To Which race of Middle earth do you belong?
Find out here

Would be theologians...must be on their guard lest by beginning too soon to preach they rather chatter themselves into Christianity than live themselves into it and find themselves at home there.
-Soren Kierkegaard as recorded in his journal, July 11, 1838
Thanks Jimmyfor the quote

Scrubbed off the roots
I believe we’ve lost a down-to-earth spirituality. Over a 2,000-year period, we’ve jerked and tugged the Christian faith out of its original soil. Henry David Thoreau warned that words—when derived properly—come with the earth still clinging to their roots. But the earth has been shaken and scrubbed off the roots of our faith to the point where much of our fruit has become juiceless—as dry and sour as an old lemon.
by Leonard Sweet

I think a lot of what I hear christians speak about is "words without earth". So much is so void of real down to earth issues. I don't want messages with the earth scrubbed off. In fact, I wish there was a whole lot more earth, maybe then we could find real practical substance to walk on.

I had a dream last night and in it, was a former Assembly of God superintendent that I used to work under. He was a real big wig in the AG at the time, a nice guy for sure but generally party line. In my dream he was speaking to a postmodern young guy and was using the word S**t a lot in his conversation. In my dream I was dumbfounded at the "dirt" that was clinging to his words. I know in most circles that dirt would be hastily "scrubbed off" but in my dream it actually made sense. Strange dream.

Wrestling with Dragons...

I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand.
He seized (gripped and overpowered) the dragon...and bound him in chains for a thousand years.
-Revelations 20:1-2.

Awake, awake, put on strength and might, O arm of the Lord;
awake as in the ancient days, as in generations of long ago.
Was it not You...who pierced the dragon?
-Isaiah 51:9.

Behold, I send you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.
-Jesus (Luke 10:3).

I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions...
- Jesus (Luke 10:19).

I have recently been immersed in the imagery of the desperate battle pictured here.
There are many dragons lurking in our cities; there are so many wolves and lions seeking whom they can devour.

unfortunately there are few willing to go and fight for those who are becoming their prey ( read Isaiah 49:24-26 & Luke 10:2). "Can plunder be taken from warriors or captives from the fierce?" (Is. 49:24). I have wrestled with God about this lately. Even this morning I awoke and heard the call to early morning prayer in my spirit; and yet complained to the Lord about the seeming impotence of these prayers. Does it do any good to weep? Is God really concerned about these "Great Cities" (Jonah 4:11)?

The tragicness of it all, the pain, the hopelessness that so often rides on the winds of momentary victories; it's all so mythic to me.

We stand so close to the mighty overpowering waves that froth and foam with maddening intensity. Their wild dance threatens complete submersion into their dark depths. Yet, still I stand on the edge of sandy shore...and can hear him say...To here and no more...(Is. 51:15)

LOL
Two guys walk into a bar. You'd think one of them would have seen it.

A picture for my spiritual mood right now...

What's Your Fave Christmas Movies?
Mine are:
A Christmas Story
ELF
It's A Wonderful Life
And I am going to watch the Chevy Chase one again to see if that's on my list...

Tolkien Who?
I about choked, when she said it. I was trying to ask a secretary at a Christian school if they allowed Tolkien books to be read in their school. I had been invited to speak at their chapel service and I was going to use a section out of chapter 6 of The Return of the King in my message.
She was clueless as to who I was talking about until I mentioned The Lord of the Rings. I was dumbfounded.

Maiden of Rohirrim, child of Kings...
A cold voice answered: 'Come not between the Nazgul and his prey!
Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation,
beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured,
and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.'

A sword rang as it was drawn.
'Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.'
'Hinder me? Thou fool. No living man may hinder me!'
...and the clear voice was like the ring of steel.
'But no living man am I! You look upon a woman.
Eowyn I am.
(The Return of the King, Chapter 6, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields)

"She girds herself with strength and makes her arms strong."
Proverbs 31:17

Oh, God for an army of such young women...
Those who have traded the hem for a helm,
the swoon for the sword and a glorious and tragic ending over a lifetime of frivolous vanity.

Pulpits without power...
"We tend to love the altar so much that we refuse to set it on fire.
Yet God comes in the flames. Our God is a consuming fire."
-Erwin R. McManus .Unstoppable Force

...men who want rain without thunder and lightning.
I am pondering this phrase that I read: Here.
I am still pondering...I will post after my thoughts coagulates into something less fluid.

This above all, to thine own self be true,
and it must follow, as the night the day,
thou canst not then be false to any man.
- William Shakespeare

False to any man...sheesh, I wish...

Why are You like a stranger in the land,
or like the traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?
...Like a mighty man who cannot save?
-Jeremiah 14:8-9

I have been feeling like this for a couple of days.
My spirit has been so burdened by the immense need all around.
I see so many people that are struggling, falling...leaving.
I read in the paper the other day, how WA largest growing "group" is the "NONE" group.
This group marks no religious affiliation in census forms.

Then I look around my church this morning and basically all I see is grey or graying hairs...

All wonderful people...well...maybe not all...

But there is SUCH a hole...a generation is missing.

I saw someone selling these at Portland Saturday Market a while back...one of my students bought one...
Duck Tape Wallet

I have been dealing with a lot of mental stuff lately, maybe this is what I need:
Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie

When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.
- C.S. Lewis

The world is waiting...why are you?
Read Matthew 28:19

"Jesus came to forgive us of our sin, yes, but His mission was also to introduce us to the passion of living. Most people believe that following Jesus is all about living RIGHT. Not true. Following Jesus is all about living FULLY."
-Mike Yaconelli
from: Adam
Oh, how true this really is, so many people miss this reality in their spiritual indoctrination that comes through spoken and unspoken things within our churches and christian relationships. Just look around you, how many people do you know that exude this truth? It saddens me that this is so often the case, we suffer from lack of fully alive people.
I long to be "FULLY ALIVE" in my thought life, my devotional life, my love life, my fathering, my pastoring, my writing, my speech, my recreation, my suffering, my mentoring and in my body.

This made me laugh.
go here
I don't know why, it just did.

Had a dream right before I woke up this morning and in it I heard a verse form Proverbs 31.
So as I opened Proverbs 31, my eyes fell on verse 31, which was the content of what I heard in my dream.
"Give her of the fruit her hands, and let her own works praise her in gates of the city."
This verse spoke to me about getting about the business of writing the books I feel are within me. I spend a lot of time writing but in this new season it is time to take it to the next level.

Last night I also watched a speech by Anne Lamont, a writer. Her talk, really inspired me to get to it, as well. She is a very unconventional person that has had a spiritual new birth. She talked openly about her emerging new life in Christ in very unreligious ways. It was really refreshing to hear and see a writer that is unafraid to speak the truth. the truth of who she is and what has happened to her and what matters to her. It was equally nourishing to hear her do it in a way that didn't reek of christianeeze.

So in response to this prompting, I have printed off all my blog journal and gathered my poems and some of my writings too. I will probably self publish something of my devotional poems and prayers first because they best reveal what I am most passionate about...life in Christ.

Well see where it goes from there.