Head-dibs

[note: this one is best read out loud holding your nose--it may help] Chilly Dovebber with his boadigg blast Dow cubs add strips the beddow add the lawd, Eved October’s suddy days are past– Add Subber’s gawd! I kdow dot what it is to which I cligg That stirs to sogg add sorrow, yet I trust That still I sigg, but as the liddets sigg– Because I bust. Add dow, farewell to roses add to birds, To larded fields and tigkligg streablets eke; Farewell to all articulated words I faid would speak. Farewell, by cherished strolliggs od the sward, Greed glades add forest shades, farewell to you; With sorrowing heart I, wretched add forlord, Bid you–achew!!! – Unknown, collected in Frederic Lawrence Knowles,  A Treasury of Humorous Poetry , 1902 (ht: Futility Closet)

It's all in good fun.

in the back of the book--right where it belongs!

Nymph, nymph, what are your beads? Green glass, goblin. Why do you stare at them? Give them me.         No. Give them me. Give them me.                 No. Then I will howl all night in the reeds, Lie in the mud and howl for them. Goblin, why do you love them so? They are better than stars or water, Better than voices of winds that sing, Better than any man's fair daughter, Your green glass beads on a silver ring. Hush, I stole them out of the moon. Give me your beads, I want them.                 No. I will howl in the deep lagoon For your green glass beads, I love them so. Give them me. Give them.               No.

who knows what this is?

and not a thing to read?

What are they? You don’t know? Should I know? You should know. Must I say? Three little words. What are they? I am waiting. Well, say them. How could you? Why don’t you? Don’t you know? Find your voice! Three little words. Three little pigs. Three little birds. Care for more? I have more. So many more. Three little words Make it simple-- “Eight little letters” O You live! O Vile You! I Love You!

8.86 miles in 2:33:37 with 20# ruck-sack. Caption  this (below): Soaked in sweat, but it was worth every drop.

Let It Be

Got the top down, wind in the treads . . .

I confess: I have a guilty pleasure. I cook bacon. On my grill. At sunrise. On Sunday mornings.

"But believe it or not, Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is, rather, good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good. The message of the Christian faith is that because Jesus was strong for us we are free to be weak. The gospel of grace, in other words, frees us to let people see us at our worst so that they can see God at his most gracious best." (Tullian Tchividjian)

“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (2 Cor 4:5-7, ESV) The power of God is meant for display. Paul pictures our body as a jar of clay into which God has placed the treasure of the gospel. How does this happen? Why does this happen? Paul tells us in verse 6: the reason they preached Christ Jesus as Lord and not themselves was because they saw the glory of God in the face of Christ. Once God reveals the darkness of sin by bringing in the light, who can keep that to themselves? Part of the beauty of God’s glory is that He is consistent. The same God who shines this light is the same God who created light (Gen 1), the...

Ok, so the other night my wife and I visited our local Chinese Buffet and as customary, received our fortune cookies with our check. My wife's said: "Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." My fortune cookie was empty.

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4, ESV) One inherent characteristic of an adversary is his need to remain undetected. Even an enemy who hides in plain sight does so with the intent to remain unseen. When we acknowledge our enemy, we do not merely say he exists, but point him out with neon light. The apostle Paul in writing to the calls out the enemy of the church: Satan. Satan is a person, “the god of this world,” not a principle or force and certainly not a polar “opposite God” but a created being who rebelled against God. “Well,” someone asks, “if Satan is not a god, why is he called one here?” Go back to John 12:31 when Jesus calls Satan “the prince of this world.” Paul later echoes this in Ephesians. Notice carefully how Satan is not called “god”...

'Nuff said

My second climb up the mountain, but on a different trail.

“But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.” (2 Corinthians 4:2, 5) The apostle Paul was accused of being self-serving, sneaky but his defense is an appeal to conscience and false accusations are betrayed. Living in truth means one is not bound to explain and defend every statement, every action; rather, it is to live openly before the Lord. When we live in obedience to His Word, we expose what is right, what is wrong and conscience will agree. This is where God does the fighting. When it comes to the way we use our words, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord. Paul defines his ministry in 3:6 as being “of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit” in other words, he is responsible to obey God’s Spirit in delivering the message of forgiveness of sins in Christ in order for people to become the s...

More like the Angel of Death . . .

Steve Martin contributes to the Atheist Hymnal--enjoy! (video focuses about :10):

2 Corinthians 3 laid the foundations for true spirituality--but what do we do once we have it? Once we obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit allowing Christ to lift the veil of spiritual blindness and He writes on our heart what is on His mind for all men to read, “now what?” “Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart.” (2 Cor. 4:1) In other words, “we are not wearied to the point of fainting.” The source of living true spirituality comes with the courage found in God’s mercy which we receive by faith. Mercy is an attribute of God requiring a closer look because we often find God’s mercy at work when God’s people are in trouble. “And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” (2 Sam 24:14) “When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us!’” (Mt 9:27) “I thank C...

“The Errancy of Inerrancy” “New Bible Deconstructionary” “Quarrel Majority: Schismatic Evangelicals and the Schismatic Movement” “The ‘God is Dead’ Movement Is Alive” “Unitarianism: A Religion for Atheists With Children” “Declaring War On Complementerrorism” “The Low-Down on Higher Criticism: “Critical Mass: The World Has Enough Catholics Already” “For I Don’t Know The Plans I Have For You: The Openness of God” “Relativism Is Always True” (ht: BN and “Off The Record”, Wheaton College, Vol 1, No 1, 2005)

"Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart . . . Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Corinthians 4:1, 16 NASB) Since nobody does it better, the Lion has the floor: It’s been said that “fear” has two meanings. The first is “Forget Everything And Run.” That’s how it is sometimes. We see courageous people do courageous acts, but one little thing happens to us and we crumble. The second is “Face Everything And Rise.” This is courage.  Webster defines courage as “the ability to do something frightful, difficult or dangerous.” In other words, courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it. The great Phillips Brooks preached: “Oh, do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks.” The last series of posts explored True Spirituality through 2 Corinthian...

What does true spirituality look like when the Holy Spirit has His way? True spirituality looks like freedom! “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) Rev. Eric Foley, CEO of Seoul USA, asked members of the North Korean underground church how Americans could pray for them. They answered, “You pray for us? We pray for you!” When I asked why, they responded, “Because Western Christians often put so much faith in their prosperity and political freedoms that they don't know what it's like to have to depend completely on God. And because of that, they often do not get to know Him in all the ways He invites us to.'" One North Korean prisoner described the pitiful conditions he experienced, but being a Christian in prison is the on...

“But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. . . . Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:14, 17-18) When Christ removes the veil, our lives are transformed and we can be truly spiritual. We can be free to do everything we should spiritually. If we remove the veil ourselves, we momentarily ignite our own glory but this eventually fades. The world talks of “secrets” to success;well, here’s the secret to true Spirituality: we don’t create our own spirituality ourselves. “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” (2 Cor 3:17) Here’s another way to look at it: if I can’t control my body functi...

The mind is a powerful thing, but can it stop an on-coming train? So it is with denying the existence of God--no mind is powerful enough to make the Great "I AM" suddenly not "be". One must move, or be flattened by the reality of His existence. Notice the man shaking his fist in defiance as the train brings reality to his senses.

How does one use this piece of equipment?  Yikes!

Many who follow us on social media notice from time to time a photograph of this fellow in some very strange places. I suppose now is a good time (as any) to explain: After moving into our new our new home, this gnome was adopted into the family. Someone came up with the idea to "hide the gnome" so he tends to disappear from time to time. When he is discovered, that person posts a photograph on social media, tagging all players of the game. On rare occasions, visiting friends may discover him. There is a trick, however. When he is discovered and photographed and posted online, the finder must immediately hide him again. This is a challenge when there are so many family members in the house at any given time--and the more people there are, the more cautious one must be. If he is not found after one week, he is placed in an agreed-upon "home base," which signals everyone that he has successfully remained undiscovered for that period of time. It's fun for...

"The Bible has a total of 31,103 verses, 8,352 of which are prophetic; they speak of events yet to come. All biblical predictions about the future can be grouped into 737 different predictions. Of the 8,352 verses, 6,312 (or 522 different predictions) have already happened exactly as God's Word said they would. About 2,040 verses, with 215 specific predictions from God about the end of the world, are in process of being fulfilled. . . . These prophecies can be further divided into eighteen chronological categories (by the timing of the events). There are only five categories of the eighteen left to be fulfilled. Here are the categories: church prophecies, Second Coming prophecies, Millennial prophecies, Final Judgment prophecies, and New Jerusalem prophecies. Each of the prophetic signs that Christ and His apostles gave is very specific. Jesus has explained that as we get closer to the Second Coming, we will witness these events, which will begin at the same time, run conc...

Excellent reasons to do something different.

True Spirituality is SPIRITUAL (hence the name “spirituality”). If we produce spirituality out of ourselves, then it’s really“HUMANISM” and we lock ourselves down to this realm in which we die. “ . . . not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end.” [2 Cor. 3:13 ESV] Moses veiled his face when he came down the mountain for two reasons (Ex 34:29 ff). The first reason is that the people were afraid to come near him. Paul elaborates that Moses veiled his face because the glory faded revealing he was not a spiritual superhero, but human--and humanity comes to an end.  When we create our own spirituality, we put up a veil, a false front that protects our reputation, our humanistic individuality. Remember the Wizard of Oz telling Dorothy, “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!” There is no freedom in hiding. “But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old ...

The Land of Freedom One of the great blessings we enjoy in the United States of America is freedom. We all have the freedom to live our own life, choose our own path, and use our abilities for our own gain as well as for the good of others. We have the freedom to choose our leaders and the freedom to worship God without fear of interference from the government. Freedom’s Cost All of these freedoms are great blessings, but they were not won without a cost. Our forefathers took a stand for these freedoms and defended them, whatever the price. Since then, countless brave men and women have stood up to protect this great country, to secure its freedoms, and to promote the cause of freedom around the world. Many of them have paid the ultimate price, and we honor their sacrifice. A Greater Freedom There is an even greater freedom which can be possessed and enjoyed by every person on the face of the earth, regardless of their social standing or nationality. This is freedom from ...

“You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all . . . Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end.” (2 Cor 3:2, 7) Have you ever thought of your spirituality as a letter that can be read by anyone? Paul contrasts two kinds of letters: one written on the heart and the other written on stone. Spirituality conveys a message as if it were a written message. The difference between a heart and a stone include the fact that one is warm and the other is cold. One is soft, the other is hard. It is also true that a heart can be hard and cold but a stone can never be warm and soft by itself. When we engrave words on a stone, the words are locked into the stone’s face. These words are unforgiving because they do not change or move. A stone cannot respond to the message it receives or communicates. ...

If the Apostle Paul had his way, operating by the plan he had for his own life, he would not have been in the line of work for which he is famous. No, if he had his way, he would have continued on with religious zeal, killing Christians. But he did not get his way. “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” [2 Cor 3:5-6 ESV] Assume that we were able to construct our own spirituality: what guarantee do we have that we've got it right? How can our own spirituality be right if our own compositions are so different? The COEXIST bumper sticker is a lie because the gods represented there disagree with one other and the followers are not listening! Tolerate all you want: the god of my personal understanding (whoever he or she is) will always be greater than yours...