Dogwood

By Thomas Kruger (The Poet)

The Dogwood, so I was told was the wood of the cross and Jesus. It is a beautiful tree, and the picture is the tree in my front yard. He continues to fill my soul with his blessings and miracles as I give to him, through these poems, all the glory and praise. Amen. PS. The bureau of motor vehicles sends me the POET license plate every year and have done so for many years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781098013400

Book preview

Nothing Less Than Your Best

The greatest story ever told

Is written down on the pages of the holy of Holy Bible’s book,

The only way to receive of its greatness

Is to open it up and look

It is the story of life

The story of life from beginning to end,

The story of creation and the fall of mankind

And the sacrificial lamb that took upon himself to bear our sin

This gift of Christ’s saving grace is not a given

It’s something in your heart that you must believe,

Then reach out in faith to receive

Make GOD your guide through life As the Holy Spirit makes his abode within,

That you may share to your corner of the world

Our Lord and Savior, the cross, and Christ’s forgiveness of sin

Our Father God offered up his only begotten Son As a sacrifice for mankind’s damnation of sin,

The only cure is faith and saving grace

Received when you invite the Lord of life to come and live within

Being saved is not to set around and be idol

It is to reach out and plant and water for the harvest,

Giving your all to the Lord God of grace of your very, very, of nothing less than your best

(P. T. L. # 1587 9-8-2018)

All the Rest of My Days

I just want to be me

Nobody else but me,

Filled to the full and overflowing

With Jesus inside for all to see

Before I came to know the Lord

I didn’t know what I wanted out of life,

He gave to me in the beginning a beautiful and loving wife,

And five beautiful girls to light up my life

But all this did not fill the gap to the full

Of that which I felt in my soul within,

Then after forty years of life without Jesus

A whole new outlook on life did truly and wonderfully begin

When I took Jesus as my Lord and Savior

Poems began to flow out of my heart,

I no more than finished one poem

And another one would start

Book after book Year after year,

Those books have been written and published

And distributed both far and near

To share the love of Jesus with others

Is the reason that this gift to me of God was given,

And I will serve him in this manner with joy and praise

All the rest of my God given days of living

God bestows upon all those who come to him

Greater reasons for life and living,

Of special ways to reach out to others

Through the gifts to us that he has given

(P. T. L. # 1588 2018 9-8)

Life and Death

Of friends, relatives, and all our loved ones

We lose more and more each passing year,

Growing old is supposed to be the golden years

But they are mostly filled with aches and pains and tears

We must do our best to comfort one another

To help others through the burdens that they bear,

We must show them the love that comes from the heart

And with prayer place them in the hands of Jesus and his gentle care

Reaching out

Is what Christians were born again to do,

Reaching out to others

Is God’s mission with love given to me and to you

We are God’s helpers in this dark world

Spreading the light of Jesus everywhere,

This is Satan’s decadent world

But take heart, Jesus has promised for us to always be there

We have nothing to fear

We who have accepted Christ into our heart.

He is there with us through all our trials

With his promise to never from us to depart

Satan’s reign has an end The lake of fire is final destiny,

Our home is in heaven above

Where from this world and these aching bodies we will be forever set free

Thank you Lord for your solemn promise

To always be there for us,

We thank you o’ Father God

For your precious and only begotten son Lord Jesus

(P. T. L. # 1589 9-9-2018)

No Less Than God’s Best

Walk the straight and narrow

Reach out to those around you,

Do what you do and all that you do to spread GOD’s glory

As you become one with the faithful few

Honor the LORD always in all

Use those gifts that he has given,

Use them every moment of every hour of every GOD-given day

Continually rejoicing in the Christian life that you are now living

JESUS has given you newness of life

And a brand-new start,

Let’s not fail him in any way

As we thank him for his gift to us of a cleansed heart

He is the light that lightens heaven

And he is also the light that lightens our soul,

That we may reach out and touch our corner of the world

As we make that our life’s most uppermost goal

GOD didn’t save us

Just for us to dillydally around,

He lifted us out of the dunghill

And placed us up on higher ground

He gave us a greater purpose in life

He gave us power over the enemy,

He gave us a greater reason for living

And that’s the truth to live by, given to us by the Holy Trinity

We must serve GOD as long as we have the breath of life

He gave his all for you and me,

We must do no less for him

And this I think that we will all agree

(P. T. L. # 1590 9-23-2018)

The Final Toll of the Bell

I am so tired and weak

That I can hardly move, I know not of what I’ve got

I’ve been coughing and snotty for over a week

And of sleep, very little have I got

I’ve prayed

But as of yet I have gotten no answer,

My desire is to feel better

As I continue to pray to God for a cure

I have obligations to my Lord

To continue to reverently do,

And I pray for his answers

To come miraculously shining through

I have Bible study and church to contend

And bone specialists and doctors to see,

Appointments to partake in

And Christian poems to write and share with thee

I desire to be with JESUS and my wife

In heaven’s glorious abode,

And be rid of this world

And its heavy load

I am still writing

And I pray to continue to do so,

Spreading the salvation message

And his love wherever that I go

I love my JESUS

And I pray every day that I will get well,

There is so much to do and so little time

Before that final toll of the bell

(P. T. L. # 1591 9-23-20128)

Life in JESUS

No matter what happens

JESUS is in control,

Through sickness and health

He watches over our soul

Don’t ever give up

No matter what,

He is always with you

He is the best friend that you’ve got

He doesn’t always answer our prayers

Like we think he should,

But he always brings about

The ultimate good

Never cease to pray

Through the good times and the bad,

Sharing with others the blessings in JESUS

That you’ve had

He is with us

Through thick and thin,

No matter what

In prayer take it all to him

He stills the waters

He moves the mountains,

His blessings flow

Like an artesian well’s fountain

Life in JESUS

Is the greatest life that you will ever come to know,

Trust him with your all of everything

Continuing in him to grow

(P. T. L. # 1592 9-23-2018)

Overflowing with Praise

Hallaluehallalue, hallaluehallalue

Hallalue Jesus, I love you,

Nothing but praises fills my heart

Of praises of not a few

I write for his glory

And not for mine,

For all these poems that he has given to me

Is praises to him on every line

He’s brought me through

Many a trial,

And taken my sad times

And replaced them with a smile

I can’t stay down Lord

When you’re around,

And you are always there

To lift me up when I am down

So much love

So much love that you offer and give,

I don’t know how anyone

Could without you live

I know that I was forty years old

Before I reached out to you,

And I regret every year of it

And I praise you Lord that your light came shining through

I pray of that which you have given to me

Will reach out and touch other’s lives,

And that they will do the same for others

Till that day of that catching away arrives

A-MEN

(P. T. L. # 1593 9-24-2018)

A Day like No Other

There will come a day

A day like no other shall ever be,

It’s that day that CHRIST comes back high in the sky

Coming back for you and for me

Angels like stars filling the heavens

Lighting up the sky,

The sound of rejoicing everywhere to be heard

As the saints become glorified as they rise

O’ what wonder and joy awaits us

As we shed the old and receive the new,

Reuniting again with long ago passed loved ones

Where the sky is always bonnie blue

Love will fill our hearts without measure

As we sing hallelujah to the LORD GOD of glory,

What a wonderful ending to a Christian life

And their loving mortal life’s story

We will rejoice without end

As we take on the new,

Singing those old familiar carols

With the angels and Alice and I and Jesus and you

O’ for those ivory palaces

And the peace that’s beyond anything that we have ever