I received a letter today
From a dear friend far away
His words I read in tears
As I thought over many years.
His words were deep and strong,
Weighty and heavy and long
Like a tree grown to the sky
That’s about to die.
He said: “I have finished my course.”
I knew, those words had a source
In a letter he had written before
To a church that had tried him sore.
Many a visit he spent
His heart was often rent
By the carnal nature of those
Who in the church did repose.
He told of a race to be run
He told of fight to be won
He told of a crown to attain
He told them from flesh to abstain.
They resisted at first his words
They flirted about like birds
Fickle in their devotion
Causing great commotion.
He went to settle them down.
And left displeased from town.
He returned to stay for winter
And stopped their rush to splinter.
His last few legs lay before,
His foes would try him sore,
But Jesus, the Christ, he adored
And spoke often of His Lord.
And now he writes to me.
“Remember Jesus Christ,” I see
these words through my tears,
My sorrows, and my fears.
He wrote to encourage me –
“Strong in grace” I should be.
Patient and gentle and true
The work of an evangelist to do.
His course, he finished well
His life he did not sell
To sin or any bad thing
But ever to Christ did he cling.
A great light is lost to me.
My tears roll on like the sea
My mentor, companion and guide
God takes away from my side.
A Christian poem by: Tim Binder December 17, 2008