happy haiku friday!

climb every mountain

forge every stream and follow

people magazine

no rhyme or reason

dr. dobson, let's focus on this fact: only heteros use the the sponge.

and, tat for tit, it's also idiotic that another segment of the populace assumes that spongebob is gay simply because he regularly holds hands with patrick. based on that logic, nearly every woman i laid eyes on in europe is a lesbian.

description of the day: inauguration edition

Persecution by David Limbaugh

Under the guise of the first amendment the liberal left is removing prayer from schools, the mere mention of Christ from elementary school "holiday" pageants and the very foundation of our law from the Alabama Supreme Court House. In "Persecution" David Limbaugh shines the light on the darkness that is the liberal left and commands Christians to reclaim their first Amendment rights. If Christians fail to return this country to her godly foundations and the faith of her fathers, the sham of political correctness will pale in comparison to the "Persecution" that will follow.

for Nita on her eightieth birthday

last night i dreamed of hominy
fake redwood porches
cement statuary and satellite t.v.

last night i dreamed of hominy
the bright lights of cleveland
the city pool and and the pull of wal-mart

last night i dreamed of hominy
asphalt drives resulting in broken hips
a pearl-handled .357 and a cowgirl

last night i dreamed of hominy
reflected on a life well-lived
a reservoir of grace, hospitality and industry

last night i dreamed of hominy
but my heart was set on Juanita
a woman that i love

a tale of two deliveries

everyone loves mail. whether you’re an eight year old waiting for a hot (birthday) check from grandma or you're compulsively stalking the campus mail room to see if your criterion edition of the royal tennenbaums has finally arrived from amazon, you've got to love the sight of a full mailbox, the request to sign for a delivery and the inexplicable joy of bubble wrap.

i only mention this because earlier today a member of our mail team interrupted my work to have me sign for a package. over the past couple of days i have seen rhys sign for packages that held scintillating titles like jonathan edwards: a life, God's politics and calvinism in the las vegas airport, so i as my eager fingers ripped open the manilla envelope i was awash with expectation.

the eagerly awaited result: a pre-publication copy of christian wisdom of the jedi masters. although i know that according to the code a jedi is not to show emotion, I was pissed.

today we're offering guidance divine, for the deeply discounted price of $9.99!

Why am I here? That's a good question pastor Rick! Thank you for delivering me from a life punctuated with questions and frustrations by providing the answer for $1.49!

What is my purpose? I thought that my sole purpose is to love both God and my neighbor sacrificially. But maybe I've misunderstood. Thanks to pastor Rick, for just $9.99 and forty days of my life I can fill in the gaps.

What's God's plan? Apparently his plan is for our church to buy the forty days of purpose program. Then we can: hang those cool banners in the Wilcox's living room, exchange the tedious task of studying the text of Habbakuk for a handful of pre-fabricated sermon outlines and craig, art and james can trade in their guitars for an accompaniment track full of awesome songs!

In all seriousness, what is my purpose? I don't know. But my hunch is that it's not to mass-market Christian programs in order to sustain my ministry with sinners and saints. I can't continue to proclaim a holistic gospel while living this compartmentalized life.

question one of the heidelberg catechism

"what is your only comfort in life and in death?"

"that i am not my own, but belong, body and soul, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ."

while i readily assent to this answer it is only rarely evident in my life. i long to incarnate this answer more faithfully in the coming year.

so when...

i have a mind for leisure, but there is ministry left to do, i will find comfort in the service of others.

there is opportunity to expose my brother or sister's offense, i will take comfort in Christ's atonement and find the strength to forgive seventy times seven.

my pessimism and/or hypochondria encourages a fear of death i will take comfort in the promised resurrection.

the church succeeds i will credit Christ. when we fail i will take comfort in Christ's promise that the gates of hell will not prevail.

i am tempted to mindlessly insert my opinion i will take comfort in being quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.

simply stated, my prayer is that my assensus will flower forth into fidelitas.