This is the time for faith
As when the sun is shining
And the wind is calm and cool
Do we bask in the peace of life
Requiring nothing of our faith

What need of faith exists
Among the song of wine
During the nights of love
Within the family of brotherhood?
Indeed these are faith fulfilled

For the hope of peace
Comes in times of war
And the call for strength
In the times of powerlessness
Testing the very thing we hold dear

Faith

Amongst us also is the liar!
Do you hear him speak as yourself?
What will I do, I must do something!
How will we survive this world now?
I must take action to protect!
I must speak to protest!
I must gather for my family!
I must turn away the stranger!
I must curse the wrong doers
And proclaim my idea of right!

Fools we are to listen to ourselves
For the noise is a lie – not even ours
To take us from our faith
To paralyze us with great fear
To cause us to question God
For the insanity prepared by the devil!

No – these are the times for faith
To remember who we are
To remember who our God is
To remember peace and live it
To remember grace and offer it
To remember understanding and share it
To remember love and give it
To remember goodness and do it

To remember that God is our leader
And we are to follow Him

Not with fear or panic
Not with worry and doubt
Not with confusion and sorrow
Not with bitterness and wrath
For all these are of flesh
And not one is of God’s spirit of life

Yes we will fall
Yes we will stumble
Yes we will ask and wonder
Yes we will not know the outcome
For the outcomes are God’s
And the work of life is ours

Therefore now more than ever
Trust God, clean house, help others
Focus on life and not darkness
Focus on wisdom and not insanity
Focus on service and not gain
Focus on God and not self

For the self will convince us
Of many a great worry and hardship
But the spirit aligned with God
Feels no such weight of insecurity

The world is made for darkness
While the earth laments our blindness
As beauty surrounds us always
And goodness is never far off
Indeed peace in known when sought
And righteousness is found when desired

Therefore let us remember
That our lives are in God’s hands
Though men seek otherwise
And let us not forget
That we cannot be taken from life
Until our own appointed time by God

And that very path though dark
Leads back to the realm of life
And the hardship of today
Brings the blessing of humility
And the result of great peace
With unity amongst men and God

Let us remember our faith
That all things are as they need be
For a larger goal and purpose
Than any one has wisdom to see
As we are intelligent to a stone
Likewise is evil more intelligent than us
But even it is as a worthless trinket
Before the wisdom of God

Who shall we trust in our time of need?
Shall it be our fearful, unknowing self?
Shall it be another man or woman
Who is just as fearful as us?
Perhaps a system designed by men?
Or an idea formed by flesh?

This is our choice
To live by fear
Or to live by faith
Choose faith – choose God
For none on earth
Can stop what is to come
And there is One who will be with us
And guide us and protect us
If we so choose to follow
That One is God – the origin of life
The One who gave us faith
In the first place.
The very One who proves faith.

Ryan o0o