(faces of Grace)

Defined

in faces

across the sea

of humanity

in waves of worship

echoing praise

in crest and valley,

in thunder and spray

breaking against

the reef of unbelief

wearing away

the hold

of sin’s sway

with spray

and crashing wave

carrying the stain

of wrong

into the cleansing power

of G-d’s

Sea of Redemption.

jfrancis©

february 29, 2004

(Wisdom)

A mighty shield

hiding

the heart from sorrow,

the mind from folly

and costs

only a life

of knowing and doing

right.

jfrancis©

march 7, 2004

Spiritual blindness

is a dark realm,

a kingdom

of captive hearts

bound by spirit bars

from which many

have fled

but more languish.

Redemption:

an enabling Light

shining through

the muck and mire

of sin’s burdensome hire,

setting hearts free

giving sight for blindness,

proclaiming Good News

for needy souls.

jfrancis:Isaiah:Jesus Christ

march 7, 2004

Only the human spirit

captures beauty

in written words,

as the sun

crashing through

a smoky pallet

of chameleon color

into the horizon’s

exploding canvas

producing heaven’s

foretaste of beauty

reserved for

the elect of earth

and eternity’s

blessed assembly.

jfrancis©

march 14, 2004

did scorn

magnify His death,

for who else has given

a life for ridicule,

blood for evil,

breath for hate,

Love for betrayer?

A world condemned,

not for the above

but for rejecting

sacrifice

by G-d

on the altar

of this world.

jfrancis©

march 14, 2004

The mind sets

among headstones

of ideology

hardened against attack

from perceived enemies.

Only G-d’s Spirit

softens the cement

of worldly cares

entangling our minds

and foot prints.

The Truth

of G-d’s word,

a powerful force

for changing the heart

from hardness

to the passion

of Christ.

jfrancis©

march 21, 2004

Freedom’s Garden

Petals of blue and blood

nourish this acre of sacrifice

where lie the lives given

as sweet fragrance

to the breath of freedom

we breathe daily.

jfrancis©

march 21, 2004

A goat of many colors

flock to his fold

and reflects

the shepherd’s care.

Wildness in the womb

seeks

high and craggy places

where discipline

cannot go.

They devour goodness

and leave a wasteland

where Grace

will not grow.

On Christ’s return

these "sheep"

of perdition

find their place

under His left

and mighty hand.

jfrancis©

march 25, 2004

Silent stones

of quarried birth

meditate of Mary

and her first:

Son of Time

Son of Truth

came to speak

of hearts in stone

and move the lame

to steps of fame,

came to be

G-d’s icon to me

on the toolbar

of my day.

jfrancis©

april 4, 2004

JeruONEsalem

One capitol, undivided,

under G-d,

three thousand years

Israel’s life and blood.

Eternal throne

of

one G-d

one heart

one Jerusalem

and let those

who swoon

before the enemy

remain behind

in Tel Aviv.

jfrancis©

april 5, 2004

Through the generations

Egypt’s witness

returns each Jew

to the kiln’s

of Goshen slavery

to taste the flavor

of Exodus sweetness.

jfrancis©

april 11, 2004

As flowering plants go,

the early bloom

was breath taking,

for a tree whose nature

was suppressed

four hundred years.

Then creation power

brings forth the buds

and a miracle

of petals unfurled

in full water color red

bedazzling the world

with vibrant life

spreading across

southern Negev

approaching a lush

and fertile crescent

with honey dripping

into the milk

of G-d’s presence

jfrancis©

april 19, 2004

Our human mind

in earliest form,

a portrait of G-d,

a fertile field, yet untilled.

Then comes time

with discontent

and the ravages

of societal bent

all with a stirring

of the pot, by what?

The last and fatal farce

of some trilogy force?

Likely so, for without,

perfection dies

in a garden perfected.

So the slime of evils

set loose

ooze the land

creeping to every corner

of every house and man

obscuring the natural mind

with natural beauty

hidden by hearts

aging in deceit.

Now the plain is set

for eternal sound

of thunder and jet

and man at worst

whose pride at best

will never hear

a

thief in the night.

jfrancis©

april 24, 2004

(Ode)

Gaza may 2, 2004.

The angels of Katif

sang in dirge this day

of loss and life

and yet unborn.

They came to gather

souls of sorrow’s sadness

spilled across the stones

of hardness and the heart,

to bear them home

but not alone

for grief and goodness

lift the angel wings

and send them on with tears

to wash the waiting

and seal the pain

in dungeons of dark

and hollow hate. jfrancis

Wrapped about the heart

in ever widening circles

tender emotions of lace

embrace

golden shackles of Truth

entwining

golden rings of Love.

jfrancis©

may 2, 2004

Birth of love

and human race

by slumbered sleep

arrived as one,

Mother of life,

Mother of love,

Anchor of family,

Keeper of morals,

Guardian of fire

warming man

and the whole

of humankind.

jfrancis©

may 9, 2004

(a family garden)

As Phoenix from ashes,

so beauty’s creation

blooms from fertile soil,

light and color

in human form,

sweet, fragrant, fragile

with unquenchable fire

of Heaven’s favor.

jfrancis©

may 9, 2004

(one path)

Nothing new under the sun.

From Eden’s garden stones

to parenthood’s choice image,

he prowls our earth

seeking

whom he may devour.

jfrancis©

May 6, 2004

G-d is spirit.

Eternal.

Resides in the Heavenlies.

Inhabits His word

and hearts of the redeemed.

We as He

are free willed;

moral agents responsible

to our Creator,

one G-d

living in Light.

I am spirit

living in this body

as father and son as one.

By faith and invitation

G-d’s spirit resides within.

Consider…..

the triune nature of life

flowing from and bound up

in G-d.

jfrancis©

may 16, 2004

Life’s flower garden

bursting with beauty and color

singing the music

of childhood chatter

and silliness of growth.

All Creation rejoices

in the tenderness of youth

and its requirement

for entering

the Kingdom of G-d.

He has stamped

His image

on the child destined

to raise Him

to praise Him

to idolize Him

in the Holy of Hearts.

jfrancis©

may 16, 2004

Jerusa1em

Hear, O Israel:

The Lord our G-d,

the Lord is one

and will not

share the oneness

of His name

with children

of the enemy.

Deuteronomy

jfrancis©

may 19, 2004

Only G-d defines

Love-----

All other is counterfeit

and bears the mark

of this fallen world.

Genuineness in the heart

is a choice of mind

where two wills find

the essence of oneness

forged in the furnace

of sacrifice.

jfrancis©

may 23, 2004

(and the pure heart)

Richness and purity

and mingling of spirit

favored Holiness

in the Obed heart.

Line upon line

of divine fire

etches historical Israel

with Moabite blood

and kinsman redeemer

fore shadowing His time

of visitation

to a world ripe

for first fruit.

jfrancis©

june 6, 2004