An Unrecorded Appointment

As my custom was I checked my diary

I couldn’t bear to miss an appointment

So far so good it seemed to me,

To miss an appointment I clearly resent.

I went through it with a fine-tooth-comb

And itemized the entries in my mind,

No way I could have missed an entry there

So from that I mentally resigned.

I turned to attend to a daily task

When the diary called to me again,

What had I forgotten I began to wonder?

What was it I had failed to retain?

Have you ever had a nagging thought

Regarding something you were to do

But no matter how hard you tried to focus

That thing just won’t come into view?

If you have had such an experience

You would know what I went through

So like you would, I took up the diary

Hoping something there would provide a clue.

I searched through the daily entries

And then turned to those for the week,

Next I tackled the monthly appointments

And then the process I was forced to repeat.

At the end of it all I was none the wiser

But there still was this nagging thought

That I had forgotten something important

And this left me quite distraught.

That daily task I had told you about

Was not so important anymore,

Whatever it was I couldn’t remember

In my mental space had come to the fore.

I went to the sofa and just sat there

Staring at the ceiling and all about

Hoping that something within my scope

Would help me to sort this matter out.

Appointments were entered immediately,

That is, as soon as I was informed

And would be checked every morning

For me this was the daily norm.

This had been my practice for many a year

And the same had served me well

But then I wondered what was it I had missed

And though hard I tried I couldn’t tell.

I reached for the remote to turn the radio on

Just as a matter of routine

For it was that time at which I tuned in

To the news around the local scene.

After the news were some household tips

Then next came the sobering obits

When I heard a name exactly like mine

And sincerely thought it was a slip.

Here I was listening to my own obit

When clearly I was not even dead,

You see the name was mine but not the obit

So that quickly cleared my head.

But it had cleared up another matter too

The matter of the unrecorded event

For in my diary there was no such entry

Of the appointment that most people resent.

I challenge you to check your diary

For that appointment’s date and time,

The most you would find is the space

But definitely no such entry of its kind.

For none of us knows the day or hour

When our sojourn on earth will end,

That knowledge is God’s and God’s alone

But it could be around the next bend.

One day I won’t be reading my obit

Or hearing it on the radio for that matter,

It won’t have been recorded in my diary

And I won’t be here for the chatter.

I would have kept that appointment

Though not recorded in my diary,

Absent from this life is to be present with Lord

Is the believer’s promise in eternity.

Tomorrow, God’s willing I’ll check my diary

Because as you now know that’s the norm,

However, if that’s my unrecorded appointment

Then you will be subsequently informed.

Stewart Russell (2017)

Disillusioned or A Pharisee?

Your View

 

I never do anything wrong

Because unlike you I am strong,

I am not a weakling as you are

You and I are definitely not on par.

I am different from you in many ways,

Ways that you can’t even perceive,

If I reveal to you all I am

You would surely not believe.

There is only one of me

And the mold cannot be found,

Search all you wish across the globe

There is no such mold around.

So what is different you might ask

Well already you see what I mean,

It should have been obvious even to you

But I’m not surprised you haven’t seen.

That’s one thing I thought you knew

You’re even less than I thought of you,

However I trust by the time I’m through

You will have agreed to my point of view.

One primary difference that you will see

Is I am better than you at any task

And my intelligence far surpasses yours

Is another point you’ll need to grasp.

What I have accomplished you have not

And what I’ve forgotten you’ll never learn

For that you would need a few lifetimes,

You cannot achieve it in one sojourn.

By now you are getting tired of me

At worst that is a case of envy

And if perchance it is something else

At best it’s probably jealousy.

It also confirms the point I made

That before I ended you would agree

Between you and me is no comparison,

I’m surprised you so quickly see.

For to compare yourself to me

Is to compare a Gentile and Pharisee,

The massive gap you are trying to bridge

Is bordering on impossibility.

Now I see that you are upset

Having quickly accepted my proof

But be assured that such a reaction

Is your admission to this truth.

There is much more that I could share

But surely this little has sufficed

For given the rate at which you agreed

I didn’t have to say it twice.

Conceited you probably think I am

I have ample reason to be,

Disillusioned? No, not the slightest chance

For I am a Pharisee.

Pharisees know who they are

And certainly what they believe

Unlike the Sadducees and Publicans

They are so easily deceived.

Not to mention the Gentiles

Who do not figure in the mix at all,

Dogs more fit their comparison

As a Pharisee I stand tall.

Disillusioned or a Pharisee?

The former is out of the question

A Pharisee is definitely who I am

All others are disillusioned.

My Response

I agree with your appraisal

You are certainly not disillusioned,

You are too aware of the wrong you do

To enter a plea of utter confusion.

Therefore you are without excuse

When the time of your judgment is come,

All other sinners that truly repent

Will be admitted into God’s kingdom.

Then you’ll be left out in the cold

Or in the heat to be more precise,

No doubt at that coming occasion

You will then regret all your vice.

Your greatest vice was in trying to earn

A place in the kingdom of God

Only to lose that for which you sought

Deceived by the fraud of frauds.

Stewart Russell © 2017

What Kind of Faith?

A faith dependent on outcomes

Is fraught with trouble,

Sooner or later it will fail

And there goes your bubble.

You will pray for an outcome

That will not materialize

Then you will get to notice

What you had not realize.

It takes just a few occasions

When such faith doesn’t work,

The anticipated outcome didn’t happen

And the petitioner became hurt.

Strong delusion can set in,

Perhaps there was not enough prayer

So a more fervent prayer response

Should correct this affair.

Or maybe just maybe

More faith is needed for that demand

So we launch out our faith

And move forward with our plan.

And since faith without works is dead

We can settle in our mind

That our works will move God’s hand

It is just a matter of time.

Is your faith dependent on outcomes?

What do you do when it fails?

Do you pray a little harder?

Do you feel that more prayer avails?

And what has been your experience

When the extended prayer was done?

Did you find that the longer prayer

Had brought the desired outcome?

Is your faith the intellectual kind?

“O, I believe in God most of the time…

Whenever He comes through for me

It’s like I am out of my mind.”

  

Or is your faith the trusting kind?

“O, I trust God whatever the outcome…

Whether He takes me through or takes me out

I know that with God I have already won.”

The Christian faith is not about outcomes

Rather such faith is more about outlook,

It is not validated by a miracle

But by what God says in His Holy book.

For whether we live or whether we die

In whatever state we are the Lords

And so the outcome ultimately matters not

Once we are trusting in his word.

A functional faith is what we need,

A faith that is evident every day,

Not a special moment faith as a need arise

But a faith that dictates in all we do and say.

An implicit faith like that of a child

That completely trusts its dad and mum

Recognizing its needs are met by these two

Whatever the nature of the outcome.

For if our fathers being earthly

Know how to meet our daily needs,

Then how much more so our heavenly Father

Will take good care of His spiritual seed

An implicit faith, a trusting faith,

A faith not validated by the outcome,

A faith that mirrors a positive outlook

Even when there is no more that can be done.

A faith whose object is the Lord

That renders distractions just what they are

That sees through the fake and transient

And views the fraudulent from afar.

A saving faith and a living faith,

A faith that sees beyond this sphere,

A faith that focuses on heavenly things

A faith that looks for the Lord to appear.

Stewart Russell © 2017

Another Day Is Here

Another day is here

No doubt with a plan

To do this and that and these and those

Be it woman or be it man.

Another day is here

And each will have a scheme

To progress along the way

To fulfil his or her dream.

Another day is here

And with it comes the unknown

That for which we cannot plan

In the time we have on loan.

Another day is here

Perhaps one to baffle the mind

As we traverse its several hours

Throughout the daily grind.

Another day is here

There’s been none like it before

It’s unique in its date at least

With other peculiarities in store.

Another day is here

Following the night that has gone

Several hours having already passed

Preceding its eventual dawn.

Another day is here

Some things will be the same

The changes we will not anticipate

They are not within our frame.

Another day is here

No doubt for some their last

By the time of the setting sun

Someone’s loved one will have passed.

Another day is here

Can you really tell for sure?

Whether you won’t be that loved one

To pass before this day is o’er?

  

Another day is here

With its customary unpredictability

But the fact that we have lived to see it

Should be a welcome opportunity.

Another day is here

And the Saviour beckons still

Today is an opportunity for salvation

Why not step in line with God’s will?

Another day is here

There’s no guarantee another will follow

Today is therefore my time to act

For I can do nothing tomorrow.

Stewart Russell © 2017