Sand Seminary

There among shifting dunes and the perilous rocks

Old Moses learned to subsist and tend to smelly flocks

And here in this place made of a pure paradox

He found a place he could stand

There in the seminary made of sand

For his own good Moe was placed on the shelf

There he learned to tend sheep, and he put to death self

He gave up positions and gave up his wealth

And when all that was familiar was banned

Was transformed by that seminary made out of sand

Like Moses, we sojourn in our own wilderness

And the cursed obstacles, we learn how to bless

This way is not easy. It’s hard, we confess.

For we’re not trained to meet its demands

We’re redeemed in that seminary made out of sand

Bridge

You saw me and bought me and brought me to this 

And taught me the lessons couldn’t dare miss

Here in this desert wilderness’ backside, 

Will bring death to ego and decimate pride

And you yield when ambition has died

The backside of the desert is a sanctified school

It signals the wise, and it upbraids the fool

Where lonely’s the status and danger the rule

It’s a dry and a wild weary land

There in the seminary of the sand

The best of all lessons surely are learned 

Beyond circumstances for which you’ve yearned

They may come from sources you formerly spurned

It’s not what you hoped and it’s not what you planned 

Here in this seminary made of sand

Life’s lessons are learned in the most obscure places

When you take that right turn and those about faces

When you feel you’ve been burned, but it’s really God’s graces

You can sense the invisible hand

When you’re in that seminary made of sand

July 22, 2026
Anthony Foster