Reflecting on a walk of faith;
No Catcher In The Rye

A Book (of Eli) Review
Reflecting on a walk of faith

The Book of Eli pictures
(most apocalyptically)
a bombed-out world in sepia.
There’s no prosperity.

What once was very commonplace
is gone. It’s so absurd.
Clean water, food and decency
(and knowledge of God’s Word).

The last surviving Bible
had to find its way out west.
It’s not as easy as it sounds.
It proves a bloody test.

One man who lived by faith (not sight)
prompts us to do the same.
With Scripture hidden in his heart,
he has a single aim.

Eli’s committed to live out
what he has heard God say.
He’s not content to read the Word.
His passion’s to obey.

Eli (like Christ) is tempted by
a man named Carnegie.
This Satan-figure knows The Book
has power (don’t you see).

Its words inspire, motivate,
convict and magnetize.
The key (of course) is who unlocks
The Book. The fool or wise?

And in this wilderness of beige
anticipating Hell,
we see that trusting God by faith
resembles reading braille.

The walk of faith is not a dash.
It is a daily stroll.
Obeying is a lifelong trek.
It’s what defines your soul.

No Catcher in the Rye
Thoughts on J.D. Salinger’s death, our own and journaling

Young Holden Caulfield was the means
for Salinger to share his dreams
and rail against hypocrisy
in our dishonest world.

Now JD Salinger is dead,
but not the book most kids have read
about a catcher in the rye
and teenage hopes and fears.

His voice (though stilled) will yet be heard.
There’s power in the written word.
It’s bound to help extend our lives
when we are six feet down.

So, write about what you believe.
Describe the things that make you grieve.
Jot lessons you have learned in life
through failure and success.

Relate the way you met your spouse
and how you purchased your first house.
What insights on God’s faithfulness
could fuel your children’s faith?

The things you journal will live on
when they are grown and you are gone.
It’s never wrong to write it down
while you still have a chance.

Our years of playing in the rye
will soon be done and we will die.
And there’s no catcher near the cliff.
We all must face that fall.