church2go

Chances are you have read the poem Footprints in the sand at sometime. Maybe on a card or plaque or a T-shirt or even on a dvd. The chances are that it has been signed – author unknown or anonymous.  Well, people do claim to have written it. A lady Mary Stevenson apparently wrote the poem in 1939.  The story goes that Stevenson heard a performer Kathy B. Perform at a nightclub in Hollywood in 1979 and invited her home for a meal afterwards. Bee commented on a poem on the wall to which Stevenson replied – “Oh you like that? I’ve got plenty more.” At which she went into another room and pulled out a box of paper with poems written on them. Going through the box, Bee found a copy of Footprints with a date of 1939 on it. Bee pulled out a card that her mother had given her which – you guessed it was the footprints poem. Bee had seen the poem for many years.  Bee encouraged Stevenson to copyright it and at least make a little money form it as Stevenson was getting elderly and had little. There was just one hitch. Someone else claimed to have written it. Margaret Fishback Powers claims to have written it in 1964. has even written a book about her experiences with it and about her life. Who do you believe??Well the plot thinkens, Carolyn Carty also claims to have written the poem in about 1966. She said she wrote it and made a decoupage version for family member. That was the last she saw of the original until it started to turn up all over the place as author unknown.  If you do a google search on the word footprints you get about 70,000 hits. She is cranky at all the people making money of her poem. Actually on that google search you turn up dig this 4,600 odd web sites using the words Footprints in the sand.  But the plot thickens again. Someone else has claimed authorship and chooses to remain anonymous, and claims no royalty.  Here is what the publisher states. Harper Collins Vice president Lloyd Kelly says” Lots of people have tried claim ownership of Footprints, Some of them are ministers wives. It can be a rather embarrassing situation. Kelly goes on to give his opinion if any claiming authorship wrote the poem. It’s highly questionable in my opinion. Harper Collins have decided not to make money out of the poem donating any profits to charity. They believe the author is unknown.   So what do we get out of all this, other than confusion?  

1. God has used this poem to greatly encourage people.

1 Timothy 4: ¹⁸ Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Encouragement is a grossly under-rated part of Christian life these days. It doesn’t matter who wrote it for God to use it.

2. God does and will use some things that people will fight over.

1 Cor 11: ¹⁹ No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval. There will be differences, God will use them to show His truth. The one who wrote the poem before God they know. Those that didn’t – before God they know they didn’t. Its about God’s approval not royalty money.

3. God knows. Who the author is – now becomes God’s thing. Someone is lying – God will deal with it. That is if somehow, all four didn’t write it. Hey, God could do that – He could give the one message to four people. Now I don’t get the feeling that that happened, but it is possible with God.

Romans 2: ¹⁶ This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

Judgment is God domain. Leave it to him and use the poem if you think it is useful to someone.

Now where does that leave us? Do we use the poem or lose the poem? Your choice. As long as no one here says they wrote it, I am not hassled by it. God will use what He wants to be encouragement to people.

But learn this lesson – God knows. So be real with Him.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 17th, 2007 at 5:22 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.