horror as his eyes locked on to a huge grizzly bear standing in his line. There was nothing he could do, he was going too fast to swerve, and the oncoming car made the bear look much more appealing.

He drew in a deep breath, closed his eyes, rolled back on the throttle, and said a prayer to the Lord as he aimed directly at the bear.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The loud clap of thunder jolted him out of bed. Dazed, and most certainly confused he peered out the window, straining to see through the sheets of rain pouring down. This was by far the worst rainfall he had ever seen. Suddenly, in a moment of panic, he remembered he left his windows down last night.

Fumbling for the door handle and stumbling down the stairs he bolted out the front door only to be greeted with warm sunshine and a gentle breeze……….

Striving After The Wind

Striving after the Wind


Ever chasing,
But never receiving
Always starting,
But never arriving
Turning the corner,
But never making it around the bend
Always hoping,
But never fulfilled
Always reaching,
But never grasping

It’s like striving after the wind.

The wind blows through,
Where it came from is not quite known,
Where it’s headed is anyone’s guess
You can follow it,
But you’ll never catch it
You can try to stop it,
But you’ll never contain it.


To live without vision
It’s to strive after the wind,
No clear direction to follow,
No purpose to define,
No goals to achieve.

But to chase after the wind seems comfortable,
It appears to be fun,
No bounds to hold you,
No set path to distract you,
No obstacles to delay you…

Striving after the wind,
It comes with a price
Never receiving
Never arriving
Never making it around the bend
Never fulfilled
Never grasping
Always striving

Nothing to Give

Nothing to Give


Nothing to give,
But everything to offer
For only one thing in this world can satisfy.

Riches I have not,
Fame I care not about,
Possessions are meaningless.

“Silver and gold have I not,
But what I do have,
I give freely,
In the name of Jesus…”

I have nothing to give you,
But everything to offer you

The American Dream,
A life of luxury, leisure
I cannot promise
Nor do I pursue
“I count it all as loss
Compared to knowing You”

I have nothing to give to you,
But everything to offer
For the surpassing greatness
Of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.
His loving kindness is better than life itself

I may never be famous,
I may never be rich,
I may never have the nicest house,
The nicest car
But what I do have exceeds it all by far.

I have nothing to give to you,
But everything to offer,
For I have found a great treasure,
The pearl of greatest price
“Silver and gold have I not,
But what I do have, I give to you freely”
His name is Jesus, to whom none can compare.

Alone With My Thoughts

Alone With My Thoughts


I sit alone with my thoughts,
With nothing clamoring for my attention
Solitude,
Peace
Serenity even

I think of times gone by,
Decisions made
Choices avoided
The consequences of them all…

I stroll through the perfect paradise of my memories
From which I can never be expelled

Alone with my thoughts I am free
Free to gaze upon His splendor,
Free to ponder His majesty,
Free to consider His Holiness
Free to be overwhelmed by it all

Alone with my thoughts I am who I wish to be,
Undistracted by the failures that plague my reality.
Here I can dream of all that God has called me to,
The good works he’s set before me to do.

Alone with my thoughts…
Though overwhelmed by the presence of the Spirit
Here to empower
Here to give boldness
Here to break the power of sin

Alone with my thoughts I can deal with things that matter most
My love for my family,
My church,
And yes, maybe even a spouse.

Alone with my thoughts is when I’m most true,
When I’m not hiding my innermost thoughts from all of you.
There’s no wall to hide behind,
No people who can hurt,
It’s just me and my thoughts

It’s good to be alone with my thoughts,
No TV vying for my attention,
No Facebook status’s competing for my consideration,
No songs on the radio to heighten my emotions.
It’s good to be alone with my thoughts,
For here I am in complete control of what I think.

Alone with my thoughts I am free to dream

To dream of the way I wish things could be
To dream of what I hope may be
To dream of what I long for things to be....

The Rebel is A Wall

The Rebel stands alone, though surrounded by throngs of people,
Seeming to stand confident and strong

That’s what people see from the outside anyways.

With the wall comes comfort
     For nothing unwanted can come in.
A sense of security rests behind the wall,
     For behind the wall the Rebel is in complete control.
Peace reigns behind the wall,
    For nothing comes close enough to cause unrest.

That’s what people see from the outside anyways.

The wall, from afar, looks solid and immoveable,
     Impenetrable to the curious eye
          To climb it is too high
               To go around it is too wide
                    The wall seems insurmountable

That’s what people see from the outside anyways.

The Rebel stands alone,
     Yet longs for something more.
The wall they’ve built keeps the people out,
     Yet their heart craves to see what love is all about.
          Letting the people in…
              would mean to trust and risk being hurt yet again.
Questions cloud the Rebels mind
     Fear closes in
          Without the wall, what might the people find?

They long for someone to see what is behind the wall.

The comfort of the wall no longer satisfies,
     A sense of peace and unrest begin to intensify.
As the Rebel stands alone, behind the wall they’ve built,
     Their heart bursts for something more,
          To be a part of something,
               To be loved by someone
Or at least to be noticed by a few.

What will people see now that they are no longer behind the wall?

The Rebel stands alone,surrounded by throngs of people