Friday, November 16, 2012

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.



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

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. 

Friday, October 5, 2012

"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.





Monday, October 1, 2012

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.



Wednesday, September 19, 2012

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?



Tuesday, September 18, 2012

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!”




Monday, September 17, 2012

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





Thursday, September 13, 2012

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



Wednesday, September 12, 2012

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.



Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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