The Sleep Phenomenon

 

Have you ever checked the time

That you went off to sleep?

Did you check before or after

And did you carefully look or just peep?

I find it very amazing

Regarding some of the things we say

“Like, I went to sleep at 10 o’clock

Just day before yesterday.”

And we are very adamant too

Even willing to testify in court

That we know the time we fell asleep

And we are not making sport.

Don’t think this is funny

I know it happened to you too,

Just think back a little bit

Already you are admitting it is true.

See if you remember this conversation

Probably this morning when you woke;

“When did you go to sleep?  Was it late?”

“No, I went to sleep at half past eight.”

I am amazed that you can tell

The exact time that you fell asleep,

I wonder where the clock was located

That allowed you that final peep.

I know people who can multi-task

And do even three things at a time

But seeing the clock and sleeping too

Really, really blows my mind.

 

If you are only now getting the point

I guess you were sleeping all along,

If while asleep you could tell the time

Next time you’re asleep sing a song.

Another one I have often heard

And still don’t know what it means

Is, “Man I was between sleep and wake

When I heard somebody scream.”

  

I want somebody to tell me

What really is “between sleep and wake”,

I believe it is one or the other

And on that matter that’s just my take.

A third delusion about sleep

Is the argument that some people make

And tell what they don’t do while sleeping,

You would argue they were awake.

“I don’t snore in my sleep,” they say

As though they can really tell,

They will argue all night with you

Who in the same house with them dwell.

The final delusion I shall share

Is closely linked with the first,

It also has to do with time

And is very frequently rehearsed.

“I was so tired yesterday evening

That I slept exactly five hours.”

Unable to tell when they went to sleep

They pretend to have psychic powers.

If only I could tell when I went to sleep

I could tell for how long I had slept

But being asleep there’s no way I could,

That would be like laughing till I wept.

When one has truly gone to sleep

One has temporarily left this scene

And if he should hear or see anything

It would have to be in a dream.

Sleep is an intriguing phenomenon

And all that we know is that we do

But concerning what we do when we sleep

I do not know, do you?

Some people walk about in their sleep

And some people talk a lot,

Some people roam all over the bed

While some sleep in a single spot.

Whatever we do whenever we sleep

We are not aware that we do,

Not while we are sleeping we are not,

It is time you know that is true.

Let me end on this final note

And thank God for much needed rest

Happy to wake up out of a nightmare

But enjoy a lovely dream at best.

Stewart Russell © 2017

Called to be Light Called to be Salt

 

What is that thing called light

Which I must ne’er enjoy?

What are the blessings of the sight?

O tell a poor blind boy!

The preceding lines of Colly Cibber

From his poem enttled “The Blind Boy”

Conveys the challenge of the blind

And the mechanisms their minds employ.

So is the unbeliever in this world

Stricken by sin and sin’s curse

As he lives in the land of the blind

And daily those sins are rehearsed.

The believer then is called to be light,

To reflect Christ and be a light that’s bright,

To feed on the word and gather insight

And fight life’s battle in the Spirit’s might.

Called to be light I must repeat,

Called to be a light in this world,

Filled with the Spirit, walking with Christ

As directed by the Spirit and the Word.

 

That light though lit from within

Should shine out for the world to see

That Jesus who was from heaven sent

Now lives in you and me.

With signal sharp and focus clear

A light that shall never be dimmed

Alerting the world of a Saviour’s love

Who died to save them from sin.

A light that shows God’s wisdom,

A revealer of sin and of wrong

A light that is ever discerning

A light that spots brightly and long.

Called to be salt I must also add

To season, to preserve and to enhance  

As we spread the Gospel message

And for Jesus Christ take our stance.

  

 

Called to be salt I must repeat

For such shows a dependency on Christ,

The one who came to give us life

Having given his life as our sacrifice.

Called therefore to be both salt and light,

Such salt within and such light without,

Both flavouring and lighting a sinful world,

Telling what the Gospel story is all about.

So that for them life would be meaningful

As the abundant life they come to know,

And they too would be salt and light

And in turn would Christ to others show.

Stewart Russell © June 2017

Give of Your Best to The Master

Give of your best to the Master,

For Him only our best is the best,

Naught from Him withholding

It’s time we give Him the rest.

He gave His best for you and me

When he offered his life on the cross,

He suffered in pain and in anguish

So that we should not be lost.

What have you given to the Master?

He has given so much for you,

Time to give your best to the Master

Have Him alter your misguided view.

Give of your best to the Master,

He deserves first place in your heart,

You were on His mind in eternity

Before the foundation of the world had a start.

Give of your best to the Master

He desires every bit of your heart,

He will pardon, transform and enable you

So that from Him you would never part.

Give of your best to the Master

He demands you regard Him as Lord,

Lean upon him as your Creator

And totally depend upon His word.

For when you give your best to the Master

You will receive His best from Him,

He does nothing in half measure

He will forgive you wholly of your sin.

His blessings are infinitely abundant,

He gives and gives and gives again,

His resources can never be exhausted

In His word you can find that claim.

Give of your best to the Master

He promised you he would never forsake

Run into the folds of His mercy

Let Him show you the best He can make.

  

Let this be the goal of your existence

To give Him the best that you can,

Give of your best to the Master

For your life He has the perfect plan.

Stewart Russell © June 2017

When Did Wrong Become Right?

 

In the equation seven plus three equals eleven

Eleven appears somewhat strong,

If you said eleven is wrong then you are right,

Seven plus three equals eleven is wrong.

Somewhere in that verse are right and wrong,

Actually there are two wrongs and a right,

“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” someone once said

But these days the wrong definitely takes the limelight.

There was a time when this issue was clear

Certainly far clearer than it is today

But with the advent of the intellectual

Alternative facts are now holding sway.

The recipe for confusion is now in our hands

Particularly if you went to university

And what is worse at this particular time

Are the many scholars with a (Ph.D.).

There was a time when a Ph.D. was scarce

But today there’re like the summer rain

And the more academic our scholars become

The more they are inclined to be insane.

Our legislators are learned men

Mostly elected by the majority vote

Such that “The majority rules is a fallacy”

A clearer look would suggest that is a misquote.

The majority rules in the election

For therein is the stamp of a democracy

But thereafter democracy goes into hibernation

And policy is determined by a minority.

 

And not all of the elected have the same weight

For some are more equal than some,

It all depends on which side they sit

Whether the losing side or the side that won.

Just a few determine what’s right and wrong,

They determine the laws of the land

And depending on what side they woke up on

It could go right or wrong on the other hand.
 

Right’s bookmark is oft repudiated

And a strong stance is taken for the wrong,

The Bible is deemed archaic and outmoded

And replaced by the wrong and strong.

When did wrong become right?

The matter of the fact is that it never did

But the academics of our time and age

Have from our view the Bible hid.

“It’s a book of myths and legends,” they opine

Full of fairy tales and amusing fables,

Read it as you would any another book

But do not be misled by its so-called miracles.

When did wrong become right?

From the day that Adam and Eve had sinned,

That was the origin the Bible explains,

The question “Hath God said?” is the place to begin.

Back then the right was as clear as clear can be

But wrong intruded and blurred the lines

Then wrong appeared right and Eve was confused

And so to the wrong she was inclined.

From that moment wrong had an advantage

Exacerbated by the nature of man

Who was inclined to formulate his own idea of right

Even if it conflicted with God’s sovereign plan.

From then till now it has really mushroomed

Leaving us bewildered in its wake

Faced with the question we have in this poem

When so much in this life is at stake.

The ayes have it; that’s the way it pans out

A lot of talk of not much content,

The question is posed and the vote is called

And wrong becomes right as the original intent.

Two men: the right to form a family

With the right to raise someone’s child

Two women: the right to a marital union

With all of its conjugal ramifications applied.

“When did wrong become right?” I ask again,

When did we become so deluded?

At sensitivity’s death and at conscience demise

When all that used to be right was openly disputed.

When we got to know better or so we thought,

When accumulated knowledge got to our head,

When winning a seat made us brighter than most

And we exchanged our humanity for divinity instead.

When university became an end in itself

And its graduates strutted around as having reached,

That moment when a little knowledge makes one mad

And basic commonsense was totally breached.

 

When children took over and parents stepped back,

When anarchy presided in the home,

When teachers appeared powerless to stem the tide

And schools became a veritable war zone.

When the church flirted with a confused world

Convinced that the grass was greener that side

And its leaders like politicians suddenly arrived

Raking in millions while some members merely survive.

“When did wrong become right?” I reiterate,

When sympathy and empathy gave way to greed,

When a people that once regarded God

Become like in Noah’s day a despicable breed.

Is there a chance of there being any hope?

Not if we continue on this precipitous slope,

For wrong seen as right is worse than dope

And once blind leads blind all will continue to grope.

Return to God’s instruction and evil eschew

Stop following the multitude who after wrong pursue

God’s instruction manual is available to you

Let it fix your eyes and correct your view

Then the eyes would have it; the correct view that is

Of wrong and right from God’s own view,

In this world of the blind your vision will be clear

And you’ll walk in the light of what you once knew.

“When did wrong become right?” the sixth time I ask

Though the question implies a misnomer,

The only wrong that was right is in your mind

It’s time to stop and let God take over.

Stewart Russell © 2017

The Ayes Have It

The ayes have it; it is clear to see

That is the evidence of the vote,

The nays had their chance but the ayes have won

Let the record duly note.

A convincing argument though lacking substance

With loud voice and booming sound

Aroused the slumbering, befuddled voters

Though nothing of essence could be found.

What an enlightening presentation

Punctuated with questionable stats!

But given the oratorical skills of the speaker

The majority registered them as facts.

So the vote carried as we thought it would

Since the vote was really for the man,

It did not matter what he had said

To give him the nod was the their plan.

The ayes have it; the nays have lost

It’s a win for democracy,

From the people of the people by the people

Here is a man of integrity.

Offering to serve this people

With whom he once identified

Having once lived among them

Qualified him fit to apply.

And so the ayes once had it

But now he cannot see

For what the ayes have has blinded him

To his own misery.

Now self-made and a law unto to himself

Having parallax vision and a myopic view,

Clearly a case of the “I” disease

And how to fix it, not a single clue.

Yes the ayes have it; they got their man

Though he no longer cares about their plan,

Applying to serve he now wants to be served

His so-called service is only a sham.

Parallax vision and short-sightedness,

Yes, the ayes have it with their distorted view,

Misstep after misstep with nary a clue

Now a hodgepodge of misfits makes up his crew.

So all must suffer, the ayes and the nays

And even those of the in-between,

The ayes always have it even if they’re wrong

For they are the ones presiding over this scene.

No balm for the eyes weary and strained

No temporary restraint or ease,

Having made our bed in it we must lay

“The ayes have it, yes that dreaded disease.

Stewart Russell © May, 2017 

To Fathers Everywhere

To fathers everywhere

Have a blessed Father's Day!

Let God, your heavenly Father,

Hold over you His sway.

As you raise your young ones

Let God have His sovereign way

And for each and every blessing

Praise to Him continually pay.

Model God as your Father

And a good example always be,

This world needs godly fathers

For every child to see.

Nothing worthwhile comes easy

So you have your work cut out

But Father God has promised

To answer when you shout.

Be the head of your family

As is your heavenly Father!

Be there for them in sorrow

And also in times of laughter!

And if you’ve made a wrong step

It’s not the end of the road,

Just turn to your heavenly Father

He’ll share your heavy load.

Not one of us is perfect

Even though God calls us all to be

But when we trust Him as our Father

He will show us personally.

So that our children too by extension

Will learn the secret of trust

From a father whose Father is God

And thus learn to walk with Jesus.

So to fathers here and everywhere

Have a happy Father's Day!

Let God, your heavenly Father

Lead you in His righteous way.

Reach up and take God’s hand

With your children’s hands in yours

And together you will climb

Just how the eagle soars.

Stewart Russell © June, 2017

The Wind

The wind can send you to sleep

Or the wind can keep you awake,

Sometimes it wafts a fragrance sweet

Or quite a foul odour makes.

The wind we cannot see

But we know when it’s around,

The evidence is stark and clear

As we hear its many sounds.

It may rustle through the trees

Or it may whistle along the wires,

Bits of paper oft disturbs

Or it may drive a lit-up fire.

The wind has many faces

But I will just describe a few

Like the wind that’s calm and cool

Or stirs the cold midnight dew.

It can snarl with an ugly face

As it creates strife for many a mile

Or cool down the midday heat

With a reassuring little smile.

It can create havoc on the seas

And send a ship adrift

Or it can simply fill a sail

And give a seafarer’s heart a lift.

It can play ripples on the ocean

Or rock a tourist to sleep,

The wind, it can get so terribly angry

And send a boat to the briny deep.

Yes the wind is air in motion

As we learned in the science class,

It’s caused by high and low pressures

And may move slowly or fast.

Besides our needed oxygen

And carbon dioxide for our plants,

It will spin the big wind turbines

And dry a dress or pants.

The wind can amuse little children

As their kites fill them with glee

But sometimes it can be quite horrible

When that kite ends up in a tree.

A mixed personality has the wind,

Perhaps even by-polar at times,

Right now it’s calm and reassuring,

Later it can leave you in a bind.

It can cause untold damage

As though full of revenge and hate

And later caress a hillside brow

As though they were on a date.

Sometimes we call it the air

And other times we name it the wind

Depending on the mood it’s in

Either of these we will likely rescind.

However, we praise God for the wind

Though destructive it can be,

We give Him thanks for its usefulness

And that up until now it is still free.

Stewart Russell © May, 2017