How noble must the Saviour be? How could He serve God best?
One miracle for all to see? A healing touch that blessed?
A prophecy for all to hear? A word of knowledge shared?
A servant's heart throughout each year? Long prayers to prove He cared?
A psalm of praise to write and sing? Share parables as well?
Perhaps a precious tithe to bring? Or strongly warn of Hell?
Or simply say, 'Be born again!' and thus help minds transform?
Or walk on water now and then? Control the raging storm?

Or bring God's Kingdom not by force... just preaching with a smile?
Or ride a donkey, not a horse? Or walk the second mile?
I know that Christ was Heaven-sent... and Holy Spirit led,
He wanted sinners to repent... that's why Christ's Blood was shed...
The Lamb of God was crucified... and yet He chose to stay...
His precious life was sacrificed... to take our sins away...
How noble must the Saviour be? Enough to die for us...
We found that out through Calvary... the day we found JESUS!

Denis Martindale March 2018.

Was this one week just one more week? Just seven days, no more?
Or was this week something unique... for which God had plans for?
If so, then what? Good News or not? Life's such a mystery...
Was there some plot someone had got... to end in tragedy?
Lord Jesus knew what this week meant... no need to tell Him so...
His miracles were Heaven-sent... yet soon He had to go...
To leave behind disciples here... tormented by their grief,
With every kind of mortal fear... and even disbelief...

His heart grew heavy deep within... no wonder that Christ prayed,
Yet Christ was born to die for sin... death must not be delayed...
But Jesus trusted God each day... awaiting destiny...
Gethsemane gave time to pray... till Judas, He would see...
The prophecies must come to pass... the whip, the crown, the Cross...
Man's wisdom but a fragile farce... Christ's life itself the loss...
And soon my Saviour's Blood was shed... the end for Christ was nigh...
By faith, my Saviour paid Man's debt... as Mary wept nearby...

Behold the Lamb of God, indeed... no other lamb for me...
Because His Cross fulfilled each need... that day... on Calvary...

Denis Martindale March 2018.

'What's Easter all about?' they ask, 'What's Easter all about?'
And so I set about the task... to share my faith not doubt...
I spoke of Easter hymns I knew... and Isaac Watts as well,
Who wrote his hymns for me, for you... with such a tale to tell...
The greatest story ever told was his delight to share,
Six hundred hymns, as good as gold... as he took time to care...
Yet Isaac didn't die for us upon a cross of wood...
For that honour fell to Jesus, the only One who could...

Denis Martindale April 2018.

There was a time of utmost grief,
A dalliance with disbelief,
Depression came as though a thief,
Alas, that time was long not brief…
Below the mouth that hides my teeth,
I bore my burden like a wreath
And there it dangled underneath,
The emblem of my sorrow…

Yet I persisted, day by day,
Knowing that it chose to stay,
Causing me to pause and pray,
Asking why God should delay…
Yet melancholy had its way,
Causing my wrecked soul to stray,
With that ****** wreath still on display,
The emblem of my sorrow…

Upon a quest I chose to go,
Perchance that then my strength would grow,
Perchance new hope would overflow,
To combat dark thoughts borne of woe…
And only then, God made me know,
The awesome debt to Christ I owe,
Till at His Cross I knelt below,
The emblem of my sorrow…

Denis Martindale April 2018.

Lord Jesus knew what this week meant... no need to tell Him so...
His miracles were Heaven-sent... yet soon He had to go...
To leave behind disciples here... tormented by their grief,
With every kind of mortal fear... and even disbelief...
The prophecies must come to pass... the whip, the crown, the Cross...
Man's wisdom but a fragile farce... Christ's life itself the loss...
And soon my Saviour's Blood was shed... the end for Christ was nigh...
By faith, my Saviour paid Man's debt... as Mary wept nearby...
Behold the Lamb of God, indeed... no other lamb for me...
Because His Cross fulfilled each need... that day... on Calvary...
Yet let's rejoice that God forgives, despite Man's evil hours...
God raised His Son, Lord Jesus lives! He's yours, He's mine, He's ours!

Denis Martindale April 2018.

When Jesus died for you, for me... did Jesus die in vain?
He left behind a legacy... a treasure we might gain...
The crown of thorns Christ had to bear... His robe gone, more or less...
Meant crowns of glory saints could wear... and robes of righteousness...
Beyond the sorrows and the loss... beyond the dreadful pain...
God gave Christ hope... beyond the Cross... death's power to restrain...
The promise of eternity... the Bride of Christ and more...
That's why Christ died for you, for me... no matter, rich or poor...
But what a price Christ had to pay... with John and Mary there...
Six hours long He had to stay... each evil sin to bear...
And when Christ died, He took them all, so that God could forgive...
Amazing grace... God's miracle... God's gift that we might live...
That's why a billion saints proclaim... We're saved! I'm saved! It's true!
And yet I ask in Jesus Name... Has Jesus saved you, too?

Denis Martindale April 2018.

The Saviour stood a broken man... scourged by the Roman whips...
Aware that death was still God's plan... as even more blood drips...
So all Mankind would look to Christ... then see their Saviour there,
Aware that He was sacrificed... for all Man's sins to bear...
The Holy One, God's only Son... the Lamb of God, indeed,
No angels stopping what was done... for Jesus had to bleed...
Yet for Mankind, the Saviour prayed... 'Forgive, them, Father, please...'
To prove He cared and still obeyed... to bring lost souls His peace...
The Gospels don't explain each pain... that Jesus Christ endured,
The pain that drove most men insane... till finally, death cured...

Lord Jesus held on to His faith... awaiting Paradise...
Outstanding courage... Oh, so brave... for He must pay sin's price...
Then it was done... His head slumped down... and Mary wept for sure...
Did John pick up the fallen crown... the crown his friend once wore?
Could God raise Jesus from the dead? John was afraid to ask...
Could God restore the blood Christ shed? Was that too hard a task?
Disciples come, disciples go... John grieved then walked away...
Because, you see, he didn't know... the power of that day...
But Sunday came... and Good News, too... John's friend had conquered death...
How do I know that God loves you? JESUS OF NAZARETH!


Denis Martindale April 2018.

Don’t you feel that we really belong because
There are windmills in your eyes
Darker than for your mother’s sadness when she goes
Away into the loneliness in her kitchen:
And there doesn’t have to be any more reason for these
Tattoos except that I went away to Spain so many odd years
Ago:
I barely graduated high school: a truant with a purple
And silver jaw who is no longer beautiful-
Lost so long ago: kidnapped by the long extinctions of fireworks:
Each peeling whistle strangely reminiscent of our lives together,
Until collected under another school bus, I have nothing
Else to do but to listen to the long day as it rains
In fake knives- and my Muse named Alma turns in,
Frowning over my misuse of the queens language and all of
My scars, scarred like a spearing pylon
Presumptuous in the bay that the terrapins circle, with jokes
And farts, as she bites her fingernails,
And the green cannons bask in the seashells of the afternoon sky:
It might as well be Easter with the beauty resurrected there:
And the airplanes like metamorphosed school buses,
And the stewardesses languishing there, high atop the
Revolutions and serving drinks, smiling with the affable
Insouciance that I remembered all of my sweet hearts giving to me
From high school.

praying to dad, kneeling in the cool of the day, feeling cursed as an olive tree, lost in the red-deep shadows of inevitable choice, looking through tears, years in the making, staring into the stillness of a longest goodnight, with a dry kiss goodbye, facing an undeniable betrayal, secure in the blooded palm of God's hand, in agony