Looking Back

 

 

Hearing de National Anthem

I standing ramrod straight

 

I am a proud bajan

Some say poor great

 

At de Garrison Savannah

Back in nineteen sixty-six

 

See de playing field

In a such a muddy fix

 

Never see so much bajans

In muh entire life

 

All o’ dem wid one purpose

Independence not strife

 

There in dey numbers

Not caring ‘bout de mud

 

Packing in de Garrison

As many as dey could

 

Some walked for miles

Some come by donkey cart

 

A few come by motorcar

All bajans to de heart

 

 

For this very night

They had eagerly planned

 

Every one of them

Down to a single man

 

Was plenty activity

Then de moment come

 

 

We see Errol Barrow

What a great Barbadian son!

 

Standing like a soldier

Was a moment to brag

 

 

Down went de Union Jack

Up went de bajan flag

 

 

See de Broken Trident

Sitting on yellow and blue

 

Flying in de cool night air

What a splendid view

 

Suddenly de sky lit up

With a variety of colour

 

Announcing Barbados

World’s latest super power

 

That’s how we felt

Bajans through and through

 

Don’t get vex wid we

We just have to tell you

 

This is we nation

Built under God

 

From de top o’ de hills

Right to de earthly sod

 

 

We are a proud people

Of what we have achieved

 

Thanking God this very night

For what we have received

 

Meditate upon these words

Follow me as I pray

 

God bless this country

Every night and every day

 

With God we’ve come this far

With God we will survive

 

With God we will endeavour

With God we’ll ever strive

 

Thank you God for Bim

Save us Lord from all our sin

 

Stewart Russell © 2012

 

Ask for the Old Paths

 

 

Ask for the old paths:

The truth is nothing new

If for some reason it is,

It is only new to you.

 

Ask for the old paths

Instructed God’s Prophet,

A direct instruction from God

Through the Holy Spirit.

 

The prophet was Jeremiah

So, this is nothing new,

And, as it was given to the Jews,

It’s also given to you.

 

There is much to confuse us

Especially in these times,

Wizards’ symposia and the like

To bombard our gullible minds.

 

 

But seek out Jeremiah 6

Verse 16 to be precise,

Then read the entire chapter

Rather than surmise.

 

It is of impending trouble

Meaning about to descend,

The people of God were own-way

Just as is the current trend.

 

They were warned to flee,

To flee their precious city

For the city of God had become

The pit of devilry.

 

Abomination after abomination

Despite the goodness of God,

Idol worship and the like

Was in the city and abroad.

 

A Babylonian attack!

The tool of God’s judgment

On His rebellious people

Because of their evil intent.

 

Barbados, for decades now

Have been going astray

And contrary to the opinion of some,

Not ignorant of God’s way.

Being replete with churches

We are fed a diet of His Word

On the radio waves and television

And wherever crusades occur.

 

There are doctrinal differences

But the fundamental is intact

And, regarding the old paths,

We definitely need to get back.

 

Unless we change our anthem

We must heed the 2nd verse,

So-called truth is no truth

And will bring with it its curse.

 

Righteousness exalts a nation

But sin carries a prescribed curse

And given all that’s going on

Barbados is becoming worse.

 

 

Ask for the old paths

In case you have forgotten them

And understand the trouble we face

Is more than an economic problem.

 

More than balancing payments

Regarding those we owe,

It’s really our moral depravity

And I believe our leaders know.

 

Seared consciences are evident

As we plunge deeper and deeper

Into the abyss of moral decline

Though mocked by the grim reaper.

 

Physical and spiritual mayhem

As we wander from the truth

And wherever we look around

There is the clear proof.

  

Ask for the old paths, I repeat,

For there is no new truth,

If for some reason your truth is new,

It is only new to you.

 

Stewart Russell © October 12, 2022

 

Wrong Move My Friend

 

 

We write our names on history’s page

With expectations great,

Does that still apply? I dare to ask,

Considering the nonsense here of late.

 

In the face of peril, we may panic,

That is mostly understood,

But when we behave with gay abandon

We can expect nothing good.

 

Barbados is fortunate; this is no doubt

The mercies and blessings of God,

But this persistence in tempting the Lord

Is not a sensible call.

 

God is a bajan, I have heard that,

And no doubt you have heard it too

But to make light of His mercies and blessings

Is to adopt a myopic view.

 

God is no more a bajan than he is a trini

No more a bajan than a vincie,

He is no more a bajan than he is a lucian

He is responsible for every country.

 

 

Laws are put in place that we should obey

Or experience the consequence,

Be they laws of nature or of our land,

They are from the Almighty sent.

 

This disregard by some for the civil law,

Especially in these unforgiving times

Will cost you and me such a hefty price,

It will more than blow our minds.

 

A straightforward thing like staying at home

Unless it is absolutely necessary

Is proving for some an impossible task

And exacerbating this calamity.

  

We would all like to see the back of it

While our behavior says, welcome to our shores,

And, unless we discontinue our reckless ways

It will be with us for a while more.

 

 

The Government and the Ministry of Health

Has been trying its utmost best,

And with every single behavior modifier

Still a few have been daring to test.

 

Jogging on the streets, wheelies on the highway,

For them, it is business as usual,

I truly believe that the time has come

That the law should treat to such like criminals.

 

When people persist in flouting the law

Then the law has no other recourse

Than to make an example of such deviants

And send the message it will be enforced.

 

 

It is a wrong move, my friend, let’s get it right,

Not only the offender is involved

But also, those with whom he is in contact

Makes the issue that more difficult to resolve.

 

You must go, if you definitely have to go,

Otherwise, please stay at home,

It is a wrong move, my friend, if you don’t have to

And you are just going out to roam.

 

Doing all that the authorities advise

Is the least that any of us can do,

To weather this storm and protect health and lives

I will conform, will you?

 

Stewart Russell © April 2020

 

Who Is On The Lord’s Side?

Way back in the book of Exodus

A question to a people was posed

“Who is on the Lord’s side?”

Was the Moses’ conducted poll.

In a matter of forty days

Things had really changed

And when he came down from the mount

He met a people most deranged.

All the way from wretched Egypt

He had led them through the Red Sea

Now just “the man” is all he is

In their present controversy.

He had been called up to the mount

To receive instructions from Almighty God

That would direct these chosen people

And protect them from Satan the fraud.

But on retuning he had found out

That they had made a golden calf

And the number that worshipped this idol

Was certainly more than half.

As a result he conducted a poll

To ascertain who was on the Lord’s side,

Consequently there was God’s judgment

And there was no place to hide.

No place to hide for the dissenters,

About three thousand were put to the sword,

For the priestly tribe of Levi

Did according to God’s word.

And so let us now fast forward

Thousands of years to the present

Cognizant of the reality

That we have a similar lament.

The difference, however, is critical

Since the sides have made a change

In the exodus it was the Lord’s side

But our anthem has had this rearranged.

  

“The Lord has been the people’s guide

For past three hundred years,

With Him still on the people’s side

We have no doubts or fears.”

The first stanza you would recall

Spoke to our fore fathers’ achievement,

The second stanza introduces God

But on the “people’s side” is the intent.

The emphasis is now changed

As it propositions the people’s side,

It is no longer we who must take focus

But God who must now decide.

That may not have been the intent

But it surely comes over that way,

God may have been the people’s guide

But it is the people that hold full sway.

With “the people on the Lord’s side”

Would have been a better demarcation,

Since God has no need to choose a side,

His is an eternal position.

He does not have to make amendments

He is the one that changes not,

We are the ones that are dependent

And without God we would simply rot.

It is not uncommon these days to hear

When seeking to win an argument,

“I know the Lord is on my side”

To put down the other person’s dissent.

So God must choose; so we declare

And He had better choose our side:

“Command ye me,” the Lord has said,

Isaiah 45:11 cannot be denied.

Taken out of context as in so many cases

We use God’s word for our own ends,

And so He is on the people’s side

It’s on the people that He depends.

We had better get our theology right

As we respond to Moses’ question,

“Who is on the Lord’s side?” Note!

And not the affirmation of our anthem.

For in the final analysis

Only them on Lord’s side will be saved,

It doesn’t matter your golden calf

Or how much you rant and rave.

Jesus makes it particularly clear

In Luke chapter 11 and verse 23

Concerning the matter pertaining to sides

“He that is not with me is against me.”

So who is on the Lord’s side?

Stand up today and be reckoned,

Bear in mind there is still His amnesty

And to one and all he beckons.

Stewart Russell © July 2017