One Man’S Life and Thoughts: In Good Times and Bad -Volume 2

By Charles T. Johnson

"One Mans Thoughts and Life in Good time and Bad' is a compilation of Charles T. Johnson life and situations that he saw
and lived that gave him a thought to write about. He takes a situation and coverts into a story poem with a moral ending.
Every poem has a description following the poem that explains why it was written and the Spiritual lesson that he got from
that situation. The book is not totally about him but describes how all things can have a message that can show each of
us how we can view our life and learn how we all can growSpiritually in our own life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jul 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466936270

Charles T. Johnson

I grew up in the copper mines of Arizona and graduated from Arizona State University at Tempe, Arizona. My degree is bachelor of science in electrical engineering. My major job was director of world marketing for the Quartz Watch Program for Motorola. I left the engineering field and went into the financial newsletter business. Due to the return of polio in the form of postpolio syndrome, I had to accept disability and retire. I did not have any experience writing poetry. Then one night our next-door neighbor’s son was killed in an accident. I lay in bed that night, and for the first time in my life, a poem came to me. I got up and went to my computer and, in twenty minutes, wrote “He’s My Son Too.” With this, I started to write for several years until I ran out of any new ideas. So I just stopped, and after several years, I was encouraged to publish some of the 1,600 poems that I have written. I have gone through many different problems that I have put into the poems I have written. I hope that these poems are enjoyed each of you, some basics in life that I had never recognized myself.

Book preview

One Man’s Life 

and Thoughts

IN GOOD TIMES AND BAD 

-VOLUME 2

Charles T. Johnson

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©

Copyright 2012 Charles T. Johnson.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-3626-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-3628-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-3627-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012908447

Trafford rev. 05/09/2012

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Contents

He Gave His Heart

The Tapestry

God Changes Hearts

The Old Guitar

Father’s Day

Dusty Memories

From a Lump of Clay

Young Casey

A Mousy Tale

Feeding Squirrels

Did You Buy a Ticket?

The Hourglass

Growth

The Choir

He Dined with Kings

Clichés

Character

The Sins of the Father

Titles

It Must Be God’s Will

Rejection

Sing One Song for Me

Broken Promise

A Husband’s Wisdom

The Gift of Receiving

Revenge

The Trial

The Crystal Vase

The Tiny Ant

What Can We Do?

Favorite Things

The Letter

A Prayer of Thanks

Who Will Lead?

Scary Shadows

Things I Know

A Father’s Choice

Princess Ashley

Honesty

A Mother’s Love

The Hole

The Name

You’re Very Special

The Menu

The Dream

The Power of a Word

Their Best Friend

Pride

The Dollhouse

The Gray Area

Divorce

When God Speaks

Trust

The Broken Doll

Who Can Stop the Pain?

The Lawyer

The Big One

Kay Dubois

The Preacher’s Dilemma

Prayer of Forgiveness

Love Is Truth

The Conversation

Why Me, Lord?

Salvation: How Much?

The Week That Was

Fare Thee Well

My Fathers’ Box

Humility

The Champion

The Early Bird

Revelation

Mr. Lucky

Ruth

Good-Bye, Angels

Ruffles

Tomorrow There’ll Be Time

Who’s Your Friend?

Betrayal

My Special Angel

They’ve Moved!?

Help Wanted

My Way

A Mother’s Prayer

God’s Tool

Friends

There’s Just One Way

Our Last Christmas

The Owl’s Reply

The Class Leader

A Journey Back in Time

The Christmas Prayer

Where Blame Belongs

The Thirsty Miner

When He Comes

Patience or Faith?

Darryl’s Judgment

The Ideal Wife

The Final Battle

The Magnifying Glass

He Gave His Heart

"You called me Lord and here I am, I hope I’m right on time,

They couldn’t find another heart, so I had to do with mine."

I needed you, the Lord replied. You’re precious to my fold,

And here’s the heart I’ve saved for you, it’s one of solid gold.

For the Carson Stanford family

5/25/1996

from

Charles T. Johnson

The Tapestry

They’d had a picture marriage, it had weathered many years,

The picture looked so perfect, but in back were all the tears.

They always seemed to argue, using harsh and unkind names,

And they argued over many things, each time it was the same.

They rarely offered words of praise, or gave a loving glance,

And the glue that kept them bonded was only random chance.

So they struggled with their problems, rarely showing any love,

For long ago they’d given up, seeking nothing from above.

Their marriage was like a tapestry that had lost its colored hue,

And all the colors had just faded, and their love no longer grew.

Now once their love was woven with the love of God as thread,

Now the threads were broken, and without Him, love was dead.

So like a tattered tapestry with its threads all frayed by time,

A marriage needs reweaving, mending every thread so fine.

Faded colors can be brightened and renewed if truly sought,

If we’ll let God do the mending and redye and tie the knots.

Charles T. Johnson

5/27/96

The Tapestry is a poem that was inspired by a quote that Cathy gave me one afternoon as I was picking her up from work. She thought it was very meaningful. I think we spend too much time on our differences and not enough time enjoying the benefits of our successes. The quote is as follows:

Brightness is often found beneath a gloomy

surface. Consider a masterpiece. It may be

damaged but not destroyed. They simply need

expert, loving attention—just what we need too.

You are God’s work of art!

Perhaps one day, both of us can see that God has given us a life of blessing in the form of trials and tribulations. As we have gone through these stressful times, we have grown, and because of that growth, we have pleased God if we have used it to His glory.

God Changes Hearts

An old man told his grandchild a story about man’s heart,

How God had made it out of clay to play a loving part.

But he said that over time, man let his heart turn cold,

And then the heart began to change into a lump of coal.

And so the heart of hardened coal soon lost its will to love,

And it would harden even more by rejecting God above.

God then took the hardened heart and held it in His hand,

And the coal became a diamond, the brightest in the land.

Then God used His love as polish and the trials of life as grit,

Grinding every single facet till the diamond heart would fit.

And when His work was finished, and it fit His loving mold,

He smiled and turned the diamond into a heart of solid gold.

Charles T. Johnson

6/1/96

God Changes Hearts tells how God is the maker and controller of our heart.

The Old Guitar

It had stood there in the corner and was covered o’er with dust,

Its body cracked and broken, and its frets had turned to rust.

For years it’d long been silent, not a sound had left its strings,

It had once been played by Goya, he had made that guitar sing.

But it was now all covered over by the dust of time and years,

It had stood silent in the corner, long forgotten were the cheers.

And if care had been provided, it might still bring forth a song,

But now it set there worthless, its neglect had been too long.

Now its value was too little that it wouldn’t bring much cash,

So with little thought or sadness, it was thrown into the trash.

In an alley filled with refuse, it’d lay there broken and alone,

There’d be no concerts or recitals, just a dumpster for a home.

And so as the night was falling, and the winter wind blew cold,

The old guitar lay useless, such a tragic sight there to behold.

But wandering down the alley, came an old and weary bum,

Who took that broken instrument and began to softly strum.

At first the sounds were awful, as it had long been out of tune,

But with patience he persisted, there beneath that winter moon.

His fingers moved like lightning, and he had that certain flair,

And the old man, though unpracticed, made his music fill the air.

Now soon the sounds had drifted to the neighbors near and far,

And they all began to gather for this concert ’neath the stars.

The music filled their hearts with joy, they uttered not a word,

And in awe they stood in silence from the music that they heard.

I didn’t know that old guitar could ever sound like that again,

Said the man who had owned it and had thrown it into the bin.

"I’ll take it back and keep it now that I know it can be played,

Thank you, sir, for your recital and the music that you’ve made."

His little girl then touched his arm, and in tears we heard her say,

"You said you didn’t want it, it was broken and wouldn’t play.

And you said it had no value, it was too weathered and too old,

But this old man has fixed it, now it’s worth its weight in gold."

It is with his magic fingers that the guitar now sounds like new,

It’s like a golden harp from heaven, with a choir of angels too.

Please let him keep and play it, for he deserves the very best,

His music is from heaven, and he’s a maestro God has blessed.

Charles T. Johnson

6/5/96

The Old Guitar shows that the value of an instrument is in the hands of the one who plays it.

Father’s Day

Now tradition sets one day aside for families to observe,

A time to honor fathers with the love that he deserves.

A family should show honor so that everyone will know,

That he is honored as their father,