What I said no to

What I said no to

by Joel Howard 

God when I said yes to You

Here’s what I said no to:

To people’s faces

To all their gazes

I fled rat races

To making money 

As much as would 

Come to me 

Jesus, when trials beset

I chose You and yet

Today I remember

All I left there:

Forsook the taste of

What others crave

The taste of “wine”

The friends of mine

Camped out instead

In lands I dread

Sweat on my brow

Dirt on my head

I stayed in desert rooms

And camped out in tombs

Where devils had

Their best chance

To cut me out 

Of the hands of God 

But His wounds let

Me hide within

Deeper than the scars of most

No matter what alarms the host

What beauty lies

In Daddy’s eyes

Sustains me now again

When I remember where I would’ve been

I glance back but never will return to

All that I said no to!