acknowledgments

reflections

poetry and words

reality

even now

uncertain

my God

old ideas for a new life

the substitution story

the stairway

as the Lord promised

hidden

seeing

reconstruction

a call to prayer

the shore

confessions

slow God

who cares?

proof

where is God?

wishing

praying

unfailing love

joy in the morning

criticism

addiction

success

we are bonded

a plea; a bargain

the gate

powerless

here, but not really

joining in the struggle

remembering another life

mama’s goal

confusion of this life

conversations

now standing

luggage

magnetic resonance imaging

new glasses

precepts

the naked Truth

living and dying

real love

introduction: forty years

questions

have you talked about it?

do you see this?

why?

how?

who?

legalism

decision

wait for the Lord

observations

shaking of the head

silence

God promises a king

the Quiltmaker

the center

the lies we believe

preying in His Name

no excuse

the stars; the sand

paul’s ambition

so close to a distant world

seasons

my new year’s resolution

forgiving

the cost of purity

the night

good friday

the drama of the resurrection

the solution

national tragedies

against all hope, abraham believed

peace with God

death and life: from adam to Christ

thanksgiving then and now

christmas

inside matters

praying as years go by

dancing out of death

epilogue: forty miles

About Chris Maxwell

Other Books by Chris Maxwell

Reading poetry requires levels of mental attention and heart openness that transcends the usual reading of prose. Like reading the best of Hebrew poetry in the Psalms, Chris Maxwell allows us to join him as he encounters life, love, and God. These contemporary psalms open doors to a world of questions, hopes, dreams, disappointments. They invite us to sit at table with a man moving through life at the speed of hope. Take your time as you read. Ponder. Pause. Pray. Participate.

Dr. A.D. Beacham, Jr

general superintendent, International Pentecostal Holiness Church

Many people write. Not many write in living color. Thank you, Chris for leaving out no colors, for not shying away from the grays, mudded browns, and even the black tones of this life,yet somehow allowing the ink in your pen to be transformed, sometimes mid-line, into colors of hope, light and resolve because that’s what God does with our pens, if we alloHim to.

Michelle Pillar

three time Grammy Award nominated singer, speaker and author of, Untangled, The Truth Will Set You Free