something to think about...

here is a poem written by a fifteen-year-old girl named dora. when she was eight years old, her dad was a missionary in panama in a little village, trying his best to help the people there come to know GOD and to serve them and help them – he and two other missionaries. then some guerrillas from across the border in columbia kidnapped her dad and these two other men. this had happened over seven years before she wrote this poem.  and when she wrote it they didn’t know if these men were still alive. they didn’t know if they would ever see them again. this little girl who has grown up all those years without her dad, most of us would say she has a right to be bitter, to lose her dad trying to serve GOD. many would say she ought to run the other way from a GOD like that. but dora made a choice. and she wrote a poem.

there once was a man a man i once knew,
who told me stories every night and laughed at my jokes and held me tight.
he told me “don’t quit. always fight the good fight.”
he said, “love the LORD with all your heart. serve HIM with all your might.”
he begged me, “do right.”

there once was a man, a man i once knew who taught me how to tie my shoe.
and he smiled gently at every picture i drew.
he told me, “when you start something, don’t stop until the job is through.”
and he said, “i love you.”

there once was a man, a man i once knew.
i saw him in my dream and it made me scream.
i called out, “daddy!” but he told me nothing. he had nothing to say.
for what can you say when you’re so far – so very far – away

daddy? i said. then a voice echoed inside my head as i laid quiet and still on my bed.
again the voice, “your daddy made a choice, a choice to serve ME with all of his might,
to not give up, to fight the good fight.
he’s doing a job for ME and it’s not yet through. just remember, I love you.”

there’s now is a man, a man I now know.
HE lived and HE died to save men from their sins. HE made it possible for us to be born again.
i know, because my daddy told me so.
and even though HE’s no longer here, my GOD will always be near to fill in the gaps and show me which way to go.
i miss my dad so much but GOD has a plan. so for now i'm just going to wait and watch the work of his hand.

there once was a man, a man i once knew.
he’s now just a memory, slowly fading away.
“dead or alive?” you ask. “i don’t know,” i say.
so i beg you. please pray. pray that every night my daddy knows i whisper, “daddy, i love you.”

there now is a man, a man i now know.
every day – every day – HE becomes more real to me, every day i grow. every day i pray that my love for HIM will show.
i have made a choice to serve HIM with all of my might
to not give up, to fight the good fight

here on earth i may not see my dad again.
that’s all right.
because when my life on earth is through i’ll finally hear them both say, “my child, i love you.”

i don’t know what pain you’ve gone through. i don’t know what you’re going to go through but ask yourself the question. where am i going to end up? where is the end of the path away from GOD? is there hope there? is there forgiveness there? is there peace and courage there? i would urge you to say, “having now heard something more about the love of GOD and understanding a bit more about why there is evil and suffering in this world, now can i turn and approach HIM in my grief and allow HIM to pick me up and hold me tight and never let me go.” i urge you to make today the day that you make that choice. just like dora did.

just a thought from the front porch…