Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven

Francis Thompson, The Hound of Heaven


I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat - and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet -
"All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followèd,
Yet I was sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside.)
But, if one little casement parted wide,
The gust of His approach would clash it to.
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clangèd bars;
Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.
I said to Dawn: Be sudden - to Eve: Be soon;
With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over
From this tremendous Lover -
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
The long savannahs of the blue;
Or whether, Thunder-driven,
They clanged His chariot 'thwart a heaven,
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet: -
Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.
Still with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
Came on the following Feet,
And a Voice above their beat -
"Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."

Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at had the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
"And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherfore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I make much of naught" (He said),
"And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited -
Of all man's clotted clay, the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might'st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come."

Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
"Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."

have you been here before?

last night i woke up approx. every two hours. and i thought of things that i needed or desperately wanted to do or say, but as it was in the middle of the night i did not want to disturb people in there deserved rest. this morning when i woke up though, i somehow felt that God was reassuring me that he was in control.

this time is a heart-breaking time for me of crushed dreams and hopes and of so much pain. but all the way through God has been amazing and so consistent in his guidance and support. life on this planet is fallen, false and confusing, and we should not expect things to go our way. That does not at all mean though, to go for a over-careful, safety first lifestyle. i used to do that for a long time, as i saw how clueless and helpless i was in the context of the reality we life in. but that was only cause my confidence depended on me and my ability. i talked about God being with me, and that we were citizens of his kingdom to come. but it has already started, in us, in the fact that when we walk with him, we have everything we need to make all the difference in this world, starting with being confident in our saviour.

there is a song i heard at the sports ministry conference that describes much better what i mean i think. its the mindset we have to live in i think, if we want to be history makers. or better, if we want to be good ones. HP Royer said in one of the talks that i translated some weeks back, once you are a husband your choice in the morning is not if you want to be a husband or not, but if you want to be a good one or not. the same counts for being a witness of Christ. but because Jesus knows how hard it is, the new role comes with a free package to support us.
so why not pick it up? i don´t know how many of my actions and decisions have been driven more by my fear of this world and the circumstances then by the power, authority, healing and indescribable support we have in God´s promises and his spirit.

Let´s pick up this present God has for us every single morning, then we can be sure that we don´t need to worry about anything but just chuck everything at God. Whatever we have to walk with in our Christian walk, and i am saying that as much to myself as to all of you. We are walking it with Christ, who wants to help us carry our burdons, in fact, he already is as he paid for everything already. Lets accept it, and give him the joy of being able to free us and to make our backpack light. He loves it, like we enjoy helping others. there is so much enjoyment in being able to take care of someone.

i better stop preaching now my friends, but believe me, i am not having an easy time at the moment, and there is days when all i can do is to ask Jesus to just carry all of me. But he restores my soul and heals my heart, that is so bruised and feels betrayed and all.
Jesus knows all this and has already suffered with me, so i might as well let him take the weight of my shoulders.

lets expect nothing less than a huge number of miracles today folks, because Jesus died for us not in an act of kindness, but of love. thats the greatest love of all, not the one Whitney Houston sings about. in fact, its pretty much the opposite, the secret lies in no relying on ourselves, and not to walk in anyones shadow, but in the shadow of our saviour Jesus Christ.
Lets stay close to him, and we will be fine more than fine, we will change the world with him and find our purpose and real joy and happiness. But remember the price he had to pay, the ones that want to walk in his shadow will have to pay it too.

God bless you all,

david

and here is the song i talked about. its by Paul Oakley...



When deep calls to deep

When deep calls to deep
There’s a stirring inside of me
A feeling that words won’t describe
Like I’m hearing Your song
Touching my spirit
Calling me deeper with You

And the thirst in my soul
Just to meet with You, God
I’m feeling the pull of Your love
Like the crash of Your waves
Like the roar of Your waterfalls
Drawing me on into You

And all I know is it’s You
And I cry out to You

Give me oil for my wounds
Give me wine for my heart
Give me strength for today
And I will stand
Give salve for my eyes
Give me truth for the lies
Give me love in my life
And I will run with You

Paul Oakley

Copyright Thankyou Music/MCPS

whats next?

Dear Friends,

after a good week in Germany at the sports ministry conference and staying with my parents I am back in the UK. God has been good to me, and in this difficult situation of having to rebuild he works in me in ways that i have not known before. I know this sounds cheesy, but it is so true. I can only encourage all of us to continiously face the reality the way it is and take it all to God. He is so powerful and so in charge that we don´t have to fool ourselves or others by pretending things aren´t as bad or hard as they sometimes seem. In fact, if we do that, like i have done for many years we miss out on the incredible experience of God catching us, when there are no more self constructed safety nets, and we never experience his healing and how he can truely create a new heart for us and teach us to walk again.
I´ve been listening to a series of sermons lately by an austrian speaker called Hans-Peter Royer. Already twice i had the privilege to translate him, he is a great guy with lots of insight i think. I will try to put the talks up on this page somehow, or at least the links. Simple but still groundbreaking stuff.
The thing that i think most about this morning after listening to his talks is that we often ask God to be or even go with us. The bible tells us though that Jesus says, where i will be, my servants will also be. I have so many ideas how to serve God and have martyred my brain for so long where and what God wants me to be or do. And really all he wants is that i go where he is.
So today, in all my confusion and uncertainty i will go and chase him today.
I think it was Corrie ten Boom who said:

It is no foolishness to let go of things we can´t keep in order to get hold of things we can´t loose"

i believe she is right, lets stop limiting what we can do for God in this world by holding on to our skills and gifts and our experience, because if we do, then these things will be our limits. If we submit them all to God fully without holding anything back, then not even the sky, but God himself becomes the limit of what we can do in the name and in the power of the one we serve.

Lets chase kingdom things today, and lets trust God with all the rest.

Blessings and Love

david

Dear All.

a quick hello from the german sports ministry conference that i am at at the moment. over the weekend we will be more than 300 people who love Jesus and love sport. thats very exciting. I am glad to be here, and slowly some new options come up for the future, so that is encouraging too. Many people here i know for a long time and it is good to be part of this group again after quite a few years in the UK.

please keep praying as i am trying to make plans for the future and rebuild.
thank you for all you support and prayers-

love and blessings

david

hi and test

hi there,

welcome to my new blog! after some people have asked me for regular updates i thought
that i would start this. there will still be the odd newsletter coming round, (one very soon...)
but if you would like to know more about whats happening in my life and what God is doing in my life and what He allows me to be a part off - this is the place where you can read about it.

This afternoon i am off to the annual german sports ministry conference, so thats all for today. But come back soon for more updates and pictures. please leave a comment if you like to, would love to hear from you.

May God bless you and challenge you today - wherever you are!

in His Grip

david