The Journey Home

Periodic Ponderings on God and the World around me.

Monday, August 30, 2010

In God's Time

Walking down the beach one lonely man,
Behind him one set of footprints in the cold, course sand.
His shoulders drooped and in his saddened eyes is shown,
A story of a life lived all alone.

On his knees with tear stained cheeks,
This man to God begins to speak:
A few words of thanks, then a simple prayer,
With another to be made a pair.

As time went by this man did seek,
And many hours on that beach did weep.
For behind him in the sand still shown,
One set of footprints there all alone.

Again to God on bended knee,
The man poured out his humble plea:
With divine intervention from above,
Provide another to share his love.

Years slipped away, know answer seemed to come,
Yet he knew, God's time was not his own.
And though he now was nearing eighty-eight,
In perfect time he was sent his perfect mate.

Now down the beach they walked hand in hand,
Behind them two pair of footprints in the softened sand.
Their wrinkled eyes did meet, and in that stare,
All the beauty of God's creation shared.

Kyle Boyd-Robetson

Saturday, August 28, 2010

No Regrets

assssssssssjjjjjjjjj

Oskar Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don’t know. If I’d just...I could have got more.
Itzhak Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Oskar Schindler: If I’d made more money...I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I’d just...
Itzhak Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Oskar Schindler: I didn’t do enough!
Itzhak Stern: You did so much.
(Schindler looks at his car)
Oskar Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
(removing Nazi pin from lapel)
Oskar Schindler: This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
(sobbing)
Oskar Schindler: I could have gotten one more person... and I didn’t! And I... I didn’t!

This ending dialogue in Steven Spielberg's movie "Schindler's List" touches my soul on so many levels and always draws me into a deep introspection. I am left completely awed by the transformation Oskar Schindler experienced in his life so much so that he put himself in great danger and risked not only his wealth but also his life to save others. Yet here at the end of the movie we see Oskar in great anguish as he realizes how much more he could have done. His words, "I could have got more...Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there...This pin. Two more people...I could have got one more person and I didn't!", play over and over in my mind. My thoughts turn to the lost and persecuted in my world today and I find myself asking "Am I doing enough?...Am I doing all I can?"  I relate to Oskar when He says "I threw way so much money. You have no idea." It embarrasses me to think of all the money I've wasted on frivolous things when there are people in our world starving and going without the bare essentials of life.  I look at all the wealth and things I have accumulated, (when compared to the rest of the world), and find myself asking, "Is this something I really need?....How many people could be saved If I went without this?"  When the movie of my life is played I prefer the ending dialogue to be "Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter you into the joy of your Lord.", rather than being full of regrets of what I should have or could have done.

O Praise Him