My lord...by request

Well. i've spoken in a couple wards now since i've been home. and in all of them i shared a poem that i had written. So i figured i'd put it on here, and give a little background about it.

I wrote this while i was in the mtc. I had been in for two weeks. It was a friday night and we had had a great devotional, and afterwards we got to watch a movie. The movie was "the lamb of god", and that one is always a tear-jerker for me. Towards the end of the movie i had all these words coming to my head, and i wanted so bad to write them, but i didn't have a pen or paper, we'd left them in the room after the fireside. So as soon as it ended i dragged my companion back to the room, asked for some quiet, and i wrote this in the twenty minutes before bed. Nothing ever came easier for me. The words were a well of strength and resolve during many points in my mission, and i never hesitate to share it with anyone who will listen. I feel that it captured the spirit of my mission, and of all missions, even before i had really gotten started, or comprehended what would happen!

my Lord,
i wasn't there,
to bear thy cross,
nor did i feel thy thorns,
the soldiers scorn,
fell on thy ears,
and not upon my own,

the whip that fell,
upon thy back,
was spared from marking mine,
thy hands and wrists,
where nails drove in,
left no scar,
on my own skin....

but i feel it from within,

My lord your pain,
suff'ring and strife,
the fact that you,
gave up your life,
will not fall on dead ears,
i'll pray for them, the people,
i'll serve them these two years,

i know there's one,
or maybe many,
who need thy hand, thy voice,
to lift them up, to tell them...
drink of my word, rejoice,

i'll extend my hand,
to those who doubt,
as the spirit speaks,
their hand will reach out,
the love they feel will all be thine,
the hand they clasp,
will not be mine...
as i teach them in thy stead.

i'll drink of thy words,
and live by thy teachings,
let the spirit guide me,
in thy preaching,
that they may feel,
the peace inside,
glory to him,
the crucified.