Analysis of Reaching Forward



I am not already perfect,
But press on to make it my own;
Because Jesus did not reject,
Being made me as His alone.

I do not consider as made,
Forgetting what lies in the past;
Of the future not be afraid,
Rather confidence that will last.

I press on forward towards the goal,
The mark from on High for the prize;
Of God through Christ calls for my soul,
As His insight opens my eyes.

Let those of us who are mature,
Be like minded when God reveals;
Let us true to have what is pure,
When the Lord has broken the seals.

Join in by imitating me,
Keeping your eyes on those who walk;
To the example that can be,
Of the words that Jesus does talk.

For many of whom I have told,
Now I tell you even with tears;
Walking as foes being so bold,
Acting as though they have no fears.

Their destruction from earthly things,
And they have glory in their shame;
Food for belly no longer brings,
Burning desire to their flame.

But citizenship in Heaven,
Where we have a waiting Savior;
Since salvation has been given,
When God looks upon with favor.

He will change a vile body,
With one that is so glorious;
No longer one that is shoddy,
But transforms as victorious.

Copyright © 2021 Richard Newton Sherrer


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KXKX LMLM NONO IPIP O
Poetic Form
Metre 11101001 11111111 01101101 10111101 11101011 01011001 10101101 10100111 111100101 01111101 11111111 1111011 11111101 11101101 11111111 10111001 1011001 10111111 10010111 10111011 11011111 11111011 10111011 10111111 10101101 01110011 11101101 10010111 1100010 11101010 10101110 11101110 1110110 11111100 11011110 10110100 10101010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,159
Words 228
Sentences 10
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1
Lines Amount 37
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 93
Words per stanza (avg) 23

About this poem

Straining Toward the Goal Philippians 3:12-21

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Written on August 10, 2021

Submitted by richards.77936 on August 09, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:08 min read
15

Richard Newton Sherrer

I was born and raised on a farm in Pennsylvania. It was a small family farm that was handed down through 8 generations of Sherrer men until my father; Newton just could not make a living from it any longer. He thought that I would make a better living away from the farm. So, I decided to join the Air Force in 1969 upon graduating from high school. I gained quite a bit of experience and insight on life while in the service. Even though I was only stationed on the east coast of the US, my Air Force career took me to Germany and Korea. After 20 years wearing of the blue uniform, I decided going in a different direction and found myself becoming very diverse in many different fields. Something still seemed missing to me after being separated from the service for about 10 years. The Air Force was a way of life for me, but really missed life in Korea. I found myself changing careers again. Poetry was an interest of his since my days in high school. With returning to the Lord, I felt motivated to write of my Christian beliefs. I started looking at Bible verses and reflecting on my own personal experiences. The Bible was found to be as true today as to when the various books were written. I could see much of what the Bible is teaching us as valid as every in modern time. It felt only natural to me on using his personal experience based on Bible verses and see much of my own life written in the Scriptures. God inspires me what to write about though. I do not claim to be an expert on God or the Bible. I am just a Christian who has become enlightened to write poetic verses from the Holy Scriptures. more…

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