The Trackless Path

He walks away in silence.

He does not say a word at leaving.

And ruin follows in His wake,

Precious ruin.

And it will claim all those

Who wanted Him in the first place.

To refuse to be a victim

And to refuse to victimize,

It is a mystery for the man

Who finds that he is worn out in the fighting.

And how is it done? By walking away,

And by not needing the things that they provide.

Can you find safety without the need to enforce any laws?

And can you find freedom without the need for an army?

I have. And it follows me like the dome of heaven.

He’s going away to war

And I am walking away from war.

And that’s ok. Good men go to war.

Me too. I war within myself

For the principles 

That will free me from the need to go to war.

It is the last frontier,

It is the war 

That, when men, finally, are willing to fight it,

Will end all wars.

I stop for the night and park

In the middle of a grassy field 

Beside a stream. And nobody sees.

Or at least nobody notices.

And it feels as if it was made just for me,

Just for this night. I am amazed at the way

The world opens up for heaven

When we believe and keep moving on

Toward the thing we know is right.

I wrote a poem the other day 

That was full of worldly wisdom.

It was advice for how to prosper

In this world so wily and unpredictable.

But after I did, I felt discouraged and tired.

I put the poem away and broke with my own advice.

I decided that perhaps better advice

Would be to follow Jesus

Out of the world

And into the road of sacrifice 

That leads to renunciation.

And I know that many of you,

Perhaps the very ones 

That I want to reach

Will turn away upon hearing that

Because you think I mean to get the old religion.

But that’s not the case at all. 

Christ may be the only way that the world will change.

It is not the idea of Christ, but the very Spirit of Christ that changes.

It enters into the heart and offers new choices 

When it appears that war is the only way.

And it seems to me that it is found most readily

In the experience of total silence

And the hearing of genuine praise.

Christ, just like Silence and Truth,

Is available to each irrespective

Of religion or lack thereof.

So that He can be had

For the reach.

I took home a baby bird that I found on the ground.

Because I forgot all of the things they told me

When I was a boy at school,

Like don’t take home baby birds. Look for a nest. 

It’s mother can take care of it better than you can.

Oops. But now it’s here.

It cheeps in my living quarters.

Tried to feed it. No luck yet. And I think to myself,

I am not good at this. I should have remembered what I learned.

Later today, I’ll go back and look for a nest 

In the hopes that the mother is not far away.

And I don’t know what to say about it

Now that I’m the one in charge,

Other than, I’ll remember next time.

When Christ reigns, it makes things personal.

When the letters rule, it's one size fits all,

And who wants that? 

Far more than obedience to the creed

Is obedience to the still small voice.