Waves of sorrow, oceans of grief,
Acres of agony beyond my belief!
Deep in despair to the core of my soul -
Nothing can help me! I'll never be whole.

Staring and sinking ever deeper into pain -
Gut-wrenched and stinking with nothing to gain.
How does this help in the healing from sin?
The determinant in discipline is that SOMEONE shall win.

A whisper of gladness, a glimmer of hope,
A visit with an old friend may help me to cope.
Rivers of refreshing rushing down from the crest,
Mountains of mercy for passing the test.

When everything's gone and there's nobody left
and I'm all alone to live with myself,
the excellent experts with their PhD's,
their master's and doctor's and other degrees,
are sometimes no comfort in the shame of the day;
it hardly matters what they have to say.
Yet one underqualified with love in his heart
can reach me and touch me and draw me apart
and tell me who loves me and remembers my name,
caresses my sorrow and passes over my shame.
Then I am disarmed and cannot be the same.
I don't feel less guilty nor better about sin
but I feel forgiven - that I matter again.

So that brings a question that's important to me:
Which kind of expert do I want to be?

- Bill Hawkins, January 28, 2006