No Wiser

Today is the first day of the rest of your life!

“And so what,” the drunk said,

          eyes all black, nose all red,

“Drink and be merry, you’ll soon be dead.”

 

“Let me worry about that,”

Smirked the youth as he sat;

“The world owes me a living.” 

He laid down on a mat.

 

“Another day to make money,”

Scrooge replied, not being funny.

“The dollar’s the thing,

Make piles while it’s sunny.”

 

So the drunk, the youth, the miser

Go on no sharper, no wiser,

Claiming the day

That belonged to the Master.  –eab, 3/1974

Written while principal of Wyandot Christian School in northern Ohio.

 

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Home Church School

God planned that man should have a wife,

And a shelter be their home.

That they should have children who would

Grow and likewise roam.

And these in turn should also learn, and a

Race thus should grow.

The home thus is the hub of life,

Because God made it so.

 

The true church (we know) is the body below,

Of Christ, in our day.

And forms the bride of the Lamb,

Holy, in every way.

Those who have tried to stamp, out its lamp

Have failed and always will.

God is not dead, as some have said;

He isn’t even ill!

 

The Christian school is a mighty tool,

For Jesus and the right.

Where every class is always taught,

In the Scripture’s holy light.

The devils fight to shut them tight,

And put them out of gear.

But God is on our side,

So pray on and never fear.

 

The Christian schools are not for fools,

Who deny that there’s a God.

But they point Him to exist from the stars,

Down to the sod.

May our God bless, W.C.S.,

With students who win souls,

And dash them in ‘mongst needy men,

From the equator to the poles.             -eab, ’73 Oct

 

Written while I was principal of Wyandot Christian School in Ohio. 

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Wyandot Christian School Memories

In August of nineteen seventy-two,

A new school started for you, and you.

In northern Ohio (fairest of states),

With textbooks, paper, and pencils, brand new,

(Erasers soon showed a trillion mistakes.)

 

That building remade with paint and a brush,

At eight-thirty (What?) stilled to a meek hush.

Green, young students (the intelligent sort),

Closed the gap from May with such a mad rush,

They couldn’t receive an interim report.

 

Grammar, and algebra, history, and shop,

Quizzes and tests, there was no place to stop;

Bible and other classes taught the rule,

To study, to read, to not be a flop,

Attending Wyandot Christian School.

 

Then came the fall outing (Remember that?)

A basketball game, the slim ‘gainst the fat.

Hot dogs were served (Yours were cold did you say?)

Three deep made some run; while others fell flat.

Cider, coco, and donuts (?) closed the day.

 

Tonight we are met in this banquet hall,

Behind lies the past, behind the quick fall,

Ahead lies the birthday of our Great Lord;

Vacation time, snow time, gift time, and all,

May you be blest with all heaven’s accord.

 

May you be – Oh, I forget to mention,

Miss Knaul, in the hall and noon‘s detention,

A trio girl who visits the jury,

Jogging, Perkins, a raccoon’s dissection.

Good-bye.  We’ll see you in seventy three.  – eab, 12/72

Penned while Principal of Wyandot and living at 205 Goodbread Street in Nevada, OH.

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Faith

I’ve never been to Bethlehem,

Nor walked by Galilee.

And the hills that knew my blessed Lord,

I may never live to see. 

But I’ve tried to trace His footsteps,

Across the Sacred Page. 

And by faith, I know He rules today,

As He has in every age.

 

O, Faith, faith without it, 

You just cannot please the Lord.

Have faith, faith, to doubt it, 

Brother, you cannot afford.

For faith is the substance

Of things hoped for and yet not seen.

And lack of faith is why the church is so awfully lean.

                                                                         –eab, 11/1973   

 

Written while principal of Wyandot Christian School in Ohio

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