Maranatha

Maranatha

Time to turn or you shall burn

Some folks say all roads lead to heaven

Preachers might preach, “No misbehaving.”

Do righteous actions, and cause no strife

Do nothing wrong, and live a good life

These are just lies that people conceive

Thinking heaven they'll go, they just believe

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Even a good person who carries much clout!

It’s not true; it’s a lie from the start,

Hear this wisdom I now will impart.

You can’t get there by just being good

If that were the case everyone would

Eternal life; it's a choice that we all choose

Liability and consequence, it's in our own shoes.

All have sinned and fall short of glory

Christ suffered death, painful and gory

Crucifixion used only for slaves

And then our Savior, the One who saves

Jesus doesn’t care how good or bad

Obedience to Him, and you shall live in His pad

We never know when our end will come

Don’t waste precious time, just get it done

Once you are dead you can’t change your mind

I'm not joking, move your behind

Admit you’re a sinner, then change your ways,

Jesus is coming soon, in one of these days.

The Yellow Dot Program!

This is so great!  Who knew?

Rules of the Game

“Mom, she’s cheating!”  My sister used to yell that every time we played a game.  Even when I wasn’t cheating she insisted to my mother that I was.

If at first you don't succeed, fry, fry a hen!  J  What?  Is that not how it goes?  Isn't that how people do things now?  They make up the rules according to their preference as they go along.  At least that’s how my sister and I did it when we played Monopoly. The way we played if you were in jail, you could not collect money if someone landed on your property.  According to the game rules, "Even though you are in jail, you may buy and sell property, buy and sell houses and collect rent."   We changed the rules all the time to accommodate our game, the way we wanted it. 

Isn’t that how we do the Bible, we create a god that works for us:  a loving god that would not cause pain, hurt or sorrow?  It is easy to forget the rules of a board game and to play it by the rules someone else tells you is right.  You trust them to know how to play and soon you pass those rules on to someone else and on and on it goes.  Pretty soon, the real rules aren't being played anymore.   Isn’t that a lot of what happens with what people think they believe about the Bible?

Oh, so Sorry, my bad, you weren’t planning on reading a sermon.  I won’t preach about Life but if you don’t get a Clue and Go Fish you might find out on Payday whether you played the game according to His rules or your own rules.  This is not just a Candy Land where you can travel through Chutes and Ladders without any Trouble – don’t mean to burst your bubble.  I’m not talking in Crazy 8’s here; I’m truly concerned for your salvation.  I would hate to see you get dealt a hand full of Spades.  Move forward three and go back two, Parcheesi rules when I land on you. 

Chinese Checkers made me lose my marbles a long time ago but when I won the game of Chess I found who my true King was. I read His book and try every day to adhere to His rules.  Oh, don’t get me wrong, sometimes I fail and sometimes I am still making up my own rules, but in the end, His rules overrule and I am humbled when I lose that one game of Bad Gammon and then I go back and review the right rules again.

We don’t get to make up the rules as we go along, and we don’t get to pick and choose the ones we like or the ones we don’t like. 

"Hanging Out"

To have and to hold so

the old story’s told,

Before they used to call it

just keeping company with

someone.  Now what used to turn into

marriatge is not part

of those vows anymore.

What used to be going steady

turned into shacking up

until someone was packing up

to meet someone else

for a sneaky rendezvous.

How can you be going out

when you don’t even drive a car?

Going together?

Where, to biology class?

One night stands were

fun little trysts until

one decided just friends

might be better, and that way

“we can have other flings”.

Hanging out is similar to

friends with benefits

which means you can do

the mattress dancing with

all of your so called

beneficial friends.

Agreeing philosophically

to call it completely platonic

that way intercourse

can just be called fu****g

with no love involved.

What all of it boils down to

is it doesn’t really matter

what you want to call it;

In the end, it’s all just called

sex.



Stephen King Tribute

It was the Storm of the Century

when DeLores Clairborne

played Gerald’s Game

while suffering Insomnia. 

The Tommyknockers

grew Thinner at Four Past Midnight

in Desperation when The Regulators

showed up for the Night Shift. 

Rose Madder and her sister,

Carrie looked through

The Eyes of the Dragon and while

traveling through The Wastelands

they met The Talisman who

told them of The Dark Half. 

Cujo led the way through The Pet Semetary

where Christine was in Maximum Overdrive

having Nightmares & Dreamscapes. 

Everything’s Eventual and Needful Things

will give you Misery unless you take The Stand

and work with The Skeleton Crew

while walking The Green Mile. 

Lisey’s Story was a big Bag of Bones left at

The Dark Tower until The Drawing of the Three

would Danse Macabre when
they reconciled at Salem’s Lot. 

The Gunslinger turned Different Seasons

into a Creepshow when he locked the Firestarter

in the Cell and Blaze took over the Dreamcatcher. 

Then The Shining Children of the Corn were left

 in The Dead Zone to die

by The Cycle of the Werewolf

with Hearts in Atlantis.





Friends Forever?

I remember awhile back,

I used to have a very best friend.

She was there to cheer me up 

I thought the friendship would never end. 

Now this term friend I had to ponder

In my mind I let it wander

It’s the unexpected places

In unpredicted faces

Where one will saunter

And a friend that we will find.

When I was young

And in grade school

One friend I had

And thought was cool.

But grade school changed

To junior high

Her parents re-arranged

So I said good-bye.

Another friend came along

And took the place of she,

But it wouldn’t be too long

Before I would finally see

That her motives were all wrong

And she wasn’t a friend to me.

She used me for her personal gain

And took my friendship all in vain

Someone else had more than me

So she moved up in society

One more friend I gave my heart

Love at first sight from the start

But we were young it wasn’t right

He joined the army, gone one night

A lesson hard, a lesson learned

Then in a job a friend I earned

This friend who said that I could trust

Shame on me it was all for lust

I was fired and he moved on

The friends I had were now all gone

Another job I did pursue

Working hard without issue

A different job, more so called friends

Staying late to make amends

It worked out for awhile

But then my friends were in denial

They drained my heart and my soul

Cleaned my thoughts just like a bowl

I had to leave and get away

Who needs a friend anyway?

What Came First? The Chicken or The Egg?

Why did the chicken cross the road?

ERNEST HEMINGWAY: To die in the rain, alone.

Thought we should build us a grand chicken coop

Besides, gardens thrive with fresh poultry poop

Cute little farm, chickie’s don’t get attached

So fuzzy and cuddly when they are hatched

Watch where you’re walking when out tossing feed

Biddies go “POP!’ if stepped on, yes indeed.

Roosters grow into big cock attitudes,

Only keep one of these male fortitudes

Eggs arrive when the hens start their laying

Way better than store bought, I’m just sayin’

A chicken lays an egg once every day

She can’t lay no more ‘cuz she’s made that way

Quite the process to see how the eggs vent

That’s what farmer’s call where the egg is spent

Friends came to visit one hot afternoon

Asked us quite quizzically, “Wha’ch’y’all doin’?

Said, “We’re watching a chicken lay an egg.”

We’ll have nog later sprinkled with nutmeg.

She gave a frown, said, “I don’t understand,”

“These chickens they run around in the sand!”

Gave her a look of confusion and doubt,

“Tell me, dear, where do you think eggs come out?”

Poor girl was dumbfounded right from the start

“Well, I thought eggs all came from the Wal-mart!”



Tombstone

The Crystal Palace on Allen Street

Home of the saloon for cowboys to meet

To get a frosty beverage in a jar

Have some loving and maybe a cigar

Marshal Virgil Earp’s headquarters on the second floor,

Many a shady character he entertained here before

Virgil had three brothers; Wyatt, Morgan and James

James wasn’t into the three brother’s games.

One place called The Bird Cage Theatre just down a ways

Where the stage held many respectable plays

Quite legendary in Tombstone you soon shall see,

A considerable number visited frequently

Down in the cellar of the “bird in a gilded cage”

Held many a card game sometimes ending in rage

One thousand in poker chips to take a seat

And play against top card sharks with hopes to defeat

Doc Holiday the dentist turned gunfighter-gambler

Wandering from town to town like a lonesome rambler

Big Nose Kate Fisher soon became his consort

His sweet soft Hungarian devil he did escort

One night came a group adorned in red sashes

Looking to win and take all of the money stashes

Big Minnie Mignon took two bits from each cowboy

For the alcove and a girl inside was just a decoy

Playing up against the great gamblers around

When the card playing got hot no one made a sound

Johnny Ringo passed cards to his buddy Curly Bill

After that everything else went fast down hill

Those cowboys they drank a lot of mescal

That started the gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Five members of the Clanton-McLaury gang shot

Tombstone in history a real tourist hot spot

Aspiration of a Garden

Leather gloves tossed aside

Hard day’s work incomplete

Moistened with the nights dew

Soon to dry from sun’s heat

Garden grows to the beat

Tossing rocks, pulling weeds

Enhance the herbs to grow

Maintain the garden’s needs

Bask amongst the beauty

Trowel, spade, rake and hoes

Beneath a sky of blue

In the garden straight rows

Leather gloves tossed aside

Forecasting chores at hand

The work is never done

Beautifying the land

The Twelve

The twelve apostles whom Jesus chose

A lowly bunch through His teachings rose

Amongst them a tax collector and two fishermen

Dropping all of their goals to follow One Man

Sent out to preach the Word of God

Hung out with Jesus, twelve peas in a pod

They cast out demons and healed the weak

Said it was Jesus the crowds should seek

These twelve were to be His closest of friends

Judas Iscariot has a strategy which offends

Silver won over in the garden of hyssop

With a kiss on the cheek He gave Jesus up

Arrested our King and put on a cross

Friends went from twelve to eleven - no loss

Judas put silver above our Lord

Then hung from a tree, feelings deplored

That is the story of the twelve who were inspired

One thought he was better, and ended up fired.

So don’t ever get too big for your britches

Be careful what you do with all of your riches.

Twelve is a number important you see

One plus two equals the Trinity.

9-1-1 Remember When

9-1-1 something we should never forget.  When people ask if you remember what you were doing when it happened, the chances are good that you do.   

I do too, but I choose to remember better things.

I remember when life was not so hectic

Scrapped knees were bandaged with antiseptic

White picket fences and fresh cut grass

My mind reminisces of things in the past

The feel of the air after a summer rainstorm

A kiss from a boy after junior prom

The smell of puppies’ breath and a red pick-up truck

A walk down memory lane and my mind gets stuck

Canada mints and warm fuzzy socks

A walk on the beach finding treasure in rocks

Drive in movies and high school football games

Weekends spent milking cows with Uncle James

Laying in a meadow of clover was fine

My memory goes back time after time

Rainbows and peepers on a hot summer night

Tractor trailer trucks and puffy clouds of white

A starfish a hummingbird hot apple pie

These are some things that make me sigh

Flip flops and fireflies the whippoorwill song

Memories of the past now long gone

Geese flying over a sunrise in the spring

The scent of a campfire, a rope-tire swing

Finding a handwritten letter in the mailbox

Watching in a field, babies and mama fox

Camping next to a woodstove with a good book

Just one of the things for granted I took

Marshmallows in hot chocolate, eye kisses under a weeping willow tree

When I remember when, these are the things that come to me