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Of Theresa
Proverbs 31:10-30

Most excellent wife, ‘tis thou found me
When I dared not to seek.
The worth of jewels thou so exceed
That of them I‘ll not speak.

My heart so fully trusts in thee,
I have no want of gain.
My greatest good hast inured thee
To be thy soul’s refrain.

Life’s wool and flax thy fingers spin
With skill and willing joy,
To craft a mantle fit for kings,
yet meant for my employ.

Stately as a merchant’s ship
Bears food from ‘cross the waves,
The labor spent to make thy trip
Thou hidest from my gaze.

Thou risest ‘fore the night is done,
When dawn’s crisp chill resides,
To provender and serve the one
In whom thy love abides.

Thy wisdom and thy diligence,
Thy character and grace,
Have conquered every hinderance
Through trials, to see God’s Face.

Resplendent in the form of woman
Strong arm joined with loving eye,
Making glad thy earthbound husband,
Joining hands our troth to ply.

Thy lamp burns bright into the evening,
Spindle whirls and distaff bends,
Diligence whilst sun sets, fleeting,
Thy family’s needs are thy first ends.

Fed and warm while Winter rages,
Abed in slumber after each day’s roam.
Scarlet clothed as hearth-fire blazes.
Safe inside their house, made home.

Modesty and Poise, they both are thy sisters.
With laughter thou face all fears yet to come.
By means of insight hast thou plied all thine answers,
The honey of Wisdom resides ‘neath thy tongue.

Other women do great, and yet not withstanding
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain.
Surpass them you do, humbly I’ll state in passing,
For ‘tis thou that art mine, and ‘tis lawful to say.

Well hast thou seen to the needs of thy household.
The bread of idleness ownest thou none.
In joy have I watched as thy children, grown older
In unity bless thee and praise thee as one.

I join in their chorus with heart’s full affection,
Overcome as I am before family and friends.
To sing of that exquisite day when that maiden
Purposed to join this most common of men.

The purpose for life hast God hid in thy bounty.
My quiver is filled with the fruits of thy womb,
Strong Sons are the arrows with which God has armed me,
The beauty of daughters my joy and my boon.

My wife fears the LORD and that’s worth my oration.
And granting the fruit of her hands my delight.
But showing her honor due one of her station,
Will never come close to the love she requites.

So bless I that day when thy parents’ affection,
Joined in sweet bliss for thy life to conceive.
United in flesh with the Father’s Election,
Called forth by the Spirit and through Son redeemed.

For my loving wife Theresa,
on the occasion of
celebrating her fiftieth birthday.
John Ford
November, 2007

The Hireling
2007, Pastor John Ford

I’ve often wondered how a man,
Filled up with fear and awful dread,
No inkling where his foot will tread,
Him prone to stumble, slow to stand
Might be a tool in Father’s hand.
God’s mouthpiece hung on fallen head
Whose quaking lips the Gospel spread
‘Til Son‘s renown has filled the land.

To be found lacking, prove his want,
Attest his falling, uphold his doubt,
And be called ‘hireling’ is his fear,
Each night in sleep this is his haunt.
By day he strives to be devout,
And hopes his God finds him sincere.

LEVIATHAN
Job 41, Psalm 104
By John Ford
May, 2007

Beneath the briny sea he sleeps,
him made to reign o’er rolling wave.
And through the dark and boding deeps
none can be found more fearful made.

His Lord the same Creator‐God
who makes, sustains, and rules man too,
his visage to our eye so odd
that God has hid him from our view.

Our proud and fallen nature would
him too make tame to bid our will,
but God against our plans hath stood,
and strives instead to make us still.

No bridle made with human hands,
no fishing stock of earth’s design
Can guide him ‘bout to our demands,
Or pull him from the loamy brine.

No hook of steel, no tethered maw
can stay him from his ardent path.
No oath of peace emits his jaw,
no covenant will bind him fast.

No seaman’s dart will he endure.
No javelin sharp can pierce his side,
No purchase may his flesh secure.
No merchant’s scale will he abide.

His frolic not disclosed to Adam,
gambol hid from mankind’s eye
below the Kraken’s coliseum,
covert play‐yard whence he hides.

Like all creatures God’s breath bellowed,
one mere brute spawned that Sixth‐Day,
Yet he, unique from all his fellows,
set full apart for Godhead play.

Adam, hewn for Father’s Glory,
image bearer of His face,
tasked with tending this, His Story,
leaning wholly on His Grace.

Mankind God has made for labor,
sweat and mud his chosen plate.
Makes war and peace both on his neighbor.
Curses God, and seals his fate.

This one God has made to mock us,
lay siege to pride, cage vanity.
One gaze t’ward his oily blackness
betrays our trite mendacity.

Armor, in which Maker clad him,
‘gainst our wax‐pale trifling frame,
Starkly bares our fraught condition,
who cannot even our tongues tame.

What chance have we, against this serpent,
his fiery blast and plate‐clad brow?
Our Strength is poured out, courage forfeit,
our vessel swamped at his first blow.

On earth is not one made his equal,
without fear, yet fearfully done,
God who doeth all things right well,
uses to portent the Son.

O Lord how manifold thy great deeds!
In wisdom you decreed them all.
Earth is filled, as well the great seas,
creatures great, and creatures small.

There go the ships, here come the galleys
Dominion Mandate drives man on.
The Lord is high, yet not withstanding,
descends to sport Leviathan.