A Poem: Where Jesus Walked

This is another poem I entered into the devotional category of the Whitman poetry contest. This poem also did not place in the contest, but I still like it a good bit. The idea for this poem came to me while I was on vacation in Israel this spring. Just like the poem starts out, the idea for this poem struck me while I was standing on the eastern shore of the sea of Galilee while the sun was setting. The poem is about how it would have been great to be alive during the time of Jesus, but the fact is that we weren't. We have to continue to live on faith alone, and we must go out and change the world one step at a time, just as he commanded us to.

Where Jesus Walked

I stand on the eastern shore
Of the sea of Galilee
The Golan Heights
Rise to the sky behind me
In the west the sun slowly sinks beneath the mountains
It sprays its glory across the water
The town of Tiberius sprawls beneath the sun
Away in the distance to the North
Can be seen the formidable outline of Mt. Herman

I breathe deeply
The wind lashes my face
The Holy Land
That is what they call it
The place where Jesus walked

A tremor rakes my body
As I realize
I'm in the very land
Where our faith began
Christ's story fills the air
It takes very little thought
To imagine him here
Walking this shore
With his disciples in tow
To see him in front of my eyes
Teaching the crowds
How great it would have been
Just to see him
To hear him
In person

Alas he conquered death
Long before my time
And now we must run
On faith alone
But if feels so great
To walk where he once tread
To see where he once broke bread

As the sun disappears
Beneath the edge of the horizon
I turn on my heel and walk away

Tim to change the world

One step

One broken piece of bread

At a time


© 2010 by Nathaniel Magnuson