Gary Field
DC #M05398
Century CI
Century, FL 32535

The Testimony

The view that I once had of sin
was not through another man's eyes.
Perhaps unlike you. I once sat in a pew
while wearing a clever disguise.

But beneath my cloak of righteousness,
I had just built a house of lies.

I took pride in my humility
and I saw no contradiction.
Now I realize what a mockery
I'd once made of the Crucifixion.

I'd put a new coat on the old man
instead of the other way around.
It may have looked good from the outside,
but the "new man" was totally bound.

Like a gracious host, I'd ask the Holy Ghost
to come in and make himself at home.
He took a look around, and what he found
was all the rust there beneath the chrome.

My "pious" grin had just hid the sin
of a publican that only brags,
and that "new coat" I'd put on the "old man"
was, in reality, just filthy rags.

My vanity and my inequity
had been dictating my circumstance—
I dropped to my knees with a tearful plea
and simply begged for another chance.

I said I would not rest until all my lies
had been dispossessed and evicted—
No more lies and no more alibis
Then I "confessed"—and I was convicted.

Well, no hot coals had touched my lips.
And no angels suddenly appeared.
No trumpets blew and no veil was ripped.
But all those dark, dark clouds had cleared.

I tremble to think if I had waited a while
and got caught up in a deserted "I'll"—
I'll wait, I'll see, I'll pray, I'll think about it
I'm almost convinced, but still I doubt it.

I hope you don't just sit on the fence
and later hear the words, "...get thee hence."
Oh my God...
"I never knew you, get thee hence."

So don't get caught in Agrippa denial
in which you were "almost persuaded."
You may find yourself in a deserted "I'll"
wishing that you had never waited.

Well, it's not easy to admit these things
to talk of the mast that I used to wear.
It's a painful thing to lift the lid
on my past shame like this and share.

But if I can reach just one man,
touch a heart, or help to save a soul—
perhaps help someone to understand,
then it would be a worthy goal.

If they can learn from my mistakes,
avoid the pain that I've endured—
If I can spare them the heartaches,
help them to have their soul restored...

Then my time spent close to the fire
and all those times that I felt the pain
might just edify and inspire,
and my journey won't have been in vain.

—Glory be to God

Gary Field
www.betweenthebars.org/blogs/1398