stories of travel, medical missions, and more
Unearth daily treasures
And unearth hopeful joy
Chip away at tomorrow’s sorrows
Serenity employ
Unearth the backward war
Seeds of trouble un-sow
Seek not strife and mischief
Un-fight friend and foe
Unearth something different
New and not imperfect
Unearth daily treasures
And unearth hopeful joy
anthony forrest
My heart tires of these needless worries
Backward care of this sick-sodden soil
Daily focus so earthly bound
The needless walk of human toil
That peace so longed for rarely found
Though searched for in every wrong place
Things and people and pleasures
None can satisfy
Only his grace
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Black it starts
Unwritten and without ink
Before the words of birds and man
Yesterday’s tomorrow on the brink
Of beginning
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Walk with me
Where cobbled stones abound
Cross the street
To the tower
Soon, the hour
Will sound
Wait with me
On a courtyard seat
Under the tall
Dark tower
Soon, the hour
Will beat
Listen with me
To the ringing knife
Cutting hearts
Echo the bells
The song of life
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Heavy hung branches tremble and shake
Thawing sunshine beams down to awaken
The trees from icy sleep
The old shed’s corner drips and drips
Newborn warmth builds as winter’s grip slips
Away and away
Unremembered songs of birds returned
From Southern concerns
And stays
Door soon closes to waiting, waiting
Cold days over now—ready for Spring
To begin
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My feet from under cover
Step with a new day
In the warmth of sunrise hope
Seeking a sunset peace
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Beyond a doubt, one of my favorite places to visit is Japan. Smiling faces, terrific food, ancient structures, mystical remnants of forgotten wars, and friendly people make up a culture that warms my heart each time I go.
Most of the people in Japan observe Shinto, a religion made up of mysticism, spirit worship, and ancestral longing. On the outside, Shinto is beautiful. I travel to Shinto shrines every day I am in Japan. Towering pagodas and looming archways beckon followers to bow, clap, buy luck, and recite prayers.
Albeit beautiful, every time I visit a shrine, I walk away with a sense of emptiness. All the ritual practices and rigid rules leave the worshiper fallen short of perfection. In a sense, Shinto is puzzle missing pieces. It is up to man to maintain a connection to their ancestral past. It is up to man to live up to expectation of Shinto. It is all up to man. Hopeless, graceless, and endless. If man is the end all be all, count me out.
The God of the Bible gives hope, grace. Second chances and forgiveness abound. It doesn’t come from me. And that’s a good thing.
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Inhale: a collection of haiku
Sky glows red
Light passes through
A new day
Rubs tired eyes
Sleep falls away
Mind alive
One breath then another
A new place
A new breath
Exhale
Feet step out
Carry forward
The street takes
Also gives
Taste all
Smell all
Inhale
Journey on
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An ocean’s length from here to there
Fighting rages beyond repair.
Scores of children—hungry, dying
Getting better? I would be lying
And every day—a money scare
all in a broken world.
A thousand miles away our leaders fright
In evil do these men delight
Money and power, money and power
Getting worse by the hour
Our country improve?
No, try they might.
all in a broken world.
Work now scarce and money too
Struggle comes with each day new
The cost of breathing rising, rising
This depressing world we are despising
So with each day that comes
Do I color it blue,
all in a broken world?
Apart from it all, here I sit
Admiring the morning, God’s sacred gift
A timber’s branch quivers when lands a bird
Then my fluffy friend jumps, leaving the branch undisturbed.
Misty fog gathers dripping from pines
All of these things sooth my mind.
My Creator comforts, loves, and cares
And cries, “Be still, My love I share!”
Comforting peace beyond understanding
His Holy Spirit forever now granting.
A simple life of loving God,
and God loving us is all we must do, live and trust
all in a broken world.
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Old Paths
New trails
Old places
New faces
Cobbled stones and an always hunger
Carry onward
These ever-moving feet
To places ancient and not well known
To different things
Far from home
Smiling faces moments ago foreign
Now chatting and laughing
A friendship is born
But onward now!
Different runs
Different races
Old paths
New trails
Old places
New faces
anthony forrest
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