I...

I had my visage enshrined by the marking of a dust stick today at the Jacob's Well Coffee House, by the magnificently talented...'Cole'

Praying the Office of the Divine Hours....

"Thus says the LORD, "Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is, and walk in it; And you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it." -Jeremiah 6:16

As we continue to work out what the theology, ecclesiology and missiology of Jacob's Well looks like in the context of urban mission, witness and community...I am finding more and more traction within the New Monasticism, or Neo-monasticism circles of thought and action.

As part of this philosophical undergirding, I'm becoming aware of a deep need for being a more practical community of prayer, as well as a community of mission.

Personally, I've been working at establishing fixed moments of prayer into my daily schedule. I have desired to find a prayerful rhythm that will help me saturate my mind, heart and actions with more Spirit infused grace and wisdom. My life is filling up and the amount of talking and counseling is increasing and I am finding myself emptying out far quicker. Often the noise of my mouth and people talking becomes louder and louder and soon the cistern of my soul drains out. When my words echo with a reverberating hollowness....I know that I'm needing a deeper work of contemplation to take place in my moment to moment life. My roots need to sink deep down into Christ and draw up more nourishment to keep "ministry without life" at bay.

I've been using the ancient practice of praying the hours (Lauds/Morning, None/Midday, Vespers/evening & Compline/night or bedtime) as my 'trellis' for turning more Godward in my day. I'm working to develop a rhythm of prayer that will be sustainable for myself with the hopes of inviting our church to join one another in a 'scattered community' experience of praying the hours together. Having not only fixed times but places to gather together for short times of prayer...but even if one cannot join others in a fixed location...we still join one another at fixed times...to come together before the Lord to worship Him and be with each other in the same heart, mind and purpose of prayer.

At about 10-12 minutes per prayer pause...its simple and rejuvenating and the structure which is part printed and part spontaneous makes it good for beginners or those looking for guidance on what, when and how to pray. Each 'office of prayer' is made up of biblically rich prayers, the Psalms, the Gospels for short readings and space for simple lifting of names for intercession. Within this prayer tool will be a yearly plan for bible reading that all of us can move through and meditate upon as a community of faith each month.

By the end of the day if all four "offices" are prayed...you will have lifted all your loved one and needy situations up in prayer and will have saturated your heart and mind with Godward supplication, worship and simple yet powerful communication with the Lord via the Spirit and the Word.

The beauty of this 'trellis' is that its there when ever...and if you can join and your day allows it...one can simply come before the Lord without guilt or pressure. This is a means of experience His grace...a simple tool to posture ourselves Godward.

Here are some resources for this journey of prayer:
-Bible
-Venite
-Disciplines for the Inner Life
-In Constant Prayer
-The Divine Hours

I will soon have these Four Offices of Prayer available in PDF format for your computers or iphones so that you will have them with you at all times if you do desire. Choosing to stop your life, put it on pause for 12 minutes and join the Lord and one another in prayer...is a discipline that you will not regret pursuing.

Leah...the unloved

"Now the Lord saw that Leah was unloved and He opened her womb, but Rachel was barren." -Genesis 29:31

I did this piece with a pastor friend and his church in mind. Sometimes the work or the church we give our lives to serve and love; are not always seen as "beautiful" in the eyes of others. She is often seen as "weak eyed". For some they are simply a vehicle to produce "children" but not worthy of our devotion and passion. As long as they "produce" for us they are valuable. As long as they give us what we want or guarantee a return...then we will visit them. Thankfully the Lord sees...and He is sovereign in responding in a life giving and loving way to those churches that in the eyes of some are unlovable. My prayers and heart go out to my brother who is loving a church that is destined to bring glory to God. She will produce sons and daughters who will stand up and call you blessed who choose to love the unbecoming, the hidden, weak and neglected.

I wrestled with creating this picture and the desire at first to get all the proportions and likeness correct...I restarted it completely once and laid it aside trying to quit about 3 times; but finally just allowed myself the freedom to scribble it out of my head and heart. I felt allowing the messiness of it to remain, spoke more to the truth of being unloved because of perceived lack of beauty...than wrestling with trying to make the picture artistically beautiful.

I think a lot of artistic work gets aborted in these moments...instead of just allowing the work to come out of us. We too often judge our work into an early grave instead of learning to celebrate the arrival of whatever comes out. The process, no matter what the outcome is justified, if we can endure the reality of what it simply is...instead of always condemning it...by what it isn't.

Faith allows us the peace of just being...and trusting that what is, is enough and yet, will be more than it is...in time.

That is a holy rest for an artist or a struggling soul.

Cheers to Martin Luther....on this Reformation Sunday!!!

This the freedom with which Christ has set us free, not from some human slavery of tyrannical authority but from the eternal wrath of God. Where? In the conscience. This is where our freedom comes to a halt; it goes no further. For Christ has set us free, not for a political freedom or a freedom of the flesh but for a theological or spiritual freedom, that is to make our conscience free and joyful, unafraid of the wrath to come (Matt.3:7). This is the most genuine freedom, it is immeasurable...For who can express what a great gift it is for someone to be able to declare for certain that God neither is nor ever will be wrathful but will forever be a gracious and merciful Father for the sake of Christ? -Martin Luther 

I thank God for you Martin Luther....and the Reformation and the gifts of:

-Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide. Sola Gratia. Solus Christus. Soli Deo Gloria.

-For giving me a faith tradition that allows me to serve God, pastor among His people and have a lovely wife.

Sex is a good thing and that whole celibate thing is a real downer when imposed on all.

-For setting free the Scriptures into the vernacular of the common folks. Latin is cool but reading God's word should be something everyone can do....poor or rich alike.

-For working for change from within and yet...willing to be excommunicated for the truth of God's word and teaching me that being a God pleaser is more important than being a man pleaser. 

-Thanks for restoring the priesthood of all believers....and dethroning the meditorial positions erected by man. 

-Thanks for restoring beer to its God given place of enjoyment. 

-Thanks for allowing God to use your fire, bite and righteous anger for the glory of God....I was starting to wonder if men can be men in the Kingdom of God. 

Collision...

COLLISION outtake: King's College from LEVEL4 on Vimeo.

I cannot wait to watch this!!!

95 Theses....

In honor of Reformation Sunday....I offer up this, an emerging generation's version of religious history in rhyme.
Here are the lyrics for those who want to rap along...

Ridicule...with effect.

“What I have now done is only a little sport before the real combat. I have rather indicated the wounds that might be given you than inflicted any. If the reader has met with passages which have excited his risibility, he must ascribe this to the subjects themselves. There are many things which deserve to be held up in this way to ridicule and mockery, lest, by a serious refutation, we should attach a weight to them which they do not deserve. Nothing is more due to vanity than laughter; and it is the Truth properly that has a right to laugh, because she is cheerful, and to make sport of her enemies, because she is sure of the victory. Care must be taken, indeed, that the raillery is not too low, and unworthy of the truth; but, keeping this in view, when ridicule may be employed with effect, it is a duty to avail ourselves of it.” ... “To treat them seriously would be to sanction them.”
-Tertullian, (ca. 160 – ca. 220 AD)

Know the measure, know the times...

"My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and raise a psalm,
awake, my spirit,
awake..."
-Psalms 57:7-8

You are working for the whole, are acting for the future. Seek no reward, for great is your reward on this earth: the spiritual joy which is only vouchsafed to the righteous man. Fear not the great nor the mighty, but be wise and ever serene. Know the measure, know the times, study that. When you are left alone, pray. Love to throw yourself on the earth and kiss it. Kiss the earth and love it with an unceasing, consuming love. Love all men, love everything. Seek that rapture and ecstasy. Water the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears. Don't be ashamed of that ecstasy, prize it, for it is a gift of God and a great one; it is not given to many but only to the elect.
-The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Homecoming dance...

Daddy's girl getting all grown up on me...

Prayer retreat....

4 pastors...hours of nurturing silence, holy moments of sharing of pastoral pain, wisdom, burden, truth and friendship, Christ present prayer using the ancient tool of praying the hours four times a day, eating together simple meals made as holy offerings, deep work of soul formation and renewal. Probably the most meaningful retreat I've ever been part of. Here are some pictures...

The Contemplative (impulse)

Here is a video filmed in my art studio for a collaborative sermon project with Kaleo Church in Otis Orchards. Thanks to video and audio wizards: Mike McMullen & Jim Carney of Jacob's Well for enduring the cold to capture this on video. These types of projects represent the growing partnership that is taking place among us pastors through Ecclesia Spokane (Check it out on Facebook). I consider it a privilege to work with such amazing pastors, who are not only fellow workers in the region but are becoming great friends as well.

Pistols, Preachers and People...

So...I'm outside our coffee house, on the phone dealing with some facility issues and I hear someone yelling upstairs in the apartments above our meeting space. It's escalating and I'm thinking this is getting police worthy. After some investigation, I find out it's related to a CPS visit and the dad is going postal. With some decompression talk, things mellow by the grace of God.

I turn around and there's this sweet truck parked in front of our building and on the dashboard are three 9MM pistol clips.

I'm struck by the gritty, sureal nature of what takes place around our church. Guns, drugs, anger and violence mingle with gospel, love, serving and community...all on one block.

It's always interesting in East Central.

Mayan Madness, Tin-foil hats and 2012 prognostications...

"They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons; they poured out innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted with blood. Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the harlot in their doings." -Psalms 106:37-39

With all the hype surrounding the 2012 date as the end of the world, I thought I would weigh in...even though even the modern Mayan's are calling much of this hysteria pure commercial hooey.

I agree with the premise that the world, as we know it, will come to an end. But...if Jesus didn't know the date or reveal it...I'm sure the Mayan's or Aztecs didn't. Plus, they didn't seem able to see or fortell the date of thier own demise as a civilization; so why should I trust thier soothsayers now?

End of the world hype, sells sensational books, breeds fear and anxiety, puts money in the hands of the "seers" and distracts people from present obedience by focusing on the unknown future. The true spirit of prophecy is concerned about the revelation of Jesus...not the future. I stand in Acts chapter one as my eschatological position: "stop looking up in speculation...and get on with mission"

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. -Deut. 18:9-14
Instead of looking to the soothsayers of a human sacrificing, demon worshipping, pagan culture that gave us mystical blood soaked prophecies and...um, lacrosse....we should be studying the scriptures. A faith strengthening process that according to the Apostles, should lead to encouragement and comfort, not fear....read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

Our source of truth and knowledge shouldn't be....New Age gurus in sarongs or on TV, cryptic crossword puzzle-like pagan texts, pearly white teethed-pompadour wearing televangelists, swirling googly-eyed-tea drinking mystics or bizarre astrological charts full of woodland creatures, fairies and humanoid figures in odd yoga poses.

Come on folks....pull your fingers out of the chicken gizzards and quit peering into that really expensive crystal that some pony-tailed hippie huckster sold you and repent of all that demon soaked prognosticating.

The sooner we stop navel and star gazing the better...there is a world of human suffering right now, that needs a church that has her eyes, heart and hands engaged in bringing His Kingdom right down here on Earth. If God comes and sucks you out of the planet may He find you in the gutter caring for the poor...and not on some isolated rooftop, looking into the galaxies with an arm full of cow-skinned parchments and tinfoil on your head.

"When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn." -Isaiah 8:19-20

The Balance of the Force....

As the MARVELous and DeCent universe seeks the ever elusive balance between Twigs and Jocks....I was reminded of yet another visual of SPORTS that ILLUSTRATED the still massive gap that separates us struggling souls who are trying to ever understand one another.

Team Canada....

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. "Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm. -Isaiah 60:1-4

Years ago, I was sitting in a basement room, during a biblestudy, in the YWAM building called 'The Samaritan Inn", in Amsterdam, Holland. I was overwhelmed with the diversity of people from many different nations that were present. I was captured by the international and multi-cultural aspect of missions abroad. I had prayed and longed to come to do mission in this city but the Lord continually said No. He called me to return year after year...but never to move there. I was feeling a bit despondent in the meeting and opened my bible and turned to some passages in Isaiah that glimmered with prophetic purpose for my future. God spoke to my aching heart about the days to come...when He would send me the nations. I was encouraged that the Lord had not put a love and burden for the nations on my heart with no way to fulfill that burden.

This last week, we hosted one of three teams that came to Spokane from Prairie Bible Institute in Alberta Canada. 7 students (5 girls and 2 guys) stayed at our church for 5 days and joined us in a week of prayer, discipleship, teaching, service and mission. This team came to study "Community Development" in preparation for an upcoming trip to Guatemala.

This week involved working in the CRC clearing out junk, sorting donations and preparing stuff for sale in our upcoming rummage sale. They sorted clothes and organized goods. They helped our Community Dinner team prepare the meal and served during the dinner. Some of the team joined me in delivery of meals after the dinner to four homes in our neighborhood. Tuesday night we split the team up into three groups and put them in 3 refugee homes for a night of cultural immersion to prepare them for their trip to Guatemala. Wednesday morning we shared a big Karen breakfast.

The team helped us give the CRC a makeover, with a new paint job, decorations and cleaning. We spent one day doing a service project in the neighborhood for a family that has a number of disabled family members. Their yard was in desperate need of cleaning and clearing. We removed 7 truck loads of garbage and yard debris to the dump. It was hard work but the family was so blessed. They also were able to join and help two different days with our Refugee Tutoring program, one night with the Kid's Team and another with our Adult team.

In-between these activities we unpacked the gospel and mission, prayed and contextualized book learning with street action and visited people I partner with and places where mission takes place outside our immediate area. It was a full week...and what I treasured most...was that all these activities were in-between the normal "church days" where most church activity takes place. My dream of being a church that lives out mission during the week and comes together on the Weekend to truly celebrate what God is doing during the week...is finally coming to pass.

There were many times during the week, where I was reminded of the Lord's words to me. As I sat in one of the Burma refugee's homes with students from Canada, Australia and different parts of The United States...that word was materializing before me. This week I have seen a number of confirmations to the trustworthiness of God's prophetic words to me over the years. I stand blessed at His faithfulness.I throughly enjoyed my time with the young people from Canada. Sharing life, mission and hearts, seeing God be made known to them and through them, was a gift to experience. I pray that we will see such a program of Urban Mission and Community Development emerge in the future, maybe in partnership with a likeminded institution or bible college. The fruit was really good.

Here are some pictures of the various things we did this week.

Jacob's Well Coffee House...

Jacob’s Well Coffee House is a community ministry that provides a space in our neighborhood for relationships to develop, the arts to be celebrated and a spot to enjoy good coffee.

Come experience a pause in your busy day, hang out with friends, surf the web, do some art, join one of the weekly book groups or listen to a local musician at our monthly Coffee Concerts.

October Sermon Series...

This October we will be going down into the basement of the Scriptures; to shine some light on the stories you probably didn't hear about in Sunday school. It should be a wild ride of biblical spookiness, gore and paranormal oddities...all woven together to teach what the Bible has to say about the themes that our culture celebrates during the Halloween season.

The Warrior-Poets....

"Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds. At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!' He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry." -Job 39:19-25

I watched Braveheart last night with Destiny and Micah last night. I had to edit some for Micah but decided to let him get a bit more reality to sword play than Oblivion or "Runescape" gives. They both had reactions that I didn't expect. Destiny said she felt the "love story" was underdeveloped, leaving her feeling like that plot line didn't give much energy to the motive of the movie. Micah said he thought William Wallace was too much of a murderer.

I can see their points and have pondered the truth in Micah's perception of the man, William Wallace. I was tender towards his innocence at seeing the movie in light of his child heart and mind. Kids have a gift at seeing issues more simply and often more truthfully. Having a childlike heart is representative of Kingdom life...but so is learning to leave childish thinking and things behind. It's a path of maturing that hopefully produces a man with a good heart, a wise mind and hands of action.

Sophie marceau "Braveheart Trailer"
Uploaded by GO-GO-STALIN. -

But I imagine that fine line of solider and murderer is hard to define in battle...a fact, that often leads to so much Post Traumatic Stress for warriors. The glamorization of war is a fixation in our culture. There is a tough line between gladiatorial blood lust and the value of upholding heroes, patriots and men and women of valor who have fought for justice, truth and righteousness. Instilling a proper value for defending the weak, standing up for the oppressed and fighting for good is a challenge as a Christian father.

I saw this video the other day, that shows a bully provoking a kid who didn't want to fight and tried to get out of it but ends up having to deal with the situation. It's a scene I've seen countless times and been in myself, more than once.
Kid Teaches Shirtless Bully a Lesson

I've thought a lot about the process of raising young men and where the line is between being a battle thirsty warmonger or a spineless, cowering pacifist. Outworking the obvious masculine propensity for strength, action, risk and a deep inner sense of justice...the whole cocktail of traits common to a bloodstream coursing with testosterone.

At the end of the movie, Gibson, quotes these words in reflecting on the journey of his people and their battle against the English:

"In the year of our Lord 1314, patriots of Scotland, starving and outnumbered, charged the fields of Bannockburn. They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen and won their freedom." ~Braveheart

I looked up that phrase: Warrior-Poet, because it captured a tension that I thought represented what I was struggling with. Here is the definition:

"The Warrior-Poet is the several thousand-year-old tradition of dedication to developing the body and the mind as one. The bushido warrior code of ancient Japan, the Shambhala teachings of Tibet, the chivalrous knights of medievil Europe, and the ancient Greek warriors are all examples of this proud tradition. The Warrior-Poet retains a myeriously ancient auora, a member of the leadership class who guides with wisdom and courage. They are defined by their dedication to their crafts of warfare, and intellectual study and reflection. The Warrior-Poet learns to develop the mind and the body as one, using each to guide the other. The Warrior-Poet is also a spiritual warrior. The warrior-poet understands their true relationship to the heaven and the earth. They understand that they embody the heavenly representation to the earth, and the earthly representation to the heavens. In other words, it is up to the warrior-poet to balance the cruel realities of the earth, while living by the standards of the heavens." (from: wiki.answers.com)

The other day, i was faced with a situation where I had to go talk to someone and I knew the subject matter was probably volatile. I didn't want confrontation or drama but I knew that I had to face the person for the benefit of others. I found myself praying for grace as I attempted to deal with the injustice of the situation. I swallowed my fear of the unknown outcome and moved forward in the same posture of a warrior...no bloodshed but a victory was one and it required courage. It was no epic Braveheart battle but it was a situation that required a brave heart.

"Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from My sight cease to do evil,
Learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless,
defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
-Isaiah 1:16-17

The Existential Ape...

My favorite comic for today in light of the doozy of a week that I have been through. It seems like lately there's been a massive proverbial dumping going on and a lot of it has seemed to land in my corner of the world. I think it was most serendipitously experienced the other day, when I was going outside to sit in the lovely sun, while accompanied by the mornings counsel-lee. As the sun hit my most Freudian, congenial self...I stepped in a pile of dog crap. Nothing like spending an hour counseling in the deep matters of interpersonal drama with doggie poo on your shoe, pants and foot.

So after a week of dealing with child abuse, depression, suicide threats, inconsiderate, pain in the butt christians, marital infidelity, on one hand...all while wading through angelic fornication, forbidden and banned books of the bible, 450 foot man eating giants; and on the other hand, dealing with local money grabbing christian hucksters, swooning & juiced up jeezuz, gyrating charismaniacs, and the doe-eyed, perma-grin, modern gnostics...all on the tail end of a couple weeks of family sickness...I'm feeling like a mad ape myself.

I found myself reading Psalms 43 this morning and the words that stood out to me were simply:

O' God. -Psalms 43:4

O' God...what a fitting prayer, meditation and mantra for the start of the week....Got to love David, he knew poo.

The "Harlequinized" Jesus....

I think there has always been a "Romancing Jesus Movement" going on in the history of the church, but I think it might be picking up steam. The early mystics (St. John of the Cross, Madame Guyon, St. Teresa of Avila, Boneaventure, even more modern folks like Meister Eckhart, George Fox, Gene Edwards etc...) built or build upon, a type of devotional "Bridal Theology" and its sacred fragrances and tinkling sonata's are in full bloom these days.

I think there is merit in some of the sacred romance side of spirituality but I think too much of it and one's spiritual compass point becomes dangerously "me centered" or "Jesus is my boyfriend" type of Christianity.

The worship movement has promoted a lot of this "Jesus is my lover" imagery. I think in a broken and isolated culture, where individualism has eroded a sense of community and the home front has suffered a relational hemorrhage....people turn to God in ways and on levels, that is understandable, but almost idolatrous. The prophet Ezekiel was outright lewd in his descriptions of this fully grown, type of idolatrous and self focused faith (Ez 16); so much so, if I typed it here...some of your internet filters would block this site!

But another more tragic but real issue, is the lack of godly men. Let's face it, most of us married men are spiritual blocks of wet wood.

What Christian woman wouldn't be tempted to start turning to Jesus more and more to meet her marital needs. Many women are left cold by their spiritually disinterested mates and alot of that hunger is projected onto the Heavenly Man called Jesus...who of course is every woman's perfect husband.

It all starts feeling really weird and plenty of men have caught their wives in what feels like some spiritual affair with an unseen Man...who is always there, never hurts them and practically never talks back, at least audibly. He's always "listening" and they usually get to tell you what He is saying to them, because no one else can hear Him. They generate songs to Him, write poetry about Him, chatter, tweet and blog about Him and live in an ever growing bridal anticipation of His coming to rescue them from the evil dragons; and sweep them off to His castle in the sky. Who wouldn't fall in love with Him?
It's from that sincere, but often "Harlequinized" version of Christianity, that the first picture above, can sometimes grow out of.

Now I know I run the risk of offending or even hurting some who would read this, by even hinting at some of this type of stuff. Understand, I'm trying to address the over-emotional, gushy stuff that is hanging like a cloud of bad K-Mart perfume over many churches and believers lives. I reconginze that there is a legitimate place for single people to "devote themselves" to the Lord:

"The woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. This I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is appropriate and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord." -1 Corinthians 7:34-35

The key word that my thoughts revolve around is that word "appropriate" in the verse above. I think if husbands were honest and men in general spoke openly about it...many would either admit the inner sense of jealousy, guilt or competition or on the other hand would confess that they have abdicated the role willingly, because Jesus is just so much better at it than they are. Both situations fail to nurture that healthy married or single lives God desires us to be moving towards.

In the end...I think some women need to end their emotional affairs and do the hard work of loving the men they can see, instead of the One they cant. And a lot of men need to reengage their spiritual lives, strip off that lazy outer man garment and become the God lover their ladies crave.

Thank God, I found a women who has beautifully discovered the healthy balance of devotion to Christ and love of her husband. God increase her tribe...the men and women of this era need a godly splash of cold water.

Oh, and no disrespect to the artist who drew the first painting, Im sure it came from a sincere place, my thoughts are meant to cast like on the subject matter I dealt with.