No Tick Tock

I have several clocks

And I checked each one

I noticeably discovered

The “tock” was gone.

 

I listened closely

And the sound I heard

Was “tick, tick, tick”!

I thought that absurd.

 

I could well remember

While I was at school

The clock went tick-tock

I was certainly fooled.

 

Just like the mouse

That ran up the clock

Perhaps when he left

He carried the “tock”.

 

The battery must be dying

I thought to myself

So I installed a new one

To improve my clock’s health.

 

I tried it with one clock

I could not replace all

Since that would be costly

And my income is small.

 

Again I listened

This time more intently,

There was no “tock”

I noticed distinctly.

Was there ever a “tock”?

I suppose there was not

So from where did it come?

I mean this “tick-tock”.

 

Don’t just believe me

Check it for yourself,

Start with the clock

Right there on your shelf.

 

If you hear a “tock”

I will buy it from you

But please be reminded

I must hear it too.

 

 

There is no “tick-tock”

As I have just shared

And to tell your kids so

Would not be fair.

 

So please tell your kids

Don’t let them be fooled

The clock goes “tick, tick”

Even at school.

 

Stewart Russell © September 2018

 

“The Called”

 

 

What am I called to be?

How can I know?

You are called to be a Christian,

That’s for sure!

 

By whom am I called?

Is it the church?

The church is not a person,

Ouch, that hurts!

 

What am I called to do?

It’s not the same question,

To be and to do are not the same

By my comprehension.

 

Don’t mix up the two!

They are quite distinct,

You should never get drawn in

Before you think!

 

So, it is called to be:

Let’s get right back there,

We’ll get through this somehow

Don’t you fear!

 

Go to Romans chapter 8!

Start at verse 28

And if you are “the called”,

Therein is your fate.

 

It is not about doing,

But rather, it is a call to be

And it is clearly delineated

For you and for me.

 

 

Called according to purpose

The purpose of God,

Note the definite article:

It is “the called”.

 

That makes it a noun

Though the verb is implied:

What “the called” does

Is what the "to be" decides.

 

Whom God did foreknow

God also did predestinate:

Conformity to Christ’s image

Is the believer’s estate.

 

By the believer I mean

Any of the “born-again”:

Not them of physical birth,

But of the spiritual strain.

 

Born of the Holy Spirit

And indwelt by the same,

This is the “called to be”:

Aka born-again!

 

 

Whom He also did predestinate

Them God also called:

And these He justified

But this is not all…

 

For whom God justified,

Them He also glorified:

In His perfect foreknowledge

God did decide.

 

I choose to say no more

Than these verses say,

I dare not let my reasoning

Get in the way.

 

God’s knowledge is infallible

Whereas mine is flawed

I can only say what He says

Concerning “the called”.

 

“Called to be” is first

And determines what to do:

The fruit evidences “the called”

If in me and you.

 

Stewart Russell © October 26, 2022

 

Sailing with Contrary Winds

 

 

Sounds kind of funny

A poem with this title

But what it highlights about today

Is particularly vital.

 

Let us go back in time

When vessels needed the wind

And no wind or too much

Made the situation grim.

 

No matter how the mariners

Adjusted their ship’s sail,

When there was no wind or too much

It was to no avail.

 

 

Oft they were forced to sail

With the prevailing contrary wind

For they had absolutely no choice

But to follow its trend.

 

Oft their destination would be

A destination unplanned

When contrary winds took the ship

Out of the helmsman’s hand.

 

It could be worse too

As happened on occasion

When that vessel would be wrecked,

The rocks being the villain.

 

All of life and living

Is about sailing our life’s ship

And every man in his time

Is prone to slip.

 

Even countries, as we know,

Are called ships of state

And the leadership of the same

Tries to determine their fate.

 

Here of late I have observed

Contrary winds are the trend

And many identify with trouble

And its inevitable end.

 

Contrariness to God’s law

For human civilization

And legalizing ungodly practices

That lead to destruction.

 

Calling evil good

And good evil,

And changing the goal posts

As engineered by the Devil.

 

Confusing young minds

As to what is wrong and right

And many adults too,

What a horrible plight!

 

 

Sailing with contrary winds

And enjoying the thrill,

And of the most abominable sins

Having their fill.

 

Changing God’s gender

From He to a neutrality

As if to say, “We are our own gods,

We are the Almighty!”

 

At the centre of this vice

Is the LGBTQ plus

Gaining critical mass rapidly

From its militant thrust.

 

Building great support

From those for, and the neutrals:

Apathy becoming a way of life

For many, many people.

 

“Why bother about it?

It does not affect me,

They live their life, I live mine

And that’s great, absolutely!”

 

A gender for everyone

With some left over

Just in case none of these fits

One can choose another.

 

“Vice is nice”!

This caption is being lived out

With ships headed for the rocks-

Only the silly in doubt.

 

 

For only the silly

Tries to change God’s template

 For human continuity

And think that’s great.

 

I don’t care how great,

Man will only create strife,

He surely cannot change one’s sex

Or create a single life.

 

Who puts a loaded gun

In the hands of an infant child?

Only the evil, the uncaring

And the most defiled.

 

Similarly, I beg you,

To examine our world

And take note that brilliant minds

Are now the most absurd.

 

Trans-women and men

Can live together

But cannot produce offspring

Like male and female gender.

 

Two men can cohabit

But only for the fun,

No offspring will be forthcoming

Absolutely none.

 

Two women can excite

With their power of touch

But will produce no new life

Not even a cell as much.

 

All sperm and no egg

Makes for no girl or boy

And all eggs and no sperm

Brings no bundle of joy.

 

 

Contrary winds, as I see it,

Will drive humanity on the rocks,

A wreck of unforeseen proportions

Removing all moral props.

 

And the rich building bunkers

Will in no way help

For the contaminated fallout

Will be in every home felt.

 

Of course, I have no doubt,

Man can go so far and no further

For God is in absolute control

And there’s not another.

 

For whether one believes

There is a God or not,

Almighty God is in ultimate control

Of this world’s lot.

 

So, while it may seem

He does not care in the slightest,

There’s nothing, absolutely nothing

That His roving eyes miss.

 

 

His eyes are everywhere

Beholding the good and bad

Whether it is the LGBTQ Plus

Or simply BGLAD.

 

Beware of contrary winds,

Don’t be caught in their path

For they promise severe fallout

And an unhappy aftermath.

 

Sail against, not with, I plead,

Against contrary winds, I mean,

Like the salmon, God grants the skill

To conquer rapids and sail up stream.

 

Just imagine what’s up ahead

Considering what’s happening now,

I shudder and you should too-

Did I hear you say WOW?

 

Stewart Russell © February 11, 2023

Don’t You Dare!

 

 

Don’t you dare answer

If you know it will start a noise,

Stick to your position

And hold your poise!

 

Some may say to you

It is better to get it all out

But you had better hold back

If you have any doubt.

 

I have been accused

Of sometimes not responding

Especially if someone

Comes over as demanding.

 

The query may be loaded

And fraught with mischief

And to attempt to respond

Might put me at risk.

 

So, I play deaf-mute

Much to the anger of the other

But this tempers the situation

And is less of a bother.

 

Two tempers flaring

At one and the same time

Can explode into horrid words

That will blow the mind.

 

It is not easy to do

Especially if you don’t like to lose,

Some see it as a cop-out

And are none too enthused.

 

But it’s better in the long run

When heads have cooled

And a better look can be had

If you so choose.

 

It may appear unmannerly

Cutting the argument short

But that would be much better

Than a friendship abort.

 

Two steaming heads

And two runaway tongues

Are the recipe, I’ve discovered,

For irreparable wrong.

 

A noise can easily mushroom

Into an uncontrollable riot

So, don’t you dare answer

And thus, live to regret it.

 

Stewart Russell © August 3, 2022

 

Nobody En Know

 

Nobody en know

But yet she telling me,

Maybe she telling me

Nobody but she.

 

Nobody en know

But she knows

When you talking to a bajan

That is how it goes.

 

Nobody en know

You see what I mean?

Only she knows

That is the scene.

 

It is like the Bible

That we talk about

But nobody en know

Yet loud we shout.

 

If somebody tells you

Nobody en know

It means dem en nobody

Cause them know.

 

Only this morning

I had this same situation,

Nobody en know

Came up in a conversation.

 

The person was adamant

That nobody en know

Yet became quite passionate

To prove this was so.

 

“I do not believe,” she said,

“It could not have been”

“Oh, there is no way”

Only she knew, it seems.

 

 

This particular incident

Was about Christ’s birth,

Nobody en know

When he came to earth.

 

“Shepherds in the field?

Not in winter they won’t,

Definitely not in December

No, surely, they couldn’t.

 

You Christians just talking

But It was not so,

Just listen for a minute

And let me show I know.”

 

Nobody en know

Seldom includes the speaker,

Everybody else is shallow

But she goes deeper.

So next time you say

Nobody en know,

Nobody, and that includes you,

Should also be so.

 

You don’t know

That nobody en know

Because you don’t know

What everybody knows.

 

Stewart Russell © December 3, 2020

 

 

No Unemployment in the Kingdom

 

 

 

Can’t find employment?

Disappointed at every interview?

Are you beginning to feel

There’s nothing for you to do?

 

Been trying for a long time?

Now about to give up?

Weighed down in your soul

And feeling out of luck?

 

Far from hiring on people

Companies are laying off

And even qualified persons

Have also suffered job loss.

 

It’s a global thing, you know,

A felt need to downsize,

Especially having the computer

Employment is minimized.

 

The technology is phasing out

The need for all these workers,

Especially since it was discovered

Computers are never shirkers.

 

 

They don’t take off time

Unless of course, they are switched off

And if they ever go bad

It’s not an irreparable loss.

 

And consider this recession,

World economies are shrinking,

Hence, to hire on new people

Would never be wise thinking.

 

But there’s one who is hiring

Workers for His field,

They are ripe for harvesting

And promise tremendous yield.

 

 

There is no unemployment

In the Father’s kingdom,

Heed the Macedonian call today

That is offered by His Son.

 

No chance of being retrenched

Or of being made redundant,

Be a fellow-worker with Jesus Christ

In gathering in the penitent.

 

Sign on to be a worker

That would never be out of work,

No unemployment in God’s kingdom

Or even in His Church.

 

It is a family business

In case you did not know

And the Father, Son and Spirit

Are the three C.E.O.’s.

 

Once you have enlisted

You become a kingdom heir

And if you read the Covenant

That would be made quite clear.

 

You’d be in the family business

With no chance of being fired,

So, rid yourself of unemployment

And offer yourself for hire.

 

 

Labour is never in vain

If you are labouring for the Lord,

You will be eternally rewarded,

It says so in His Word.

 

No unemployment in the kingdom

God has a work for you,

Get involved in the family business

And He will show you what to do.

 

Stewart Russell © March 2020