My proposed epitaph.

"We can not have all things to please us,
no matter how we try.
Until we've all gone to Jesus,
we can only wonder why."

-- Gillian Welch

This is an important point to remember.

"The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the well-meaning:
it is for the desperate."

--James Denney, D.D. (1856-1917), Scottish theologian and preacher.

Are you truly desperate (sinfully so), or are you comfortably desperate (theologically so)?  It makes a very big difference.

Single Malt Whiskey

"TEN" does indeed indicate that this is a 10 year old bottling. Nose shows damp earth, rot, ripe persimmon, cheap apple juice, peat smoke, seaweed, kelp beginning to rot on a beach. Less integrated than older Ardbegs. Palate shows strong earthy notes along with phenols, tar, old books, lavender, and peat. The finish shows tar, pine pitch, vintage port sediment. An excellent and highly recommended bottling.

http://www.mcgees.org/malts/ardbegten.html

What's not to like? It's on my shopping list.

Gentleman, choose your weapon.

Following up on the previous post, perhaps a change in implements is the intended course of action.

Perhaps I should consider less of this "driving the plough" approach...


...and more of this "gardening can" method. Soaking prayer as opposed to grinding labor.

The Dust Bowl

Yesterday, while in prayer with others, this is the image that was given to me about my evangelism efforts based at my home church. Dry fields, rocks, and just a few sprigs that soon wither for lack of water, while I relentlessly push a plow over the same empty furrows time and time again. Sisyphus meets the Dust Bowl.

Whereas the Romans plowed salt into the fields of Carthage so that the Carthaginians could never again feed themselves, this field seems to have had spiritual pride plowed into the soil. Spiritual pride is a desiccant that draws all the moisture and nutrients out of the soil, and causes the refreshing rain to simply run-off instead of soaking in.

The field is not without harvest, but the harvest comes from the far edges of the field, from the edges that are closer to other fields.

This was a disturbing image placed into my heart. Was it placed by the enemy as a discouragement? Or was it placed as a sign to shake the dust of this field off my feet? I'll be unpacking this visual metaphor for a while, and prayerfully seek guidance.

Meanwhile, its Sunday morning, and I have a harness to put on.

Matthew 11:29-30