Faith in Rhyme: Final Chapter

By J.D. Baskin

Faith In Rhyme: Final Chapter is the fourth and final book in a series of Faith in Rhyme books written by author and poet J. D. Baskin. This book, as did the prior three, contains poems of a wide-ranging subject matter but always pointing, in the end, to God. Each poem tells a story, whether based upon recent headlines, Bible stories, people personally known by the author, or in some cases, simply from the authors imagination.

It is the authors prayer that readers will be able to relate to what he has written and that each will receive a blessing. The clear and honest style expressed by the author will appeal to readers of all ages and will inspire them to spend time daily, reflecting on Gods grace and goodness.

The books subtitle of Final Chapter indicates that this fourth book will end the series of Faith in Rhyme books written by the author. Any future writings will be under a new series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973631996

J.D. Baskin

J.D. Baskin was born and raised in a small country town in Southeastern Oklahoma. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he spent the majority of his working life with one group of companies, from which he retired as president. He and Eloise, his wife of 59 years, are at home in Waco, Texas. Their church membership is with the Woodway First United Methodist Church in Woodway, Texas. They have three grown children; Kevin, Karla and Kristy, who have families of their own, and have provided several grandchildren and great-grandchildren, all of whom J.D. and Eloise are extremely proud.

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Copyright © 2018 J. D. Baskin.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3198-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3200-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3199-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018907309

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/3/2018

CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

They Called Him Billy

Long May She Wave

The Long Journey Home

And God Said

What Is A Christian?

9 - 1 - 1

Legend Of The Sand Dollar

Loving Hands

Fear And Worry

Prophets

The Lost Generation

Prayer

What Will The Future Hold

One Name In Stone

Are We Alone?

Parable Of The Weeds

Headlines

Harvey

Doors

Abigail

In An Instant He Was Gone

Will God Send An Angel

Salvation - It’s Yours If You Want It

Willie Smiled

Walking Alone

How Can Anyone Doubt

Samson

The Lighted Cross

Loving Fathers - Trusting Sons

The Fisherman

David And Goliath

Don’t Worry

The Magi

Christmas Acrostic

True Colors

On Your Mark

Warning

Addie Rose

Words

Perfect Storm

24/7 - 365

Mrs. O’malley’s Mouse

On The Road

God, Our Amazing Provider

Yellow Bandana

Choose Wisely

For God And Country

Forgiveness

His Six-Day Creation

Fond Memories

Via Dolorosa

In The Blink Of An Eye

Spare Change

Wild Bill

The King’s Son

Cowboys’ Hymn

Hard Times - Good Times

The Good Samaritan

Gone Fishing

The Ultimate Promise

Lost And Alone

The Three I Love

Bob Hope Must Be In Heaven

Thank You

Why Would He Die For Me?

Larry Bobby

Nantan - The Preacher Man

Last Day?

Please, Just A Sip Of Water

I’m There For You

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book

FIRST: To The Holy Trinity

SECOND: To my wife Eloise, and our family –

our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

THIRD: To all the men and women who proudly serve our country and those who have previously served our country in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

FOREWORD

Every day we have thousands of encounters. We meet people and have conversations with them. We experience the natural world that surrounds us, and we consume a variety of print and digital media. Most of these interactions we do not give much thought to. We are too busy, distracted, do not listen, or we are simply unaware. But what would happen if we took the time to truly consider all these encounters. Would we see something more in the normal everyday things of life? Is there something greater that can be revealed?

I believe there is more to our daily lives. The writings in this book are evidence of that. J.D. has a gift of seeing something more in the things most of us overlook. He takes daily encounters and looks beyond. In doing so, he finds life lessons, deeper meaning, and new insights. His writings show that there is so much more to life and that many times we have over looked the blessings and treasures that are right in front of us.

As a pastor, one of the things I often hear people say is, God just does not speak to me. I believe that God speaks to each of us, but we fail to listen or see how God speaks. We miss it because many times God speaks through the ordinary encounters we have. J.D. takes the time to listen and see. He considers the people he meets, the world around him, and words he hears. His writings not only give new insights to his world, but also challenge the reader to consider how God speaks to them in their world.

I hope and pray that his writings will touch your life as they have touched mine. I also hope and pray that they are transformational, in that they help you see God in the everyday.

Grace and Peace,

Bryan Patrick

Senior Pastor

Woodway First United Methodist Church

PREFACE

F A I T H

The word appears a great number of times throughout the Bible. It refers to our spiritual trust in God, and in Jesus.

In his writings, Paul wrote often about faith. And in my Life Application Study Bible I find at least forty references to faith, as found in just the four gospels.

One of my favorite stories of faith is found in Luke, Chapter 5. (The story is also found in the books of Matthew and Mark, but Luke has always been my favorite.) Bible quotation from NIV

"One day as He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were all sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, ‘Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk?’ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins … He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately, he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’"

In this wonderful story of faith, it was not just the faith of the man who was paralyzed, it was also the faith of all of his friends who lifted him on his mat and carried him to Jesus, and lowered him down so that he might be healed.

Through faith, the man was able to take up his mat and walk home on his own power, and he did so praising God.

We cannot make another person a Christian through our faith, but our faith affects others nonetheless. So, we must display our faith to others through the way we live our lives every day, in hopes that Jesus will use our words and actions of faith, to help bring others to Him.

That is the purpose and intent of the poems in this book, as it was in my three previous books of similar name. This is the fourth and final book in a series of four, about Faith in Rhyme. The poems in this book were written over the past year or so, and are based some on Bible stories; some from my own imagination, and some of them are written about people I have known, but ALL of them were written only through God’s help.

I hope you enjoy reading them, and I hope you receive a blessing from them.

J.D. Baskin

THEY CALLED HIM BILLY

He was born on November 7, 1918,

in a farmhouse near Charlotte, North Carolina.

He was destined to travel the world for God,

preaching His word, from Timbuktu to China.

His father was a dairy farmer,

and his mother named him William Franklin Graham.

He ultimately became a fisher of men for God,

but caught his first fish in a farm pond where he often swam.

He was the eldest of four children,

with two younger sisters and a younger brother.

His father was a strict disciplinarian,

but they all worked hard and loved one another.

His heart’s desire when he was young,

was to someday become a big-league baseball player.

But God had something else in mind for him,

for he was to become Gods great message conveyor.

He graduated high school in 1936,

and from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1943.

He preached his first sermon in a small Baptist church in 1937,

for by then he already knew what God wanted him to be.

He married Ruth Bell, his college classmate,

On August 13, 1943.

It was truly a match made in Heaven,

one which God would for sixty-four years oversee.

They had five children.

Three girls and two boys in that order of succession.

And the eldest son whose name is Franklin,

would someday follow in his father’s profession.

Billy’s first revival was held in a circus tent,

in Los Angeles, California in 1949.

He had planned it to last for three weeks,

but it ran eight weeks instead, by God’s design.

The longest revival meeting Billy ever preached,

was in Madison Square Garden in New York City.

That meeting ran every night for sixteen weeks,

and even then, when it closed some thought it a pity.

His first international revival was back in the 40’s,

and he met the Queen of England during a 1956 U.K. crusade.

He preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to two million there,

and many an English soul was saved.

Just As I Am must have been his favorite song,

because he authored a book by that name.

He hosted a radio program called the Hour of Decision,

and was never overly comfortable with all of his fame.

He was the spiritual counselor to many presidents over the years,

from Dwight Eisenhower to Barak Obama.

He was closest to Eisenhower, Johnson and Nixon,

but was disappointed by all the Nixon melodrama.

He held annual Billy Graham crusades from 1947 to 2005.

He reached more people for Jesus than any other.

His message was always simple.

That God loves you, and we should love one another.

He personally witnessed and preached to many.

Some 215 million in 185 countries through 400 crusades.

To bring them the gospel of Jesus and His love,

over the period of more than six decades.

As of 2008, his lifetime audience including radio, TV and in person,

was greater than 2.2 billion people worldwide.

More than 3,200,000 souls have been saved as a result,

when they accepted the truth that Jesus was, for them crucified.

God’s man without doubt.

Billy Graham served Him