"Tribute to the crew of shuttle Columbia"
Yesterday, just short of 9 AM we lost space shuttle Columbia and her crew.
What I have written is in honor of the men and women astronauts, may they rest in peace. True heroes to our country.
David Brown
Rick D. Husband
Laurel Blair Salton Clark
Kalpana Chawla
William C. McCool
Michael P. Anderson
Ilan Ramon
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
We only have but one real meaning
That of which God has granted us between birth and death
It is our soul and becomes our life portrait on his canvass
He is the painter and we are the paint
A painting of loss and completeness
Both juxtaposed
It is a struggle throughout life between the two
We search to find meaning
We stumble over what we cannot understand
God is our framework
He creates the boundaries
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
Our meaning and understanding is his revelation
At any one moment
Complete, yet evolving
Thus, an untold story on his canvass
It is our destiny
An ever changing portrait of being his child
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
A unique composition
A mixture of lines and shapes
Some clear and so many more smudged by the past
There is a predictability and repetition
What may be hidden, what may be obvious, what may be untold
Sweeps of color, some broad, some bold, some barely visible
Some bright
Some natural, and many more blended by experience
There are tones of light and dark
There are transitions between elements
Sometimes abrupt
Sometimes subtle
God continually paints our canvass, he never quits
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
Our being
Our painting ever changing
With each day a new revelation
With each night a new question
From his pallet he blesses us with color
Always filling the voids of loss with hope
Where failure, becomes divine interaction
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
We must look forward to the changes
We must be humbled by our losses
We must cherish what we understand
And pray for that of which we do not understand
We must look for meaning in the meaningless
We must embrace all
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die
We must not sufferer
For he has suffered to give us life
The light of his burning love burns deep and bright
In this he gives us hope
Our faith so gently held in his hands
We are blessed
We can be comforted
It is his destiny for us
It is our being
By his grace, we live
By his hand, we die