OK, so it’s an easy question to answer. We all love many people unconditionally. But here’s the twist for Thursday’s show: Is there someone in your life – relative, friend, neighbor, co-worker – who is living in a manner objectively contrary to the gospel? It may be a living arrangement. A lifestyle choice. Someone who had an abortion and thinks that’s just fine. Perhaps an individual who hurt you badly in some way. Have you managed to cultivate or maintain a deep love for that person in spite of the choices they’ve made. Let’s face it. We all act in ways that are in opposition to the gospel at times. God never stops loving us unconditionally. How can we best do the same for the people in our lives?
Take 2 with Jerry & Debbie 
July 24, 2019 at 11:23 pm
I was moved by Jerry’s poem in yesterday;s blog. Here’s one I wrote years ago… seems to me to speak to the same themes….. loss, fear of the unknown, yet a persistent pursuit towards that light we know is out there. The “crow” represents us, the “fallen.”
Silent Air
The grey air sits,
Stirred only by an occasional gust
Emanating from some unknown source,
Pushing toward some unknown goal.
A black crow wings from an overhang.
His path aimless, he disappears from sight,
And with him, all evidence of any living attempt
To discern an attainable image in the shadowless half-light.
The silence penetrates the very core of my ear,
Almost deafening in its strength.
There are no sounds, no answers.
The emptiness surrounds,
Closing-in on every attempt to find a door
To an awakening, an understanding.
But, at least in this damp half-light,
As dimly as it appears at times,
Precludes the total blackness of the blind soul.
And even the black crow,
Damned through the centuries,
Continues to soar in search of its faith.
We’ve talked on the air two times now. I am the mom of the special needs son who called in in the last couple of months when the topic had to do with becoming so overburdened/overwhelmed that we broke down…..
Much love, Betsy
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July 24, 2019 at 11:31 pm
Betsy,
This is absolutely beautiful. I hope you don’t mind, but I am going to copy it and maybe have it framed and put on the wall of my office, right next to Kevin’s poem. Prayers are with you always!
Jerry (and Debbie)
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July 29, 2019 at 3:27 am
Dear Jerry and Debbie,
Hello also to Betsy, I remember the show when you spoke on the phone.
Years a go, I wrote a poem that I needed — I love the feel for floating on the wind your poem has;
I wrote this one more as an “Anthem” — but i hope you’ll enjoy it on days needed.
PRAISES, BATTLEWORN
These battleworn messengers
Standing near God’s shining throne,
Sigh, well-content in giving honor;
Basking in blinding Purity.
These bright messengers
Amidst reviving beams of Glory
Bend; they do not pretend;
Joy rides their vocality.
May we bend, and not pretend,
Amid life’s churning elements.
Stand! Well-content in giving honor;
Let Joy ride our light vocality!
Be strengthened and renewed;
Rejoin l’ terra firmas battles. Be
Blest, and ‘tremblements’ shall abound.
Defense through reverence, cements!
1997 Cheryl Jean Pederson
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July 29, 2019 at 11:47 am
Wow, Cheryl, yet another member of the Take 2 family who has amazing skills in writing, especially poetry. I am going to save this one like the other two that have been sent recently (if you don’t mind!:-)
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