Earlier this summer, I rediscovered a series of poems I had written during an Inter-Rail trip around Europe in 1975, some six months before I opened my heart to the Lord Jesus early in 1976. I displayed these handwritten poems in an album, alongside postcards I had brought back with me from my travels and thought it would be interesting to read them again. I certainly had no expectation of sharing them with anyone else – especially as I am already at work preparing a series of stories based on experiences since the Lord took hold of my life.
It came as a surprise, therefore, when I sensed the Lord drawing my attention to these youthful poems and encouraging me to start my story before I thought that it had all begun! I have typed up them up and added to each a reflection written this summer as a kind of ‘wrapper’, as well as links to some of the music and prayers that we have recorded over the years since. Sally has provided the wonderful photographs and formatted the text, and Helen Sellers kindly reviewed the poems. I had no idea when I sent them to her just to read through that she does just this sort of thing regularly in her local poetry group!
It is a great pleasure to present this first set of poems to you now. I did not know Jesus when I wrote them, but the themes they trace are amply prayer-worthy. They are formatted in a ready-to-print booklet form for those of you who would like to print them out – there are at least two more sets to come!
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