December 12, 2018
Why the Pen?
A man once asked me,
"Why do you carry that pen everywhere you go?"
"Why," I replied, "good sir, it began long ago.
"When I was a boy, maybe about six,
"I would build little tan hovels out of sticks."
"The hovels weren't just hovels, you see.
"They were buildings or ferries or rooms full of artillery."
The gist was this: a world made by me
was a world that only I could ever see.
But, in a place called Nocturnal Brook
I swung down from my tree-fort and pulled out my notebook.
If I write down what I see and people see what I write...
"Finally,"
I thought, "they'll see this brook alright!"
And, as the years come and go,
I still put on the show.
Yes, the wood was a place in my skull,
but there are good things in the real world that bad people cull.
Now I hope to make known
those things and watch,
as the people experience the joy it brings.
For life and its goodness is meant to be a tease
things to come will be here before...
December 2, 2018
Excerpts from Nehemiah
So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations surrounding us saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. ...
And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the LORD had given to Israel.
Then Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.
He read from it before the square which was in front of the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of men and women, those who could understand; and all the people were atentive to the book of the law.
Ezra the scribe stood at a wooden podium which they had made for the purpose. ... [He] blessed the LORD the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground...
-Nehimiah 7:15-16, 8:1-3 and 4-6
