Three Facts Worth Considering

 

 

"I came with nothing

Fell for something

And leave with everything"

 

What grabs your mind as you read the above?

I will tell you what grabs mine.

I see a beginning and a journey that follows

And it’s not just a mere passing of time.

 

I came with nothing, that’s how we all came

We came naked in to this world.

Defenseless, vulnerable and dependent

But to our mothers an adorable pearl.

 

Through many stages we have come

According to the Shakespearian model,

Blundering, stumbling and sometimes falling

With many a joy but so too the trouble.

 

“Man that is born of a woman,” so said Job,

“Is of a few days and full of trouble.”

No wonder the heights to which we climb

Are like the proverbial bubble.

 

We fall for many a trick and ruse

Self-fulfillment the order of the day,

We search and search for that pearl in the clam

 Near it appears yet still at bay.

 

Such was my experience as I journeyed along

Falling for much that didn’t matter,

Bemused, mystified and gullible as ever

Led astray by rhetoric and empty chatter.

 

 

At the end of my tether I fell for something

That has meant the world to me,

The love of Christ now fills my heart

Like a bird on the wing I now am free.

 

Having arrived I am destined to leave,

This life will not last forever,

But when I leave I will have everything

For I have found the greatest treasure.

 

I now have Christ, my Saviour and Lord

He’s the treasure I can never lose,

While with nothing I came, I fell for something

And hence I leave with everything.

 

Stewart Russell © February 2020

 

 

Stewie’s Musings Volume 3

 

 

Bootstraps Crap

 

I can think of some things we say

And they sound good too

But how oft have we examined them?

Have I, have you?

 

Take for example

This following piece of advice:

“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps”

I guess that sounds rather nice.

 

This is the advice oft given

To someone who is really struggling,

But to achieve this particular feat

Is really mind boggling.

 

Try putting on your boots

The ones that carry straps,

Then bend right down, if you may,

And lift yourself by your bootstraps.

 

I will give you many chances

You can do it however you perceive,

Pretty soon you’d be forced to see

In this you’ll never succeed.

 

It is an impossible task

If ever there was one,

Whether the person is struggling or not

This advice should be withdrawn.

 

Life is already daunting

Failure steers him in the face?

Why suggest a feat that none can achieve?

Put a better one in its place.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

 

 

 

Suicide A Way of Life

 

Even this title sounds funny

Like a tragic kind of joke,

But let me tell you what I mean

And trust you get the full scope.

 

“We do not recommend suicide

As a way of life”,

Now this is a very captivating ad

And it even sounds nice.

 

If you are looking for an ad

To get someone to take note,

This would be good for a counselling service;

It would certainly get my vote.

 

Now fancy a caption like this

Up on somebody’s door,

If you have been practicing suicide,

You don’t have to do it anymore.

 

It is like death as a way of life

Somewhat like the living dead,

And the more I think about it

The more it hurts my head.

 

So, if you are seeking a counselling clinic

I would recommend such a one,

Especially for suicide practitioners

That can do it when they are gone.

 

We do not recommend suicide

As a way of life

But many are dead in trespasses and sins

And are suffering this spiritual strife.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

 

 

 

A Very Positive Ad

 

Here is another interesting ad

I thought of the other day,

“It can only get better”

Is what I thought this ad should say.

 

It bespeaks grave negativity

Yet one should see it is positive

“It can only get better”

But to what is it relative?

 

Let us think of a company

That is offering a public service,

And that service becomes so lousy

That it puts your business at risk.

 

There are certain essential services

That businesses cannot do without

So that when these services malfunction

They create a lot of doubt.

 

Now take a look again

At the ad we started out with

“It can only get better” it stated:

This is certainly not a gift.

 

But it is an achievable promise

If that service is at rock-bottom,

Since it cannot go down any further

Up is its only direction.

 

“It can only get better”

Would be a very appropriate ad,

Considering how many businesses are doing,

It could really become a fad.

 

Stewart Russell © July 2020

 

A Church Member’s Worth

 

 

What is a church member’s worth?

Pray, can someone please tell?

Is it standard across the board?

Are they all encouraged to gel?

 

Before I move on any further

Please, I beg you, do understand

That the church of which I speak

Is not the one triumphant, grand.

 

I need not ask this question

Concerning the Church of Christ

For its members are infinitely valued

On account of his sacrifice.

  

I mean the visible church

With its myriad denominational sects

Doing promotions and proselytizing

But ignoring perceived rejects.

 

Hence, this question I am asking:

What is a church member worth?

Maybe it depends on his size

And I do not mean his height or girth.

 

By size I mean his profession-

Is he a big one; is he guru?

Does he hold societal prominence?

Has he an influential view?

 

Is he a doctor or a lawyer?

A Cabinet Minister or economist?

Can he get the Prime Minister’s ears?

In what ways does he assist?

 

Sounds like an interview to me

To fill a vacant position,

Upon such rests the member’s worth:

Upon his secular qualification.

 

For what other reason, tell me,

Would members be treated differently?

I have looked hard and long, my friend,

But that’s pretty much what I see.

 

Except for nepotism of course,

Which we can’t completely ignore:

Biological family over church family-

Tell me, need I say more?

 

 

What is a church member’s worth?

They ought to be worth the same:

No partiality, no bias or prejudice

Once they are bearing Jesus’ name.

 

The born-again are one in Christ Jesus,

For him, on the cross Jesus was laid,

In effect, before earth’s foundation,

His redemption price was paid.

 

Hence, the believer’s infinite worth

Is his position in Jesus Christ

For no value can ever be attached

In respect to our Saviour’s sacrifice.

 

What ought the church’s response be

But to treat all members the same?

After all, whatever we have received

Have been received in Jesus’ name.

 

Our time, out tithe, our talent

Have all been given to us

And therefore, what ultimately matters,

Is our position in Christ Jesus.

 

The Pharisee boasted about these three:

His time, his tithe and his talent

But the lowly and despised Publican

Knew what it was to repent.

 

His worth was elevated in Christ

While the Pharisee’s sunk to a horrible low

For our time and tithe and talent,

Mean nothing if Christ we do not know.

 

Stewart Russell © June 18, 2022

 

The Chicken or the Egg

 

 

The age-long debate

Dealing with the beginning:

Whether the chicken got the egg

Or the egg hatched the chicken.

 

And of course as you know

There could be only two views

Even though for some

This would be earth-shaking news.

 

I trust when I am finished

There’s no egg on your face

For if you are in public

That could be quite a disgrace.

 

Too many Christians waver

In confronting this debate

And some even chicken out

On account of their mental state.

 

They are so confused

They do not know what to believe

And they become chicken meat

For those who like to deceive.

 

These deceivers count their chicks

Long before they are hatched

And they invariably end up

Right in the devil’s briar patch.

 

From the cackling and crowing

You could tell they’re stuck

In the devil’s evolution time warp

Having so been struck.

 

“Give us time!” they squawk

For time is what they need,

“Give us millions of millions of years!”

They incessantly plead.

 

Was it a primordial soup?

Maybe more like chicken soup

But I tell you, Bro Campbell,

Their chicken has flown the coup.

 

 

Perhaps we could ask the Colonel

He is an expert in chicken

But then again we all know

He wasn’t there from the beginning.

 

Correction, I am told

The Colonel is no longer around

For having passed away

He’s no longer on the compound.

 

There is so much in evolution

That does not make sense

And that it took millions of years

Would appeal to them that are dense.

 

For they strongly believe

That science is at odds with God

And like chickens they are led away

To their doom by the Fraud.

 

 

The chicken or the egg

It is time to put this to rest

Before the argument evolves

Into the egg and the nest.

 

I just got up from here

And I went to get an egg,

Not one to eat

So I did not have to beg.

 

I took a good look at it

And I really began to wonder,

Are these evolutionists for real?

That is what I pondered.

 

Only yesterday I bought a tray

Thirty in all, a fantastic deal,

They all look alike

To me that was revealed.

 

A chicken egg template!

That’s what grabbed my mind,

All of these thirty eggs

Must have come from a design.

 

The outer soft shell

The albumen and the yolk,

The chicken had to come first

Think this through dear folk.

 

For the egg manufacturing plant

There had to be a fowl,

For me this is such a revelation

I could whoop and howl.

 

For many of our scientists

Have not reach this point yet

Even though all the scientific theories

They continually vet.

 

 

If the egg came first

What was the first egg like?

Was it all shell or albumen?

Or was it all white?

 

Of what was it composed

When it initially started out?

Just looking at this egg on my table

I really have some doubts.

 

And if that took millions of years

What about the first chicken?

Was there a primordial soul

Through which it had to swim?

 

There, you have it my friend

Our first chicken soup!

If you think this is a joke

Think of the many that have been duped.

 

And what about the other eggs

Like those of the ostrich and the duck?

 Were they all in the same soup?

Or was this a different primordial muck?

 

Don’t be a chicken and chicken out

Or stick your head in the sand,

The chicken came before the egg

And that was the original plan.

 

 

So when next you hear a hen cackle

You will know for sure

That the egg has arrived

Hence, the hen was there before.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2018

 

Upper and Lower

 

Upper and lower are relative terms

And sometimes closely linked,

Very closely connected at given times:

Closer than you imagine or think.

 

Often, they are in the same range

And not at all far apart,

For what might be lower at the end

May have been upper at the start.

 

You have heard of lower-upper:

Not quite the highest but pretty near,

And you may have heard of upper-lower

Though this one is relatively rear.

 

Upper and lower is a continuum:

From the lowest to the highest

And when one is at the lower end,

The higher point is his quest.

 

Skyscrapers are high rise buildings

But not all are the same height,

Some are higher and some are lower:

To some this may seem quite trite.

 

One house is higher than the next

But lower than the one before,

Thus, the lower house is still higher

Of this you can be sure.

 

When placed on our continuum

One house is both upper and lower,

It’s the middle house of the select three

Not the former or the prior.

 

The first house in line is the lowest

While the third house is the highest,

The second house is both upper and lower

There, I have achieved my quest.

 

Yes, upper and lower can be the same:

The same in a given case,

Just like this scenario I have given

It certainly is not out of place.

 

Moving from the lower to higher

Successive points are termed as higher,

However, when this process is reversed

Consecutive points are noted as lower.

 

Upper and lower are relative terms

But sometimes they point to the same,

If you are still in doubt about this fact

I suggest you read the poem again.

 

Stewart Russell © April 18, 2022

 

 

Who Are We Fooling?

 

 

Here we have no continuing city

But we don’t want to leave

And if the prognosis is death

We cannot help but grieve.

 

Yet “we are going to a city”

And we sing it so lustily,

Where we shall be with our Jesus

Throughout eternity.

 

The world looks in wonderment

“Are these people for real?”

We appear as lost as they are

And our testimonies fail.

 

Fail to impress them, I mean,

For they see us every day

And they have seriously concluded

We are walking in their way.

 

 

We take pride in our praying

And with fasting we are obsessed

But yet at nights, when we lay down,

Worry obstructs our rest.

 

We rush to God in a panic

Whenever there is bad news

And we pretend we have His peace

In the hope He won’t refuse…

Won’t refuse our requests

That we painstakingly detailed

To the God that knew everything

Yet in our asking we failed.

 

“God knows what’s best”

We declare it on the mountain top

But down in the valley it’s different

So, off that train we hop.

 

Yet God is our heavenly Father

Who is looking out for us,

Always as a matter of fact

But still, we lack the trust.

 

 

“God will take care of you”

I am sure you know this song

But yet we walk in uncertainty

Among the worldly throng.

 

Very unlike the Hebrew boys

That put their heads to the block,

Refusing to obey the king’s command

And to their knees won’t drop.

 

Though we pray incessantly

This world means much to us

And in similar trends to the world around

We get caught up in the fuss.

We’ve established a list for prayer

That we pray most of the time

And it appears there is no answer

Since it’s always on our mind.

 

What kind of being is God

That makes us beg and beseech,

That has promised to answer prayers

Even before we speak?

 

In plaintive tones we nag Him

Over and over again,

“But he always hears and answers”

And that’s our outdated claim.

 

“It’s going to be all right”

And we don’t mean in the by and by

But to the person in the trial

It’s just a feeble try.

 

Who are we fooling? I ask,

We are no different from most,

Though we pray and fast incessantly,

We make an empty boast.

 

 

As for me, I will trust in God

Just one day at a time,

For I cannot walk in tomorrow

Except in a troubled mind.

 

And when I am afraid

As I so often am,

I will trust in the Lord my God,

For I am only a man.

 

Stewart Russell © September 13, 2021