Past Issues



"Urban Nomad"

  Each night you find a new sheltered place
to lay down your weathered and weary head.
Stretching and shifting to get comfortable
on a forgotten dream and a rigid bed.

  Day breaks, and you have to be moving on,
knowing that undesirables are not wanted here.
Feeling almost invisible on the sidewalk,
yet people see their way to stay clear.

  You stir up disturbing inner emotions
that are more comforting to suppress.
You don't fit society's unspoken rule
of conformity and of outward success.

  Your slurred perception of the world
is getting more and more obtuse.
Quietly closing your greying eyes
within a bottle of emotional truce.

  It takes the mind to far away places
where misplaced dreams can come true.
It avoids the searing reality
of personal payments that are always due.

  The emotional scars of a nomad's life
are still carried around in vain.
Broken possessions of memories
are all that now remain.

  What happened to that bright inner spirit,
to the dreams you dreamed while still young?
What caused the initial breaking point
when the fading light had begun?

  There is One who knows
a heart that could once again burn bright.
One who sees through the vacant eyes
that have long ago lost insight.

  There is One who knows your pain,
One who knows your empty sorrow.
You may be living just for today,
but there is One who will be here tomorrow.

  Even though your tattered snapshot
doesn't fill the gold-gilded frame,
an urban nomad like yourself
still has a precious name.

  Your dreams were once brighter,
your goals were once grander.
That doesn't matter to the one
who has already staked your claim.
His sacrifice was also for you,
because,
even an urban nomad like yourself
still has a precious name.

by John Nordberg



From time to time, each of us may feel "homeless" during a period in our life where we
just don't fit in with our situations. Imagine living most of your life feeling that there is
nowhere to fit in. You reach out, only to receive rejection.
Jesus was also considered "homeless" during most of his ministry. He also received
rejection from the majority of the people he came across. He still reached out to those
in need. Each person has value in his sight. Each person. . .  even the one that I've
fictitiously named "Norman".

                                       

DOVETALES ™   Permission is granted to distribute this issue providing it is used in proper
context and further spreads the gospel or Christian values.

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