Experiences With God Poem by Gert Strydom

I

You make all things new
I realized when I watched the Southern Cross tonight,
that like always holds something magical for me,
maybe I was so carried off in the daily dispute

of my own grey existence that I absolutely
did not notice that You, hold fold Your hand over us,
that Your beacons burn bright and are never growing faint.
Even if situations is how acute

and Moscow, Rome, Washington and Pretoria
are all places where Your light is falling upon
where people are created in Your image,
where people rejoice, are jubilant, cry and complain,
and with innumerable people
You are present as the almighty God.

II

You are present as the almighty God,
but nobody else was on my side
when I realised my destruction,
nobody was near to me,

everyone was as a stranger not dear to me
and when I went out in the new morning
you were a man, a woman or a child
until I stood before the heavenly Father

and not blinded anymore
I saw the pain, heartache and loneliness of other people,
when I saw that everyone is God’s child,
that everyone have to be brothers of each other

and then I myself became insignificant in my own eyes,
moved by the almighty God.

III


Moved by the almighty God
where water run like rivers
overwhelming to my mind,
the clouds again opened

with a rainbows catching the eye,
even when thunder is bashing down continually,
coming from the darkest clouds
God’s promises keeps standing.

On a planet were things are stripped unto the core,
are breaking down and decaying by own actions,
man brought the darkness upon himself,
in rebellion against the God of the universe

and at times I stand shivering
when I want to live without Your light.

IV


When I want to live without Your light,
when it does not penetrate to the depths of my soul
as if my existence is just circling out aimlessly
and between it all I somewhere loose my balance

with the outcome almost to eternity staying far off,
when I cannot jump off the highest cliffs,
I hear the wind howling monotonous in my ears,
it is if I want to yield before the onslaught

but my life is anchored like a fortress on You as the rock;
it is as if this separation do not penetrate to You,
I see waves breaking, thunder striking out in blue tongues,
with waves continually colliding with me
and to eternity I stay before You as just another single individual;
when the bad weather in the afternoons stirs up.

V

When the bad weather in the afternoons stirs up,
with mornings being cobalt blue,
then I know how much I miss you
and when thunder breaks forth in the late afternoon

it’s like the hand of God that He is protruding,
I become aware of His presence,
as if I can touch Him
and thus being able to ask the wishes of my heart

and just before the rain bashes down pattering
I want to know how long it is still going to be
before I am going to see you again
and mightily His answer comes in numerous lightning bolts
that crackles down in with blue-white fire
while He is asking me to trust while I behold His work.

VI

While He is asking me to trust while I behold His work,
when with humility I bring my hands together,
holding you with love against me
and we want to press upon Him in the infinity,

in suffering and pain everything passes with speed,
but He remains in our thoughts with the world in the circle of His fingers
as if we are like a fortress, against that which rages against us
with you, my darling in my embrace

there’s a small universe suddenly forming
coming to reality between two separate people
as if passion, knowledge and ingenuity
with love binds lives, against all that is assaulting
and there a flower rises perfectly out of the naught,
where together we can venture into the infinity.

VII

Where together we can venture into the infinity
with the greatest master of mathematics and science
who is astounding us the whole time with his omnipotence
and there are images that His thoughts form and realize,

divide into rivers, lakes and oceans
with planets spreading like a skeletons, open and uncovered
while He only is giving commands
water masses recede, are pushed away

with continent upon continent appearing,
with a sun hanging in the sky
and He spreads His hands
and suddenly countless animals appear,

Your love, stays unending and without any substitute,
You make all things new.