Death

 

I am intrigued about death

Of course, not my own,

I think about it most often

Especially when I am alone.

I think about it at night

Much more than in the day

And note even over Christians

It still holds sway.

I examine its prevalence

And it appears more often at night,

Your experience might be different

Mine doesn’t have to be right.

 

 

 

Death is distinct from dying

Let us not confuse the two

One you will never experience

But the other one you do.

I am not talking nonsense

Just think of what I have said,

One will never experience death

Surely not if he is dead.

Experiences end at death

Whether one is a Christian or not,

It is one hundred percent effective

In bringing this life to a stop.

We speculate about after

And that is the best we can do

But into the immediate afterlife

We are short on that preview.

The little that has been given

Causes much debate

And this indicates uncertainty

About the dead’s immediate state.

Dying is different from death

A person can know he is dying

And some in quest of a little more time

May even appear to be trying.

I am not intrigued with dying

And would rather not be conscious,

To die in my sleep is a good way to go

I consider that rather precious.

The challenge is for those that remain

Especially if they didn’t expect it,

What a peaceful way to pass away!

What a wonderful peaceful exit!

Stewart Russell © November 2019

No Wrong All Right

 

God’s court said it’s wrong

Man’s court says it’s right,

Pretty soon I can see

That day will become night.

Distinctions will be dimmed

It will be as we deem,

A woman could be a man

Or a king could be queen.

A right could be wrong

But would still be right,

You may argue it is day

But it may really be night.

But that wouldn’t matter

Except in the law court

Where agitating for one’s rights

Has become real sport.

There was a time

When right was our focus

But one’s right has taken over

And it is now  “hocus-pocus”.

Now my legal right

Can be a moral wrong

But I can still have it

If my desire is strong.

I can get some signatures

Plenty, I mean,

To make my wrong a right

Even for the obscene.

He was born a boy

But now she is a girl,

A knock with a court gavel

And that unfurled.

She was not comfortable

In her own skin

So a change was necessary

Though it couldn’t be within.

Genitalia is no indication

To determine one’s gender

It used to be right

But that right we’ve surrendered.

A boy loves his sister

Nothing’s wrong with that

But they want to get married,

Let’s make it a fact.

Is a right always right?

Clearly it is not so

But if I have a strong enough urge,

It’s the way to go.

A woman can marry a woman

And a man, a man

And if we still feel like it

We can use God’s alternate plan.

It’s fast becoming secondary

What God has designed,

It’s becoming the primary thing

What immoral minds assign.

Soon it will be,

Why can’t I marry a child?

Not just one but two or three

So legalize the pedophile.

Confusion on confusion

My personal rights intrusion,

It doesn’t matter anymore

All of life is an illusion.

What’s right is wrong

And what’s wrong is right,

Soon we’ll legalize

Whether it’s day or night .

It started out as an urge

 But soon became a desire

So it has to be all right

Because, I am so on fire.

  

Get some others on board

That are of the same mind,

Lawyers, doctors, pastors too

Of the immoral kind.

For nothing can be wrong

If it is all right,

That’s the way I see it:

Today is a funny night.

The church is yielding ground

And thinking like the world,

They too are indulging

Eating spiritual corn-curls.

There is no need for change

If you have been saved,

Continue doing what you did

It doesn’t matter how you behave.

After all mine is a fallen nature

That’s what the Scriptures say,

Change the rules as I go along

Is the game I now must play.

Humans are so disgusting

I would prefer an animal,

I will marry my cat…

Why shouldn’t that be legal?

Well just get plenty support

They can put it to the vote

And with the stroke of a pen,

It will be of legal note.

Every urge can be met

Regardless of how ridiculous,

It is being legalized:

The weird, queer and ludicrous.

All right is all wrong

When God’s law is contravened,

It doesn’t matter who sanctions it

Whether king or queen.

  

No wrong and all right

Was never meant to be

But the goal posts were removed

It’s called the free-for-all-spree.

It started with the first humans

Their truth was a lie

Hence, ignoring God’s instructions

They were destined to die.

Woe unto them that call evil good

See the declaration of this curse

In the 5th chapter of Isaiah

Read it in the 20th verse

Darkness for light, light for darkness

Hence, an increasingly deranged world,

No wrong and all right

To me, is definitely absurd.

And it is even worse today

As these immoral practices we pursue,

It will definitely become worse

Must be a fact, not someone’s view.

Stewart Russell © September 2019

A Call for Servant Leaders

  

He that wants to be first

Must first become the last,

For most leaders today

This has long passed.

We see a bit of it

Around election time

But almost immediately after

It goes into decline.

Humility is so obvious

When we are pulling a string

But not so useable afterwards

When we get that thing.

Some must be servants

That is all they get to do,

A few will get to be leaders

And that is a relative few.

It makes abundant sense

That the “to be led are more”,

We all understand logistics

When politicians go door to door.

It is then that they are servants

But with leadership in mind,

However, when they succeed

Servant is left behind.

Hence a call for servant leaders

There are very few if any,

Even in the church these days

There really aren’t many. 

Yes, I am knocking the church

That is where it should begin,

Jesus is the primary example

Let us take a look at him.

A dozen misdirected men

Full of selfish desire,

That proclivity of human nature

Through which we all aspire.

Let us take a look at Peter

A sample study of the rest,

His understanding of this issue

Was one misguided mess.

The Master was washing feet

But Simon Peter declined,

“You could wash the rest

But you are not washing mine.

 

  

We should be washing your feet

Not the other way around,”

And I could see him turn away

The idea weighing him down.

What a stupid recommendation!

A leader washing feet,

That’s like the certain vanquisher

Admitting to defeat.

I am not so sure he got it

Even when Jesus had explained

Since he saw his feet and body

In the very same vein.

 

It was not about human hygiene

But really about human service,

Peter was seeing servitude

And the intended point he missed.

Under the yoke of Roman bondage

This was difficult to perceive

And it became even more obscured

By the pretentious Pharisees.

And so, by now you see

The problem we still have today,

We can be servants for a brief while

But only until we get our way.

To serve is a noble objective

And it is that facade we present

But on actually acquiring the position,

It is what we misrepresent.

The facade is quickly torn down

Feet and body are exposed

And the idea of a servant leader

Will then become comatose.

No wonder we are starved

For servant leadership,

Most of those who present themselves

Do in essence quit.

Stewart Russell © November 2019

If I Could Go Back

 

The difficulty...nay the impossibility

“If I could go back”

There are some things I would change

If only going back could be a fact.

But what about those movies?

Time tunnel and the like?

Reverse the cogs of time

Change those gears and get it right.

Get it right the first time,

So many errors so many mistakes...

Some deliberate...nay all deliberate

Like it was fate.

The absolute maze of life

A tapestry of decisions and choices,

Rushing, bombarding, alluring

So many noises and voices.

A preset prompter to do wrong

As though right is not the way,

Hobson’s choice over and over and over

Holding sway.

Should do differently but can’t

Should do, could do but cannot

As though programmed,

This was my slot, my lot, my spot.

And here I am

Wishing I could go back,

And change what?

What is written is written!

We can’t change a jot.

Going back!

A backward move,

What would it prove?

Perhaps nothing

But it’s a chance,

Another chance to cut a different groove.

A different groove?

Nay! Impossible!

A different groove in the same slot,

See what I mean?

The prompt: same slot, same spot, same lot.

If I could go back

It would make absolutely no sense,

Repeating what was done coming forward

Would be the same repeated offense.

And then what, when I reach this spot?

To where would I move

Having gone back like I had wished

But having returned in the same groove…

Having no groove, no path

No future experiences from which to learn

So that in the event I must go back

I could have a groove by which to return?

If I could go back

The difficulty...nay the impossibility,

But If I could go back

Would be simply repeating the futility…

The futility now being experienced,

The futility to be experienced by going back,

The futility coming back to this very spot

Tripled futility would be the fact.

If “I could go back”

Would be an absolute waste of time

Since coming forward again

I would be of the same mind.

The fact of the matter is:

If we could go back

We would do the same thing coming forward

Because that is the historic fact.

Stewart Russell © October 2019

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.

Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

Fix It Right

Fix it right was a garage

From a long time ago,

Whether it is still around or not

I really don’t know.

I also do not know

If it lived up to its name

But to adopt such a sales pitch

Must be a colossal claim.

To me, fix it right suggests

That you can fix it wrong,

The former is a satisfying smile

The latter brings a frown.

Maybe that is the reason

There are so many frowns these days,

Fix it right has turned to fix it wrong

That is the modern way.

So many things need fixing

Even after they have been fixed

And with eyes wide open

We keep falling for the trick.

We are buying inferior goods

Because of the sales pitch,

And never learning the lesson

We too are in need of a fix.

I find it increasingly amazing

How the word fix can be changed,

Check it in the dictionary

It can even imply deranged.

“I am going to fix you”

Has at least two meanings I know:

One is to make you better

The other will bring you low.

It depends on the promisor

And the prevailing circumstance,

Whether it’s good or bad

Will determine its significance.

“I am going to fix you” from a friend

Promises a good outcome

But if it is from a disgruntled person

You had better start to run.

So fix has different meanings

Fix it right can mean fix it wrong,

We are right back to where we started

A sales pitch can be quite strong.

God is not in the fixing business

He neither fixes nor repairs,

Hence, this is not a sales pitch

I want this to be very clear.

God is in the renewing business

His children are born again,

All in Christ are new creations

They are never ever the same.

It’s not a fix we have in the Spirit

It’s not even a fix-it-right

But a wonderful transformation

And a daily walk in the light.

Stewart Russell © October 2019