I'm barely holding on. Somedays I feel like I could explain the gospel and what life means and answer any question some confused person might throw at me. But now...no, now all I can do is hold on to what I know, that God is holding on to me. What can I do with all the theology that people throw at me? Oh, it's important, I admit that. But when it undermines your core beliefs, how can you ever be confident and have convictions if you are always second-guessing yourself?

Why are you here?

This is another song I wrote a little over a year ago. It ties together a lot of different ideas - things like Jesus being "The Way" and "The Truth" and "The Life" - as well as "The Word". It's a very pro-life song - describing the reality of God becoming flesh - but even a year later I haven't come up with the perfect title yet. :)

The Creator - incarnated -
Within the womb of the creation -
God becomes man within a woman.
The Word became flesh
In the Ark of the New Covenant
As God's words in stone were carried
In the Ark of the Old...

A pattern, etched delicately in silver on a leaf.

A story, in every footprint, every mark in the bark of a tree.

A grace, flowing through the bones and blood of every living creature.

There is a kind of magic, in the woods.

I see black and blue bruises covering a small body
I smell fear and helplessness from those who don’t know what they did
I hear heart-wrenching sobs coming from a small body in pain
I feel broken glass broken bottles and broken bodies
I taste warm blood coming from an abandoned baby left to die
I watch helpless as a parent takes a life they brought into this world
I cry for the unmoving body lying there
I fear there will be more, if only people would listen
I stand in place, hard and unmoving
I wish I were soft, I would hurt less

I wrote this almost two years ago.

Who am I?
Who am I?
That I have gone away the same and have come back new
Changing in a blink of an eye
Or have I just changed what I do
Who am I?
That my eyes see different than what I saw
A person shining more beautiful than the moon’s light
Someone who always protected me who I never knew before
Who am I?
That my ears hear things that I never heard
A sweet voice of praise that made me cry
And made me kneel
Who am I?
That my mouth no longer speaks profane

Has the world’s citizens, as a whole, ever fully contemplated the cause and result of a third world war? Why would another world war begin? What would this war result in? Citizens and world leaders should ponder these questions and prepare for the future. It remains evident that a third world war would arise from the differences evident in cultures and a lack of effective leadership. This war would affect the earth in unimaginable ways.

Chapter the Third

Let me now paint for you a picture of the king and queen, as they appear before us now.

Before the turn of the century divorce did not exist. Married couples would never consider breaking the vows they made at the altar, for moral reasons or not. As time moved on however, the U.S. government gradually allowed more and more grounds for divorce until eventually couples had no need to justify leaving each other. Now, about 50\% of married couples in America eventually get divorced and that includes couples inside the church.1 People in America no longer understand love or what it looks like.