NEARING THE FINISH LINE a poem [Sa, 12-10-22]

CHRIST IN WINTER: Reflections on Faith & Life for the Years of Winter:

NEARING THE FINISH LINE a poem [Sa, 12-10-22]

 In days long past

when I ran the race

upon the roads

on highways and byways

be it meters or in miles

 

First would come

that runner’s high

the joy of movement

floating just above

the pavement

 

then came the second wind

that welcome renewing

of limb and lung

settled into rhythm

the beating cadence

of swinging arms

and pounding feet

contentment in determination

 

but the final stage

was barely holding on

the finish line in sight

but every bone and muscle

besieged with pain

vision blurred with sweat

and constant light

steps of staggered hope

 

Only one desire

to break the tape

to find a patch

of accepting grass

for that welcome collapse

 

John Robert McFarland

One of the gifts of old age is getting to run all the way to the finish line with your friends. This column is dedicated to my through-the-years friends who have broken the tape and found that patch of accepting grass:

Darrel, Don, Donald Gene, Mike, Donna, Jarvis, Jack, Bob, Mina Ann, Phyllis, Nancy, Hovey, Jim, Austin, Max, Ben, Bob, Jan, Forrest, Ruth, DJ, Dick, Gordon, Sid, Bob, Judy, Harold, Roy, Thelma, Tony, Bruce, Eugenia, Paul, Otis, FT, Andre’, Mary Jean, Alma Louise,  Leroy, Dave, Gary, Dianne, Pat, GL, Bettie, Jack, Joan, Kay, Keith, Barbara, Herb, Ron, Jean, Jerry, Nancy, Don, John, Miley, Bill, Harvey, Paul, Lee, Dale, Mike, Bill, Betsy, Bob, Mary, Danette, Wally, George, Jim, Dave, Joan, Dwayne, Perry, Roger, Joe, Kim, Thor, Earl, John, Dickson, Beverly, Leroy, Will, Martha Lou, Ted, Rose, Dick, Elmer, Barbara, Jessie, Elston, Ray, Larry, Perry, Roger, Joe, Kim, Earl, John, George, Rosemary, Maury, Jay, Maurice, Dorothy, Jane, Joel, Lee, Catherine, Scott, Bob, Judy, Max, Berniece, Betty, Tom, Eunice, Eli, Rachael, Max, Ruth, Don, Adelia, Paul, Kenny, Earl, Eileen, Delbert, Grace, Jane, Archie, Seymour, Lois, Marcus, Trina, Dave…

 

In the column for 12-7-22, about my late, great friend, Dr. John C. Wilkey, I made an inadvertent error. I said that Dr. Wilkey read all 4 volumes of Karl Barth’s Church Dogmatics. His son, Wes, reminded me that Barth wrote 12 volumes, and his father read them all. I was thinking of the later collated publication in which Barth’s 12 volumes were collected into four. Made for some pretty thick reading!

I also said that Dr. Wilkey started preaching while he was in college at Illinois College, in Jacksonville. Although he did graduate from Illinois College, he started at Western Illinois, in Macomb, and that was when he started preaching, in the fall of 1953, at Fish Hook, driving a 1936 Buick. Makes the 1947 Oldsmobile that I drove to start preaching on the Chrisney IN Circuit in the fall of 1956 look positively modern.