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Here's another poem from my notebook...

I've got a plan

     a clever trick

          to get a stone to talk.

We'll gather round

     a pile of rocks

          no one will speak or squawk.

Jesus said

     that this would work

          just before He died.

I can't say

     that I've seen it

          even though I've tried.

What you do 

     is not praise God

          don't give Him what He's due.

Then stones and rocks

     will all cry out

          declaring what is true.

The reason that

     it's never worked

          is that I can't be still.

I see the stones,

     the grass, the trees

          rising up the hills

And there I see

     my Savior, God,

          Creator, Kind, and Friend

Then praises rise

     in my stoney heart.

          His praise is without end.

I've Got a Boy, He's Got a Father

This is a poem I wrote when my first son became a believer. It's fading from the notebook I scratched it in so I thought I better put it somewhere more permanent.

A father's love is deeper than

     one can understand

The Father Himself gave me a son

     designed by His own hand

Before his birth God made it clear

     the child would not be mine

My son is now my brother

     We share a Father divine

The Great Outdoors!

Zechariah Job

    It's been a long time since my last post, and you may be well aware of why we named our son Zechariah Job. If you don't, here's the explanation. Zechariah means "God Remembers," and Job means "the Afflicted." I wanted a name that reflected the character of God, and God has put a burden on my heart for the suffering people in this world.   
     My first two sons were named after people I want them to grow up to be like: friends, relatives, or Bible characters. Zachariah is named for the attributes and actions of God that I long for and cling to. It is my prayer that Zechariah grows up to embody God's love for the poor and afflicted.

Psalm 10

     11 He says to himself, "God has forgotten;
          he covers his face and never sees."

     12 Arise, LORD! Lift up your hand, O God. 

          Do not forget the helpless.

     17 You hear, O LORD, the desire of the afflicted; 

          you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

     18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed, 

          in order that man, who is of the earth, may terrify no more.

Psalm 98

3 He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel;

   all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Zechariah 8

        2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her."

Here's an e-mail that I wrote to a friend concerning the spelling of Zechariah's name. 

     The short answer to your questions is, "Yes."

     I'm not misspelling Petit's name. It says Zachariah on his birth certificate. It took a little persuading for Heidi to go along with that name, and I thought I was giving a little ground by spelling it with an 'a' so that it would easily translate into the not-all-that-uncommon, Zach. Later she said she was surprised that I did that, and I thought, "Yeah, I kind of caved there. The last thing I was trying to do was conform to popular tradition... then at the last minute I did." So spelling it with an 'e' is kind of reclaiming a good name; a name from the living Word of God. It is an allowing of confusion in acknowledgement of fact that often mystery is deeper, truer... than understanding. 

     That's the first time I've really answered the question. So I might cut-and-paste it for other people. 

     Loveya, 

         Jeff Frazee......