Electrocution,
fibromyalgia,
divorce,
addictions,
disabilities,
and an even longer list
should someone want to twist
the meaning of his life
into the past fifty years
instead of the future.

Instead,
he chooses to use
what God has given him:
a love of people,
a love of cycling,
a love of hard work,
a simple submission,
a seemingly boundless faith
and little green Bibles from the Gideons.

He hungers and thirsts
for righteousness,
for knowing God,
for learning scripture,
for service.

And so, he rides,
listening,
testifying,
sharing,
trusting the love of strangers,
keenly aware of the dangers
of passing semi’s
and glazed paint strips in the rain.

Pressing on toward the goal
of the upward call
and leaving the lives
of those who dare to share
the risk of caring
infinitely richer.

May God’s peace and protection
part the wind before you
and always tilt the road
in the direction you are going,
my friend, my brother, my angel.

H. Arnett
8/7/13