Convertibles, Typewriters, and Pretty Girls

I remember convertibles, typewriters and pretty girls staring pensively from windows at the high school.

Cool fall weather. The smell of smoke coming from the grill where hamburgers were being cooked at the football stadium where the Tigers played their home games.

The rambling ramshackle house where I grew up enters into my mind and I hear the footsteps of memories walking towards me.

My memories walk up to me and tell me how easy it was back then, but I still remember. I remember thinking how hard it was for me. Even today, all these many years later, I still think life is hard a lot of the time.

I am sure that everyone feels that way sometimes. I must remember, however, that God has always reached down and lifted me up when I just couldn’t push myself up off the floor. He takes my frown, turns it upside down and makes it into a smile.

I know that, years later, I will reflect back on the hard times I had and smile and say, “That was easy.” So will you.

Life is hard.

No. Life is easy.

The truth is that life is life. I know there are good times and there are bad times. It’s all a part of life, but if we keep our minds focused on Christ, we can still lift our heads up high and smile.

Written by Jacob Bembry, August 18, 2012

Let’s Roll

As we watched the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon be attacked, and the plane go down in Pennsylvania 18 years ago today, we were stunned, but only momentarily. America’s brave men and women went into action. Firefighters, paramedics, EMTs, policemen, dispatchers, military personnel, and civilians, who may have been overlooked before, became heroes that day. I am so very grateful for them and America’s response to the heinous attacks on our soil. We stand watchful and aware today, but we don’t quake in fear and we kneel to no one, except God Himself, no matter what some may think. Remember the rallying cry of Todd Beamer that day, who said as he headed towards his death, “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll!” Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll! “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that from God” Philippians 1:27-28

Key to the Cage

Someone out there has a key to the cage I am trapped in. It is cold here. It is damp here. It is dark here. It hurts here, but it is not from the physical pain. The prison I am locked in is on an island. The island is isolated. I am the only one here. I am lonely.

I know one day someone special will come and put the key in the lock and let me out of this prison and take me away from this penal institution of doubt, fear, nothingness, and being alone.

I thought I had broken free but I was wrong. I was captured again and placed back in here by someone who I had given the power to do it. I let down the guard to my heart. My mind should never have wandered in her direction.

Someday, someone will bring me a key that will open the iron doors that hold me in. In the meantime, I sit here but my spirit flies free because someone took a cross-shaped key and opened a million other prisons for me when He carried that key up a hill called Calvary and opened the doors to my soul’s prison. I sit and listen to Him comfort me and keep me warm and free of fear and doubt.

Someday, someone special will bring me the key that will free me from my prison of physical loneliness, but Jesus makes sure my spirit is comforted and never lonely.

Belly of the Beast

I lie in bed, trying to sleep, but my mind is away from my body, in some cavernous casino in Las Vegas or Atlantic City or Biloxi, Mississippi, or off the coast of Florida on some cruise ship. Though the casino I am in is brightly lit, it is still dark, like the corners of my mind, which are old, and worn and faded, and tattered. As thoughts threaten to tear pages out of my book of memories, I stand in front of a slot machine and pull a lever.

Each time, I feed the belly of the beast coins, I hope for three sevens to come up, indicating I have won the jackpot, but with each pull, the beast gets fatter and I get broker.

The first pull brings up memories of a love that I wanted so bad to come true that I could taste it. I can still smell her perfume, and the smell of shampoo in her freshly washed hair, and the taste of her kiss that I never even knew. The sweetness of the imagined kiss is tainted with bitterness as vinegar and salt assail my taste buds.

The next pull brings up memories of past dreams; dreams of success and wealth. These dreams are cast upon the ashes of money that seemed to burn in my hands and of long forgotten stories and manuscripts that will never see the light of a bookstore.

I take one last pull on the lever of the slot machine. It takes me into a future; a future called loneliness where I have no one there to care for me. All my life, I have sought love and success, and it has managed to hide itself from me, hiding behind cracked doors, peeking out at me but not revealing itself to me.

I get out of bed. I can’t take the taunting of others winning jackpots as the machines whir and jingle and jangle. I bow my head and pray to the only solace I can find from failure. He is the One who promises me Hope for Today and a Future for tomorrow. He is Jesus Christ, my Savior, and my Redeemer. He is always there for me.

Written by Jacob Bembry, August 27, 2016

Forgotten

They sure were surprised when he walked in the church,
Sweat-soaked clothes, face covered in dirt,
He walked to the front and began to speak,
His words caused knuckles to dig into seats,
“I must have forgotten the lyrics to a thousand hymns,
“From ‘Old Rugged Cross’ to ‘Revive Us Again’,
“I’ve paid for drugs and left my kids without bread,
“Drunk so much liquor I really should be dead,
“I’ve chased loose women and I’ve lost at cards,
“I’ve hit rock bottom and kept falling, falling hard,
“I stand before the Lord and confess all my wrongs,
“Now before you judge me, consider your own songs,
“Many of you wear the name Christian but hide your sins,
“Such as the one popping prescription pills again,
“Over there’s a sister whose life is one hot mess,
“She’s cutting herself and shooting smack and meth,
“Then there’s the brother, always true with his tithe
“That’s been sleeping with another man’s wife,
“There are those among us who have killed the unborn,
“As well as those who are addicted to the drug porn,
“Then there are those who murder with their tongue,
“Their victims can be friends, enemies, old, young,
“It’s time we remove our mask, stop wearing a false facade
“And turn our hearts toward the face of God,
“He is all that counts when the counting is done,
“But it seems we have forgotten the Forgotten One.”

The Wedding

I rush around the huge room that I am staying in, in my stocking feet. I wear the black tuxedo, replete with the white shirt, cummerbund, and bow tie. I have splashed a little Nautica cologne on my face and on pulse points on my body. The search to find my shoes seems futile.

A familiar, gruff voice behind me suddenly startles me, when I hear, “You better hurry up. You would be late for your own funeral.”

I turn around and see my father standing in front of me, holding my shoes out for me.

I take the shoes, sit in a chair, and put them on over the silk argyle socks I wear.

“Daddy,” I say, “I can’t go through with this.”

“You have to,” my father answers. “It’s too late to back out now.”

I arise after putting on the shoes, and look at myself in the full length mirror that not only spans the height and depth of the huge closet, but also the width of it. Although I recognize the face and the body of the man standing in front of it as me, I don’t recognize the man in the mirror at all. I am a stranger to his fear and to his hesitation.

“But, Daddy, I don’t even know…” I begin.

My father tells me, “Boy, you better get out there and go do it.”

I walk from the room and then enter the sanctuary of a huge church, lit with sunlight, streaming in from the huge windows on the side and the bay windows at the front, which show the blue waters of an ocean.

As I stand there, I can hear the people sitting in the congregation talking, whispering in barely audible tones that only I can hear. They are all talking about me and their conversation smells of money like the clothing that the landed gentry are wearing.

“I have no idea why she chose to marry him,” one woman says, “surely, she could do better.”

Everyone seems to murmur their assent.

I realize as I begin to walk in, that I have not even seen my bride before, and don’t know who I am marrying or why I am marrying her. I realize that none of her friends, or family members, likes me. Does she even like me herself?

I start to turn around and walk back on, but my father urges me to “Go on, son. You can do it.”

I awaken with a start, realizing that I don’t have my father anymore, and that I don’t have a bride waiting at a church to marry me.

Sometimes, even dreams like this can fill me with terror, like the recurring dreams of being in high school and having to take an algebra test, or the one where I dream of getting on the school bus without my shoes and socks on.
I realize that they are just dreams and nothing to be afraid of because God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a strong mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Written by Jacob Bembry, August 10, 2015

Christmas in July

Christmas in July begins for my readers tomorrow. Five of my books will be available for FREE for five days on Kindle. (If you don’t have a Kindle, you can download the app on your computer, cell phone, or tablet). Titles include “Higher Call: God Has More Work for Us to Do,” “Crimes Seen,” “Sudden Death: God’s Overtime,” “The Rapture of Pursuit: Sometimes the Chase Leads You Down the Rabbit Hole,” and “Madison County: Whispers from the Past.” If you prefer real books, (and want to help a poor author out) you can order from Amazon or directly from me for autograph copies.

The Song From High School

When I was sixteen years old, I had girls on my mind and being socially awkward and geeky (yep, that’s still me), I used to spend hours and hours writing poetry, professing my love for them. I think I was that age when I came up with the idea of writing a song for my wedding reception to be sung to my new bride (but God has other plans for my life, which I don’t regret one bit). This song is one of the few songs or poems I wrote back then with no girl in particular in mind, just an anonymous future wife. Who knows? Maybe one day, it will still be sung by someone at a wedding or reception for the woman I marry.

So In Love With You

I’ll ride a prancing steed, when you’re in need,
I’ll come to your rescue,
Many will lie,
But I will try
To be the best for you,
So dream of fairy tales
And wedding bells,
I’ll make them all come true,
Just give me a kiss.
And I’ll tell you this,
I’m so in love with you.
Love’s serenade so sweetly played
Makes the world go ‘round,
Love’s melody, so sweet to me,
Makes my heart slow down,
So dream of diamond rings
And fancy things,
I’ll make them all come true,
Just give me a kiss.
And I’ll tell you this,
I’m so in love with you.
I’ll be your Galahad,
When times are bad,
I’ll be your dashing knight,
I’ll be your little tin soldier,
You lean on my shoulder,
I’ll love you through the night,
So dream of Camelot
And everything you want,
I’ll make your dreams come true,
Just give me a kiss,
And I’ll tell you this,
I’m so in love with you.
You were my Sleeping Beauty,
I felt it my duty to kiss you on your lips,
We love through the night,
I’ll make you my wife,
And wake to the morning’s mist,
So, dream of diamond rings and fancy things,
I’ll make them all come true,
Just give me a kiss,
And I’ll tell you this,
I’m so in love with you.

Lyrics by Jacob Bembry

The Girl with the Purple Pink Hair

Disappointed and disgusted, she still cannot help but look at herself in the mirror. What was supposed to be pretty and tinted red is a loud purple pink color that says she’s crying for attention. Attention is the last thing on her mind. She thinks of a friend who she feels will tease her mercilessly.

The tears that form in her eyes disappear when her friend tells her it’s lovely. She smiles.

There are so many young people in the world who need their confidence built up. Perhaps it’s the teenage girl who wears braces and thinks she’s awkward and gawky because she is taller than the boys in her class. Perhaps it’s the boy who drops the ball on the last play of the game when he’s wide open in the end zone. Perhaps it’s the young man who’s just lost his job because the company is folding. Perhaps it’s the single mother whose husband left her on her own to raise her kids alone, who is lonely and thinks no one will ever love her.

God didn’t make any mistakes. He didn’t make any disappointments. He wants us to encourage others. He wants us to tell them that they matter. We need to put smiles on their faces, just like the smile on the face of the girl with the purple pink hair.

The Runner

The runner moves a little farther from first base as he watches the pitcher. Several times, the pitcher throws the ball back to first but the runner is always safe. The runner bides his time, waiting for the perfect time to make his move. The pitcher throws the ball toward his catcher and the runner is off in a flash, executing a perfect head slide into second as the catcher throws an equally perfect cannonball to the second baseman. “Safe!” the umpire calls. The runner gets up from the dirt, breathing hard, and brushing the dirt of the infield from him. Like the runner, we always have to be alert and keep our eyes out for the pitcher and the catcher throwing us out at second. We have to lunge headfirst into the second baseman to make sure he is not in our path. The work week is a lot like the baseball game, as we barrel toward second. At the close of the workday, Friday is a day that we are able to get up from the dirt, brush ourselves off and catch our breath again. As Christians, we have Saturdays to enjoy ourselves with recreation like fishing or we can catch up on work around the house or we can just be lazy. Sunday is the Lord’s Day and we should observe it in church, or if we’re not able to be there, in private worship. Today, let’s just brush off the dirt and the ugliness of this past week. Monday, we get to start all over again. The Lord will be with us wherever we go as He has this past week. “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Written by Jacob Bembry, June 14, 2013