Past Issues



"Sand Dunes"

Traveling across this barren desert
beneath harsh sun and lack of rain;
I've always tried to be prepared
for the journey over this rough terrain.

Throughout these many years my Lord,
you've supplied my needs before each start,
although I've sometimes ended up thirsty
due to poor planning on my part.

As I scaled the crest of each sand dune,
the next distant oasis was always in view,
giving me the motivation and direction
to keep going on the path laid out by you.

But lately, as I reach the summit,
the blowing sand blurs my vision.
Everything beyond looks the same;
no landmarks I can use to gauge my perception.

The wind has erased my tracks
right up to where I stand;
nothing in front of me, nothing behind
accept for continuous rifts of sand.

Please guide me Lord because
these sand dunes can be very unforgiving.
The sand can rise, the sand can fall.
My feet start to slip as I climb,
reducing my walk to a crawl.

Lord, I know that you are still so near,
standing right here beside me,
but sometimes I feel all alone;
the only shape in this shapeless sea.

You help me up each high ridge,
but I still see more of the same.
I need to read your rulebook again
if I intend to stay in the game.

Please Lord, I know that on the horizon
there must be an oasis out there,
but I seemed to have missed the marker
and have gotten off course somewhere.

I know this isn't where you want me;
trying to fight this battle on my own.
I need to quietly listen to your guidance
because I've wandered a long way from home.

I need to find some spiritual truth,
becoming a true servant, not an imitation.
The iron gate is wide open now
and the guard has left his station.

Please guide me Lord because
these sand dunes can be very unforgiving.
The sand can rise, the sand can fall.
My feet were slipping as I climbed,
and it reduced my walk to a crawl.


by John Nordberg


Deuteronomy 32:10-12
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared
for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and 
hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its 
pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him.

Isaiah 48:21
They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he made water flow for them
from the rock; he split the rock and water gushed out.

                                       

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