Parallel Lives

When the call came to go

You answered.

You left all you ever knew

Because of what you’d come to know.

You crossed rivers of icy depths

And fainted from the sun’s smiting heat.

You had left. And for what?

To bury father,

Mother,

Sister,

Child,

But never your faith in God.

For Him you had left.

And for me.

You were chased and hunted and hated,

Forsaken on every side

(Yet not by Him who meant most to you).

You could have quit at any time –

Gone back to friends and family,

Lived out your days in peace.

But you sought a greater peace

And stayed the course.

You brought me here.

And you handed the baton to me.

Now I live

In the light of your legacy,

Striving to be strong,

To love my God as you did,

To serve in all I do.

I look at you,

And I am humbled.

I want to learn to live

And sacrifice

And love

As you did,

To continue where you left off.

On days when I am too tired to go on,

Too heart-broken to endure,

The same song that lifted you

Reminds me why I’m here.

If you could wend your way with joy,

All along your painful path,

How much more should I –

I who have been so sheltered and blessed! -

Rejoice in the life I’m daily given

And never give up hope.

Although our spheres are different,

Our fight is still the same –

To stand for truth and all that’s right,

To bring men unto Christ.

I love the God you loved,

His name I will always praise.

For Him you gave up everything –

Now on me it rests

To boldly do the same.