Author: Jim Minch

The infilling experiences I receive from Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit never cease to astound and amaze me. The symbolic connections He reveals to me and many of His other children continue to cause me to gasp in both wonder and surprise. Much like an adventuring hiker will do after climbing a mountain in uncharted terrain after discovering a vast and astounding view laid out before him. An awe-inspiring feeling in which even his best articulated words can never fully depict properly. Of all the diverse gifts we receive from the Holy Spirit, the gift of poetry remains to be my very favorite. A fine medium which not only expresses His wisdom and craft by a beautiful means of symbolic relation, but it also embeds a sense of wonder and renewed interest into the mind of the reader. Poettic Christian expression remains to be a fine method used to plant seeds of truth in sharing the message of Jesus Christ to both the saved and the lost. A quick glance into the prose of His written Word clearly shows us this very symbolic bridge-building to our minds, less the rythmic pulse of poetic expression. So often when I write, my struggle is not of trying to think of what to write, but an effort in trying to write down fast enough all the diverse choices and options of the words He is flooding me with at the time of reception. Many of my writings were written down in merely a few minutes time, and like the hiker in my analogy above, I too am often left in awe and wonder at what Jesus just used my hand to express. And so many times, I have been warmed to see my readers experiencing some of the same received wonder and joy from the things consumed from my instrumented penmanship. And attempting to write without the leading of the Holy Spirit only serves to increase the volume of my wastecan. Truly, all the credit and glory goes to the Lord, for assuredly I could not write much sensible poetry without Him. May my own gift of poetry continue to inspire and encourage many, as we all continue to climb this hill towards our heavenly home together. My gifted hand may not be able to show the full view of heaven awaiting us all at the top, but on occassion, Jesus can use my pen to give us glimpses of the eternal surprises and awe-inspring wonder awaiting us all here in this final strech of the Church Age, preceding the promised rapture of His bride. It always gives me great personal warmth and joy when I hear others release gasping exhalations of wonderment in the things given to my hand to write for them. Always. And it gives me at least a minimal sense of what our unified, immortal mouths will utter the next second after we are forever changed in a twinkling of an eye, as we find ourselves standing upon a sea of glass before the very Throne of God Almighty in the heavenly home which awaits us. What a gasp of wonder that will be! I look forward to meeting you all there. Where the finest songs play forevermore. Richard (Jim) Minch. If you would like to read more of my poetry and writings, view my website called, "The Gardens of the Shire" here for a small portion of my current collection: http://www.geocities.com/jim34_2000/ If you would like to receive copies of my work, both old and new, feel free to e-mail me personally at jim34_2000@yahoo.com and ask for them: