Fog Against The Forest

There is a grove of pecan trees

Along a road I frequent.

It sits alone on the plains

Stark contrast to the cotton fields

That surround it.

In every season it catches my eye.

This morning, in early fall, no very late summer,

There was a fog cloud

Laying low in the cotton field.

As I approached the sun was coming up

And was just beginning to affect the early morning.

I looked up from the, lazy, thin cloud of fog on the ground

To see the trees, visually bisected by a vertically thin horizontal layer of cloud.

The trees were clearly visible above the cloud,

And below.

But there was a section in the middle, a few feet thick,

Mostly obscured by the cloud.

That grove of trees continues to

Bless me with

Diverse

Beauty.

Billy R. Masten

091810

Fear

Being startled or surprised is one thing.

Being captured by the depths of fear is quite another.

Deep dark fear paralyzes.

It stops action.

It stops thinking.

It is the antithesis of Hope.

It feeds on the unknown and grows out of doubt and contradiction.

It may well be the only rational reaction

To a world that we do not and cannot comprehend or completely control.

None-the-less fear stops all progress.

“God has not given us the Spirit of fear,

But of power

And of love

And of a sound mind.”

Fear is not of God.

It is the tool of Satan himself.

Although we cannot comprehend or completely control this world

God can!!!

And He does!!!

And He will!!!

And He controls eternity as well!!!

And He loves us!

He paid the price for our sin!!!

There is Hope in Him!!!

Get up and go on

Fear has lost His edge!

Fear has lost his power!

Billy R. Masten

01/25/10

Faith - How Much?

Recognizing that it is not my faith

That Hits the mark

But the one who is faithful ---

If I have no faith

I refuse to allow the one who is faithful

To swing the hammer.

Regardless then the skill of the one who is faithful

There is no benefit

If I do not let Him swing.

He is worthy.

But I am afraid!

I hit myself.

My brother hit me.

Education failed me.

Money and success and pleasure -

They also failed me.

And now I am afraid.

How much faith does it take?

The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole;

Anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert,

So the Son of Man must be lifted up,

That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

How much faith does it take

To look when you are dying and hopeless?

The faith of a mustard seed!

He will nourish it and grow it and

Deliver us faultless!

Billy R. Masten

01/29/10

Faith

Faith, I was told, I should live by faith.

Faith in what I thought.

I had faith that I could hold the nail

Held in my left hand

While I hit it with the hammer.

Tears came to my eyes -

As the hammer hit my hand.

I had faith in my brother

That he could hit the nail I held

In my right hand.

Tears came to my eyes -

As the hammer hit my hand.

I let education swing the hammer.

Tears filled my eyes once more.

I let success swing the hammer,

Tears - Once more!

The object of faith, is more important than the faith.

Who then is faithful?

“May God himself, the God of peace,

Sanctify you through and through.

May your whole spirit, soul and body

Be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.”

Billy R. Masten

01/29/10

Extreme

At the end of every direction I look

I seem to see an extreme.

One is not likely to find truth at the extreme.

Those at the extreme look in every direction

And find only enemies

Or the wishy washy unconcerned moderates.

-

The peacemakers

–

Seeking what wisdom might lie

At the extreme

That might fit with the wisdom

Of a different extreme

To bring both extremes

Closer to truth

And find solutions to

Issues important to both.

I wonder how extreme I may be?

How could I measure my position?

If my friends all express the same view,

I might be extreme.

If those who do not agree with me

I see as enemies,

I might be extreme.

If I believe that those who express different view

Are evil, while those who agree with me are good,

I might be extreme.

If my view has not changed recently,

I might be extreme.

If the facts do not matter,

I am extreme!

If hatred is growing,

And Anger,

And fear,

I am extreme.

If love,

And mercy,

And grace,

And forgiveness,

And reconciliation

Are getting more difficult,

I am growing more extreme.

If it is I and only I

Then I have become “extreme”!!!

Billy Reese Masten

11/12/12

Disgust

I thought I could do right

For just one minute

I thought I could.

I knew what it was

I knew that I should

I knew that I could

But again I missed the mark.

I am disgusted with my feeble ability!

Giving up hope, in disgust I turned

To just quit!

And just then I heard His tender voice

- - -

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,

For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

And so in hope

I stood!

With increased confidence in Him.

Billy R. Masten

01/26/10

Depression

Some deal with depression day upon day.

I dealt with it for one day.

Not so long ago.

It was cloudy, I think.

Cloudy or not, for me it was cloudy.

I could get no clear image of action I should take.

I might blame the way I felt on

A business opportunity that looked like it would succeed.

Then looked like it might fail.

Or a good that I attempted

Then feared the action would do harm.

It was a day that the good that I would I could not.

And some that I would not I did.

A hundred actions haunted my mind.

A hundred motions made.

Yet none were in focus.

I felt despair.

What was the use?

I know not. I am not. I can not.

All is above me. No one cares. Neither do I.

The sun set.

The sun rose.

The good I attempted was good.

I am better.

In spite of the way I felt -

God still loves me.

In Spite of the good I did not --The bad I did

He forgave me!

He has promised, in spite of my self,

He will present me faultless.

By His power -- By His presence

By His wisdom -- By His love

I am made whole -- In spite of me.

Because of His grace

I can rise in the morning and attempt the day

Walking with Him in my weakness

Relying on His strength believing Him!

Billy Masten

02/22/10