Let us harness up the horses
That are different from us all–
Using up our scarce resources
That are not their own to call.
If they’d only leave the nation,
Taking all their kids along,
On the buses, at the station,
We would see the end of wrong.
Every day would be so mellow
If their presence here would end—
But it’s hard to hurt a fellow
When the fellow is your friend.
Let us harness up the horses
That are different from us all–
As they plot their terror courses
In their secret meeting hall.
We are fearful of the teaching
When the hundreds come to pray–
Fearful of their leader’s preaching
Evil thoughts against our Way.
Every day would be so mellow
If their presence here would end—
But it’s hard to hurt a fellow
When the fellow is your friend.
Is it written that God guarantees us a prosperous and healthy life? According to Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), “Anyone who says that economic security is a human right, has been too much babied. While he babbles, other men are risking and losing their lives to protect him. They are fighting the sea, fighting the land, fighting disease and insects and weather and space and time, for him, while he chatters that all men have a right to security and that some pagan god – Society, The State, The Government, The Commune – must give it to them. Let the fighting men stop fighting this inhuman earth for one hour, and he will learn how much security there is.”
Jesus can not save you, due to circumstances beyond your control, from losing your job, your savings, your land, or your house. He can not keep you and your loved ones free from cancer. He can not keep tornadoes, floods, hurrlcanes, mudslides, sinkholes and earthquakes from hurting you. And no matter how strongly you believe in Jesus, you may still flunk the exam or lose the match.
Jesus can keep you out of jail and out of hell on earth. You will not rob or defraud your neighbor, commit adultery, commit arson, cheat on your income tax or kill unless necessary to defend yourself. Granting that you are not abused, you will respect, honor and love your spouse forever. You will eschew bar parking lots at 2 AM. You will not perjure yourself, either in or out of court. You will not ignore the hungry, the sick and the prisoner.
Heaven’s where the Master serves you burgers, what a thrill–
Hell is where the Devil flips you over on his grill.
His dogma maintains that sailboats cannot sail into the wind. His friends conduct him to a regatta where everyone observes fifty sailboats proceeding together on a tack. He declares that it is an optical illusion.
O Lord, as game time approaches we pray for rain, that the game may not be played; for skilled pitchers, that the bat may not strike us; for the bunt, that minimizes the blow; for ground balls, that the grass and good earth may assuage our pain; and for home runs and fouls into the stands, that remove us from the field of danger. Amen.
Only for the clever is honesty a virtue.
The history of the Axtells has been traced to 1534 in Berkhamsted, England. Prior to that there is only the oral tradition, from which the following legend:
Not long after the year 1000, a blackguard chieftain terrorized the North. Wallace Fordor, known as Wallace the Lawless, lusted for the lovely Agnes Axtell and demanded that her father yield her up. He of course refused. The dastardly outlaw put him and Agnes’s mother to the sword and eventually every other Axtell in the region save Agnes. His explanation: “No man needs a mother-in-law.” No one surnamed Axtell dared return to Northumberland until the Tudors had established their dominance over the Fordors.
You never have it made. Whenever you think you do, here comes something else.
There is always a way.
There is never an easy way.
If the road is smooth, it’s the wrong road.
