Road Trip
We're halfway to Angel Falls -
Time to eat your bagel balls!
Try a piece of this blood orange -
It's nothing like that mud porridge.
Yes I see your pet starved rock -
Feed it carrot-shaped carved chalk
Here’s your milk from the purple cow -
Grab your straw and slurple now.
Yikes! See those coming glacial squalls?
Let's speed away to Angel Falls.
Earth Invasion Plan
First, I would attack and secure the major agricultural resources of the earth. Priority would be given to the highest yield areas that are far from large populations.
Second, I would leak photos of our alien species at these farms on the internet, especially on dubious crowd-sourced sites. The photographic evidence will convince the masses that any rumors of an invasion are a hoax. How? Humans, always confident in their own opinions, cling to their preconceived ideas even tighter in the face of evidence. The photos will surely be dismissed as doctored by pranksters and perpetuated by conspiracy theorists.
When individuals come to investigate, they will see armed guards dressed in uniforms bearing the Monsanto insignia. Unable to get close to the operation, they will return home to spread the news that the evil geneticists are trying to kill humanity yet again. We shall add to the internet speculation by suggesting that the corporation is covering up evidence of harm caused by GMOs, or that monoculture growing practices have enabled widespread pestilence. A bulk of the population will engage in bitter debate without even trying to discover the facts.
As food becomes scarcer due to our tight control of the farms, we will suggest malicious intent by any and all as the cause. No doubt it is Big Pharma that's to blame, since they are working on a medication replacement for food. Or certainly the Government is hoarding the food and denying its people in order to subjugate them. And it's highly likely that this is an act of terrorism.
The world will be in such a state of panic, backbiting, and hunger that they will welcome their savior: my people and me. "Save us, oh high and mighty alien beings! Teach us your ways of peace and harmony! Share your life-giving food, your cures for disease, and show us how to save our planet!"
Disillusioned, delirious from hunger, or deceived - all will come to me. And then Earth will be mine.
Restoring the Locust Years
The path to healing forks too many times
The road to contentment is hard to align
It's been almost eleven years I've had this chronic illness. Despite all the treatments I've tried, I haven't made it to the clearing of good health. I'm still wandering these twisted paths, lost.
Patience, acceptance, perseverance, thankfulness, contentment; sometimes I'm there. But they are slippery things that are hard to hold on to. Some days I rage and sorrow and flop about in a pool of misery.
Out of the anguish - the quiet voice is mesmerizing
Great God Jehovah sympathizing
I connect with the honest lyrics and hard edge of this metal song, on those kind of days. And by it I am reminded that there is One who is here with me, entering into my grief and pain. There is a subtle, peaceful current that draws me into His embrace.
Manifold in misery - symbiotic history of trials
Soon a yard turns into miles - a day becomes a year
Ugh. More than a decade of chronic illness and various health problems. Just when I settle into a rythm of functioning within my limitations, it seems like something new crops up. Anxiety, depression, perpetual fatigue, and cognitive degeneration are bad enough on their own - but mix them together and it's quite a mess. And these are but four of my symptoms!
No path set before me present itself as clear - confusion without peer
A cudgel of forlorn dreams hits me square and final
Some dreams are lost. Forever? I worked as an electrical engineer and absolutely loved it. I can no longer, and probably never will. Adapt, find new hobbies, dream new dreams. Smack! Health changes again. My world shrinks around me. I wonder who I used to be and who I am now.
What you cannot do for yourself
There is One who is able
To restore the years the locust ate
When sorrow has its grip on you
Giving you no reason to submit to any other
The prophet Joel of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles wrote about a plague of locust: "What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten." Grain, fig, grape, olive, and every other plant were decimated.
Complete destruction. Starvation. Impending death. Powerless, hopeless, crushed.
But God said that if the people returned to him with all their hearts, he would provide an abundant harvest and fill them with joy. "I will restore to you the years that the... locust has eaten."
When my life seems destroyed and I've reached my limit, when there is no hope - there is yet hope. God can do the impossible. He is able, and he cares.
Restoring the locust years
Only God knows his timetable of reclaiming what was lost and bringing life out of death. It may begin with only perseverance and hope, when I have none of my own. But the outcome is assured for all those who love and honor him.
"Restoring the Locust Years" by Tourniquet:
https://youtu.be/GCzE0h7ueic