[u][color=000000]An Ode to Ronnie[/color][/u]

On the precipice of maybe.
Held by a single thread.
Eternity awaiting.
Wishing, longing to know
Just what was said.

Did he come to you Jesus?
Or did You beckon to him?
He longed for The Father
But it was You who ran after him.

Now we are left to ponder
Alll that could have been
A man of compassion
A nature after Him
Yet trapped as the remainder
In this world broken by sin.

Fragments and memories
Are what is left
Time for us
Life for him

Like the eunuch asking
"How can I" and
"What hinders me"
In simplicity the answer
"If you believe"

None that come to You
Do you turn away
The Shepherd searching
For the one gone astray

The thief said
"Remember me"
And You replied
"Today"

A wise person thinks about death
Solomon said.
So let us consider
All that has been said.

For we have been given
This day
This moment
This chance

To forget
And forgive
To be known
As poor reflections
Of Him.

Even so
Let love be our end
And truth our means
Jesus, our only
And His sheep
Ours to tend.

It cannot be denied
Nor escape from Your gaze
We will be called to account
For this Life You have gave

And that Life is Your Son
That all may be saved
But to us it is given
To believe on His Name

Let our brevity be our unction
Death and eternity
Our focus and fact
For tomorrow is promised to no one
It is here that we must act.

The day of salvation is now
A call to repentance
Return to Him all that are His

"That the world may know that You
have sent Me, and loved them as You haved
loved Me." Jesus said

Let settled destiny
Be our never ending task
Of first importance
All else can lack

So to my dear cousin
This ode is to you
The Lord testifying
What it is I need to do

No longer will I fear men
To proclaim The Truth
Your example and your departure
Have altered my perspective
And narrowed my view

I will take of your compassion
And apply it to all
So that one day we too
Can be where you are.

How I know that you now abide
With the Lover of our soul's
Is not for me to decide

Not of wishful thinking
Or sentimental longing
But peace that passes understanding
Was given to my heart and my mind.

And as at the first
It was given to me thus:

"That God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself"

"For He made Him who knew
no sin to be sin for us"

But for all that, the sadness remains
A longing to be where you are
Where there is no longer pain.

I understand better why Jesus wept
At the tomb of His friend
For death is proof that all has gone wrong
No, it was not The Fathers intent.

So we will mourn that we see you no more
But that is only a delay
Like the long awaited vacation
Till we return home on that day

For now my friend we will carry on
Of duty, of giving, of helping
Of sharing and loving most of all

Let your life reminds us of what is True
That if we strip back all of what we are
It is the heart that can shine through.

Mike Balog

_________________
Mike Balog

Thank you my friend.
Thanks for providing an avenue to express my thoughts.
Thank you Lord
For everything.

_________________
Mike Balog

Wow, Mike. How beautifully sincere, and wonderfully encouraging. Thank you so much for baring your heart in this. I know that God used you in his life, and will continue to pray that He'll work through you and use you to accomplish His will.

_________________
Mary M.

Thank you for your kind words :-)

_________________
Mike Balog

THE HOPE OF HIS COMING

There is a balm for every pain,
A medicine for all sorrow;
The eye turned backward to the Cross,
And forward to the morrow.

The morrow of the glory and the psalm,
When He shall come;
The morrow of the harping and the palm,
The welcome home.

Meantime in His beloved hands our ways,
And on His Heart the wandering heart at rest;
And comfort for the weary one who lays
His head upon His Breast.

GERHARD TERSTEEGEN, 1897-1769

_________________
Lars Widerberg

Bless you Lars.

_________________
Mike Balog