You Silly Sheep!

 

 

You call me a sheep?

Why, that isn’t funny,

Are you trying to tell me

I am a dummy?

 

I may be a sheep

But certainly not silly,

I’m neither a pretentious ewe

Nor a stupid billy.

 

Verses one and two

Would be my usual reply

But I want to share something

I dare not deny.

 

Call me a sheep

If that is what you wish

For currently I am a sheep

And it’s what I relish.

 

Listen to me now

And follow very carefully,

I am in fact a sheep

But I am not silly.

 

You might be one too

And choose not to admit

But I have been so made

And I will not quit.

 

My sheep knows me

Says the Lord Jesus Christ

And they follow him too,

Isn’t that nice?

 

 

 

I am one of his sheep

And I am grateful to be

And if you are not one of his,

Then you are silly.

 

The best sheep to be

Is to be a sheep of the Lord

And one that follows him

According to the Word.

 

I intreat you today

If you don’t know the Shepherd,

You are one of the silly sheep

For whom he suffered.

 

Be a wise sheep, at least,

And come unto him

For he will abundantly pardon

And cleanse you from sin.

 

Then you won’t be angry

When refer to as a sheep

For all that trust in the Shepherd

He safely keeps.

 

 

 

Oh, to be a sheep

In the chief Shepherd’s fold

Is to enjoy treasures forevermore

And blessings untold!

 

Ah, yes, a sheep for sure

But certainly not silly,

Having decided to follow Jesus

I am saved eternally.

 

Stewart Russell © February 25, 2024

 

My Court Case

 

 

I sat in a court

Full of my peers,

Acquaintances, church brethren

And family were there,

 

A case called to decide

Whether I was crazy or not,

Please don’t be in a hurry

To determine my lot.

 

It was no one off incident

The prosecutor said

And I turned to see everyone

Nodding his head.

 

Up and down they nodded

Not left to right

And I recognized the magnitude

Of this legal fight.

 

I was unrepresented

So I was on my own

But I intended to fight it

Though all alone.

 

 

“For what am I being charged?”

I asked in my defense,

“For being crazy,”

This was the prosecutor’s offense.

 

“How can that be?”

I asked with incredulity,

Then pointed to all in court

And asked why only me.

 

“The mere fact of this case

Says the law must be crazy,

A court full of crazy people

And you charge only me.”

 

The judge tapped his gavel

On the table in front

And then complimented me

For making that point.

 

The prosecutor was enraged

And called the judge crazy

And the next thing I know

The court was in a frenzy.

 

 

“Order in the court!”

The judge called again and again

And when order was restored

He said, “You are all insane.”

 

During all of this racket

I was as quiet as can be

Whereupon the judge shouted out,

“You are all crazy!”

 

The prosecutor told the judge

“You should be on trial,”

And that’s when I observed

That they were both in denial.

 

The judge charged the prosecutor

For contempt of court,

The prosecutor shouted, “I appeal!

You got to be making sport.”

 

I sat there in court

With all these mad people at large,

The judge included

And I was the only one charged.

 

You must now be thinking

“What can this outcome be?”

What is there to think about?

They exonerated me.

 

Just my brief submission

Introduced by a single question,

And even the judge

Should be charge with dereliction.

 

 

“For what am I being charged?”

That is all I had asked

And that question alone

Had ripped off their masks.

 

I took over the bench

And reprimanded that court

For wasting my time

And making mock sport.

 

So all who think I am crazy

Examine yourself!

Mine is out in the open

But you operate with stealth.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

 

A Conflicting Conviction

 

 

Sounds confusing

You are probably saying

But read to the end

Before despairing.

 

He shall remain nameless

Until you work out his name,

This difficulty is not even close

To the actual claim.

 

Truthful it is

And I have no doubt

That any disputing

Will be finally thrown out.

 

He rose long before dawn

Maybe, he didn’t sleep,

His conflicting conviction

He intended to keep.

 

He prepared his mule

For the journey ahead

Knowing by the end of that day

His loved one would be dead.

 

The demand was ludicrous,

It didn’t make sense

But given his disposition

He took no offense.

 

It was not the first time

He was sent on a mission,

The very first time

He knew not the direction.

 

Back then it was his faith

That caused him to respond

And so on this occasion

He was up before dawn.

 

He called his son

And a few of his servants

And they set on the mission

Ignorant of the intent.

 

Had they known

They might have insisted

Their leader was mad

And probably resisted.

 

 

But he proceeded by faith

And they in obedience,

The burdened mule

His son and his servants.

 

It appears that his wife

Knew not of his plan

So in that case

She couldn’t tie his hands.

 

So early he set off

On his very strange journey,

A conflicting conviction

But he stuck to it firmly.

 

His only son

From his very old wife,

His child of promise

At the end of his life.

 

It didn’t make sense

Given the promise God made

But He gives and He takes,

Such are His ways.

 

A three days journey

Now at an end

So he said to his servants

It’s around the bend.

 

He instructed his servants,

“You remain at this point

While the boy and I worship

At a farther point.”

 

Taking the wood off the mule

He gave it to the lad.

“Where is the burnt offering?”

He later asked his dad.

  

God will provide

Was the father’s reply

Though he knew in few moments

His son would die.

 

I am sure you know

How this event did end,

With the benefit of history

We see around the bend.

 

 

But consider this father

For a moment or two,

He was not looking back

Like me or like you.

 

It happened in real time

As we would say today

And to understand it then

He had no way.

 

How was he to know

That this was only a test?

Obviously, if he had known

His mind would have been at rest.

 

He had no way of knowing

Yet he dared to obey

Where for many of us

We would have said, “No way.”

 

A conflicting conviction

Do you see what I mean?

Convinced it was God

But still a conflicting scene

 

A child of promise

Yet, the likelihood of his death

How could a father’s mind

Still be at rest?

 

We tend to forget

As we read the account,

It was not smooth going

All the way to the mount.

  

There must have been doubts

As he journeyed on,

He surely wasn’t eager

Because he left before dawn.

 

There are many similarities

I would not mention here

Between this father and God

That are certainly clear.

 

 

The wood and the cross

That both sons carried,

The locations on the mount...

They do not vary.

 

Both considered sacrifices:

One perceived, the other real,

One a demonstration of faith

The other rent the veil.

 

One a conflicting conviction

The second bought our redemption,

Faith need not understand

Just follow God’s direction.

 

The stalwarts of the Bible

As they underwent their tests

Were not often in the know

But obedience was their quest.

 

Conflicting convictions

But they learnt to trust God,

We must do the same

At home and abroad.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2019

 

A Ledge and Alleged

 

 

What have these in common

And how are they set apart?

Let’s go to the very beginning,

It’s a very good place to start.

 

All the letters you find in one

You will also find in the other

But if you should number them

That’s a different matter.

 

Allegations and alligators

Lies and crocodiles,

An infestation of reptilian distortions

Operating under disguise.

 

 

Now for some definitions

Of the two terms we started with

And hopefully along the way

You will catch my drift.

 

Uncertain of his information

He used the term “alleged”,

He feared a lawsuit was beckoning

And he was out on “a ledge”.

 

It’s not the safest of places

With little or no protection,

And if it is five or six stories high…

Just use your imagination.

 

What a height from which to fall!

That’s a long, long way down,

Not enough time to change one’s mind

By the time he hits the ground.

 

 

Alleged is a serious business

And fraught with serious risks,

So too are unfounded allegations

Shrouded in illusory mist.

 

He alleged and she alleged-

An attempt to mirror the truth

But what’s concealed in the cellar

Will show up on the roof.

 

What more can I say

About these two sound alike terms?

It’s like, if one plays with fire,

One is likely to be burned.

 

 

The moral of this poem is:

Some ledges are not safe

And alleged if used in a court of law

May require more than faith.

 

On this I rest my case

Regarding “a ledge” and “alleged”,

You see, I am very afraid of heights

And can’t see behind a hedge.

 

It’s wise to use wisdom

Before employing one’s tongue,

Your “alleged” might be “a ledge”

Way high up from the ground.

 

Stewart Russell © February 23, 2024

 

In Memory of the Frogs

 

 

You remember the frogs in the water?

It was tepid and sweet,

The frogs were enjoying themselves

It was such a treat.

 

No more moral legislation

To thwart our rights and privileges

But a certain gay abandon

To enjoy life like savages.

 

Whatever tickles our fancy

Let us enjoy it to the fullest

So, institute the necessary legislation

So that we can achieve our quest.

 

‘Cause this water tepid and sweet

And I am enjoying myself

And it doesn’t matter right now

That I am ruining my health.

 

Who say cold water good for frogs?

Where did that come from?

We are too steeped in outdated morals

And that I see is the problem.

 

 

The water was on the fire

And it was getting hotter all this time

But it was at such a slow boil

That the frolicking frogs did not mind.

 

And that is today’s society-

We have become insensitive and numb

Even though to be honest with you

 We are in reality quite dumb.

 

And the water is heating up

Though we say it is tepid and sweet

And like the silly frogs in the narrative

We are yet to feel the heat.

 

We want the right to determine

Whether we are male or female

And all who do not regard our wishes

Should be put in jail.

 

 

We want rights for our children

Where parent consultation is unnecessary

And they can do what they deem best

Is appropriate for their body.

 

The right to switch out gender

Depending on the perceived possibilities

And to do so whenever we feel like it

To create our own realities

 

The right to follow our urges

And to go wherever they may lead

Notwithstanding others have urges too

But ours are the greater need.

 

The right to satisfy me, myself and I

Whenever, wherever and however;

Without recrimination or obstruction

As I strive to make my life better.

 

Hence a world revolving around me

Or my eccentric troupe

In which rights and privileges accrue

Only to whom we recruit.

 

 

To a world bent on implosion

In memory of those unsuspecting frogs;

And I will tell you just like I see it,

We are doing a fantastic job.

 

Stewart Russell © September 9, 2022

 

First Cause God

 

“Whatever begins to exist

Must have a first cause”,

To assimilate this profundity

Let us take a pause.

 

You may call it simplistic,

At a glance that may be true

But it takes some people a life time

To grapple with this view.

 

It makes scientific sense

And to the erudite, it’s scholarly

But its “whatever begins to exist”

Does not factor in eternity.

 

Who or what, I ask

Is this eternal first cause?

For this cause must be eternal

And cannot itself be caused.

 

This cause must always be,

Therefore, always was

And right about now you’ll hear

Darwinians begin to buzz.

 

First cause must be eternal,

No beginning and no end…

Any other conclusion I advance

Is fictional let’s pretend.

 

Any scientist worth his salt

Must come to this conclusion,

And it cannot be Big Bang-

Big Bang is the delusion.

 

The first cause must be one

That has an intelligent mind

Since throughout the Universe

There is intelligent design.

 

 

The order all around

Speaks to a supreme intelligence

And the creativity within humans

Is conclusive evidence.

 

First cause is eternal

First cause is intelligent,

Big Bang does not measure up

Whatever the atheist’s intent!

 

There has to be relationship

For humans have a mind,

We all know this to be a fact

From the beginning of time.

 

Made in the Creator’s image

For relationship:

Relationship with the Supreme

And with one another fit.

 

Design is not by accident

But is purposefully arranged,

God, the first cause did this

And this is not strange.

 

But the delusion definitely is

And undeniably so,

Big Bang surely does not cut it

And it’s time we let it go.

 

Intelligent design wins out

The evidence is markedly clear,

First cause is conclusively God

Whose attributes we share.

Created for relationship

Created to worship God,

Created to honour and obey Him

And to hold Him in Awe.

 

Our First Cause is awesome

He is altogether lovely

He not only has no beginning

But exists in eternity.

 

 

The I AM THAT I AM

The one and only first cause,

The Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer

The Father of us all.

  

He is worthy of all praise

To Him belongs all worship,

Our First Cause: Father and Son

And blessed Holy Spirit.

 

Stewart Russell © September 10, 2021