He Said 'Come Follow Me' And He Went
Camp three thirty-two, the captain came through; he was wearing insignia bright.
'Men' he declared, 'you must be prepared - to conquer the enemy's fight.'
With a towering glare and a heart without care, he said 'men, I would like you to hear.'
'Soldier,' he said, 'get this into your head - get rid of your cowardly fear.'
So, night after night they prepared for the fight at the feet of the militant man.
'Til the soldiers were ready - their spirits were steady, and ev'ry man's though was 'I can.'
Then the night fin'lly came, and name after name was read for the march of the day.
It was then that they heard the cowardly word - 'The captain is going to stay.'
Well, they left for the trek and were dressed to the neck in attire designed for a fight.
But the hearts of the legion who marched thru' the region were back in the camp in the night.
You see, as they went, they thought of the tent of a cowardly captain who stayed -
who didn't go through what he told them to do - because he was really afraid.
He easily told the men to be bold - to have courage for strength in a fight.
But he was the man, when the battle began, who hid in the dark of the night.
Then there was the One who walked in the sun of the Galilee country of old.
A teacher was He as He walked by the sea; for His words with His actions were bold.
'Men,' He declared, 'we must be prepared to conquer the enemy's fight.'
Then He went in the power of prayer to the hills, and He prayed for the rest of the night.
It was He long ago who taught men to know, it is far more blessed to give.
Then by His example, the teaching was ample, to show them how better to live.
'Come follow me,' was His conquering plea, 'we must not give up the fight.'
'Oh thine, my Father, not Mine be done,' And they follow in spirit and might.
The Master Teacher wasn't a preacher who stayed in a camp in a tent.
He was the one who showed how it was done;
He said 'come, follow me.' - and He went.
---Andrew Reed Morrill--- January 1978
The Bridge Builder:
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Throught which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim,
For the sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he paused, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
"Good friend," cried a fellow pilgrim near,
"You are wasting strength in building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way.
You have crossed this chasm, deep and wide,
Why build you this bridge at eventide?"
The builder lifted his old grey head.
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been as naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Dear friend, I am building this bridge for him."
---Will Allen Dromgoole---
The Tree:
The tree that never had to fight,
for sun and sky, and air and light,
but stood out in the open plain,
and always got its share of rain,
never became a forest king,
but lived and died a scrubby thing.
The man who never had to toil,
to gain and farm his patch of soil,
who never had to win his share,
of sun and sky and light and air,
never became a manly man,
but lived and died as he began.
Good timber does not grow with ease,
the stronger wind, the stronger trees.
The further sky, the greater length,
the more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
in trees and men good timber grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth,
we find the patriarchs of both,
and they hold counsel with the stars,
whose broken branches show the scars,
of many winds and much of strife,
This is the common law of life.
---Author Unknown---
