I didn’t think I was the prey when I went hunting Willful Dream, but things aren’t always as they seem. I failed. That’s why I’m here today.
That dream’s a Worm in painful play, but I was eager for the chase. Sound Sanity I wouldn’t face. I knew that it would tell me, “No. Beware the Hook. It’s sharp. Go slow.” I tripped and fell, was saved by Grace.
Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “chase” to be used in a C line for this week’s Décima Challenge.
The King James Version translates the last word, διψυχοι, as “double minded” which suggests to me a feel-good spirituality without repentance. Avoiding repentance is a sign that one hasn’t experienced the joy that such change provides when grounded on forgiveness. No amount of substitute sentiment can compare with that.
I suspect the devil needs only half a heart to drag us all the way down. King David wanted nothing less than a newly created, clean heart when he almost lost it all with Bathsheba.
Being double minded is also like lighting a candle and putting it under a basket. Oneta Hayes tells us what will happen if we do that: the fire goes out.
There’s nonsense in the stuff I hear. What once had order, now there’s noise. The blatant dare of fake destroys the shield we fashioned stopping fear.
Apocalyptic times are here. We need full armor for this fight: the truth, the doing what is right, the peace and faith, salvation, too, and God’s own Word. Let hearts renew and face the darkness with this light.
This week Ronovan Hester offers the rhyme word “noise” to be used in the B line of a décima having rhyme pattern ABBAACCDDC.
Soon after the murder of his daughter, Timothy’s wife died in an accident brought on by the distraction of sorrow. Timothy sold their house and moved to a basement apartment of a building owned by the church to house members of their fellowship needing a place to live. Much of the money Timothy earned he donated to this church and they shielded him in the basement.
Although he didn’t feel at home anywhere without his wife and daughter, this was where he returned after Helen’s dispatch to the tunnel and the successful extraction of the trafficked children from the van.
He would be in that apartment for the next five years until the church, knowing his skills, asked if he could train prospective chaplains in defensive operations in a violent land. After being there a couple of years, one autumn day the group they were defending was attacked, and though they repelled the attackers, Timothy was hit and he found his way home.
For those curious about where I imagined Timothy was sent by his church see Wes Bentley’s sermon at Calvary Chapel Miami Beach describing Far Reaching Ministries and Sudan. As a warning for those few who might like to watch the sermon, Pastor Bentley’s description of the persecution and terrorism is explicit.
The photo above is from 2006. We saw the mulch moving and carefully uncovered the bunnies. I took a photo and we covered them up again. We waited. In a few days they all moved on and we used the flower pot. One year I think I saw a mother rabbit monitor from a distance the young she left in one of our flower pots, but generally I am unaware of so much that is going on.
Mario Murillo described a woman who was once demon possessed and sold on the streets in “Mary Magdalene on the Day Jesus Died”. After Jesus cast out her demons she followed Him. Then came the crucifixion.
And then came the power of the resurrection.
In his Easter blog post this morning Mario Murillo wrote, “Easter is not polite. It is fire! It is not about bunnies or eggs, and it has no place among the other harmless religious holidays.”
The resurrection separates Easter from other religious holidays. That resurrection is the assurance of the coming judgement.
διοτι εστησεν ημεραν εν η μελλει κρινειν την οικουμενην εν δικαιοσυνη εν ανδρι ω ωρισεν πιστιν παρασχων πασιν αναστησας αυτον εκ νεκρων
Large trees prepare a canopy which shades what’s on the ground. Competitors for light complain yet those preferring softer rain give praise for what they’ve found.
Long sent beneath this canopy I walk upon the ground. It’s not my duty to complain. I’m blessed with more than ample rain and praise that I’ve been found.
Some agents went with Timothy to the east parking area near the second tunnel after getting Helen’s dispatch where they found a suspicious fifteen foot van and arrested the driver upon hearing screams from the back. Other fully armed agents stood ready anticipating hostile response. When the shootout started Timothy dropped behind a car with the child he was moving from the van shielding her with his body and the protective gear he wore.
A few days later Timothy saw that child reunited with her parents at the hospital. She pointed him out and her family approached. In broken English they thanked him and the child’s mother sealed it with an uncontrolled flow of tears, holy water: God be praised.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 