DISDAIN
How quickly and with such disdain
The atheist will make the claim
That Science has disposed of God
That there’s no call to fear his rod
And neither say they have we need
That Christ on our behalf should plead
Before the Throne of Heavenly Grace
For this our wretched human race
Yet we the beneficiaries are
Of scientists who have by far
Seen in creation God’s good hand
And taught us how to understand
The constancy of nature’s laws
So trustworthy and without flaws
And how on them we all rely
On land or sea, or in the sky
And scientists of some repute
Would atheistic claims refute
And give good reasons cordially
Embracing Christianity
No few such scientists there are
For who can see the moon and stars
Or peer into the core of things
And not find all creation sings
And ask how likely, by mere chance
The dust of being leant to dance
In myriad forms so intricate
And in such beauty exquisite
​
Long written in the heart of man
The question how it all began
A mighty bang we are informed
When time itself had not been formed
And whether that is so or no
Few people would profess to know
At least with any certainty
On this perhaps we can agree
But DNA - researchers state
Is coded language to dictate
In staggering complexity
All beings, even you and me
And study of the cosmos shows
The universe expanding grows
At such precise specific rate
That else collapse would be its fate
So evidence increasingly
Cries out, ‘Designer there must be’
No substance has the atheist's taunts
God's Holy Spirit this world haunts!
There is one thing of which I'm sure
As have been many gone before
Long ere was earth's foundation lain
The Lamb of God for us was slain...
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For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people
are without excuse.
Romans 1:20 (NIV)
DUNKIRK
In weariness, discouragement, and fear
Dishevelled soldiers wait upon the shore
Entrapped between the menace of the sea
And Nazi forces prosecuting war
While hostile Stukas circle in the sky
Then rain their lethal cargoes sans merci
On ten's of thousands where thy sit or lie
Awaiting what for each fate will decree
Whilst in the British isles each nation’s pulse
Enfeebled in this hour of such distress
Must seek the aid of a transcendent power
And its own vulnerability confess
Now hear the king in modest somber tones
Upon the airwaves makes a great appeal
He calls his subjects to a day of prayer
That God deliverance might yet reveal
Then hear the footfalls on the ancient stones
The groundswell of a people on their knees
Entreating fervently for whom they care
For fathers, husbands, brothers, sons, their pleas
Then see a host of little ships depart
And hasten to the shores of northern France
A desperate and ramshackle attempt
To rescue some few lucky ones perchance
Of one-third million men in jeopardy
Ten thousand on ten thousand stranded there
Who see the warships standing out to sea
Yet of the means to reach them must despair
But Adolph Hitler inexplicably
Whose troops, like wolves, were closing for the kill
Now orders his battalions to a halt
Incensed, bemused, they must accept his will
While subject to unseasonable storms
The Luftwaffe lie pinioned on the ground
Evacuation now in haste proceeds
The first of many soon are homeward bound
See fishing boats and little pleasure craft
Now ferry shore to ship as best they can
Each vessel large and small plays its part.
Determined to repatriate each man
A strange and timely calmness now descends
And smooths the waters of the channel sea
As though subject as Galilee of old
Unto a great and benign agency
Evacuation therefore gathers pace
And in the course of several blessed days
Those one-third million are at last brought home
Miraculous deliverance at play
For such thereafter Churchill would declare
So many were the factors here combined
Mere luck on an unprecedented scale?
A nation’s answered prayers I am inclined!
So thought the king and common people too
Again his subjects joined in earnest prayer
The course of war had changed trajectory
And to express their thankfulness their care
ENRICHED
Oh my good friend you’ve blessed my life
In so many ways.
Enriching it repeatedly
Seasoning my days
For that in which you’ve found delight
You have shared with me
In everything to me you’ve shown
Generosity
You’ve helped me see what’s praiseworthy
Nourishing and true
In music, art and literature
Recreation too
Yes my horizons you have stretched
Unto pastures new
And you have opened up my eyes
To a brighter view
​
Your love for this most wondrous earth
And for all mankind
Communicates itself as though
Sight unto the blind
And when you see me falling down
Troubled and distressed
Your wise and calmly measured words
Ease my soul to rest
Yet wonder of all wonders how
This your ardent plea
You have found enrichment in
Even such as me
So to the weaver of the brief
Fabric of our days
Who first decreed our paths should cross
I will offer praise
BOUND
He is not bound, as we all are
By hours, or purse, or miles
Nor can he be restricted by
Man's strategies and whiles
No human wisdom can discern
The mysteries of his will
No intellect unaided can
His purposes distill
The wisdom of his foolishness
May by a child be known
While yet incomprehensible
To minds too proudly grown
His foolishness is wiser than
Is dreamt of in the themes
Of all this world’s philosophers
In all their precious schemes
For he has chosen and preferred
The simple and the plain
The guileless, the untutored ones
To such he will explain
While those caught up in their conceits
Professing themselves wise
Are blinded to his counsel
For he has closed their eyes
​
The weakness of his strength and power
Is stronger nonetheless
Than all the puny posturing
Of those his truth suppress
Of all who rail against his laws
Who Calvary’s cross despise
And in their wisdom fail to see
The power that in it lies
He was not bound to sacrifice
His own well pleasing son
Nor compelled to him ordain
The cross to hang upon
And yet this brutal instrument
Is now upheld on high
The universal icon of
The God prepared to die
Yet he is bound – by his own word
His mercy must endure
Though many are my grievous faults
He will not me abhor
And that to which I was enslaved
No longer masters me
For now, unbound, unshackled
The cross has set me free
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