I Have Lost My Younger Brother

I HAVE LOST MY YOUNGER BROTHER 

After Luke 15:18-19 and 21

(New King James Version)

My younger brother is

An abusive, arrogant rogue.

He has sinned and has sinned even more

Against heaven and before me,

And he is no longer worthy

To be called my brother.

The crimes he has committed against me 

Over a period of many years

Include assault and battery,

Theft and vandalism.

Is there a limit to the number

Of crimes he would commit against me?

My younger brother is

An abusive, arrogant rogue.

He has sinned and has sinned even more 

Against heaven and in my sight,

And is no longer worthy

To be called my brother.

Matthew 18:21-22

(New King James Version)

Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"

Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

A portrait of my kid brother R. (which could stand for rogue),

the (childish) brother whom I have lost

(Photo copyright 2005 Evelyn M. Gilmer)

The Devil Is on the Prowl

Kit Fox is on the prowl? So is my accuser (and my abuser), the devil.

(Cover illustration copyright 2006 Roger Gilmer)

From the Common English Bible:

1 Peter 5:8-9

Be clearheaded. Keep alert. Your accuser, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith. Do so in the knowledge that your fellow believers are enduring the same suffering throughout the world.

To learn more about the Common English Bible, click here.

A portrait of the author of Kit Fox is On the Prowl.

He is "The Devil's Idiot," 

a man with a chip on his shoulder.

I call him Rogue.

(Photo copyright 2005 Evelyn M. Gilmer)

Daily Bible Reading - September 8th, 2019 | American Bible Society

Daily Bible Reading - September 8th, 2019 | American Bible Society: Luke 12:41-59 (Good News Translation): Today’s reading begins with Peter questioning Jesus’s parable about the watchful servant (see Luke 12:35-40 from yesterday’s reading). By means of another parable, Jesus continues to teach about being faithful. When he speaks of division within households, he confronts his hearers with the challenge of what it means to follow him and embrace his teachings.

The Final Say: Going About

THE FINAL SAY: GOING ABOUT

by Monty Gilmer

The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) that word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

     PETER

     The Bible: Acts 10:36-38 (King James Version)

I read

In a book

That a man called

Christ

Went about doing good.

It is very disconcerting to me

That I am so easily

Satisfied

With just

Going about.

     GEORGE SMALL

     Quoted by my mother Evelyn M. Gilmer

     Original source unknown

"Good Friday" by Christina G. Rossetti : Christ in Poetry

GOOD FRIDAY
by Christina G. Rossetti

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
   That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
   To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,

And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
   Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
   Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
   Which hid their faces in a starless sky.
   A horror of great darkness at broad noon --
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er
   But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
   Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.


Source: Christ in Poetry (1952), an anthology compiled and edited by Thomas Curtis Clark and Hazel Davis Clark

Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894)

English poet

"The Keys of the Kingdom": A Poem of Jesus Christ

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM
A Poem of Jesus Christ
from the Bible: Matthew 16:17-19 (King James Version)

Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona:
For flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee,
But my Father which is in heaven.
And I say also unto thee,
That thou art Peter,
And upon this rock I will build my church;
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee
The keys of the kingdom of heaven:
And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
Shall be bound in heaven;
And whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
Shall be loosed in heaven.