Lazarus come forth
There's a new day dawning
Lazarus come forth
It's brand new morning
Lazarus come forth
From the deep dark tomb
Lazarus come forth
I give new life to you


This thought came to me this morning as I was
driving to work. It came in the way of a song
as I was singing bible verses to myself. .You
know , I will never be raised from death back
to life only to die again, but I will be raised from death to life eternal and live forevermore in heaven with my lord and my saviour
Jesus Christ.

After our days are lived
After our work is done
After we have loved
After life has gone

RLB

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

I Love You,
GOD

Life is an impartial balance
From its beginning to its end
It weighs you not as a foe
Nor does it weigh you as a friend

It comes to you uninvited
In the dark within the womb
Then leaves without consent
And you are laid within the tomb

Life cares not if you be rich or poor
Life cares not if you be strong or lame
Life comes to each just as they are
To life, we are all the same

Life does not possess us
Rather, we are possessors of life
Possessors of its many joys
Possessors of its many strifes

Pursue life to its utmost meaning
Do ! That ,within your heart you know
For life is not your friend
Nor is life your foe

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

Life is made up of so many emotions
It is a twisted and mangled scene
An intertwined ball of what is good and what is bad
Full of confusion and things serene

It's so hard for my mind to understand
This mixture of love and hate
This combination of polar opposites
These intersecting marks upon lifes slate

Yet I know within my heart
Both good and evil make up this life
And there is no way to seperate
For there is no peace without the strife

So I struggle within the storm
My heart always knowing what is right
I've accepted there will always be a battle
Between the lies of darkness and the truth of light

Pain in life will always exist
Comfort to has its space
These two will always be in a struggle
In this pain verses comfort place

RLB

If I did a candle burn
It would show forth its light
But soon it would at last burn out
And show how short it's life

Strong and bright would stand the flame
Dancing in the wind
Never giving second thought
That the candle someday ends

Our life is like a candles flame
Gods breath lights the wick
We brightly burn a little while
Then death our life does *****

The flame of life only shortly breathes
It does not forever burn
When will we take the time to see
And this lesson learn

The road of life is ever changing,
It offers to us no one to blame,
But I ask "Why can't only the bad parts wash away ,
And leave the good to remain.

RLB

Have you ever heard ,
Listening to natures sounds,
GOD speak to you,
From heavens hallowed ground ?

The little thigs of life
Are to most of no great affair
Such as the warmth of the sunshines rays
Or the coolness of the evening air

The little things of life
Are so often unaccounted
But if we would stop and take notice
We would stand astounded

The little things of life
For such we have no time
The colorful leaves of fall
Or a ringing church bells chime

The little things of life
Come to us each passing hour
A thorny bush of roses
Or a welcomed springtime shower

The little things of life
Fill up life's empty spaces
Let's us know that God loves us
And reveal his many graces

The little things of life
Seem to be missed by our eyes
A trees limb bending in the wind
Or the beautiful azure sky

The little things of life
Quickly appear then they are gone
Such as a smile on a strangers face
Or a lonely sparrows song

The little things of life
Are given to us free
The sound of a gently flowing stream
Or the shade of an old oak tree

The little things of life
Like a word so kindly spoken
Can ease a wearied mind
Or help mend a heart that's broken

A thousand little things
Unnoticed by our eyes or ears
Is a thousand little blessings
Missed throughout our years.

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?

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

If you possess kindness
Show it to another
If you have forgiveness
Give it to a brother

If you have a hand to lend
Give it to a stranger
If you have courage
Help one in fear through danger

If you have encouragement
Encourage the one defeated
If you can inspire
Inspire one who needs it

If you have a smile
Show it to your neighbor
If you have a willing hand
Help someone in their labor

If you have an adversary
Try to make of him a friend
If you know someone alone
Seek them to befriend

Show grace to all you meet
Treat every person right
Show to all the truest love
Show the love of Jesus Christ

RLB

COME UNTO ME,
I never move nor sway
I remain the same
Each tomorrow and today
ALL YE THAT LABOR AND ARE,
Ragged and tired and worn
Come, I will cradle you
Just as a babe newborn
HEAVY LADEN AND,
Weak, cast your weakness here
Come lay it at my feet
I will hold you near
I WILL GIVE YOU REST,
From all your daily strife
Come, I will give you comfort
I will give you life.

My
Joy
Is
Tempered
By
My
Saddness,
Both
Reside
Within
My
Heart
Today.

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

Jesus,
Arms reaching,
D
O
W
N

T
O

M
E
Gentle hands open wide.

RLB

Quietly the minutes slip away
Dying through the eon of time
Numbered as the stars of heaven
So few will ever be mine

RLB

I believe that this life
Is nothing but a sham
Nothing you do really matters
And no one really gives a ****

I had always believed the words
Written upon life's final pages
Would be so much different than the ones I read
Not leave me fighting to escape the cages

It seems I am always fighting
To tie together the ends
But each time they seem to be bound
Something unseen loosens them again

My heart inside is weighted and heavy
I tire of being left behind
The devils demons they dance
Laughing at me within my mind

Within our nation today
Political correctness says no moral standard exist
As a Christian I say it does
But this truth the world resist

If there is no moral standard
And no gauge of right or wrong
Is it "Do whatever you wish"?
As through life you travel on

Set your own height of your acceptance
Your own level of integrity
What it be it does not matter
Or even if it contains honesty

It is so sad for our society
And a detriment to our culture
That so many believe in no moral standard
What then will be our future?

I obey the Ten Commandments
And for my wrongs only I am liable
The truth is written for all to see
Our moral standard is set by the Bible

I've looked and sought through the days
But still I do not see
Any mother made from the mold
That shaped the mother God made for me

My mother so loving
My mother so kind
She knitted her family
With ties that bind

O mother I miss you
Your tender voice your joyous laugh
your gentle smile
I know I shall see you again
But I must remain for yet a little while

My mother she waits
On heavens sweet shore
To welcome us home
Forevermore.

RLB

The paths that once my feet
As a child upon did trod
Are covered now by time
And natures earthen sod

No more do they lead
To that place of many dreams
No more grand adventures
Now only grown up things

It seems not that long ago
That I walked on childhoods trail
But the days have quickly passed
And now I am old and frail

I hold my memories dear
Though I can never go back
To the days when I was young
And walked a childhoods path

Looking upon my hands
My heart sees their treasured worth
Hands now bent and worn
From the struggle of their work

I depend upon these hands
For them to do what they do
I ask they a little longer hold their strength
I pray Lord they see me through

These hands to me have been faithful
Hard work has been their task
Lord keep them strong for me
This of thee I ask

My two hands are tired Lord
I know you know their aches and pains
I ask Lord if tomorrow comes to me
Renew their strength again

So that I might do my work
As I have for so many years
Useing these two hands
That know not doubt or fear

I know someday they will fold
In eternal peace and rest
That will be their reward my Lord
For these hands you have blest

RLB

Treasured memories never fade
They are not dimmed by the span of time
Every detail is forever etched
Upon the thoughts of the recalling mind

Precious memories held so dear
That never fade nor fail
They are a pathway to my past
An old loved and familiar trail

That leads me back to my yesterday's
When my heart yearns to return once more
Back to the place where the memory was born
A cherished place I knew before

Within my memories live those I love
In images as clear as a crystal stone
I keep them hidden inside my heart
These treasured memories that are my own.

Skin pinkish red
A sparse covering of dark hair
Dark little eyes
Tender lips that turn upright in a smile
Little fingers that can barely wrap around the tip of grandpas
Cheeks as soft as a cottonball
A face of indescribable beauty
Spending the day sleeping in peaceful rest
This is Callie .
Born at 4:07 PM
Jan 12,2016

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

Our flag that freely waves
Up high above our land
Is a blessing to us all
If you will understand

The price that once was paid
By brave and willing men
Some of whom with us remain
Many never to be seen again

They are the men who once did march
In the Army of the Continental
With the belief in their heart
That their freedom was providential

They are the men that once did march
Upon the fields of Gettysburg
Their struggling feed trod also
Upon the soil of old Vicksburg

These are the men that fought
Upon ****** Flanders Field
Struggling , pushing forward
They would not fail nor yield

They also struggled to gain
The beaches of Normandy
They fought at Anzio
Against the soldiers of Germany

On the soil of Korea
American blood did flow
Blood of men who had fought before
Still they volunteered to go

They fought in the darkened jungles
Of a place called Vietnam
Under the tear filled eyes
Of the Great I Am

The American soldier has also marched
And spilled his blood upon the sand
Of a dry and barren place
Called Afghanistan

Do you know what it means?
Are you willing to understand ?
That flag that freely waves
Up high above our land.

RLB
Nov 11,2015
Thank you,
American Soldier
You are the worlds best.

The
Song
Of
The
Sparrow,
Is
Simply,
Praise
To
GOD.

All of life's greatest pleasures
Are those created by Gods own hands
The height of the sky and the depth of the sea
And the beauty upon the lands

The shimmering stars in the sky at night
Hang weightless above our heads
Keeping a vigilant watch over us
As we rest within our beds

A sea so deep it is still unknown
It remains a mystery to mortal men
While ships and boats float above
We wonder what lies below unseen

The beauty to us that God reveals
For our human eyes to behold
Has more majesty in each new scene
Than you would think the world could hold

Gods very work we can see
It is one of life's truest treasures
For compared to the beauty God has made
Mankinds hands could never measure

RLB

I long to hear the sounds
Of nature uninterrupted
Heard pure and clean and clear
By mankind not corrupted

I long to hear the waterfall
Flowing down the mountains face
To hear the rushing water crash
By no unatural sound disgraced

To hear the gentle winds
Blowing through the mighty pines
Untouched by unatural sounds
Be they yours or mine

To hear the falling of the rain
Colliding with the thirsty ground
The thunder as it roars
No hint of man made sound

To hear the silence of the night
That is ruled by star and moon
The sound of the great abyss
Peace it's only tune

To hear the choir of the feathered singers
Singing their beautiful hymns
Free of outside sounds
From their stage high upon a limb

I long to hear only the sounds
Of the nature that God created
But everywhere I go it seems
They have by the sounds of men been permeated

O Wouldent it be a joy to hear
Natures voice pure and true
With no sound made by man
To tarnish the sound or view

Wishing
I
Had
Something
Kind
To
Write
About
My
Father

I remember a time now past
When I was young and strong
Of  going to a quiet peaceful wood
And walking there alone

Among the mighty trees of oak
That gently swayed in the wind
Watching a leaf float down the creek
And then disappear around the bend

Listening to a song so pleasant
Being sung by a singer dressed in feathers
His stage a branch made of wood
In a tree old and aged and weathered

In my memory those days are treasured
Of walking upon the woods hidden sod
Finding I never was there alone
For in the wood walked also God

Seconds to minutes to hours
They come and they disappear
Then as quickly as a shooting star
We have passed away a year

We may have days before us
But soon they will be left behind
And become a year now gone
That we shall no more find

Time is spent with each breath we take
Time that is never regained
As we spend do we spend it wisely
Or do we waste it just the same

Live your life fully each day
Spend with joy your alloted time
You know not how much you have
Just as I do not know mine

The clock counts away the moments
As they give themselves away
Then the clock it to soon stops
And we lay still within the grave

And Jesus said
"Peace, be still"
And at the sound of his voice
The winds immeadiatly ceased
And there was a great calm

If I , as his child
Could only learn to have faith
And listen and obey
As obediently
As the elements of nature
Which cannot think
Or discern
But yet obey his commands
Absent of hesitation or apprehension
Then I will have truly learned
How to trust and obey

Why is it we gasp
To take one more breath
Why do we try to stay ahead of the reaper
Try to elude his sickle of death

Why when we are sick
Do we seek to be made well
Why do we try to get back up
When to illness we have fell

Why do we hold on the tightest
When we are at our life's end
Why do we look back from the bed of death
And wish for life again

When dying why do we revive
Old memories from long ago
Why do we call out
To those we love and know

It is appointed to all men
That once each man must die
But even while yet dying
We hope and fight for life

For in our heart we know it is through our living
That our love is made known
And we know when we are within the grave
No more love can be sown

So it is life we seek
While engaged in a struggle with death
To remain to live to love
To take just one more breath.

RLB

I watch you from a distance
Though you know not I see
And as I watch I wonder
What must your story be

I can see some truths about you
But they are very few
I have more questions than answers
As I wonder about you

I know you are someones daughter
Could you be a mother
Do you have a sister
Or maybe even a brother

I know you had a father
I ask"Did he love you true"
Who might your mother be
And did she care for you

Where did you once live
Did you have a home
Do you have anyone
Or do you live life alone

Is it your choice to live alone
Is there no one with which to share
Do you have someone to love you
And someone for which you care

When did your journey start
Were you loved when it began
Do you have any hope today
Or do you just wish that life would end

No, I do not know you
Your joys or your sorrows
But I wonder do you know
There is hope for tomorrow

To me you are a mystery
Only God knows your glory
When I see you I wonder
But God knows your story

A new chance
A new occasion
A new day

RLB

What is it within us
This thing that makes us whole
It is what we are inside
Within us is our soul

It is our spirit
Gods breath of life inside
Breathed into us by the creator
That we might be alive

Our soul will live forever
Dwell through eternity
Will it be in hell
Or our home be heavenly

When death at last has come
And your soul is released
Will you dwell in eternal torment
Or will you be at peace

Choose this very moment
Christ the risen Lord
That your soul may be at peace
When death knocks upon your door

From old to new
From new to old
Over the ages
Different stories told

Through song, through story
Through poems unfold
The victories and the sorrows
Of a life untold

Some are written
For all to see
Others kept away
For ones heart to keep

Those stories, those songs
The poems all  tell
The feelings and emotions
Hidden within ourselves

Crystal Sacco


My daughter has taken an intrest in
writing ,so with her permission
I  am sharing this poem that she
wrote. Please let us know what you
think.
Thank you.

A beautiful blanket of white
Covers the frozen earth
It is slowly disappearing
As spring is marching forth

There are many paths in life
Though we know not where each may lead
But of the many there is only one
That guides to the one we need