Running the Race with Grace

Running the race with grace

And worshipping on the way

Moment by moment seeking God’s face

And letting Him have full sway

Determined in heart to follow through

Regardless of what attempts to hinder

Running daily with the relative few

Who to Jesus Christ have surrendered

Considering our brothers here and abroad

And our sisters the world around

And all the brethren in Christ applaud

As together we raise the joyful sound

Sharing all our sorrows together

And weeping with them who weep

Encouraging every sister and brother

Whether the days be sunny or bleak

This day we praise God for His grace

And the privilege to worship Him

Grateful that we are candidates in this race

Having received Christ’s pardon for our sin

Yes!  Running the race with grace

And worshipping on the way

Is a theme we should all embrace

And demonstrate each and every day

Enjoy God’s blessings as they come

And as we sing and dance and share

In this foretaste of God’s coming kingdom

Let us praise Him for His love and care.

Stewart Russell © September 2017

“Give Up De Ting”

Give up de ting call hatred

That we have for one another

Give up de ting call vengeance

With brother fighting brother

Whether of the B’s or the D’s

We are one and one means unity

Give up de ting call jealousy

For we are one big family

What touches you touches me

So give up de ting!

Harvey and Irma didn’t care

So they had their destructive fling

Give up de ting I am pleading

I mean all this disruptive fighting

Give up de ting I repeat

And let us all be about uniting

For at the end of the day or before

We all will feel the pain

So give up de ting my brother

All this infighting is a “no brain”

Give up de ting that’s breaking us

The guns, the cutlasses and the knives

Give up the spite and the blame game

And as a people let us thrive

It is no use all this destruction

Since none of us can win this fight

So give up de ting, this foolishness

And let’s come together and unite

Across all of our churches too

We really need to give up de ting

Churches fighting to maintain turf

Even though of salvation they sing

Sending mixed signals to the unsaved

As confusing as they can become

Give up de ting about competition

And preach about God’s coming kingdom

 
  

Give up de ting, yeah, the sin

That’s at the heart of every crime

Without Christ there is no turn around

Not now, not in the future or anytime

You will most likely call this simplistic

It’s downright foolishness you will say

But give up de ting that’s holding you

And let the Saviour have his way

The heart of our trouble is the heart

What we need to give up is inside

So give up de ting, the heart I mean

And let Jesus come in to abide

I know it doesn’t sound intellectual

That to give up de ting could mean this

But sincerely give your heart to Jesus

And in God’s service enlist

The guns would become extinct

And this violence would go away

No need for all this consultation

Just give up de ting and God obey

So give up de ting; let’s praise the Lord

Give up de ting; let’s mind His word

Give up de ting: the selfish heart

And soon you’ll see this is not absurd.

Stewart Russell © September 2017

The Horror on Our Doorstep

Too many guns in this place

Too many youths being displaced

Gem Barbados facing too much disgrace

Leaving in our mouths an awful taste.

How can we combat this trend?

How can we bring this scourge to an end?

Is there hope beyond the bend?

Is there anyone on whom we can depend?

Law enforcers are pulling out their hair

This is more than they can bear,

Citizens incensed with worry and fear

Are praying it will soon disappear.

Nightly and daily gunshots are loud

As villains accomplish what they avowed

Often scattering a liming crowd

Leaving that community under a cloud.

Another youth gone or sometimes two

Or an innocent bystander brought into view,

He or she was not the one intended

But nevertheless another life is ended.

Bullets are unable to differentiate

Between black and white or love and hate,

The trigger squeezed they no longer wait

But hasten on their way to eliminate.

A gun in the hand of a novice on the boil

Who is unaware of its kick back or recoil

Can do untold damage unless he is foiled

And spills blood on the street like leaking oil.

An ugly picture I suppose that paints

But think also of the Barbadian image it taints

Sending a stay-away signal to the world’s tourists

And puts our tourist industry at severe risk.

This horror on our doorstep, will it go away?

Can we do anything to keep it at bay?

Will this eventually be seen as the Bajan way?

Please assure me this is not here to stay.

  

Our Father in heaven today we pray

Do let this scourge of our country go away,

Bend our wills and make them yours

And please Lord, let this violence leave our shores.

Stewart Russell © September 2017

This Light-Years Phenomenon

They tell me that a light-year

Is the measurement of the distance

That light travels

In a vacuum in a single year.

This amounts to 5.88 trillion miles

If you favour the imperial measure

Or 9.46 trillion kilometres

If the metric standard is your pleasure.

I find it quite amusing

When we spread these numbers around

And those twelve zeroes in the trillions

Can make one look like a clown.

Consider that this is one light-year

And we’re talking “at the speed of light”,

What if it were several light years?

This would be a little too much to bite.

The nearest star to planet earth

Is about ninety-three million miles away,

This is the sun within our galaxy

That brightens each and every day.

The next star in order of distance

Is approximately 4.3 light-years away

It’s really a dual star system

That comprises a binary pair.

That may not mean much to you

And it certainly does not to me

For when I consider things of this type

My head gets a little dizzy.

When I look into the night sky

Particularly on a bright and starry night

I wonder just like David the psalmist

About each of those twinkling lights.

Small they make look to us

Since they are so far away

But times bigger than our planet earth

Though not one you can see during the day.

  

I wonder which ones are planets

Like the nine in our solar system

And which ones are really stars

Like the sun that each of our days brightens.

There is a lot of argument

Pertaining to the age of planet earth

Which is extended even further

When determining the universe’s birth.

The Bible indicates thousands of years

Men argue it must be billions,

Billions of years for the universe

Considering its trillions of suns.

For when one considers the distance

That some stars are away from us

There is no way the earth could be young,

Now you see why all of the fuss.

How could the light from these stars

Ever have reached planet earth

When we are just thousands of years

And their distance suggests an earlier birth?

It would have taken millions of light years

For their light to reach right down to us

So this particular reasoning

Must give impetus to that thrust.

All this is quite mind-boggling

Even for the scientists

So you could well imagine

How much of it I have missed.

Then of course there are the “gap-theorists”

Who argue that this could very well be

Since no one knows the length of time

Between Genesis 1 verses 2 and 3.

A lot of this is lost on me

And there’s much I don’t understand

But at this point I would endeavour

To point out to you a fact in God’s divine plan.

Just stop for a moment and think!

Where is Jesus at this time?

Have you ever thought of his return?

Has it even crossed your mind?

The Bible says he is in heaven

Perhaps millions of light-years away

But read Matthew chapter 24 verse 27

And take note of what it says.

“For as the lightning comes out of the east

And shines even unto the west

So shall the coming of the Son of man be.”

The Bible is the absolute test.

He who spoke the world into being

Can traverse light years in one second

So while this moment is available to you

Why not come to him as he beckons?

Stewart Russell © August 2017

Love: the Winner

 

Once there was a competition

And three were on parade,

Just three important contestants

Only three did make the grade.

There were several before the finals

But they were eliminated

And now only three remain

As verse one has already stated.

That fact having been established

Let us now open up our mind

And watch the contestants perform

Across the stage of time.

Faith was first upon the stage:

Without Faith there is no Hope

Without Faith we cannot cope

Without Faith we’ll always grope.

 

The just shall walk by Faith

Faith is the eyes by which they see

Faith inspires when the way is dark

Faith is the path to their destiny.

Faith in God, that’s what I mean:

Faith to see beyond earth’s scene

Faith in the Spirit however hard it seems

Faith in Jesus and on him to lean.

Faith is that which pleases God

Faith is high on His requirements list

And anyone who will come to God

Must first have Faith that God exists.

Hope was next to glide across

To be viewed by the saints of every age,

Hope springs eternal someone had said

And here it was upon life’s stage.

 

Some argue if Faith is the engine

Then Hope has to be the view

Of that city formed in a believer’s mind

The quest of which he steadily pursues.

  

When all has gone and there’s still Hope

Then purpose is still alive,

This is the engine that drives life’s boat

It’s Hope upon which it thrives.

Hope is the blinder that forces the eye

To maintain its proper focus,

The many distractions are fleeting lures

That Hope blows away like the dust.

Hope and Faith, these two you have seen

But another besides these abide,

Welcome on stage the third of the three

In this company Love can never be denied.

Love suffers long and is kind

Love even hung from a rugged cross

Love constrained God to send His Son

So that mankind would not be lost.

“For God had so much Love,” the Bible says,

That He gave His only begotten Son

That whosoever puts Faith in him

Is assured of a place in God’s kingdom.

Love is compassionate and merciful

Love is caring and kind

Love is action not passive thought

That is quickly dispelled from the mind.

Love conquers every single wrong

Love even loves its abusers,

Love forgives and never gives up

On even it’s greatest accusers.

God is Love and Love is of God

There is nothing betwixt these two,

Without the one there cannot be the other,

They both are eternally true.

 

And now abides Faith, Hope and Love

At the present time there are three,

Faith and Hope will someday pass away

But Love will last throughout eternity.

Stewart Russell © August 2017