Not Me

 

 

You could believe it If you want

But not me!

Columbus come bout here and fool wunna

But not me!

 

In 1492

Columbus sailed the ocean blue

Three little ships he get from the queen

And he come down here to fool you

Not me!

 

The Pinta, the Nina, the Santa Maria

They told me this in school

And would you believe it

Wunna sit down and drink it in like fools

But not me!

 

 

They say he discover Barbados

But I went to the States too

And I see things that I never see before

Would you say I discover the States?

Would you?

 

When he arrived in the region

People were living bout here,

To say that he discover the place

To me that didn’t sound fair.

 

Maybe the Indians living here

He feel was nobody,

That is why he could discover the place

And fool all o’ wunna but not me.

 

I hope wunna see what I getting at

Open wunna eyes and see

Columbus and dem could fool wunna

But not me!

 

I could tell wunna what happen

Wunna could believe or doubt me

But when Columbus arrive here

He wasn’t the only body.

 

Even before 1492 people were here

Don’t tell me shut my mout’,

I mean the Amerindians

Dem is who I talking bout.

 

I am no fool I want wunna to know

Cause wunna looking at me strange like,

They could fool all o’ wunna

But not me! I too bright.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2018

 

 

Is God a Being?

  

 

Is God a being?

Do not think it strange

And feel my asking this question

Means I am deranged.

 

I definitely am not

But I really do believe

That true reality is not always

As we perceive.

 

What’s your definition

Of the word being?

For straight-up they are two

That I am seeing.

 

Being as in existing

And having one’s being

Are not in fact one and the same

As in agreeing.

 

 

 

The two are as different

As light is from sight

And to say they are synonymous

Is certainly not right.

 

We are all beings

That experience change,

And when old age begins to set in

Think it not strange.

 

Our state yesterday

Is different from today

Because of the continuous flux

Each and every day.

 

 

 

Everything changes

And we are changing too

And entropy is clearly evident

Affecting all we do.

 

We are becoming:

From birth to toddler,

From pubescence to adolescence

To vibrant go-getter.

 

But sooner or later

Father Time catches us

And the grim reaper calls our number

And we return to the dust.

 

Thus, from the earth

To the earth returned

Whether we be a king or a pauper,

Buried or burned.

 

Unlike all of humanity

God is not a being,

So, by now that indefinite article

You should be seeing.

 

 

 

God is not a being

Thus, He is not becoming

For He changes not, the Bible says

Though a necessary being.

 

For without God

Nothing would be

Thus, that there would be no being,

Should be clear to see.

 

For being to have been

God would have to be

Thus, His being is logically eternal,

And also, necessary.

 

Having being in Himself

He cannot be a being

But instead, the reality of being

In His eternal being.

 

God cannot not be

Given the fact of reality

For without Him, nothing that be,

Would have come to be.

 

For in Him, meaning God,

We live,

And we move,

And we have our being.

 

 

 

Nothing is being

Without ever becoming

And the fact that God changes not

Shows He is not a being.

 

Stewart Russell © March 15, 2026

 

Speaking in Tongues

 

These two phrases in tongues

I picked up only today:

“Shodabotahonda shodabotakia”

Is what I heard a man say.

 

Never mind their meaning

Or even what they look like,

Bible tongues were known languages,

Not an emotional hype.

 

I have observed trends

Regarding phrases and sounds

Which were learnt and practiced

So impression could abound.

 

The two above I heard

While watching a YouTube video,

 At first, they were quite baffling

But now for sure I know.

 

 

I guess you might now say

Stewart can speak in tongues

But I tell you, if you believe this,

You’d be so very wrong.

 

Two phrases I assure you

Doth not a tongues-expert make

But I am sharing these with you

To ascertain your take.

 

Shodabotahonda!

Should I repeat this phrase

Or should I go on to the next one

If you are not too fazed?

 

Shodabotakia!

This should help with the first,

Now say them both together

And audibly rehearse.

 

 

 

The translation is simple

Just put on your thinking cap,

The first may be more expensive

So you mightn’t want that.

 

The next on the other hand

May be within your range,

“Shodabotahonda shodabotakia”

Should no longer be strange.

 

If in a daze you still are,

I would have to be at fault

So this tongue speaking session,

Must now come to a halt.

 

Stewart Russell © January 3, 2024

 

Not Enough Faith

 

“Not enough faith!”

Of this many are accused

And it’s like, suit yourself:

Accept or refuse.

 

“Faith is a choice”

Is the impression I get,

You can turn it on or off

Or its time limit set.

 

I choose to believe

Or I choose to doubt

And when I get tired of it

I’ll throw it out.

 

One day I believe

The next day, no way

And so, my faith fluctuates

From day to day.

 

Nothing is constant

Except for change

And so, my faith is evolving,

Don’t think me strange.

 

While this may be so

For some I know,

A faith that is reasonable

Is the way to go.

 

This is the backdrop

That I wish to paint

As I flesh out the above

I find rather quaint.

 

This from a believer?

You may be stunned

But hear me out a little

Before off you run.

 

 

Not enough faith

To believe there’s no God

And that all that is, just happened,

I absolutely appall.

 

Not enough faith

To believe in evolution,

Something from nothing

Is an illusion.

 

When magicians do it

It is entertaining,

When scientists conjure up it

It is misinforming.

 

It takes far more faith

To believe such nonsense,

A design without a designer

Lacks commonsense.

 

 

Not enough faith

To believe like atheists do,

If there is no God

Then there is no you.

 

Thank God for faith

To believe that He exists

And that I do not qualify

To be an atheist.

 

If you’ve read this far

You now understand

Of atheism and evolution

I am not a fan.

 

It takes too much faith

To believe such

And “O me of little faith!”

I don’t have much.

 

Thank God it’s enough

To believe in Him

And to believe that in Jesus

I am saved from sin.

 

Not enough faith

To believe in evolution

But more than enough faith

To accept salvation.

 

Stewart Russell © April 16, 2024

Bedazzled and Spellbound

 

 

There they sat

Bedazzled and spellbound

Only that it wasn’t a circus

And he wasn’t a clown.

 

Fluent and convincing

He held them in his palm

Some on the edge of their pews

Eating out of his hand.

 

He grew up among them

But migrated for a while

And as a preacher he returned

With panache and style.

 

Isn’t this McNeal’s son?

My, how he has changed!

When he breaks into tongues

It is beautifully strange.

 

 

And the promises he makes

For a financial seed,

And the breakthrough to come

If they only believe.

 

Spellbound they were

Hanging on his every word,

Oblivious to all around them-

Him they preferred.

 

The church was packed

On that Sunday morning,

Hallelujah was on their tongues

As they kept chanting.

 

Filled to the brim

The offering baskets were,

No doubt, many utility-bills

Had to be deferred.

 

If only from today

Their needs could be met

Then it would be worth it all-

For life, they’d be set.

 

 

So, with rapt attention

They gazed on the man

Hoping for a breakthrough

For them and their clan.

 

He was a preacher-man

With great oratorical skills

And all them that heard him

Were greatly thrilled.

 

For two hours or more

And sometimes three

They were held spellbound

By His Majesty.

 

Some saw him like this

Almost infallible

Especially when he would do

A few miracles.

 

 

 

From rags to riches

They had seen him rise,

Yes, this was McNeal’s son

And he wasn’t disguised.

 

And as he had risen

They could rise too

And this he dangled before them

Convincing not a few.

 

It was not about Christ

It was about breakthrough

And they were eating it all up

As though it was new.

 

There they sat

Bedazzled and spellbound

Only that it wasn’t a circus

And he wasn’t a clown.

 

Stewart Russell © January 16, 2024

 

Strange, Isn’t It?

 

 

Isn’t it strange, to say the least,

How we treat the Bible?

And I am not talking about those in church

At, say like a revival.

 

I am talking about philosophers-

Is that what they call themselves?

And people who are intelligent

But somehow left their brains on their shelves.

 

As children they accepted it

But then they got too bright, you see,

And what they could not understand

They called unscholarly.

 

They are voracious readers,

They will read everything in sight

And none of those books they will resent

Even when the information is trite.

 

But ask them about the Bible-

O, you mean that book of fairy tales?

Of myths and legends and old wife’s fables?

Of unscientific thrash and epic fails?

 

And this, of course, is charitable-

You don’t want to hear the coarser descriptions,

You would believe it’s totally corrupted

With nothing for one’s instruction.

 

They will search and search

To find so-called treasure in some book

And having located that piece of trivia

Then spend time getting others to take a look.

 

But the Bible on the other hand,

They would scorn and totally repudiate

And the life-giving treasures that it offers

They would scoff at and berate.

 

I am frequently flabbergasted

At some of their disgusting claims,

Particularly from them that should know better,

But don’t expect me to call any names. 

 

Their names I shall keep to myself

Except when I lift them up in prayer

And trust they will soon come to their senses

And see that the God of the Bible cares.

 

They are trapped in Leviticus and Numbers

Where mixed cloth and mixed plants offend them,

But re the weightier matters of the Holy Word-

They will not spend a minute to defend.

 

 

Isn’t it strange? I ask again,

How the most important book in all the world

Is treated with open contempt

And by many, considered absurd?

 

Stewart Russell © May 2020

 

Can’t Stand Change

 

 

Change, change, change!

Who wants to change?

You get accustomed to everything

And then it must be rearranged.

 

This is the familiar-

I am accustomed to this,

If I get rid of anything in my life

It would be a terrible miss.

 

Disrupt my routine?

You got to be kidding!

Change is far too demanding

I am not in the bidding.

 

“The measure of intelligence

Is the ability to change.”

So quoted Einstein

But he seemed a little strange.

 

If that is the demand

For me to be reckoned intelligent

Then such intelligence

I shall forever resent.

 

Cause I can’t stand change-

It is too disruptive

Hence, any change coming way,

I will consider abusive.

 

I like my comfort zone

Plus, I am just getting the knack,

Any forced change on me now

And I am arching my back.

 

I intend to resist it

With every ounce of my strength,

To ensure that it does not work

I will go to any length.

 

What if the world goes ahead?

Well let it go ahead,

I will be happy in my little corner

Until the day I am dead.

 

I am not a world changer

And I do not need to change,

I am happy with the world as it is

To me that is not strange.

Change, change, change!

Why would I want to change?

At present I am coping…

Of course, I am deranged!

 

Stewart Russell © April 7, 2021

 

A One-line Comprehension Passage 2

Read the passage carefully and then answer the following questions.

Wherever there is a choice of answers circle the best one.

Hearing the strange, loud noise, Adrianna dropped the needles and rushed outside to stare in the air at the amazing spectacle.

1.            What caused the girl to stop what she was doing?

2.            Why do you think she rushed outside?

3.            What word in the passage could mean the same as sight?

4.            (Look, Glance, Gaze, Glare) best defines the word stare.

5.         What word in the passage tells us that the girl had probably not heard such a noise before?

6.            What kind of needles do you think they might have been?

7.            Where was this amazing spectacle?

8.            What is the name of the girl?

9.           How can we tell that she had little time in which to see the amazing spectacle?

10.       What do you think she was doing before she heard the noise?

11.        How many needles do you think the girl might have been using?

12.        The girl appears to be (industrious, lazy, idle, malicious).

13.      Near which important place do you think she might have been when she heard the noise?

14.       Before the noise the girl most likely was (standing, lying, sleeping, sitting).

In the spaces following list the three adjectives in the passage.

15.        (………………………………)

16.        (……………………………….)

17.        (……………………………….)

18.        Suggest a suitable topic for this passage.

19.        Write the only adverb in the passage.

20.       The activity the girl was doing was probably a  (chore, game, hobby, duty).

21.        What do you think the amazing spectacle was?

22.        Complete the following with one word.  Having seen the spectacle she was (………………………..).

23.      What word makes us believe that the girl was indoors before she heard the noise?

24.        What word in the passage might mean the same as incredible?

25.        To where do you think the amazing spectacle was headed?

Stewart Russell © 2016