Doug Van Pelt

Big Foot Is Real

While driving through Austin the other day, I came upon one of those "Bigfoot trucks." I had my camera with me, so I took some pictures. Here is one as I approached it.

In 2 Kings 6, we can read about the amazing floating axehead. Some of Elisha's men were building places to live. While chopping down trees, an iron axhead fell into the water. "'Oh my lord,' he cried out, 'it was borrowed!'" It is so funny to hear such an everyday and normal concern being voiced. The Scriptures aren't all live-map instructions or lofty God-talk. Sometimes we see snapshots of normal people. There's even a street address (Straight Street) given in the book of Acts. If the Bible were just a sacred text that man made up, surely they would have left out "secular" or unnecessary details such as this stuff. Anyway, Elisha hears this man's dilemma and moves to help him. He cut a stick and threw it where the axhead had sunk, and all of a sudden the iron starts floating, and the man was able to retrieve it. That's an amazing story; but the chapter gets even better as Elisha gets surrounded by Aram's army. One of Elisha's servants is freaking out, "'Oh, my lord, what shall we do?'" Elisha answers, "'Don't be afraid...Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' And Elisha prayed, 'Oh Lord, open his eyes so he may see.' Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." Elisha asked God to blind these men, which He did, and he took them to Samaria, where he asked God to open their eyes, which He did, and they all saw where they were and the king of Israel saw them, as well. The question was asked if they should be slaughtered, and Elijah said not to, but to feed them. A great feast was prepared and then they went back to Aram and stopped raiding Israel's territory. I wish we could find a way to win our enemies over without bloodshed today. Perhaps we shall see some great things like this in our lifetime.

There are only 32 days, 3 hours, twenty nine minutes and 19 seconds left until the next deadline. Between now and then I need to write about 7 stories, edit, proofread, and format the stories of other writers, and lay out the next issue. As I Lay Dying is our cover story. I hope you all are reading the Norma Jean interview in our "Internet Exclusives" section. It was a great interview that really shows that this buzz-band has their head on straight. I hope to finish transcribing the Mark Salomon interview I did recently to get some background on the Crucified history piece we ran in our March/April issue. Oh, over the weekend, Lary Dean of Trytan came by and removed his trailer (of motocross gear that he'd been keeping in our driveway) and our Ad Sales Director, Heather Reynolds, and her family moved into the office. It's a five-bedroom 1800 square foot home that's not being used to its fullest potential (a master bedroom suite and one entire office room were empty), and David and Heather recently sold their home and are awaiting the new one to be built, so they're staying here for about a month. It was strange to open the door this morning and see all the evidence of someone living here (a full refrigerator, etc), and it was nice to have the heater already on and the place nice and warm. Usually Heather works out of her home, but now I'll be able to hear her use her Jedi mind tricks on advertising clients to make each sale.
:?)

White As Snow

Sometimes on my way to work, or leaving, I'll pass a bunch of Elk, who are on this ranch with the zebras and deer, and many other animals.

Wow.
Elisha was a man of God. In 2 Kings 5, a young girl from Israel was taken captive to serve Naaman's wife. Instead of being resentful (and maybe she did have some anger issues), she cared about the well-being of her masters. 'If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.' This took place and the results were funny. First off, the king of Aram sent along a note with Naaman to give to the king of Israel. The note said, "I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."

The king of Israel was insulted, and tore his robes. "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life?" Very funny. Elisha heard about it and told them to send the man to him. When Naaman arrived at Elisha's house, Elisha didn't even go out to meet him. He just sent a messenger to say, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed." Once again the result was anger, as Naaman was insulted that Elisha didn't come out and wave his arms over him. Naaman went away, figuring he'd wash in his own rivers. One of his servants persuaded him to follow the instructions, though, and he did and his skin became as clean as that of a young boy. When Naaman tried to reward the prophet with money and such, Elisha refused. A classy move. Before leaving, this man declared that there was only one true God, and he would only sacrifice to the One True God, but asked for forgiveness if he bowed down in a false temple (of Rimmon) with his master, who would lean on his arm as he bowed down. So funny. He knew it was wrong, but wanted some slack because it was almost part of his job description. That's like, "I believe in You, Lord, but please forgive me whenever I go to the Klan and coven meetings with my family..." True belief will require changed actions in scenarios like that. Ya gotta have the guts to make those kind of changes when faced with that. Otherwise you live a contradiction.

Later on one of Elisha's servants decided he wanted some of that booty, so he chased down the chariot and used a made up story to ask for money. He came back and hid it in his house, but Elisha knew better. He said, "Was my spirit not with you when the man hopped out of the chariot?" I wonder if this was a spiritual gift of some sort of spiritual travel. Paul makes mention of "being with you in spirit," and I wonder if it's more than just a phrase, like we use today to tell someone that we're "standing by them" in support. Anyway, Elisha brings a curse of leprosy on this lying servant, whose skin turns white as snow.

Whoa, tough move!

Whoa!

I'm making some coffee right now. A good friend of mine gave me some excellent Lion coffee from Hawaii for Christmas. It's flavored with caramel. The scent is strong.

In 1 Kings 20 we see a guy named Ahab (no, he's not an Arab). An opposing king, Ben-Hadad, taunts him and foretells what he's going to do to Israel. But one of God's prophets comes to Ahab and tells him that victory is his. Sure enough, they go out and attack the opposing army and defeat them. The prophet tells Ahab to be ready (and strengthened), because the king of Aram (confused by these names yet?) will attack again in Spring. They were telling each other that Israel's God was just a "god of the hills," and if they met them on a plain, their gods wouldn't help them. But this was not to be so, as God kind of took offense to this insult and helped Israel inflict 100,000 casualties in one day. The rest of the Aramean's escaped to the city of Aphek, where the wall collapsed on 27,000 of them. Ben-Hadad dressed up with his men in sackcloth and asked for mercy. Ahab signed a treaty with them, allowing him to live.

God's prophet did something interesting (I'd like to know his name, but he's not identified here): He asked his companion to strike him, but his companion refused. He told him, "Because you have not obeyed the Lord, as soon as you leave me a lion will kill you." And that's exactly what happened -- a lion found him and killed him. The prophet asked a second man to strike him, which he did. Then the prophet stood by the side of the road with his headband down over his eyes, waiting for the king. He presented a story to the king to illustrate to him, "You have set free a man I had determined should die. Therefore it is your life for his life, your people for his people." Wow. King Ahab's future did not look good at this point.

This was some enjoyable reading this morning.

Miracles Do Happen

One of the last things I do before my workday begins is powering up my computer. It's an emachine with Windows XP Home Edition and a nice 20" Misubishi monitor. It serves me well. I try to do my devotion first thing in the morning. Sometimes the temptation to jump right in to the millions of things that need to be done is great, but if I can just give the Lord the "first fruits" of my day (so to speak), the peace I have is undeniable.

Elijah had a few miracles that were undeniable. In 1 Kings 17 we see that he is fed by ravens, who bring him bread and meat twice a day. I bet you that a cynic could say, "He just took the catch that those ravens were bringing back to their nest." That could be so. They could've been swiping bread from somewhere a couple times a day, and the meat could've been a live rabbit or something that Elijah then cooked. But that is the funny part about miracles. Yes, this is the living, breathing God of the universe stepping into time and making provision for one of His own. It is a flat-out miracle. The way it comes to be might just be within the realm of the possible, like birds getting their food taken by a new local resident.

I had a miracle like this happen to me (more than once). I used to watch a television evangelist on a regular basis -- a really good guy named James Robison (he's still on today with a show called Life Today, but my schedule doesn't make it convenient to tune in), who started advertising a big event a month or so in advance. It was funny, because first they advertised the date that a big announcement would be made. Finally it was announced that they were having a live conference that you could visit a local city and see a satellite feed on big screens. Right before I went to the Red Lion Hotel that evening, I knelt down and prayed, "Lord, please prepare my heart to receive." And do you know what I "heard" back, clear as any other thought in my head? "Okay. Prepare your heart to give. Bring your checkbook." I did not rejoice at this word from the Lord, as I was just a year into publishing Heaven's Metal Magazine, a college graduate working at Pizza Hut, but I obeyed nevertheless. The entire conference, which started out with some worship (it's weird lifting your hands in praise and worshipping when the worship leader is not in the room but on a giant tv screen...), but the entire purpose of the event was pretty much to share the vision of the organization and its plans for the next year or two and ask for money to pull it off. The way they did it, though, was cool; because they said, "As the Lord provides, I pledge such and such amount." There was an out, see. If God did not provide the extra income, I wouldn't pay it. I felt impressed to pledge $100 (which was a big deal on my income), and I wrote a check for $12 that night, knowing that if the Lord provided, the other $88 would be paid in the future. Two days later I got a job at a bank, that paid almost twice as much as my Pizza Hut cook salary. A day or two after that my rent (for a one bedroom apartment) went down from $275 to $210 (oh, for those days to be back again in Austin...). That was so cool. I had heard "stupid" stories like that before from "testimonies" on tv about people giving and seeing the Lord provide, but now it had happened to me.

Elijah saw a few other miracles with his time in Zarephath. He stayed with a widow who was at her wit's end (actually, she was about to go home and prepare a "final meal" for her and her son). God caused it so that her flour and jar of oil never went dry as long as Elijah's prophecy of no rain was in effect. This was an every day, recurring miracle. At another point this lady's son was about to die. Elijah took him up into the boy's room and prayed and he lay his body on top of the boy's three times, asking the Lord for healing. This was the "Old Testament God," you see -- not the "New Testament miracle-performing Jesus." But God healed the boy. How cool was it for Elijah to live those adventurous times. Were they easy? Did he have doubts at times? Was he human, yet God worked miracles through him? Interesting.

Lots of Sacrificing

When I return to my office, I might glance at my mini helmet collection, bow down and wor... Not really. I often won't even see it, but I photographed it and on occasion I will see it out of the corner of my eye as I sit down to begin my day.

It was an unusual day in Israel when King Solomon dedicated the new temple (found in 1 Kings 8). There were so many sacrifices made, that they couldn't be counted! That's a lot, considering that later on in the chapter we are told of 120,000 sheep and goats that were sacrificed. Wow.

I'm impressed that in Solomon's dedication prayer that he acknowledged that no temple -- even one as huge and glorious as this -- could not house God. Not even the heavens could contain Him. He prayed a really cool priestly prayer where he asked God to hear the supplications and prayers of those who came or even prayed towards this temple. That inspires me to pray this prayer:

Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, thank you for paying attention to us. Please grant your grace and strength to all who read these blogs. When they come to you in humble prayer, acknowledging their weakness and their need for you, please strengthen them and apply Your mercy and grace to their lives, applying Your wisdom to offer them help, grace, and guidance just where they need it. As they intercede for those they love, inspire them to consider the ways You could comfort, heal, and provide for these loved ones. May Your healing power be expressed by You stretching out Your hand and performing miraculous signs and wonders in the Name of Your Holy Servant, Jesus.

It doesn't hold a candle to Solomon's prayer, but if our Good Lord answers these requests, we will all be blessed.

PS I just got a new 160 gig external hard drive that connects to my USB 2 port. It frees up space on my hard drive that all the files (1.5 to 3 gigs) that each issue of the magazine uses up. I'm also copying some of my "status tracks" from my mp3 player, and some audio book files I don't need to always carry around. You know what "status tracks" are, don't you? There those songs that you keep around more to impress your friends with than enjoy. I admit I have a few. Not that I show off my play lists or anything, but I've thought, 'It'll look good if someone sees this on my mp3 player.' And that, my friends, is very stupid. I'm getting those suckers off.

The Wisdom of Solomon

Once I get the network printer on, check for any faxes, have the thermostat set, have coffee brewing, have the blinds open, then there's only one or two things left before my day begins. I'll feed Rufus, the office Beta fish.

In 1 Kings 3, we see Solomon doing something unusual. He offered sacrifices in "high places," which wasn't exactly following in the statutes his father David had walked. But the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream anyway (after a 1,000 burnt offerings), and said, "As for whatever you want me to give you." Solomon asked for discernment and wisdom. God was so pleased at this answer (instead of wealth, long life, or the death of certain enemies) that He gave Solomon incredible wealth. Solomon had an abundance of these things as long as he walked in God's ways. The end of this chapter has the infamous stories of two women (they were actually prostitutes) who each had a baby, but one had been smothered in the night and she switched her dead baby with the other women's live baby. Solomon asked for a sword and commanded that the living baby be cut in two. The woman that spoke up and said, "No! Give her the baby, just don't kill it," was indeed the rightful mother. All of Israel heard about this and were in awe of this wisdom.

I can't imagine God offering me anything I wanted. I had an offer like this only once, from my dad. I had lost a fist-fight by my bus stop after school (Roger Bholles was his name) and during supper my dad had hit me in the wrist with a spoon over something I did wrong. I just lost it and started bawling. I probably left the table without eating or something, but I remember my dad coming up to my room, torn up by my sorrow. He offered me something like, "I'll do anything? Is there anything I can give you?" I briefly thought of a trip to Toys R Us, but declined the offer. I don't think I even told him about losing the fight (probably too embarrassed), until years later.

What would you tell God if He offered you anything once you were in Heaven? The possibilities would be endless. What if He offered you something close to anything on earth? How would you respond?

Broken Down

After turning the network printer and its computer on, I head into my wife's office, where all the back issues and merchandise are kept, along with files, our postage meter machine, and fax machine (to see if there are any faxes from overnight, such as advertising contracts).

King David had a problem with his son, Absalom. His brother, Amnon, slept with his sister, Tamar. Out of anger Absalom later killed Amnon. In 2 Samuel 15, we see that Absalom "steals the hearts of the men of Israel," kind of away from King David. Later he goes to Hebron to declare himself king there. David's reaction when he hears about Absalom's plot is to flee Jerusalem. It seems to me that David carried the burden of his sin. Maybe my perspective is wrong. I am just speculating. But instead of the warrior spirit that he so exhuded for most of his life, he cowered out of his own palace out of fear. What is up with that? I'm guessing that he somehow thought that he deserved this because of his sin. Maybe he was right about that, but I don't think we, as believers of the New Covenant, have to believe that any bad circumstance comes to us because we deserve it. Yes, there are consequences to our actions. Yes, bad things happen on this fallen planet (to so-called "good" people and so-called "bad" people), but if we repent and are forgiven our sins, we do not have to take a beaten down approach to life. Now, in some ways, the humility that's embedded inside that beaten down attitude is good. Humility, brokenness, and realizing that we are failures before God is a very good insight to have. But to broaden that scope into taking a "woe is me; I deserve this as punishment" attitude is excessive and an error (in my opinion).

David Was Normal

After entering the "intern office," I boot up one of the "intern" computers, the one which has the network laser printer attached. While the whine that a laser printer makes when it warms up to print a sheet might be annoying for someone with the printer next to their desk, it is a friend to those in other offices, who hear that whine and know that the document they just sent is now in the process of being printed. Only 42 days, 2 hours, 43 minutes and 55 seconds until deadline!

I read 2 Samuel 11 this morning, which could be titled "David's Big Blunder," as he did something very wrong, and then developed an elaborate scheme to cover it up, compounding the wrong of adultery with murder. It's best summed up in the last verse of the chapter, which says, "But the thing David had done displeased the Lord."

I can relate to David on so many levels during this story. First of all, like most "red blooded American males," I'm quite attracted to beautiful members of the opposite sex. That's a given. But scheming to get away with something is another common thing. I can internalize this part of the story, as I've made schemes to cover up things before (maybe not as drastic as adultery and more on a smaller scale, like trying to finagle things on an inter-personal level, like inviting this person out but not offending that one, or schemes from my teenage years when I endeavored to get away with crimes against my parents). I can imagine the smug feeling that David must've had when he successfully had Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, killed in battle and then brought Bathsheba in to his palace to be his wife. 'Whew! No one found out,' he must've thought. I wonder about the messenger that he sent to instruct Joab to pull back so as to expose Uriah to the enemy... I wonder if David had plans to kill him, too, because he and Joab knew of the plot. Irregardless, God knew and He later sent Nathan the prophet to remind David that his little secret was out. David's response, though (recorded in Psalm 51), shows how gracious God can be when we own up to our sins and ask for His forgiveness. The same can be true for us -- whether we've committed pre-marital sex or stolen something. We can be forgiven, which is a huge thing. Of course, there are consequences to be dealt with, but the bitter taste of them is softened by the soul-reaching knowledge that we are pardoned, forgiven, and wiped clean.

David Was Amazing

After I open the blinds and light up the main room in the office, I head over to the "Interns office" (which has been empty the last few months). We have two network computers in here.

Has God ever told you "No?"
How did you respond?
Like anyone, I sure like to get my way.
In 2 Samuel 7, King David was finally at rest from his enemies. He told his prophet that he wanted to build a "house" for the Lord (a temple). When Nathan inquired of the Lord, He basically gave him a "No" answer, along with a promise about the future.
And how did David respond? He prayed a great prayer of thanksgiving, expressing awe and gratitude over the Lord's goodness.
That is a cool response to an unwanted answer.

Norma Jean in SA

What's next in my daily routine? Oh yeah, I open the blinds in the "living room" (which is our meeting area), to light up the room for the day and to allow me to see delivery vehicles arrive if I'm walking through that area.

Last night I went to San Antonio to see Norma Jean play with Scars of Tomorrow, Unearth, and Atreyu. Earlier that day their drummer, Daniel Davison, called me up to inform me that they were unfortunately cancelling the show, as Cory had woken up real sick. The whole band had been sick for about the whole tour, which started with a 24-hour cross-country drive in a germ-spreading van. Anyway, sometime during the day the band decided to go on without Cory and perform one of its infamous sans-singer shows, with guest vocalists helping out. The club in San Antonio, the White Rabbit, was packed. In fact, it was a sold-out show. It was amazing and cool to see the crowd packed like sardines just going nuts to Norma Jean's music. Their merch guy, Wes, helped out on vocals; as did the bass player from another band (I think Scars Will Fade, but I'm not sure...I'll find out later). I meant to take some pictures, but the batteries in my camera were fried and I didn't have any replacements handy (what was that about preparation?). When their set was over, the crowd swelled and tried to clear out on the side up at the front where I was penned in, and it was crazy getting out. I was holding my small camera bag like a football, and at one point someone grabbed hold of the strap and was trying to pull it. I turned to see a girl pulling it. I wondered, 'Does she think I'm some purse-snatching creep? Or is she trying to steal my bag?' Funny. I won the tug-of-war, of course.
:?)

It was so fun see the NJ guys react to the new issue. I imagine how they must feel when their new album comes back from the manufacturer and they watch their friends get into it. That's how I felt as the guys looked at the issue. They are going to be selling copies at their shows for perhaps the next few dates (they'll run out very soon). The magazines won't be on the newsstands until next Friday at the earliest, but subscribers, I hear, are already getting their copies.

In 1 Samuel 30, we see David's army coming upon the ransacked Negev and Ziklag, taking captive women and all living there. For a moment, some of David's men mentioned stoning him for this circumstance. But David sought the Lord (good move) and was strengthened. The Lord convinced him that they could take the enemies that did this, so he took off with 400 men, as 200 others were too exhausted after days without food and water. Sure enough, they found a deserted slave, who showed them where the raiding party was (just like a movie -- and I admit I'm seeing Richard Gere in my mind as I think about David here, as a result of the King David movie...). They were able to get back all the captives and the plunder. They even shared it with the 200 who were too exhausted for the raid.

It's interesting to note that it says, "But all the evil men and trouble-makers among David's followers said...'we will not share with them the plunder...'" Wow. David had evil men and trouble-makers in his clan. That's encouraging in a reality sort of way -- knowing that God's people include some flawed and downright evil people in their midst. It puts perspective on putting up with and tolerating that kind of draining crap.

New Content

I'm planning on posting more tomorrow (Norma Jean quotes), as part of a four-part series (one going up per week for the next four weeks), and later some quotes from the Crucified.

New Content Up Today

After coffee (which reminds me, I need to grab a cup right about now), it's time to make sure the office is at the right temperature, and then it's almost time to get busy.

The latest issue was mailed from our printer using something called "co-palletization," which means the mags get sorted (by zipcode) and stacked on a pallet with another publication (this time Smithsonian magazine) and they go out together, saving time and money, as the finer sorting available, the quicker it gets delievered. Because the new issue went out this way (on Wednesday) and was already in folk's hands by the weekend, I know it's time to get the website updated.

This morning I was reading in 1 Samuel 20, which is where David and Jonathan made a covenant together (and where the inspiration for the song I wrote with Steve Rowe, "Mephibosheth," came from). That phrase I brought up last week comes up here again: "May the Lord deal ever so severely with me if..." I guess it was a common phrase, but man, I cannot imagine turning it on someone and saying, "May the Lord deal ever so severely with you..." That would, in my mind, be like saying the words "God" and "damn" and a personal pronoun, or telling someone to go to hell. Wow. That is harsh stuff.

David and Jonathan's friendship was so cool and real. It's neat to see that they were confident enough in their own masculinity to cry in front of each other.

My Cocoon...

...of safety and invincibility was broken yesterday. I was on my way to Best Buy after dropping my youngest daughter off at a birthday party, and I thought, 'I bet Kinko's is done printing the new issue of Heaven's Metal,' even though they hadn't called me yet, so I changed lanes and proceeded to go West on 1325 off the Southbound IH-35 access road. When I stopped to yield to oncoming traffic, something strange happened.

WHAM! I was rear-ended by a mini-van (I drive a VW Beetle) and the impact was pretty hard. The first thing I thought about was my car: 'That sounded like damage.' It was a pretty violent collision, as I was stopped and this person's car probably struck me at about 20 mph or slightly higher. My neck whipped back against my head rest harder than I expected. The container of potato wedges I had just bought at KFC were all over the car (come to find out in strange places).

When we both pulled into the parking lot of Garden Ridge Pottery (thankful to have had an accident with a responsible person, instead of a hit and run driver), she mouthed the words "I'm sorry" through the windows. When I got out, she again apologized and I said something that is one of my personal belief systems (that when someone says, "I'm sorry," something inside of them longs to hear the words, "I forgive you,") so that's what I said. Judging by her stickers on the back of her minivan, Trayce was a Christian. "Thanks for forgiving me, but I'm sorry I hit you."

It wasn't a horrible accident, as far as auto accidents go, but it was the worst collision I have ever been in. I am so annoyed by frivolous lawsuits and fraudulant claims blamed on back and neck injuries, so I automatically felt weird for feeling this way, but I wondered about my neck. I had a decent headache for an hour or two, but thankfully nothing seemed wrong with my body.

I went to Kinko's and picked up copies of Heaven's Metal Fanzine (served by an employee who was a Demon Hunter fan and liked HM Magazine), and went to Best Buy to spend a gift card and a couple "Reward Zone" certificates. I got a call while there from this lady's Progressive insurance agent, who wanted to get a look at the car's damage, etc. The rear bumper of the car took the shock without bending or cracking, but my two right tail lights were popped out, and the two white license plate lamps were broken. The agent asked me about how I felt and had me fill out an injury assessment, saying he'd give me a check for $200 if I wanted. I asked if that would put a limit on my potential benefits, and he said yes, so I said, "No thanks." I'm not wanting to get money from an accident, but I also don't want to get ripped off by a company by signing some sort of agreement that says, "Nothing else is wrong with me." If I started to hurt today or Monday, then I'd be out of luck it seems. They estimated the repair costs and gave me a check for the car's damage, but I didn't have to sign anything for that, and I could get more if the repairs cost more than the estimate.

Ho hum. Accident details. I was listening to Rock and Roll Worship Circus as the accident happened, which is a minute detail that I'd be curious to know. It probably had me in a better mood than if I'd been listening to the new Norma Jean (which I just got and have been enjoying. It's amazing), so that was good. I remember exactly what tape I was listening to during an accident on the way to high school. Maybe I should be a movie producer or something, noticing tiny "soundtrack" details like that. Maybe not.

What were you listening to during significant events, like a car accident? 9/11?

Then it's Coffee Time!

That's one of the first orders of the day -- getting some java going. I have a grinder, courtesy of Tonya Connell, longtime friend and early subscriber to Heaven's Metal Magazine, amateur hockey player, and wife of Mike Connell, who was the drummer for the San Antonio Christian metal band, TNK (The Noble Knights). I'll grind some beans, put 'em in a filter (one heeping teaspoon for every cup I'm going to drink -- and one "cup" equals about 8 ounces, the equivalent of what would fit in one of those annoyingly small styrofoam cups you'll find served at auto repair shops or church sunday school kitchen rooms). I usually down about 4 cups (which fits into one big coffee mug) per day.

I feel about 10 pounds lighter today than I did yesterday, because I finished the deadline for another issue of Heaven's Metal Fanzine. This is going to be a good issue. I felt especially drained, because this deadline came on the heals of my last deadline with HM Magazine, so it felt like I was jumping from one to another. But it's over now and I'm already planning the next issue with some friendly metalheads.

In 1 Samuel 16 we see the Lord instruct Samuel in anointing the next king of Israel. Most of us remember how David's dad, Jesse, paraded his older sons before the prophet Samuel. Each one was rejected or passed over. At last he brought up David, after Samuel inquired if he had any other sons. The lesson many of us learn is that God judges by the heart, not outward appearance. Even though David's older brothers were bigger and looked the part, God knew David's heart was perfect for the job.

One thing I noticed for the first time when reading this is that, for those that judge truth-telling strictly, God instructed His prophet to deceive people. That's right. He told Samuel to tell a half-truth (not an outright lie, but missing the whole truth) about coming "to sacrifice before the Lord," which was really just an excuse so that Samuel's actions to anoint a new king wouldn't arouse suspicion from King Saul. Isn't that funny? How often I have maybe felt guilty by someone holding the standard of telling "the whole truth and nothing but the truth," when in fact, under certain circumstances, God could lead someone to trick someone else with half the story, so to speak. I'm reminded of the time when David broke the law by eating at a time and place that wasn't lawful, but Jesus used it as an example to show that the sabbath was made for man; and not man for the sabbath.

God is to be taken seriously, and obedience is very important; but I think jumping to conclusions and judging others for actions that appear from our perspective to be wrong can be a stupid mistake.

Have a great weekend!

and I walked on down the hall

Once I've set my things down on my desk, it's time to set the thermostat and make some coffee...

Maybe a little coffee and food would have done Saul's army some good. In 1 Samuel 13 and 14, we see God's people set against the Philistines. Jonathan and his armor bearer decided to try something out, so they went into the enemy's camp, thinking that God would deliver them. Sure enough, their plan worked and they killed 20 men together. This set the entire Philistine army into a panic, which the Lord furthered by shaking the earth. The enemy was routed, but Saul did not know how this had happened until he took a count and found his son missing. He had issued orders to the army not to eat until they had defeated the enemies and Jonathan, who had not heard this order, found some honey and tasted it. It made his "eyes brighten." Later on Saul cast lots in an effort to find out why God wasn't revealing his next step to him. This turn of events had Jonathan confessing his honey incident and Saul pronounced the death penalty. But Saul's men stood up and defended Jonathan, who had not heard the decree. I guess this is the kind of mis-management one has when they are at odds with God. In chapter 13 we see Saul get impatient for his priest, so he makes sacrifice himself. When Samuel the priest does arrive, he announces that a new king has already been anointed and Saul's reign will not last. He ushered in his own demise that day with some hasty actions.

Then I Saw Her Face...

As soon as I arrive in my office, I'll set my backpack down and take out its contents. Sometimes that includes one of those little "Jumpdrives" that hold 256 MG of information (and work that I've brought from home).

I've been working like MAD today trying to finish the new issue of Heaven's Metal Fanzine. I'm been laboring over this massive list of 95 (!) metal albums that "you may have missed" since we stopped publishing Heaven's Metal as a magazine back in '95. I'm making sure each artist name is bolded, each album title it italicized, and that it has the name of the label in (brackets), followed by the year it came out.
Whew!
It's a tedious process, but hopefully it will be well worth it. I've been working on this since all day yesterday, so I came in early and jumped on it right away. I'm almost finished. I'm just going over my shelves of CDs to make sure I didn't forget any that should be on the list.

So I'm only now sitting down for a devotion. I wish I consistently had these to start my day, but sometimes it gets away from me.

It's crazy to sometimes jump into the middle of a prophet's book and read without having the whole book read to provide context. But that's what I've done with Zechariah chapter 12. It's another oracle the Lord spoke concerning Israel. He says He will make Jerusalem like an "immovable rock" for all the nations. People will try to overtake her, but will fail.

The last part of the chapter has another amazing prophetic statement that seems to clearly speak about Jesus -- the wounded/pierced Messiah:

"And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a first-born son."

Doesn't that sound like the mourning on Good Friday's aftermath?

BEEP | BEEP | BEEP | BEEP

The first thing I do when I come in the door is turn off the alarm. I got burglarized in my old place/home/office many years ago and have been a customer of ADT ever since. It was a horrible feeling of getting stuff stolen, but the worst things taken were videos of my cat that were in the VCR. He had died two days earlier and those videos were irreplacable. I remember a producer and A&R guy came to my house that day, as my band was supposed to rehearse for them in an effort to show our progress towards being ready to record an album and whatnot. I told the guys (one of whom was our beloved columnist, Kemper Crabb) that I just didn't feel good about leaving my place alone for the three to four hours that rehearsal and driving to and from would take. So those guys, bless their hearts, got back in that black corvette and drove all the way back to Houston (3 hour trip). That was not a good month for me -- September of '91 (cat died, got burglarized, and had my gall bladder removed), but I learned a lot from it.

Anyway, I was reading an interesting chapter in Zechariah (chapter 11), where God told Zecharaiah to "pasture the flock marked for slaughter." Zech did this, only to have the flock detest him.

"'I grew weary of them,' he said, 'I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh.' Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations."

I would hate to live in a land where my Shepherd said that of me and my people. It's cool to live in a place where "my people" are from all over and have all different types of skin color and musical preference... To have God forsake us would be a horrible thing.

The chapter goes on to detail how this shepherd told his employers that, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." How much was the payment? Thirty pieces of silver. Sound familiar? How about the next scene that comes. God told him to "Throw it to the potter," and he threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter. That is an incredibly close parallel to what happened with Judas after he betrayed Christ. Wow. The symmetry of the Old and New Testaments scream so loudly to me. I cannot help but believe.

P.S. I just saw a trailer for Spiderman 2 (which I did not see in the theaters), and dang if it doesn't look like a good movie.

Everyone knows...

...that Lust Control rules!
There is no doubt
I couldn't dance or sing
but I must shout!!!
:?)

bad poetry, yes.
there's another animal i sometimes see on the way to work.

Saturday, Feb 5

Here is something else I see on the way to work -- zebras from a nearby ranch.

le tour de douglas

for the following few days i will share my morning routine of coming to the office. first off, i will start with the drive to work. lots of open roads between my home and the office in pflugerville.

"In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions."

I wonder if that is true today. Could that be said today? In some ways I doubt it, because I believe I have heard the Lord and His people have done some exciting things in recent years. But I'd also like to have the courage to stand up and say it's true if it was. Are people listening to the Lord? Is He speaking . . . on a regular basis?

"The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground."

Does this mean that Samuel took to heart every word God told him? Cherished it, thought over it, chewed on it, obeyed it?

"And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord."

It's a good sign when a bunch of people recognize your gifts, work, and calling.

One thing that stands out to me that bothers me is Eli's threat to Samuel if he didn't reveal to him what God had said that famous night (you know, in 1 Samuel 3, where God kept calling, "Samuel," and young Sam would run into Eli's bedroom and say, "Here I am; you called me."). Eli said to him, "May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hid from me anything he told you." That is a hefty threat, threatening the punishment of God on someone. Would that not be likened to telling someone to go to Hell? I don't know if God was okay with Eli saying that or not, but it's not something I would choose to utter.

Bible Study

I just realized a dream -- posting a Bible study to coincide with the most recent issue of HM Magazine. I hope to do this with every issue, so youth groups, home fellowships, bands, whomever might be interested can print these out and use for Bible study and discussion.

There's a link on the main page,
but for a quick link, go here.

Kinsmen Redeemer

Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer, who was obligated to defend and provide for those who were economically or p hysically unable to provide for themselves. He showed great kindness to Ruth, allowing her to gather grain after his harvesters. He told his workers to "not emberrass" Ruth if she gathered in the sheaves, instead of after the harvesters. There were other factors involved in their relationship -- her being a widow and him being related -- but his kindness, politeness, and chivalry were loud and lavish. A really cool love story.

As a married man I would hope that I can use my creative energy and thoughts to woo and re-woo my beloved wife -- to make her feel special and appreciate my attention. I pray for this, because my "forward momentum" at this stage in my everyday life would give me the tendency to simply maintain the same-old same-ole. Like my efforts to begin exercising again, I have to fight atrophy and old habits and routines. The reward is there, but sometimes motivation and determination enough don't seem to be sufficient. Whatever degree the Lord chooses to assist me, even if just .001%, I will ask for it and appreciate it.

David made it safely to Indiana. I don't envy anyone going on a long trip, but I'm excited for him as he begins a new line of work that furthers his artistic talent. Some people have a special gift for creating, and he's got it. It's awesome to see him directing it towards the church.

You Really Got Me

The book of Ruth is one of my favorites in the Bible. I guess I'm a sucker for a sentimental story. Ten-year-widowed Naomi was a smart woman. She told her two recently-widowed daughters-in-law to go back to their homeland. Orpah (who later went on to build a media empire, with the show Oprah and O Magazine...) left and went back home, but the sweetheart of the story, Ruth, clung to Naomi and told her, "Where you go, I will go."

Sometimes telling God that same thing ("Where You go, I will go") is very risky, but always worth it in the end (and sometimes the beginning and the middle has rewarding experiences, as adventures are wont to be...).