The Shaking

                        

The Shaking
(by R.P.Edwards)   

Shaken, shaken
Till we fall
Sure foundations
Crumble…all
Trust in seen
By seen, betrayed
Until our debt
To death
Is paid
Foolish we!
To linger long
Boasting thoughts
Of young…and strong
For shaking comes
And all…will fail
Save those
In hands
That held…the nail

Utter devastation.  The earthquake.  Thousands of individual lives, kingdoms, families, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters…stories, shaken to pieces; shaken…to death. 

The news; the horrible headline that, for a brief moment, moved all others to a lower place; the mammoth earthquake that struck Japan.  Japan, perhaps the most “earthquake-ready” nation on the planet; struck by a monster. The crippling uppercut from below that leveled the landscape, trapping many beneath their once comforting walls. 

And then, the wave.  We, in our self-importance, used to call them “Tidal waves,” but now, appropriately,  the Japanese word, tsunami, bears the weight. Born of great subsurface upheavals in the earth‘s crust, the ocean above convulses and conveys.  The planet pausing energy relentlessly pushes.  Millions upon millions upon millions of metric tons of salt water bow to the command and rush to the shore and, for the briefest of moments, the Lord’s command of “here, and no further”…is transgressed; and thousands--thousands waiting for the rescuers hand--are met instead by the smothering wave and dragged, helpless, nameless, lifeless, along with the destroyed and defiled remains of their being…to the uncaring depths.

Yeah, I pondered the posting for the week and, in light of Japan, I have chosen, once again, to pass over the transient and ultimately inconsequential doings of elsewhere.  Oh sure, the mideastern unrest is important.  The whole Public Union/budget thing has merit.  But…but, let the earth move and the water come, and the peripherals will immediately fall away and each of us will be forced to focus; focus on the essential task…of surviving.  And, hopefully we’ll extend our search to include life …beyond death.  For, whether the earth moves greatly, or the water comes, forcefully, each of us, individually, will meet a life robbing power. And, unashamedly, without regret, or remorse, or…retreat; I know of only one who conquered the grave.  He is the Christ; the Nazarene; the son of David; the Messiah; Jesus; and it would behoove each of us to consider Him.  To soberly, thoughtfully, contritely, consider Him…before the shaking…and before…the wave.

The Wave
(by R.P.Edwards)

There is
No reasoning
With
The Wave
No pleading
Begging
“Pardon!”
“Save!”
It comes
To kill
The whole world
‘round
Our only hope
Is higher
Ground 

Images from Google Images

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