Baptism By Fire [Fire/Water]

“As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” - Matthew 3:11-12

The Baptist called them to repent.
He baptized them with their consent,
To cleanse them all from all their sins.
Now John to preach the Christ begins:
John tells them of His whelming might,
His terrible, majestic height:
“He’ll baptize you with Spirit sent
From God above; and not content
With Spirit only, Jesus twins
The Spirit with what burns your skins:
With fire sent from heaven’s bright
And incorrupt immortal Light.
He cometh not with light intent;
The wicked souls will soon be rent
By winn’wing fork, with which He thins
The worthless chaff, then it He spins
Through air and burns to cleanse the blight:
With fire unquenchable ignite.”

Lyrical Limerick

There once was a silly old spider
Who thought he could sing German lieder.
He started to chant
And an ant sycophant
Brought along his new friend water strider.

Haikus for the Kingdom

I
The kingdom of heaven
Is small, yet greater than the
Entire universe.

II
Take note: the kingdom
Of heaven is of greatest
Importance for us.

III
The kingdom will come
When we least expect it to,
Surprising many.

IV
If we would be wise,
We place the kingdom of God
Before everything.

V
The kingdom is like
A field with treasure, purchased
For all a man owns.

VI
Blessed are the poor
In spirit, for theirs is the
Kingdom of heaven.

VII
Blessed are those who
Are persecuted, for theirs
Is the kingdom, too.

Redemption

The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, "Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times." And he went out and wept bitterly. - Luke 22:61-62

But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. - Luke 24:11-12

The Christ, betrayed by men and doomed to die,
The Lord God turned, looked Peter in the eye.
And Peter, who'd denied he would deny,
Knew how he'd failed; went out, wept bitterly.
The Lord was crucified, laid in the tomb;
No hope in Peter's heart to see Him yet.
Some women come, tell all there in the room
Of empty tombs; new hope their words beget.
Up Peter starts, and rushes to the place
Where Christ was laid; the only one to move.
His hope not yet rewarded, but by grace
He's been forgiven, covered in Christ's love.
He'd failed his Lord before, denied His name;
With second chance, becomes an ardent flame.

The Mountain Pool

Alone, unknown, a quiet mountain pool
Rests up among the rocks where none can see.
Filled to the brim with rippling water cool,
Translucent colored with green, like the sea.
A waterfall runs into it, and yet
It small disturbs the tranquil surface mood;
As water falls, and water flows, forget
The cares of life, else melancholy-viewed.
In all of nature, water is unique
In beauty, peacefulness, sublimity;
It flows, it falls, is ever-running sleek,
And brings to quarrels equanimity.
O peaceful mountain pool, run never dry,
But e'er reflect the peaceful, sky-blue sky.

Hymn to the Creator [Earth]

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ... God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters he called seas; and God saw that it was good. - Genesis 1:1,10

Creator of the earth and sky and sea,
Who separates the water from dry land:
You formed the earth, you made it come to be.

The earth, with mountains, valleys, shoals, and sand,
With hills, plateaus, peninsulas, and all
Created by His ever potent hand.

The earth, with seasons: spring, and summer, fall,
And winter, too, then back to spring again:
New life comes forth at God's resounding call.

This all to man God gives for his domain.

Sunset

Among the mist and through the mighty trees
The sun's last ray shines dimly on the land,
And through the canyons deep the blowing breeze
Runs swiftly over flowing rivers grand.
As clouds diffuse the light, the gentle glow,
Pale yellow sky above, caresses blue.
I sit here, watching; light is fading slow;
Upon a rock, I have an awesome view.
The sunset slowly fades, the sun goes down,
And with it fades the view I love so much.
The world will fade to black and gray and brown,
A world with other joys, of stars and such.
But in the morn, the sun will rise again;
The sunrise: rising sun with fiery mane.