My Sun
by Shepherd H
They ask why I’m a Christian, ‘What for you has this Christ done?
Has he taken from your shoulders some heavy life burden?’
So I told them, just for once, to open hearts and open eyes
Said I, ‘Read a few verses from the Gospel of the Christ
Then yourselves you’ll sacrifice with both your soul and spirit
And then from all deeds past embrace repentance and regret’
For Jesus Christ is living God of power without end
And everything in heaven and the earth is in his hand
My idol worship thrown away, and my true God I found
I know he is my God, without wav’ring, question, doubt
Now, I’ve comfort worry-free, and Christ, light of my days
The shining strength of Jesus is my sun, my wall, my shade
This is another poem by the late Shepherd H, Central Asian believer and elderly poet-turned-Christian. This poem focuses on how Christ has become the powerful center of Shepherd’s life, its very light and sun. When asked why he’s a Christian, Shepherd points his questioners to Bible, where he claims reading even a few verses is enough to cause radical repentance and self-sacrifice.
My Sun is another poem that exults in Jesus using some very Central Asian imagery. The sun is a major symbol of our people group, something that probably has roots in ancient Zoroastrianism, but which now is mainly expressive of the hope of freedom. What I’ve translated as ‘wall’ in this poem is a garden barrier referring more to privacy, beauty, and rest than to protection from enemies. And although the sun is a beloved symbol here, so is the shade. Our dry, high desert climate means you come to really appreciate the shade and how stepping into it during the summer can provide such instant relief. So much so that I’ve heard locals rank trees according to the quality of shade that they provide.
By calling the shining strength of Jesus his sun, wall, and shade, Shepherd is proclaiming that Jesus is his light, his hope for freedom, his rest, his covering, his beauty, his relief, and his deliverance.
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Praise God, one of the international churches in our region got a pastor! But there’s still another church looking for an associate pastor and our kids’ TCK school is also in need of teachers for the 2026-2027 schoolyear. If you have a good lead, shoot me a note here.
Blogs are not set up well for finding older posts, so I’ve added an alphabetized index of all the story and essay posts I’ve written so far. You can peruse that here
For my list of recommended books and travel gear, click here.
*Names have been changed for security
Photo from Unsplash
Entrusted to the Dirt 