NW POETRY PRESENTS

And, no surprise, Alf grew less grain.

He wrote it off and cinched his belt.

“I’ll beat this too!”—that’s how he felt

. But come next year it’s one more cinch.

His debts began to really pinch.

His bank in town declined his loan—-

“I’ll cut expenses to the bone!”

“So how goes it?” his buddy asked;

he could see a flag half-mast.

“Alf, do like me and try the hogs.

Don’t let your spread go to the dogs.”

Alf shook his head, he had his doubt

Feed lot porkers would dig him out.

Besides, there was that big ripe stink,

He’s rather live with some red ink.

His buddy drove out one bad day,

“Wanna job with decent pay?”

“Oh,” said Alf, “you’re hiring me

to pressure wash machinery?”

“How did you guess,” his friend then grinned,

“though it’s not hard, when you’re downwind.

You’ve got first chance at it, old Pal!

Hogs are great, I’m doing swell!

Lexus, big house, barn all new--”

“Yeah, so it seems,” Alf said to Hugh.

“Well, call me if you change your mind,

I can tell you’re in a bind.

Here’s my card—just had it done,

‘Hugh’s Hogs—Second to None!’”

Wouldn’t you know up went a sign?--

Right off the highway, the flashing kind--

But motorists could smell Hugh’s pigs

As they dodged truckers and their rigs.

Hugh had made himself a name,

His feedlot stank, but big bucks came.

Now down the road, Alf scanned the sky.

“Still no rain!” he wondered why.

Dusty devils crossed his land

As he clenched nothing in his hand.

“God can’t help you, your friend is right.

He’s got the answer to your plight!”—-

It’s the voice Alf heard now speak,

That tempted Elijah by his dried creek.

Across all Israel stretched a drought,

After Ahab the king cast God out.

Guess who was blamed when no rain fell?

“He’ll pay for this!” spat Jezebel.

Then came about on Mt. Carmel,

A great event that men still tell.

Baal’s priests, four hundred strong,

Earned Elijah’s jeers all day long.

“Perhaps he sleeps, I can hear his snore!”

So they danced and cut themselves the more.

But still their offerings unlit remained

As Baal’s priests lurched on ankles sprained.

Their voices rasping, all worn out,

Then Elijah sprang up and ran about.

He poured on water, round and round,

Until his offering was completely drowned...

“My source of income’s all dried up,

thought Alf as he drained his coffee cup.

“I got to decide, what should I choose?

If I don’t act now, I’m bound to lose.”

Just when he stepped out on the porch,

He saw Mt. Carmel and a falling torch.

Elijah’s offering, consumed in a flash,

But without the sound of a thunderbolt’s crash!

God had answered Elijah’s call,

The One True God revealed to all.

Then Ejijah sprang up with a shout,

“Truth or falsehood—stop wavering about!”

“Stretching his arms he faced the crowd,

“You’ve got two gods, only one’s allowed!”

Whom you shall serve, choose this day,

Will it be Baal? Or Israel’s Yahweh?

“You can’t have both, they can’t be joined,

Baal’s a counterfeit, printed or coined!”

Baal or great Yahweh, what’s your pick,

Your indecision makes me sick!”

Good thing Alf turned back on the road.

Hugh’s feedlots, hogs, the success he crowed-—

E Coli, then hog futures crashed,

And Hugh’s hogs were tracked down and trashed.

Shortcuts to a quick success

Can really land you in a mess!

Money gods are bound to fail.

See those bankers in the jail?

Providence is worth the wait.

Hugh’s got a padlock on his gate.

1. Planting seeds in barren ground Takes time to produce anything worth the effort-—but don’t give up

2. Like produces like

3. Fruit does not form quickly—-you cannot force results

4. Weeds come with the territory

5. What we wait and work for is beyond our ability to make happen

6. God deserves gratitude for a good harvest --Excerpt From Daily Word, Mart de Haan