OUT OF THE BOX

[A reprint of some poems I posted a couple years ago] Just for fun I decided to include some poems I wrote. The first two I think are quite witty. The first one I wrote in response to mine and Laurel's kidding about my tendency to repeat myself too much. The second one I wrote in response to my struggles to change in areas that would improve my role as a husband. The other poems are of a more serious nature and share some spiritual insight gained from experience and Bible study. Vain Repetitions My emails will say hello, communicate, and engage. They may even dazzle you with eloquence and prose. Expert tools of grammar will be utilized on each page. But no trite phrases, and no repetitions. No. None of those. Your heart will be warmed by thoughts so expressed In simile, metaphor, hyperbole, and other additions. But in the end you surely will have confessed The thing has a glaring absence of those redundant repetitions. His heart and mind are drawn with words Telling

I am grateful for all of you who visit this site, and especially those of you who visit on a regular basis. I now have visitors from all over the United States and from many countries around the world. I would enjoy hearing from some of you and getting to know who you are and where you are from. It would be a great blessing to me if you would write me at the email address below and introduce yourself. Thank you so much. Billy Long        blong8@sccoast.net

“But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord... ” Jonah 1: 2 Jonah was instructed by the Lord to warn the wicked city of Nineveh of impending judgment. He did not want that task. He was afraid the city would repent, and God in His mercy would withhold the judgment they deserved. Jonah, therefore, decided to run away. He boarded a ship headed to Tarshish, a city located on the far west end of the Mediterranean Sea, probably in Southern Spain near Gibraltar. To sail past this point would be to enter the vast unknown Atlantic Ocean. Jonah was going to a remote location that represented the point farthest from and most opposite to where God was sending him. He was fleeing the purpose of God and the very presence of God. “Asleep” Jonah went down into the ship and fell asleep. Usually a person running from God is unable to sleep very well, especially during a storm. Generally speaking there is no rest or peace to the wicked, but Jonah was able to sleep. He slept t

(Below is a re-print of an article I posted last year.   -Billy Long) “Therefore, consider both the goodness and severity of God…” Romans 11: 22 A tricycle and a cedar switch I had a tricycle when I was four years old. Daddy told me I could ride it around the yard but never to go near the highway. But temptation came, and I figured it would be more fun and easier to ride my tricycle on the hard pavement than through the dirt in our yard. So I decided to ride it across the highway and visit the country store across the street. Away I went pedaling my little tricycle and making my way across the busy highway. As I rolled up to the front door of the store I suddenly felt a hand gently grab my arm. It was Daddy. He had broken a small, limber cedar switch from a little tree in our front yard. It did not harm me, but it stung my legs as he gave me a “switching” all the way back across the street to our house. We were a sight to behold as I “danced” across the road with Daddy’s right ha