An old man came to say hello to me when we were visiting our daughter Tabitha’s church on Sunday. He introduced himself as Bill and then, as happens very often, the conversation started with, ‘You must be Tabitha’s mum because you look so alike.’ He went on to tell me how wonderful she is (also usual when people talk to me about Tabitha!) and then he suddenly stopped and said, ‘Would you like to read some of my poetry?’ In the moment I thought it best to politely say yes, but as I did I felt like the Lord telling me that this was not going to be just a kindness to the old man, but an unexpected blessing for me. He went back to his chair and pulled two books from his bag of his poetry that he had self-published. He gave them to me and went on his way.
As I stood waiting for the rest of the family to gather to leave, I skimmed through the book. The first poem I read was called ‘The Beacon’ and it seemed to describe the goal of the Inspire Beacon of Hope newsletter! As I read on in the books I felt the Spirit ministering to me again and again. This week the Lord has indeed given me an unexpected blessing. We hope to share more of Bill’s poetry through the year because I know that Jesus will speak to a lot of people through his poems.
The Beacon
A beacon shines before me
As I travel through this night,
This hope that lies before me
Will always be my light;
And, should I ever wander
That path shines bright as day;
The beacon of my Saviour
Will always show the way.
This beacon is the answer
With every passing hour,
This beacon is my certain hope
When earthly hopes turn sour.
And, when my life draws to a close
And I reach my final goal,
This beacon draws me closer
To the One who makes me whole.
From Thrice Blessed: A Collection of Poems, by William Thomas
Samantha is an Inspire Missioner and coordinates the editorial team for the Inspire newsletters
