Our Hope
Our Faith
Our Trust
Our Saviuor,
He Is Risen!

Within the wind
A voice sounds
Telling us
I AM   I AM

RLB

O  if we as men would only listen and hear.

Will one day be left only
Of all that once I knew
Just some faded photographs
Of what to me was true

Will these paper squares
Of images I hold dear
Be all that is left
Of all that I knew while here

Will these treasured scenes
Frozen forever in time
Be all ones eye will see
Of what once was mine

Some little paper squares
In faded black and white
What value will the antique store
Put on the story of my life?

RLB

Majestic
Mountains
Distant
Seen,
Daughter
Grandaughter
Close,
We
Are
Here.

RLB

I keep the things I love
Hidden within a box
Little things I love the most
Things that to me mean so much

Fathers old pocket watch
Momas golden mothers ring
Carefully put away
Safe in a box unseen

A precious letter written
By a loved ones tender hand
Gently wrapped in an aged cloth
And tied by a ribbon band

A photo from long ago
Taken at a special time
Kept through so many years
Brings back a memory fine

I keep these things I cherish
That can never be replaced
Inside a box of memories
Where there I think them safe

Today, I take them from the box
To look upon them every day
So that the memories they recall
In my mind shall never fade

RLB
January 22,2017

Trust in Jesus
Have no fear
He is your courage
He is always near

RLB

Joy bids;
Seek me,
You will find me,
Though I may hide,
I cannot forever elude.

RLB

Time in its passing brings so much joy and sorrow,
Sleeping dreams are awakened and come true,
Loved ones you hoped would always be, die,
But such is the truth of the passing of time.

RLB

All my yesterday's now,
Gone,
I held them but for a short time,
So many in my yesterday's I loved now,
Untouchable,
I held them but for a short time,
So much joy and laughter in my yesterday's ,now,
Unheard,
I heard it but for a short time,
We were a close family in my yesterday's, now,
Separated,
Close by physical presence for a short time,
Though separated we are bound by love now,
Eternally ,
To be reunited one by one.

RLB

Each and every step
Lays etched within the grain
Each step so different
Yet each one is the same

Now the soles of home bound feet
Can no more pass through open door
And they can no more leave
Their imprints within the floor

For now must be left behind
These floors with stories replete
Of life's laughter and life's tears
Floors that bend and crack and speak

RLB

My Child,
Your Prayers
Your Tears
Your Pain,
I Hear
I See
I Know.

I Love You,
GOD

Today the words I speak
Will lift up and edify
I will listen to the words you say
And not become angry without a reason why

RLB
James 1:19

In the town where I grew up
You still can hear the chime
Of the old courthouse clock
As it counts away the time

Uncountable are the days
That too this place have come and gone
Causing so much here to change
In this town that I call home

The passing of the time
Has taken loved ones dear
And nothing is the same
Without their presence here

Time changes everything
It doesn't slow nor stop
So continues the counting chime
Of the old courthouse clock

RLB

Rain falling from heaven
Music to my ear
Singing I have naught
Have naught to fear

RLB

The
More
Why's
Life
Presents
Tighter
Too
Jesus
I
Hold

RLD

With hands of steel and a heart of love
You fought hard
Your fight was a good fight
Now you can rest in the arms of Christ

RLB

Jackson! Jackson!Dear General Jackson!
Can Stonewall be forever stilled?
Horrific war and chaotic gun,
Dreadful this night is Chancelorsville.

RLB

Never am I hurt,
By those to whom lifes breath is no more giving,
Yet I fall daily wounded,
By ones who walk among the living.

RLB

No more Big City
No Working Man Blues
No more Swinging Doors
No more patriotic tunes

No more California Cottonfields
No Bonnie and Clyde
No Amazing Grace
No Always on My Mind

No more the Way I Am
No Waiting For A Train
No more Where Have All The Hobos Gone
Or When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again

Goodbye Mighty Merle
Thanks for the gift you gave
There will never be another
Who can take your place

To me you were the best
Singing for the working man
I only wish my friend
I could have shook your hand

RLB

You were the best country music has ever known.

It's a beautiful morning
It's a beautiful day
The sun is shining
Sending warmth our way

The birds are singing
Their beautiful song
The leaves are dancing
As the wind moves along

The roses are blooming
In the color of red
Their is no sorrow
Their is no dread

It's a beautiful morning
It's a beautiful day
The sun is shining
Sending warmth our way

RLB

Behold,
A list of Maxims
Taught me by my father;
1...............
2..............
3.............
4........­.....
5............
6...........
7..........
8.......
9....
10..
­Only empty lines of a legacy from which I have learned ,
Nothing.
Yet ,I learned more than he will ever know ,for in the empty lines there were lessons to be learned.

RLB

Some beautiful morning
Some beautiful day
Christ will come
To take me away.
Away to my home
Beyond this lifes shore
To live with him
Forevermore .

The only friend I have
Others eyes are never seeing
Speaks to me each day
With a voice of keening

He tells me that he loves me
His deceitful voice full of dread
Says" Outwardly you appear as living,
But inside you are dead"

This friend to which I cling
For there is no one else
Takes all my life from me
And claims it for himself

I have tried to fight him
A struggle to no avail
Repeatedly he rises up against me
From the depths of hell

You ask" What is his name"?
To you only will I confess
Do you not know he who is always with me?
My unwanted friend called Loneliness

RLB

A single Red Cardinal I can vaguely see
Sits upon a barren limb
Distant into the dead woods he hides
The suns receding light now dim

His color screams to me a haunting woe
From among the branches bare
As he sits among the dead
And with his eyes he steely stares

His screaming presence causes me to ask
Is there life among the dead?
As on his perch he sits alone
In his coat so ****** red

All we men who live and breathe
Have hearts that pump crimson red
While the heart beats in the living man
He walks  among tomorrow's dead

RLB

I know not nor claim
In this lifes living game
To have all the answers
As to the whys of now or after

Faith is all I posses
Just to live and do my best
Having hope in my heart for tomorrow
For joy to **** lifes sorrow

Life is a street one way
That directs me to a waiting grave
That becomes an opening door
Leading me to forevermore

Laugh and love and learn
Seek and look and yearn
For what tomorrow brings
With its dreams and hopes and stings

Then when life has ended
Know yours was real and not pretended
Live and breathe and dance
Life is lifes only chance

RLB

The wind still dances
The living still breathe
Despite death has come
And given reprieve

Your battle was fought
Between these two foes
Growing tired and weak
You submitted to deaths blows

Life is a soldier
Powerful and strong
But in succumbing to death
Lifes strength now is gone

It is appointed unto men
For all once to die
Though man he resist
And struggle and fight

Your battle now is over
You no more languish in pain
You won a hard fight
Now rest is your gain

RLB

My wife's best friend lost her husband just a few moments ago. He had battled cancer for a couple of years and today , he won the fight. Others may say you lost the fight you were engaged in for so long but I say "The victory is yours my friend"

Matthew 11:28
Come into me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

With every tick of the clock
Time quickly steals away
Never giving promise
Of another day

RLB

John 4:14 (KJV)
Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow ,for what is your life?
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for
a little time, and then vanisheth away.

Lord ,I know you are busy
With folks more important than me
But I have just one request
Lord, just one earnest plea

Lord, my hands are tired
They are not as strong as before
Lord, would you make them strong again?
Make their time a little more

You know Lord I need these hands
To do my work each day
They were not always like this Lord
Time has made them this way

Lord, my hands they hurt
At times they are racked with pain
They are now bent and crooked
And cannot long endure works strain

Lord, I know you are busy
Tending to folks with more dire needs
But Lord I've this one request
Strengthen my hands Lord, please.

RLB

Sweet remembrances
Of family knocking
Dear friends stopping by
These ,are only memories now.

RLB


Where has time taken my family and my friends?

Gazing down from the mountains top
Across the valleys depth below
I feel a certain peace within
That Only God could bestow

Looking across the vast wilderness
Into the place that I had been
Never thinking that I could rise
To the place where I now stand

Traveling through the valleys low
And through the rivers deep
I kept my eyes lifted up
Fixed on the mountains peak

The valley at last came to end
Then the rock I had to climb
So I began my journey up
With victory in my mind

The mountains side seemed unclimbable
And the climb it took its toll
When I at last had reached the top
There was a renewed strength within my soul

I could not have made the journey
But for the strength of God alone
For when I am weak and want to stop
God helps me to carry on

Now descending the mountains other side
And through its valley I shall not stop
For in the distance is another mountain
And I shall reach its top

RLB

Jesus,
Arms reaching,
D
O
W
N

T
O

M
E
Gentle hands open wide.

RLB

At the old abandoned depot
Within a misty rain
I hear voices from long ago
Waiting for a train

In the dark of night
Standing by her line
I can hear her in the distance
Coming back from time

Listen very closely
As she rolls this way
Highballing to her destination
To arrive before break of day

Listen close and you can hear
The ghost of this iron rail
You can hear her rumble
You can hear her wail

Can you feel the earth
Tremble beneath the nightime sky?
As this iron ghost
Unseen passes by

Can you hear her clatter?
Can you hear her clang?
Can you hear her whistle,
And her bell that rings?

Listen closely friend
Quickly she will be gone
Past the lonely depot
Never to return

RLB

Today I have given you
A beautiful Sunday morning
A sky of topaz blue
The Suns beams adorning

An ever gentle breeze
Passing silently by unseen
Through the leafless trees
And over the blades of green

I give you music along the way
From natures vocal cords
Singers red and blue and gray
Singing without a word

I am ever present in creation
This I am reaffirming
As I walk in revelation
On this beautiful Sunday morning.

RLB

There exist within this world,
Those who proclaim,
"I am a man"
They are men,but only in a physical sense,
These self proclaimed men decieve themselves ,
And will never know the truth ,
Of what it is like ,
To be a real man,
A man who lives his life,
By a set of morals and standards,
Set not by men,
But set by God,
Who created men,
To serve him,
A real man needs not to tell you,
He is a man,
You will know he is a real man,
Simply by what you observe in him,
How he speaks,
How he acts,
How he responds to adversity,
How he treats others,
How he loves,
You will know a man is a real man,
By the way he lives his life.

RLB

If I held the master clock
And controlled it's turning hands of time
I would add forevermore
To these fleeing days of yours and mine

I would turn your seconds into minutes
Your minutes into hours
Your hours into days
And time would hold no power

Time would be no more
As men know time to be
Time would be known simply
As eternity

No more age and death
No more our bodies worn
All would have the hope
Of a precious babe newborn

No more tears of sorrow
Shed for a loved one lost to death
No more prayers would need be spoken
Pleading for just one more breath

No more of this life's decaying
No more backs heavy laden
No more time now gone
No more memories fading

Man will never hold this power
We are but slave to the tick and tock
The power of time is held in the hand
Of the one who made the master clock

RLB

Daily
Feeding
The
Hungry,
Clothing
The
Naked,
Befriending
The
Friendless.

RLB