Letter to the Inland Empire

To the people of the Inland Empire, in San Bernardino, Riverside and all the surrounding cities.

From -----, a humble servant of Christ, chosen to be a witness to the grace and love of God, which he longs to pour out on us through the power of His Spirit and by the faith of His people.

I have been watching you. I grew up here among you, yet only recently have my eyes been open to your poverty of spirit. You work hard, yet for no reward. You party hard for lack of purpose. You have been told lie after lie about what life is about, and you believe every word. You pursue pleasure as your highest goal. And you have treated righteousness and responsibility as refuse and rubbish.

When you aren’t drinking or smoking, you’re looking forward to the next time you will. And you gravitate towards others who do. You buy each other drinks and partake in the communion of intoxication. Alcohol is a powerful common denominator. It may hep you find friends by giving you something in common, by making you act more friendly, or by making you feel more confident. But it masks pain and serves as a substitute for a fulfilling life.

Sex is just a pastime for you. You copulate without commitment. You coddle your desires as a crying baby. You could not count how many sexual partners you have had any more than you could make a list of how many hands you’ve shaken. You have allowed yourself to be brainwashed by songs that praise promiscuity, by people who parade themselves around proud of their sexual prowess, and by the powerfully subtle pull of pornography. Looking for intimacy you have created within yourself an insatiable lust. Longing for love, you settle for a cheapened imitation.

Oddly enough, I see a glimmer of hope in the fruit of your loins. You love your children and do your best to take care of your family. They have become your priority, your purpose, your reason for living. As long as your addictions do not get in the way, you would sacrifice anything for the sake of your family. Unfortunately, you are bringing up your children in your own self-destructive ways. Unless someone intervenes, they will know no other life. You want more for them. But to pursue a better life for them means you have to face your own failures and possibly even make a change in yourself. It is so much easier just to let things be.

This life perpetuates itself again and again in too many homes of too many neighborhoods. No street is exempt, no apartment complex left out. It is not reserved for the financially poor but affects even the richest of you, despite appearances. This life causes so much pain and unnecessary confusion...

Communications failure...

I tried to get into my email today. The link does not work. The websites for the parent companies that I get my email service from are also down. It's the service that handles my domain names. None of THOSE work either! AND my message board is down too. I'm not sure what to do. My online world is crashing down.

The Joy of Running

8That night some shepherds were in the fields outside the village, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terribly frightened, 10but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! 11The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!”

13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God: 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to all whom God favors.”

15When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Come on, let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

16They ran to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17Then the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19but Mary quietly treasured these things in her heart and thought about them often.
- Luke 2:8-9, New Living Translation

We’re in the middle of the Advent season, a time where we treasure in our hearts the coming of Christ, just as Mary did when He was born. We remember how He came as a human baby, our Emmanuel (God with us). We remember that His birth announcement was far from ordinary. It was glorious, frightening and yet wonderful. A messenger of God brought “good news of great joy.” A Savior was born! This news was so joyful that the powerful armies of heaven could not contain themselves; they burst out in praises to God. Imagine the armies of our world putting down their weapons and raising up their hands in exuberant praise. Talk about peace on Earth!

The angels were not alone. The shepherds also responded to this new and wonderful work of God. They believed the message they heard and ran to find their Savior. When they had found Him they told everyone their story.

We all know the story of Christmas. But God wants more from us. He wants us to believe. So many of us mistake understanding the gospel for believing in it. We too often mistake knowing the truth for trusting it. The shepherds believed God and ran. They sought out their Savior. Have we sought Jesus lately? He has come. Yes, He died, He rose again, He ascended into Heaven. Now He comes to the door of our heart and knocks. It’s not enough to hear Him knock and know who it is. We have to open the door and let Him in. Only then will we experience the “great joy” that we celebrate on Christmas.

He came to us before as Savior, with love, forgiveness and friendship. But He will come again as Judge. It will not then be the time to make up our minds about Jesus. For those of us who believe, let us seek Him today. For those of us who have yet to believe, today is the day of salvation.

A Proportion Thing

I've seen it in others many times before. But this week I recognized it in myself. Pettiness can creep in unexpectedly and single-handedly ruin a perfectly good day. Pettiness takes the simplest of details and looks at it with the most selfish eyes. The problem is that selfishness blinds; it obstructs our view of what is good and lovely in life. Of course, love is blind too. But where love covers over a multitude of sins, pettiness takes the time to notice each one and take them all personally. What it doesn't bother to do is think rationally, which is the trickiness of it. The sordid stories one can conjure up in a sorry fit of pettiness seem so probable. But we all know how silly the sob stories of others can be. They often are so sad, and with good reason, if only what they believed were true. But most likely these sordid, silly, sad and sorry sob stories are so absurd that any sane and simple subject would surely see it. But we don't see it. All we see is ourselves, hurt, unloved, lonely, neglected. Someone who should have known better didn't treat us the way we wanted them to, the way we expected they would, the way we believed they should. And we feel it: misery. And it demands our full attention. We get so preoccupied with ourselves that we don't even think that there could be some other more hopeful and reasonable explanation. All we see is how we are being hurt. I saw this in myself today, but thankfully it went away when I chose to see it wasn't me who needed to have sympathy.

Moment? Umm...

I can't begin to unpack all the events of this week. I feel I am on the cusp of something big, something new. I have felt the need to write but not had the opportunity. Even now I search my mind for a theme. There is none. This I feel compelled to write. I feel as though the Spirit is moving me along. Was this the experience of the writers of Scripture? Did they then know the nature of their efforts? Do we ever recognize the significance of a moment as we live it? At this moment, I am trading sleep for writing. When it comes down to it, every moment we live we are trading one thing for another. Today, I traded reading a book for spending time with my girlfriend. Yesterday, I traded personal ambition for responsibility to my employer. The day before I traded time with friends for time with family. And the night before that I traded overpriced coffee in order to be God's hand of compassion to a friend. Before that, I traded my personal agenda for being a servant and a support in another ministry. But the day before, I traded productiveness for procrastination. Some of these trades were my own idea. Some of them were presented to me. But I have had choices to make. I've made very bad decision this week. I've made rather wise decisions as well. Many of these decisions have been life-altering for me or for someone else. My dad and I came across a license plate frame today reading, "God, family, and... The Dodgers." I remarked to my dad that you have to keep your priorities straight. I also read today about the need to be able to clarify the win in an organization. It's that old adage that, "if you aim for nothing you'll hit it every time." The point of it is we need to know what we're shooting for, have our goals and values at the forefront of our minds and in the depths of our hearts. We need to know what it is we stand for, what our lives are about. Who are we living for? Choices come every day. Decisions are demanded of us. We usually do not have time to mull it over. We are given the choice every day, every moment, to trade the bad for the good: the mediocre for the excellent, the half-hearted for the zealous, the shame for the grace, the urgent for the important, the greed for the love. If all we see in front of us is that very moment, we might be tempted to live as if nothing else mattered. But so much matters. There's so much worth caring about. And every choice we make shows where our values lie. Our decisions divulge our priorities. And every moment spent grooms us in one direction or another. If we choose what is easy today, we set a course for tomorrow. If we choose what is good, right and in line with what we hold true, we train ourselves in valor. We live out our days moment by moment. But, when we lay down to sleep, will we look back and see that we have indeed lived up to highest hopes for our lives?

Lost in the Romance

Today I found myself and realized that God doesn't want me to be this person anymore. I visited the Flood, an "emergent" church in San Diego. As I entered it was dark. The new U2 CD was playing in the background. People my age were mulling around, filing in. In the back of the auditorium was a table, not of information about the church but about a special guest band: The Violet Burning. I wasn't sure who to expect, but I wasn't expecting the Violet Burning. They are one of my current and all-time favorite bands, period. When I realized they were leading worship I could not keep the grin from my face. It felt as if God arranged the rendevous just for me. Soon worship was to start and we were getting down to business. The music was loud, raw and emotive. The whole band passionately pounded out their praises. At first I found myself elated that God would give ME the opportunity of sitting under Michael Pritzl and gang as my worship leaders, especially since they have been such an influence for me in forming my own worship leading style. But I had to remind myself that it was about Jesus. Having thusly focused, I soon found myself helpless against the work of the Spirit. I sang of the goodness of God. I reaffirmed my commitment to follow Him wherever He leads, in every facet of my life. I confessed my emptiness before Him and asked Him to fill me. I was reminded, through the preaching, about the need for faith in my life and what it means to both wait patiently and act diligently. And I came face to foot with Jesus on the cross, and the cleansing power of his blood. Weeping before Him, I knew His unfathomable love, forgiveness and restoration again. All this was wonderful, needed and good. It seemed the service was tailor made for me, the music, atmosphere, message, everything. But it helped me to see one thing. Though I met with God, it should not stop there. Christianity is not about me being cared for, but about joining the church in God's mission. In the past (even now) I would have been so content to be spiritually filled. And truly I am satisfied. But I cannot focus inwardly anymore. It is so me to be so self-absorbed, to get lost in my own universe, just me and God. But He is calling me beyond that now. As Saint Peter said, I need to sometimes "repent that time of refreshing may come." And that can be an incredibly personal thing. But my spiritual life must be lived out within the context of a spiritual family. I need to be accountable to them. And we need to be accountable to God to extend His kingdom throughout the earth. It's not about me. It's about Jesus Christ and about what we, His followers, are doing to change the world in His name. I found myself today beneath the cleansing Flood. But life is more than just a romance with the Lord. The cleansing and compassion that I receive needs to find a place in my heart for others.

The Spirit moved!

A friend just wrote me that "as we accept the dare, and move, it's good to know that He who beckons us has our best and the ultimate experience in mind." Is that what we're after? The Ultimate Experience? What would that look like? How would it feel? I can say that today, truly, God gave me a glimpse. I woke up to the wonder of my girlfriend on the phone as she discovered the snow covered ground outside. I greeted my parents as they went out the door to church. As I got ready for church, I got a call from a friend going through some struggles and got to pray with him. I got to church and led a discussion about the evidence for who Jesus is. I sat with my cousins in church, and a newly single and unemployed girl who was worshipping wholeheartedly for the first time in a while. I got to eat with my cousins and talk with them as Christians and not just family (the most wonderful kind of fellowship in the world). I spent the rest of my day at church. I put new strings on my bass for the first time in a year, rehearsed songs, led a worship band, and led our Sunday night service. The Spirit moved. Before service we prayed, not just the band, but the guest pastor and our sound man too. We were the team God assembled. I was expecting a bass player and a keyboardist. But it ended up being the drummer, electric guitarist, and vocalist and me on bass. I have never (skillfully and successfully) led worship or a band whilst playing a bass guitar. I was planning on playing acoustic guitar. But the arrangements came together. And, as the band would attest, there was something different tonight, not the music. The Spirit moved. As the guitarist remarked, it was as if it wasn't him playing. The drummer was inexplicably excited about the worship set. And our vocalist was immersed in the Spirit. I also realized in the middle of our time of worship how God had taken over... I said things I never planned on and they were perfect. The Spirit moved. The guest pastor gave his testimony and gave a call of response in which many were prayed for. It was reminiscent of my old Pentecostal days, but in the American Baptist Church! As I was talking with him about the order of service before, we both let on that we had some charismatic leanings. I guess with our Baptist pastors on vacation we had a little more freedom to follow the leading of the Spirit in that trademark charismatic fashion. We were a good team today. God used us both. And there was even a word of knowledge at the end. The Spirit moved! I got to see my girlfriend today, after two days and and lot of trials in between. As I exited the prayer room she was walking into the sanctuary and I hugged her tight. We went out to eat together, with four others, after church. The fellowship was great, and the food. The Spirit moved! I was able to call her before she fell asleep and tell her how I feel for her, and how I know. The Spirit moved. I checked my email and found one from two friends, one friend from high school and another from college, both encouraging. The friend from high school saying how wonderful of a writer I am, which was rather affirming. Then I remembered the amazing writings of my other friend and was humbled. The Spirit moved. God used me today....God used me! He changed lives through my offering. And He blessed me so much. My cup is running over. The Spirit is moving.

An Old Dog

I am amazed at the way God stretches us. We think we’ve been stretched all we can be stretched. But as soon as we start getting used to the new us—as soon as we think we’ve got it—God puts us in a new situation or drops a new thought in our minds and, whoah, all of a sudden we’re struggling to make sense of life again, to get a handle on things again. And in that process where God shakes up our tidy lives, where he broadens our tiny minds, we remember once again that life is not a destination, it is a (say it with me…) journey. We have not arrived. And the moment you think you have, get ready, because God is about to teach you a lesson.

Don’t get too attached to the way things are or the way they were. God is doing a new thing. He’s always doing something new. He is the Creator, after all, and He’s creative. And he wants us to work with Him creatively. We can’t be stagnant, complacent, satisfied with the way things are, as good as they might seem. Celebrate progress. Mark your milestones. Praise God for what He has done. But realize He’s not done; He’s doing something right now. And He wants to do something through you.

“An idle person tempts the devil to tempt him.” Don’t stop moving forward in your walk with God. You may get weary but don’t give up. There may be rest stops along the way, but don’t unpack your bags. “Get up and pray. Otherwise [the] temptation [to settle for mediocrity in your life] will overpower you.” In any and every case, press on, “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.”

God is telling you right now what the next step is. I dare you to move.

Seemingly Selfish

I've experienced it: loving, showing affection, giving, though not done in order to be reciprocated, not being returned. I've wondered: why did I open up to begin with, put myself out there, offer an expression of my heart as I did? Did I truly have alterior motives? Was I really being loving if I expected it back? The answers to these questions have led me to conclude that I am selfish. But that is a one-sided answer.

There is a feeling in non-reciprocation, one none of us wants to have. Sure, there's a degree of wanting our needs met, our desires satisfied. But the rub of it is when we care, and we are not necessarily cared for in return. We have no trouble giving of ourselves... because we are not selfish. We are wanting to give to others because we care. However, it is because we care that we begin to care if they care for us. Love, aftection, friendship, all desire mutuality. Human nature expects it, longs for it. We don't care to be cared for by stangers in a WalMart. We want to be wanted by people we want in our lives.

"Rule of Love"

I don’t know. It’s an awful risk, this wonderful mess we’re in
I can’t see where you’re leading me but I will not resist

I’m gonna jump in
To the pull of Love
Abandoned
To the rule of Love

Incestuous Groupthink

I am a communication studies scholar. I am also a moderate politically. I was writing a short rant to a friend and decided to share it here. I don't do it as a slam on liberals or from a conservative perspective. I do it as an observer of media and culture... I was watching The Daily Show today and Jon Stewart is truly dumbfounded by the whole affair (Bush winning). I honestly believe that the fact that "the country is divided" is an illusion (that I was even starting to believe, and still do in certain ways) and the "liberal elitists" (as some would call them) have fallen for their own lines because they are feeding it to themselves. Those in media and entertainment have bought into their own incestuous groupthink. They believed everyone believes as they do simply because they are only in touch with themselves. Other voices do not have an outlet in media. So they believe that what they hear is all there is or at least all that should be. It's amazing when people on television actually believe what they hear on television!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Inaugural Address

To Whom it May Concern:

Life is but a vapor, a mist in the wind. Life is a journey, not a destination. There have been innumerable attempts at the explaining and expositing the meaning of life. It is elusive. We grasp for metaphors. We often come up empty-handed.

I have thought, in recent years, that life is like a race track, and each car is a different part of our lives--one relationships, another education, another career, still another spirituality, and everything in between--they all are represented. But no two cars can be winning at one time. I may put all my energies into scholarship at one moment, at the expense of every other "car" in the race. To focus on my girlfriend would be to take the focus off of my job, if only for a moment, or an evening. Nevertheless, the possibility for being caught in the thought of her whilst performing any other task would also prove out this metaphor: only one car can be winning. There are pit stops; there must be. But you get right back in the race again.

This metaphor was the product of a very busy time in my life, a time of great accomplishment and great failure. But it has had it's day.

Today my Sweetest Honey presented to me a new metaphor: Life is both long and short. It's long because we're always waiting, to turn 13, 16, 18, 21, to graduate college, to marry, to have children, for them to hit the milestones, to have grandchildren. We are always looking forward to something, and once we "arrive" at that mile marker we look ahead to the next. But life is also short. Having reached a few mile markers myself, I can look back and see how quickly the once anticipated future has become the fondly remembered past.

I like this view. Not only does it allow you to look forward and press on, to look back and sigh, but having done that it helps you also to live in the now. It gives perspective. It makes now more valuable, more precious, of more import. This very second was once a moment I looked forward to and will soon be a time I look back on. I must live a life worthy, now, of the hope I hold for the future. I must hold this moment with the same gratitude and dignity that I hold my history.

I believe:
You are who you are by what you have done;
And what you do now forms who you become.

Life is a precious gift that we must cherish and share. That truly is the long and short of it.

The American Dream

Today we vote. We look at the candidates, the propositions and the issues. We search our hearts and we cast our ballots. We are electing people to act on our behalf as our representatives in government. We are commissioning them to do a job, entrusting them with a solemn responsibility to act in the best interest of America and its citizens in upholding our Constitution and working within it to realize the American dream.What is the American Dream?The American Dream is seeing possibilities, realizing potential and making progress individually and as a nation. Yes, we hold freedom dear, freedom to pursue the Dream. But we also understand our duty to protect that freedom, and not just from the threat of war, or terror. We must protect freedom from ourselves. We must guard against self-centeredness and use our freedom to serve others. We must guard against complacency and use our freedom to be vigilant in virtuous endeavors. We must guard against license and use our freedom to do what is right, not just what we feel like. Most of all, we must guard against pride and use our freedom to serve God and give Him glory.Yesterday was All Saints Day, a time to remember the saints (a fancy word for Christians), past and present, and glorify God for what He’s done in them, through them, and for our fellowship with each other. There are so many stories of Christians who have expected great things from God and attempted great things for Him. They used the freedom that Christ bought them on the cross to do more than “hide it.” They lived their lives using their freedom in Christ to serve. Many have given up their lives in sacrifice for the sake of souls and the glory of God. Legacies have been left for us to honor and emulate.As we critic and commission candidates and consider how history might see them, and as we reverently remember the real yet revolutionary believers who have gone before us, can we also consider our own hearts and our daily lives? How will history see you and me? What are we doing to make a difference? Because we trust in Jesus we are free; the bondage of sin and death is broken. But what are we doing with our freedom? “You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God” (1 Cor. 6:19-20, NIV).How are you using your freedom to honor God?

How Form Follows Function

Earlier this week, while driving down Hospitality Lane, I noticed a Land Rover pulling into a parking lot. As I passed it by I was struck by how incredibly unattractive the vehicle was to look at. It was just a box on wheels. And I thought to myself, what a great example of how form follows function. Now, I don’t mean that the car is good-for-nothing and so looks like it too. I mean it made me think of other cars that I have seen (and now see in my mind’s eye) that are indeed nice to look at.

We all have the picture in our minds of what a “beauty of a car” looks like (my apologies to those for whom the Land Rover is one such vehicle). It seems to me that the cars that I think look good have something in common besides just a pleasing figure; they have sound aerodynamic design. Those cars best suited to minimize wind resistance often seem also to be some of the best looking vehicles out there. The form follows the function.

When a car is made to best conform to the laws of physics that our Creator put in place, it turns out that the design of the car naturally takes on a form of beauty.

Rick Warren shares that “you are God’s handcrafted work of art. You are not an assembly-line product, mass produced without thought. You are a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece” (Purpose-Driven Life, p. 235).

Take a good look at yourself. Go ahead. I’ll wait… Still waiting. Okay. Well, if you don’t have a mirror handy now, definitely spend an extra moment next time you pass a mirror (I figure that is already common practice for you anyway).

Right now, take a look inside yourself. You might find baggage from the past, emotional spider webs, all sorts of things you wish were not there. But look past all that. Do you see beauty? It’s there. God had a purpose in mind when creating each of us. And He placed in us all that is necessary to fulfill that purpose. We were designed to fulfill a function, to do things only God has yet imagined, but it’s in the plan. And it just so happens that the gifts, abilities, personalities and passions that He infused into us naturally take on a form of beauty.

Our True Glory

Get into gear! Yes, Fall is here, the changing of seasons, the drift into winter, the launching pad of holidays, and the end of the year is being summoned. This time of year seems to go by so quickly. Of course, it has been said that we say that every year. My conclusion? Life is short. It seems we get about 80 years in life these days. That means we’ve lived at least a quarter of our lives already. What will we do with the rest of our days?

What did you do today? How about yesterday? Do you have a sense of significance or accomplishment in your daily life?

I can tell you that I am personally going through a new season of life. Like leaves falling from trees God is stripping away things in my life and my heart and leaving me emotionally and spiritually bare—transparent and vulnerable before Him. He is exposing me, revealing not only his heart for me, but my own heart to me. He is helping me face my weaknesses and lack. I fall terribly short of his design for my life in so many ways—as a son, brother, friend, leader, and ambassador of God’s kingdom. But God is not showing me this to make me feel bad or by way of scolding me. In fact, I feel his love more deeply and his presence more surely than before. I have a real sense of his guidance and hand on every moment and detail of my life.

See, the thing about a tree losing its leaves is we get to see its true glory. Its glory does not come from the beauty of its leaves but from the nourishment of the soil, rain and sun. The tree digs its roots into the ground and gets its life from a source beyond itself, as rain and soil mix. And it stretches its branches up high to take in the rays of the sun. In the same way, when we are laid bare before God, we can see what we really need, what truly sustains us: God’s Word, God’s Spirit, and God’s Love. Without Him we can do nothing.

"I Need Love"

I’ve been in love
I’ve been in doubt
I’ve had some time to work it out
Still I don’t know, but I can feel
To say is now helps make it real

All I know is what I’ve seen
And what I’ve seen’s not what should be
I feel the urge inside of me, I need more

I need love (real love)

I have my past
I’ve made mistakes
To move ahead that’s what it takes
I’ve come so far
So much in store
With each new step I see it more

I need love (real love)

Clarity

Let me share a little from my heart. I don’t know about you all, but it has been just a very different week for me. I feel I’m going through a lot of transitions in my life and in my heart—spiritual, emotional, social, the whole bit. I find myself very introspective this week, about who I am, about what I want out of life, and about what God wants out of me.

I started reading Romans yesterday. And I couldn’t get past the first verse: “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God.”

Here, Saint Paul seems to have such a sense of self and purpose. I wondered what would happen if I replaced Paul’s name with my own:

“-----, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be _______________ and set apart for _______________.”

First of all, am I really a servant of God? Am I his slave? In my heart, is He really my master? Then, what am I called to be? What good work has God prepared for me to do?

I am also reminded of the clarity of Jesus in knowing his life mission (Luke 13:32-33, TNIV): “I will keep on driving drive out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day!”

I’m still asking questions, but this I know. I will grow where I am planted. I have plans and desires in my heart. But the Lord’s will stands and no plan succeeds against the Lord. My part is simply to delight myself in Him, to love Him and serve Him, with all that I am, in everything I do, and to leave the rest to Him. Who I am and what I’m supposed to do are really secondary concerns. The primary issue is my heart towards God. Am I truly, completely His? Do my heart and my life belong to Him? Will I follow where He leads, regardless of how easy or difficult it may get? Or am I going to be stubborn and do whatever I want and somehow expect God to bless me?

Life can bring a lot of confusion, emotions, and transition. Being a Christian doesn’t magically make all things clear. But one thing is clear: we are followers of Christ. He is not only our Savior, but our Lord. And when we follow Him wholeheartedly, everything else falls into place.

My Pride

I admit I was a bear in high school--Calvary Chapel Bears--and part of me will always be. But both in elementary school and at university I was a cougar, a mountain lion. Cougars are creatures of community. They watch each other's backs. If cougars are being attacked they gather in a circle, backs to each other, facing their enemies together. Cougars are cunning night hunters, with keen eyesight and excellent hearing. Instead of chasing their food they prefer using the element of surprise. Stalking their prey at close range, they wait for the right moment to strike.

So I say to Satan, come and get me. I'll will take my stand, on solid, sacred ground--cool, confident, and courageous. I say to the serpent strike. I will pounce on you and crush you under my feet. I say to the foxes of this world, those unwitting minions of the devil, those puppets of demons, and those souls simply misguided who find themselves on the side of sin and selfishness, I say to you come, come one by one, come all at once, but come. Fly at me with fierce fury. I will taste your blood before you touch the ground.

Do your best against me and my pride. It is you who will feel the power of claws cracking your ribs, the terror of teeth tearing your flesh. We will roar and you will shrink back trembling. We will rise up, majestic, in the image of The Lion. Our dignity remains; it will not be defamed. You who seek to steal our splendor will see it soar still, for we are the pride of The Lion of Judah, the king above all kings.

"Draw Nigh"

Love is to abide
Not to strive but be
Transparent inside
Not of you but me
It would never chide
Not cover but see
A time to confide
Not to die but bleed
Love draws nigh.

It heals wounds, past sins entombs,
Looks ahead, sees life instead.
It bends knees, from rumors flees,
Raises high, will sanctify.
Love is drawing nigh.

"Something New"

My mind’s caught in thinking ‘bout a life I am not living
And I’m lacking motivation to go on just as I am
So I’m plowing through the motions and I’m lacking a devotion
To the things I know you called to
Hoping there is something new