Gospel poems

By Trenton Frost

The Lighthouse

Trenton Frost
 © 1995

A lighthouse on a rocky shore
Beside an ocean stood;,
Each night it sent its precious beam
In weather bad or good.
Does not its light man ever sleep,
Nor e'er its light go out?
Nay, more the watchful doth he keep
When there's a storm about.

One eve my ship was lost at sea
And deathly black the night;
When I had uttered my last plea
I thought I saw a light:
It was the lighthouse on the shore
I'd oft for granted took,
Now with my heart and soul and mind
I for its beam did look.

Yes, there again, its precious light
Was searching now, for me!
And from that dark and lonely night
Its light did ransom me.
E'er since that night the light I love
And I a light shall be,
To point my storm-swept fellows to
The Light that ransomed me!

***

That Wonderful New Name

Trenton Frost
© 1989

How does God change the fate of the sinner?
He gives him a precious, new name:
He calls him, -“MY  CHILD  BELOVED”-
Though he’s tainted with sin’s guilt and shame.
He enfolds him in those loving arms
That were outstretched on Calvary’s tree,
And He weeps on his neck while He whispers,
“I’m so glad you have come home to Me!”
That new name, -“MY  DEAR  CHILD”- that He calls him
Brings blue skies and the song of a bird,
For no dearer a sound has the sinner
In all of his wanderings heard!
Yes, it breaks all sin’s fetters and shackles,
Sets him free, making everything new!
Evermore, if it’s treasured within him
Will it color the things he will do;
It will be his defense in temptation,
God’s great promise he’ll not walk alone,
His glad hope as he waits for Christ’s coming
And his right to God’s Heavenly Home!

***

Trenton Frost
© 1981

“My daughter, sweet,” the short note read,
“Please play ’till I come home.
Your mom has gone to take some bread,
To Auntie, all alone.
When I return we’ll make the cake
We planned to do for Dad,
For ’tis his special day today,
’Twill make him very glad!”
The young girl played, but discontent,
Began to fill her heart;
“Why should I wait for Mom’s return?
“I’ll give the cake a start!”
Out came the flour and the eggs,
The butter and the pans,
Soon ingredients were everywhere,
On dress and face and hands!
Why were things so much harder, now,
That Mom was not around?
The little girl breathed a sigh,
And then began to frown.
The baking part was even worse:
The cake began to rise,
The cooking pan which seemed so big
Was dreadfully undersized!
The mixture bubbled o’er the pan
And burned upon the rack,
Dark smoke began to billow out,
As from a chimneystack.
“O dear! O dear! What shall I do?”
The little girl cried.
(If she had only patient been,
And not on self relied!)
The cake was lost, the plans were changed,
We’ll skip the story’s end,
(The lessons learned redeemed the loss
Of all that “might have been.”)
God’s faithful Word this counsel gives,
In Psalm One Twenty Seven,
(If cherished deep within our hearts,
‘Twill guide our feet to Heaven):
“Except the Lord should build the house,
Our labors are in vain,”
The only things that shall endure,
Are those wrought in His name.
Face not, alone, life’s issues great,
That shape your destiny,
The soul that waits upon the Lord,
Will all its wishes see!
Though, oft, God leads us through the vale,
Where tears are known to be,
The stories written with God’s hand,
All end so joyfully!

***

Trenton Frost
© 2001

Long from the wrongs that I had done,
My soul on guilty feet did run,
When canyon walls enclosed me in,
And brought me to a wall of stone.

It was so massive, cold and high;
I felt that surely I would die,
For on its stony face, God’s Law
Which I had broken, met my eye.

I knew sin’s wages, stern, were Death,
As now I drew my guilty breath,
And longed for days of youth, now past,
To ransom me from my distress;

Days when my poor soul, yet, could choose,
Salvation’s path over way of fools!
O, to return and choose once more,
And not fair Heaven’s splendors lose!

Long there I lay amid the dust,
As tears my feverish countenance washed,
Then looked once more upon God’s stone,
When, at last, my sighs and weeping hushed.

Then what amazement filled my soul!
For, in the stone, a CROSS-shaped hole,
Led through the massive, solid rock,
To a Son-lit path where roses grew!

Then my warm tears flowed free again,
For, at last, my soul did comprehend,
What was done for me, for you, by Him,
Man’s slain, now risen, Forever Friend!

Then stepped I through God’s Law of stone,
To claim the Life His Son had won,
While Christ’s scarred hands enclasped my own,
To guide my wayward footsteps home.

The Son shone bright, the sky turned blue,
Gone were the fear and guilt I knew,
The robins sang, the soft winds blew,
As breathed I in this Freedom, new;
O Friend, may you find this Freedom too!

***

Trenton Frost
© 2000

To a world absorbed, the announcement came,
To a world bowed down with care,
To the well to do, the man of fame,
And the one of humble fare.

To those of the world absorbed with faith,
And pursuit of the holy life,
And the rest who had lost all hope of Heaven
Seeking thrills amid earth’s strife.

Yes, to all the world the announcement came,
At the sound of a trumpet clear,
To the ones aware of their holiness
And to those bowed with sinners’ care:

“Hear ye! Hear ye!” a loud voice cried
As the trumpet’s sound died away,
“The great King of Kings who resides in Heaven
Has bidden me come and say:

‘A great Wedding is planned in the realms above,
God’s Son soon will take His bride,
And He wants everyone, both the good and bad,
To be gathered at His side.

There’ll be feasting and joy such as never was seen,
Angels’ singing will fill the air,
As the King of King’s weds His glorious Queen;
Yes, God wants everyone to be there!’”

Then someone blushed in the spellbound crowd,
“Woe is me! I have nothing to wear!”
When the messenger passed them a wedding gown,
“Not to worry! King’s compliments, – there!”

“The fattened calf is killed,” he went on,
“God’s table is already and set,
And not one of you upon this poor earth,
Did the God of love forget!”

“For His table’s as long as the eye can see
And each place setting bears a name,
From the humble man lying in the street,
To the proud one of wealth and fame.”

Then as many as did the herald believe
Began shouting, to cry and sing:
“We’re invited to God’s great Wedding feast,
We’re guests of the Heavenly King!”

Some shook their heads and went on their way
To live as they’d always done,
While the ones who believed, with great joy in their hearts
Set their faces to meet God’s Son.

Soon, at midnight’s dark hour, when earth’s hope seems gone,
Gabriel’s trumpet will pierce the night:
“The Bridegroom has come! Now awake ye His friends!
Come ye all who have loved God’s light!”

May we then be found with our lamps filled and trimmed
And all dressed in the robes that He sent,
And with countless ones bidden to come with us,
To the King’s wondrous Wedding event.

To the highways and byways, let us haste, dear friends,
This grand message to proclaim:
That all are invited to be God’s guests,
From the poor to the man of fame!

Although many are called, not all will be there
To take part in the wondrous scene,
Yes, only the ones who’ve believed the report
Will be guests of the Bridegroom King.

These He’ll wine and dine throughout Heaven’s realms,
With rich pleasures for evermore,
O, do join us, dear friend, as we prepare to attend
That great Wedding on Heaven’s shore!

***

Trenton Frost
© 2002

 A somewhat homely, warted toad
Sat pondering by a country road
When his dull trance was shattered by
A galloping stallion on the fly.

With mane and tail flung to the wind
And flexing muscles end to end
The stallion sped with freedom’s lust
Before a cloud of billowing dust.

“What would it be,” the poor toad sighed,
“To be a stallion on the glide;
To streak across the golden plain
With thundering hooves and flying mane?”

Still savoring his yearning thought
He to his senses soon was brought:
When a fairy clad in sparkling gown
Alighted near him on the ground.

“I heard your sigh and secret wish
And think it not a bit selfish;
Therefore I grant it to the full:
For you, ne’er more, shall life be dull!”

And with a twinkle of her wand
She turned him to a stallion, blonde,
No handsomer steed e’er graced the land,
With muscles great and features grand.

Then he whinnied and reared and pawed the air
And tossed his handsome head so fair
And with a snort he sped away
But galloped back, these words to say:

“O thank you for transforming me,
I’m the handsomest horse I did ever see!”
“Just remember, you’re a toad no more,”
The fairy said as she admired him o’er,

“E’ermore behave you as a horse,
Remembering nothing could be worse
Than a toad once made a handsome steed
To return to toad in mind and deed!”

He promised her never to forget
The favor, grand, she did beget,
“The handsome stallion you made me,”
He said, “is what I’ll ever be!”

Then sped he off and kicked the dust
And somehow she his word did trust,
And smiling as he distant strayed
Knew that this joy would never fade.

Then she a cheerful croaking made
As she ate a bug from grassy blade,
Then turned and hopped herself away
To ponder such a happy day.

***

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