These times shall occur,
Oft wanted so,
A loving touch
A celestial glow.
Eyes that look
Deep into despair,
To carry the burden,
My heart cannot bear.
Rick Stassi (c) 2011-2022
these times
Category Archives: Literature
love, faith, trust
I rarely feel,
in uncertain times,
I will see passage
to more forgiving climes.
Even knowing,
in steadfast love,
that passage begins
with descending dove.
Thus i forge ahead
where sea weds air,
and draw upon faith
for countenance fair.
But for closure to
this daily plod
it is trust that completes
this path to God.
in uncertain times,
I will see passage
to more forgiving climes.
Even knowing,
in steadfast love,
that passage begins
with descending dove.
Thus i forge ahead
where sea weds air,
and draw upon faith
for countenance fair.
But for closure to
this daily plod
it is trust that completes
this path to God.
(c) 2017 rick stassi
after death
There is mercy on the wings of a dove.
Alight! O Love, with peace to spare
darkened, cold, wintry plight.
How do eyes sunken in despair
see outward to jeweled sunrise
and know the hope of a new day?
There is joy inside, steeping –
ready to infuse all cells
with new life.
Just one drop of blood, one glance,
one touch of a hem,
gathers centuries of wandering –
wondering if my eyes should
ever meet the guardian eyes of God.
I can learn from others
who stubbornly plodded on
through one painful trial after another.
Diligent, or insane.
Can’t you see it is reasonable
to know Love is the cornerstone
binding the east and west wind
in a perfect crimson crease?
O cleave my soul with ancient ones
whose eyes serve as windows to where
I may look –
upon the Alpha and the renewal
of time with breath instilled
on silken skin no longer
writhing in tumult
but turning toward a new
daybreak of an age after death.
(c) 2016-2017 rick stassi
The Sun Continues to Warm
Artist: Heidi Brummer
18 Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy,
19 To deliver their soul from death,
And to keep them alive in famine.
20 Our soul waits for the Lord;
He is our help and our shield.
21 For our heart shall rejoice in Him,
Because we have trusted in His holy name.
22 Let Your mercy, O Lord, be upon us,
Just as we hope in You.
Psalm 33:18
He has a watchful eye on us. His care is for us as we sleep and in our waking hours. He is a part of each of us. So mighty a God to be Eternal and to be personal simultaneously. The Sun shines and warms the skin of all without discretion. The sun is great and mighty with a wrath that will destroy all close by and in its path. How small the Sun is among the billions of other suns. God is so much greater. How grand God is among all the other gods.
And the Sun sets giving leave to darkness, cold and dismal. Our God is aware of us at all times. We are the ones who hold a reverence for Him that is above all else. It is the fear of the Lord. He gives us life and we return reverent love. He is perfect in His watch over us, comforting each moment. He gives us instruction in times when we want it and times when it is right to Him. How awesome is the exchange of reverences for this watchfulness.
Next to our reverence for Him, is our hope in Him. He requires little but He requires much. It is not a paradox or riddle. For as it seems reverence and hope are simple byproducts of our human emotion, easily meted out, the requirement is to give all of our life. To understand this condition, this relationship, we first submit under His grace through Salvation. We are born-anew giving us the Spirit of Counsel, of Discernment, of Direction. To truly have reverence we must be in a position of wisdom to fathom just who we are in a relationship with. Most cannot pass through the narrow gate into the realm of understanding. This is because the enemy of this world feeds and builds Man’s rationale. Reason is of a wisdom that seems right to man, yet has no foundation.
“Sometimes what seems right is really a road to death.” Proverbs 16:25
Shakespeare knew, in Hamlet, that if something seems right, it can just as easily be faked:
“These indeed ‘seem,’ For they are actions that a man might play. Hamlet Act 1 Scene 2
How sad. The dilemma of man is far worse when he knows there is something else that encompasses the soul but cannot approach it. We have compassion for this dilemma for we thus have arrived in God’s view.
So, on: We have salvation in Him. We are far above Man’s dilemma. We are of direction on a path with His protection and mercy. His Word is our shield as we cast away the enemy world, the darker places, as we call upon His name.
…and our heart shall rejoice. Tears stream, spines tingle, joy draws nigh. We trust in Him with all of our being and we are fruitful, faithful, as He is reliable and life-giving. Our dance culminates in beautiful harmony as His steadfast love, mercy, is upon us and we have hope in Him.
Our relationship seems simple! It is, if we listen and watch His words float from the pages of His Book of Life. We embrace concepts, instruction, and parable and store them in our heart, always dear, truth in all ways.
“Praise Him,all ye people” Psalm 117:1
Yes praise Him, trust Him, and fear Him in a reverence that seems right to we who are set apart. It confounds man. Poor man, poor reason. Our purpose resonates in a perfect dance of trust and protection, hope and watchfulness, attentiveness and instruction. It is a perfect dance. The Sun continues to warm, confound, and the reason of man is limited.
Rick Stassi
2/10/2012
…demystifying our God
Polycarp 8:2
Let us therefore become imitators of His endurance; and if we should
suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him. For He gave this
example to us in His own person, and we believed this.
As we follow the Christian path, we seek the way through concise focus on our Father in heaven. How do we know Him and what is the method to seek Him?
God, in His utmost love for us, relieved the mystery and bewilderment of a lack of an understandable personality by sending His only Son to the world so that there is a tangent between the Utmost Being who is God, and God as man in the flesh bearing completion, perfection who we can touch, hear, see….
There is no longer just an invisible God available for us to bear our burdens that we pour onto Him in our prayers; but, rather, a man – Jesus – whose burden is light and will lovingly accept these burdens. We are on our knees asking Him to intercede in our lives because we ache for ourselves, we ache for others we know, and we ache for a tired and dying world. We are imitators of Jesus and we need not go further that His very words imploring us to seek the kingdom of God, walk a straight path, and be not anxious but courageous – girded in the armor of God.
We seek endurance because as followers of our personal God, we understand and have sympathy for His endurance. His death, and His blood spilled is our path to purity. In our imitation of the Living God, we know endurance.
In our endurance through our lives and in our trials that come and go, we are eager to glorify His name. For we have a path and a direction and a goal. We have hope because God gave us hope in Jesus. For this we are joyous and thankful. We seek His counsel, on our knees to an invisible God, but through a very real and relevant Intercessor in Jesus Christ. Jesus is Love and Jesus is God.
We have example and through this example we walk. The world around us shall see the Living God, therefore, He shall constantly walk in the world apparent through our bodies: the once empty vessels now filled. We believe this and we imitate Jesus because God has a perfect plan and we are commissioned to live within this plan. He loves, we love, and all in the world without Him shall remained mystified until they succumb and see for themselves that Jesus died for our sins and gives us the example to live and love to completely – connecting with all persons in love. We can do this.
Rick
October 2011
…the sinner’s gospel
The World’s Bible
Christ has no hands but our hands to do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet to lead men in His way;
He has no tongue but our tongues to tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help to bring them to His side.
We are the only Bible the careless world will read;
We are the sinner’s gospel, we are the scoffer’s creed;
We are the Lord’s last message, given in deed and word;
What if the type is crooked? What if the print is blurred?
What if our hands are busy with other work than His?
What if our feet are walking where sin’s allurement is?
What if our tongues are speaking of things His lips would spurn?
How can we hope to help Him and hasten His return?
Annie Johnson Flint
Does the Lord need us?
Our commission is to go forth and be His ambassadors of the living Word. The true Good News conveyors. The miracle has happened and it cannot be erased. Jesus lived, died, and was resurrected to His place next to our Father in heaven. All for us. When we ask if God needs us, the answer is probably no. If we ask if He desires us to walk in His way as He proposes to His saints, the answer is yes. Moreover, our desire should be just that: To follow in His steps and clarify a blurred print, be the Bible people will read, be the sinner’s gospel.
It is in our straying walk that delays His love upon a darkened heart. We cannot stand in front of that. We cannot be obstructions. For we can do damage to God’s work here. However, He is in control and He will straighten us and then He will work on a world gone astray upon His return. We may delay or hasten His return, but it is important to know every step we take in the furtherance of His way, there is another soul appearing in our path with anguish and hopelessness. Lay your hand empowered by our loving God on his head and bless him in Jesus’ name. We are the vessels that emanate the Living God who resides within. Do not obstruct the shining Light – do not place a cover on the lamp of salvation. Be the Bible the aching, hopeless world will read. Begin today.
Rick
October 2011
Love for All
“And as I raise my eyes and look at the environment surrounding me, it therefore looks different. I live in a personal world, and God is dealing with me not for a few short years but forever. And I can make different value judgments as I look at the world because I understand that reality does not exist only between birth and death. A personal God is acting in a true history that goes on forever.” – Francis A Schaeffer
Therefore why do we worry and fret over things that absorb our lives and feelings everyday? I need to remember all is good in God’s love and through Jesus we are set apart in God’s love as heirs to all eternal. God’s grace is truly our blessing and I need to live in Him today and everyday.
As long as I live in a fallen world, I am subject to fallen people. Even Christians are subject to revisiting our fallen nature and we can hurt and be hurt. It is in this pain that we are being refined and in this refining process we have joy because God is working in our lives.
So I try to look at the world through the perspective of eternity and then I can love when my personal reasoning says not to. If I can see others through the eyes of eternity and the eyes of someone who is blessed to be in a refinement process by God Himself, then I can truly love as Jesus commanded. Today this is my prayer for me and all.
Rick
we awaken anew…
“Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest
us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.”
Saint Augustine
We awake each morning from our sleep a new creation in You, Lord.
We awaken in our senses with revelations from You, Lord.
We awaken in every aspect of our lives to the delight of praising you.
We are a new song, sung anew each day.
We love because You love us first.
..and yet our hearts are restless. Show us how to rest in You.
Rick
our humble foundation
Do you wish to be great? Then begin by being. Do you desire to construct a vast and lofty fabric? Think first about the foundations of humility. The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation.
Saint Augustine
Jesus, Light of the World 