by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Jonathan Koefoed is Associate Professor of History and Director of the Honors Program at Belhaven University, where he teaches courses in American history and the history of thought. He is particularly interested in the dynamic relationship between ideas, their historical context, and the way that any historical idea or author can illuminate the ubiquitous human quest for a good life. His previous intellectual journey involved postdoctoral work at the University of Texas at Austin, a PhD in History from Boston University, an MA in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University, and a BA in Philosophy and History from Arizona State University. His scholarly research focuses on transatlantic intellectual history, particularly the romantic movement and its influence on US thought and culture. His articles have appeared in Symbiosis: A Journal of Anglo-American Literary Relations and Religions, and his reviews have appeared in such journals as the Journal of Transatlantic Studies and American Nineteenth Century History.

By The Rivers of Babylon

by Matthew Clark

The endless voices whisper,

all our hopes are only dreams

No Deliverer is coming,

that we are blind in our belief 

but in the land where we all sojourn,

with its beauty and its ash

I will sing still for the Kingdom

and a King who’s coming back 

CHORUS

by the rivers of Babylon 

we will sing a gospel song in a foreign land

While the nations all are raging,

hear the Lord in heaven laugh 

we will stand upon his promise,

the ways of men will never last, 

and like a seed is to a tree,

in the twinkling of an eye 

we will see the heavens open,

we will meet him in the sky

CHORUS

BRIDGE

there will be no word for lonely

In the Kingdom Jesus brings

Every fear shall be forgotten 

and all will be made clean

all the merciful will know him 

The pure will touch his face

See the children bear his banner 

and the slandered share his name

Soon the river of our exile 

Will become a holy spring 

While the bent tree with its bitter fruit 

It will never grow again 

Now, the face that showed us kindness 

Met our thirst by Jacob’s well 

He will clothe us in his garments 

He will marry us himself

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Susan Cowger is the author of a poetry collection, Slender Warble (Wipf & Stock/Cascade, 2020), and a chapbook, Scarab Hiding (Finishing Line Press, year 2006). Founder and editor emeritus of Rock & Sling, her most recent publications include Ekphrastic Review, Windhover, Perspectives, Crux, McGuffin, Presence, and In A Strange Land: Introducing Ten Kingdom Poets (2019). She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Eastern Washington University and her BA in Art with teaching credentials from Montana State University. Married to Dana for forty-seven years, she has four children and twenty-two grandchildren. (I know, she finds this rather shocking too.) Contact her on Facebook and at susancowger.com.

In the Waters

by Matthew Clark

I was scared for my life 

Saw the ship was capsizing 

And the Lord lay asleep while the storm raged 

I was losing my mind 

All the darkness was blinding 

Till the Lord with a word stilled the chaos 

In the waters, in the waters 

I’ve seen life go so wrong 

Seen the best sink in sadness 

Till the dark seemed their only companion

But I’ve seen Jesus come save

Walking out upon the waves 

With his feet planted firm in the madness  

In the waters, in the waters 

Interlude 

And some days nothing makes sense  

Lord, the still place is spinning 

And the center can’t hold for much longer 

So won’t you bring us your song 

As the howling grows stronger 

Your voice is an anchor, Your voice is an anchor, Your voice is an anchor to me

In the waters, in the waters 

BRIDGE

I can hear it, I can hear it, I can hear it coming through 

Through the storm, through the darkness (I can hear it coming through)

In the places I was sure your love had left me 

Every night I was sleepless 

But the beauty of the moonlight was you singing 

When the flames tore the house down

There were friends who became my home and family 

So I know you will not fail 

That your love, my God, endures forever 

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Anita K. Palmer has always turned to pen and paper to figure out what she thinks, feels, and believes. That propensity launched a career when she fell into editing a Christian publication, which—unrelated to her hiring—soon went to magazine heaven. The experience failed to squelch an appetite for editorial work that included thirteen years in daily newspapers and five as a university media relations officer. For two decades she has worked with publishers and individuals on upward of 125 nonfiction books, and has written more web content, blog posts, newsletters and marketing materials than she cares to count. Born and reared in Southern California, she now lives in Colorado. She is blessed with many dear friends and one kind and brilliant adult son.

Take to the Fields 

by Matthew Clark

I saw a man with a bleeding heart 

A bleeding heart 

Ragged as the wind, eager to begin 

Oh, his eyes they were clear as gold 

Searching out the crags  

Tender, strong and sad 

Gave up all he had, left his home behind him 

Gone a-seeking 

CHORUS

If you got eyes to see

Come keep watch with me 

If you got ears to hear 

I pray you know 

The Lord is near

I saw a house full of shepherds in repose 

Moths ate off their clothes 

All naked emperors, wrapped in soothing words 

But you skinned your knees when you slid to break my fall 

I howled up at the moon 

When the salt got in the wound, the fire licked my tomb 

And fire rolled like water there to cleanse me 

So take to the fields, oh take to the roads 

Wonder at the thorns that bite into the rose 

Cut down to the bones

Take your pail and gather where you can 

The field is ripe with grain, and scattered sheep like sand 

Too little callous on my hands, there is mercy on the wind 

If you can hear it 

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Amber Salladin is a conductor, pianist, worship leader, singer, organist, and educator based in Manhattan, New York. Amber has worked in churches and for professional choruses in Vancouver, Canada, and London, UK. She is the Music Director at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Arts and Ministry Director for the C. S. Lewis Foundation, Music Teacher at Geneva School of Manhattan, conductor of the Academy for Teachers Chorus, Online Leader for United Adoration, and Principal Pianist and Board Member of the New York Session Symphony. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Jim and their two boys Caleb (boy soprano) and Peter (future electric guitarist).

The Word Became Flesh

by Matthew Clark

Driving up to Memphis 

A bitter winter night it was 

When my engine froze to death 

And I called you from the roadside 

You left your bed and drove the miles to find me

The frozen street turned into home with family

CHORUS

The Word, the word, the word … became flesh 

I sat down at your table 

And the plate you set before me 

In your small apartment kitchen 

Was a simple meal you made 

But the bread we broke flung wide the palace doors 

And I tasted of the goodness of the Lord

BRIDGE

What you’ve got to give is what he gave to you 

Like a still small voice, it may not seem like it’s enough 

But you can let the song ring out in a wilderness of doubt

Ever since the word became flesh  

God he opened up his mouth 

The sun rose bright as a golden ring 

When he knelt to say ‘I love you’ 

A bride awoke to sing  

Don’t think your voice too poor to join the song 

The smallest touch moves symphonies along

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Lancia E. Smith is an author, photographer, teacher, and business owner. She’s the Founder and Executive Director of Cultivating Magazine and its discipleship and creative team, The Cultivating Project. She has served in executive management, church leadership, school boards, and art and faith organizations for over thirty years. A recovering addict herself with more than forty years of sobriety, Lancia has done extensive support counseling. Her defining life focus is discipleship, expressed through mentoring, nurturing, and teaching. Lancia and her husband Peter make their home in the Black Forest of Colorado Springs. 

Let your roots go deep

Sit with me and talk awhile,

Here while there’s a quiet hour 

We’ll whisper with these witnesses,

These steady stars 

Who shine out in the universe,

Marking out this path of ours 

That only faith has eyes to see,

That ends in joy

CHORUS 

Oh, let your roots grow deep

Is the word of truth you heard

beginning to grow faint? 

Let your roots grow deep,

Let your roots grow deep 

Don’t give up the fight just yet,

Fix your eyes on Christ and 

Let your roots grow deep,

Let your roots grow deep  

Drink deep from the Holy Fount,

Whom angels praise and heaven crowns

He washes weary pilgrim feet

with Riversong 

And even though this riverbed

does not bear a river yet 

These trees that grow know underground,

Deep waters wait 

CHORUS 

The Kingdom that we see ahead, t

he joy of our inheritance 

Is built upon a Cornerstone

the world rejects

So, if today you hear his voice,

Still and small amidst the noise 

Don’t miss the call to fall into,

His open arms

BRIDGE 

Oh, let your roots go deep

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

John Barnts wishes he could spend all his time reading, writing, and talking about interesting things. Unfortunately, books cost money, and words are hard to sell, so he spends most of his time playing piano for schools and churches, and working as a case manager in a local Drug Court program in Madison, Mississippi. John and his family moved to Mississippi in 2011 to attend seminary, which led to five glorious years of teaching the Bible at the college level. Before Mississippi, he spent twelve years at a private K-12 in Los Angeles as a music teacher and administrator. He is currently working on a non-fiction book project, teaches a couple of home Bible studies, and makes short theological videos with his son on YouTube called Barnts in the Belfry.    

Follow You Down

by Matthew Clark

Whoever would lose their life 

They will save it 

CHORUS 

I wanna be in your story, Jesus

I wanna follow you down, down, down

Whoever would save their life 

They will lose it 

BRIDGE
Your love is teaching me a new story 

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Jason Smith serves on the board of An Unexpected Journal, as a strategist for the C. S. Lewis Foundation, and as the senior editor for acquisitions and development at Wootton Major Publishing. In his spare time, he works a day job as a marketing director for a medical device engineering firm, where he writes about fun things like FDA regulations and embedded cybersecurity. As J. Aleksandr Wootton, he is the pseudonymous author of the much-loved young adult fantasy series Fayborn and reviews every book he reads at www.goodreads.com/mrwootton.

When I Cried Out (Psalm 40)

by Matthew Clark

When I cried out from the pit that I had dug

His song burst past the dead end grave

Isaiah’s burning ember came and kissed me on the mouth

And I knew there was still music to be made

CHORUS

After all that I’ve seen, I cannot seal my lips

Even when my heart fails within me, 

For the Lord did not hide, no, he listened in his mercy

And his song of lovingkindness still persists 

Though I do not understand it, I am standing on this 

All my troubles when they swelled into a crowd 

The shame of failures too many to count 

Then I whispered through the tangle, and you looked me in the eyes

I found quiet that sang louder than those lies 

CHORUS

BRIDGE

I thought I had to climb that holy hill to twist your arm 

But when you bent to wash my feet,  I knew that I’d been wrong 

CHORUS 

© 2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Steven Elmore is the President of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. He has over 20 years of experience working at nonprofit organizations and educational institutions, including serving as a community college adjunct professor (English composition), software instructor (basic to advanced MS Office), GED instructor (science, history), test preparation tutor, and in a wide range of office management and administration roles. His specific skill sets include event management, teaching/training, team leadership, program management, writing, communications strategy, strategic planning, and computer technology. He is also a writer for Cultivating Magazine.

Like A Lamb

by Matthew Clark

Fear and pride are just two sides, friend 

Of Caesar’s tarnished penny 

Quietness and rest belong to God 

But who hasn’t studied warfare 

On the battlefield of life here 

Perfecting self-defense just to survive? 

You know how good it feels, love 

To scratch the itch of anger 

But complaining only chains us up inside

Feels like safety and power 

In a world so full of danger 

It feels like danger to be grateful, small, and quiet 

CHORUS

But Oh, I see the Mighty Word of God

Go silent to the slaughter like a Lamb

Oh, I hear the voices of the crowd 

Grow louder as the buried kernel’s roots descend  

Cause the roots beneath the surface 

Search and listen for a music 

That is and was and will be evermore 

Like an acorn to an oak tree 

Who would ever think it could be 

That those little lambs might ever rule the world 

But the meek will spread their branches 

Above the clamour of the nations 

The sons of God will rest beneath their shade 

And the politics of power  

That seemed so strong until that hour 

Will fall into the traps their power laid  

CHORUS 

BRIDGE

Nobody’s free from hardship 

And the briers in the garden 

Can push their way so deeply down inside 

Till what started out so tender 

Is choked out by the winter 

And gentleness don’t have a chance to flower 

But don’t let your love grow cold, dear 

or buy the lies they’ve sold here 

For the fools of God will fiddle on the roof 

All their lives they were the punchline 

Now their laughing faces outshine 

Every image Caesar thought would get him through 

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Benjamin Holsteen believes that a life spent in pursuit of awe, wonder, and gratitude in the midst of the everyday is the best preparation for an eternity spent in the presence of their ultimate Source. He spends his days thinking, writing, talking, and living out of this conviction, currently as a PhD candidate in Art and Theology at the University of St Andrews. He lives on the edge of the North Sea with his wife and two children. You can find him online from benjamin.omg.lol and subscribe to *Transcendent Mixtapes*—his forthcoming newsletter reflecting in writing on religious life in the 21st century, filtered through a lifetime of obsessive pop music listening—at transcendentmixtapes.substack.com.

How can we sing? 

by Matthew Clark

Our captors cracked their whips and grinned 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

They laughed and mocking bid us sing 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

So we hung our harps upon a withered tree 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

And we gave up songs about being free 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

Pre-Chorus

Oh don’t let our love grow cold

CHORUS

But how can we sing the Lord’s song 

How can we sing about home? 

How can we sing the Lord’s song 

By the rivers of babylon?

We wake up strangers in a foreign land 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

Lord, dry as sand slipping through your hand 

Down by the rivers of Babylon

Pre-Chorus 

CHORUS

BRIDGE

Oh, his love endures forever 

(Lord, don’t hide your face forever)

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)

by Matthew Clark | One Thousand Words

Heidi White, M.A., is a teacher, editor, podcaster, and author. She teaches Humanities at St. Hild School in Colorado Springs. She is the Managing Editor of FORMA Journal and a contributing author, speaker, and consultant at the CiRCE Institute. She is a weekly contributor on fiction, poetry, and Shakespeare on the Close Reads Podcast Network and the CiRCE Institute Podcast Network. She serves on the Board of Directors of The Anselm Society and sits on the Academic Advisory Board for the Classical Learning Test. She writes fiction, poetry, and essays, and she speaks and writes about literature, education, and the Christian imagination. She lives in Black Forest, Colorado with her husband and children. She also hosts The Daily Poem Podcast 

A Tale of Two Trees

by Matthew Clark

I dreamed I saw two family trees 

They grew from very different seeds 

One stood tall with flowered crowns

And one was bent and bitter 

The bitter tree bore sour fruit 

That made the people eating do 

Wickedness upon the earth 

Until they grew to love it 

The flowered tree put out its leaves 

Which perfumed faintly that bitter breeze 

The bent tree’s branches shook like snakes 

And did their best to kill it 

But up the sweetness rose again 

Like children rise from water cleansed and 

Though the thorns tore at their flesh 

They would not stop their singing

Well ages came and ages went 

And it seemed the good tree’s strength was spent 

While the bitter tree kept sprouting strong 

And choking out its fragrance

Till one day evil’s wicked limbs 

Entangled all the hopes of men 

And struck that holy heartwood down 

And felled the mighty timber 

The crooked fingers of that tree 

Took hold of earth and made it bleed 

And most forgot what goodness was 

Or where to go to find it 

And holiness decayed to dust 

The spinning world gave way to lust 

And justice cracked like splintered wood 

The world lay in confusion 

BRIDGE

A tree is known by the fruit it bears 

And every day we plant ourselves

In one of two families 

In one of these two family trees

But no one saw the twist to come 

The prophets of the stump of God 

Were killed like fools and all ignored 

But underneath the soil 

A tender Word beneath the roots 

Uncurled until a little shoot

Unfurled into the poisoned air 

To raise the ancient family 

To stir the dormant seed of faith 

And water withered hearts awake 

To die upon that bitter tree 

And uproot it forever 

And one day soon we’ll see his face

David’s branch will clear away 

The stubble where the wicked grew 

And Jesus will make all things new

©2023 Matthew Clark, Path in the Pines Music (ASCAP)