Rhymes for the Climb, Volume I

One of my main goals for publishing this book was to encourage all the members of the body of Christ to restore personal relationship with God as paramount in their lives from which all the others should proceed. So I put together a collection of poems that addresses a variety of circumstances that we, as Christians, encounter in our every day lives, then tried to bring God's perspective to them. I selected poems that have been born out of lessons that I have learned and wisdom that I have gained through the years. They cover a wide range of situations, many of which are not often addressed by the organized church. Hopefully, they are poems that will inspire love for God and our fellowman, faith and trust in God, and spiritual growth. I've learned that many people who profess to be followers of Christ rarely spend much time, effort or money seeking His purpose for their lives or His wisdom from above to apply to their everyday lives. In the last couple of decades, it seems that relationships with the pastor, priest, and congregation, plus corporate worship and fellowship have superseded personal relationship, communion and fellowship with God, along with daily accountability to Him in their personal lives. So now instead of asking the Lord if they are pleasing in His sight and pursuing His purpose for their lives, as they should since Jesus Christ died to be our only intercessor, they are more inclined to look to their spiritual leaders and members of the congregation for confirmation and direction. This is not to say that those things do not have their place, or I would not have published this collection of poems. But I continue to focus on directing others to genuinely connect to God, the Father, through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. So this book is simply my way of helping some get there. And I work just as hard to assure that I do not create or encourage a dependency upon myself because Christ must increase and I must decrease .