Paul Emmel

September 2019 

Unique in the sea of bitter-cold space

The good ship called Earth orbits its place.

Its oceans and air that once were all clear

Are lost and gone creating great fear.

Waters are rising and flooding the lands

Fires are raging and getting out of hand.

People are fleeing in perilous escape,

But the good ship keeps sailing whatever its fate.

The crew and the passengers argue and fight

About who’s in the wrong and who’s in the right.

There’s great consternation by prophets of gloom.

The leaders speak words of promise and doom.

We thought this was our ship to do as we will,

That we were the captains to spoil and kill,

That there was no limit to what we could waste,

Devouring the best whatever our taste.

Let this be a lesson for us to repent:

 Return to the Owner what all has been lent.

We’re fools not to listen and continue our way.

For He is the Captain and His is the Way.

Paul Emmel graduated from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, in 1965. He served a new mission at Stayton, Oregon (1965-69), and was the correctional chaplain for the State of Wisconsin (1970-99) at Green Bay Correctional Institution. He has also done community counseling (1999-2006).