Doug Van Pelt

The Kingdom Advanced By Non-believers

Daniel 6 has a wonderful story. It's one that probably every person in the "Western world" has heard -- Daniel in the lion's den. There are several cool details in this story. One is that one of God's people, Daniel, was faithful in what was brought before him (the little things) and much responsibility was then given to him (the big things). This favor was obvious to all, and Daniel's peers became jealous in their greed for power. They would be the villains of this story. These people, called satraps, coincidentally set a trap for Daniel. They manipulated the king to enact a new law that forbid anyone to pray to anyone or anything other than him for the next 30 days. Daniel was faithful to pray to God three times a day in his upper bedroom. He gave thanks to God and asked Him for help.

This is a beautiful part of the story: Daniel made it a regular part of his day to stop and pray to God. It mentions that Daniel did this "just as he had done before." He didn't change his routine when he heard about the new law. He apparently determined that he would continue to pray to God no matter what the consequences. His peers turned him into the king and, try as he might until sundown, he could not reverse the law he had enacted. He sent Daniel into the lion's den, but the king said to Daniel, "May your God, Whom you serve continually, rescue you!"

If you and I can do nothing public... If our "witnessing skills" completely suck... If we're too shy to talk to people about God... If we cannot seem to find a way to publically and evangelically serve our God, the least we can do might be enough -- and that is to continually serve our God, period. Our consistency in the small things (what would those small things be? praying, reading the Word, and trying to live like God would want us to -- honestly, justly, and humbly) might just be enough witness and testimony to reach the non-believers around us. We may not be as brilliant as a great Bible teacher, or as clever as a popular evangelist, but we can be us and that can be enough (because God is alive and we are letting Him work in our lives and He's changing us -- sometimes fast and sometimes slowly).

The king didn't have his usual entertainment brought to him that night. He didn't eat, nor did he sleep. At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lion's den. I bet he looked like a little kid, running to where the Christmas presents were, or a young farmer rushing out to see if that calf had been born. I imagine that he was worried and excited as he ran. He might've been "preparing for the worst and hoping for the best" as he hurried down to the lion's den. I bet his voice was cracking as he cried out (verse 20 describes his voice as "anguished"): "'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, Whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?'"

Daniel answered back and the king was overjoyed. He commanded that the men who plotted Daniel's death were themselves thrown into the lion's den, along with their families. Before they reached the floor, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones. Wow. The villains got taken care of rather swiftly. Then the king issued a decree:

"'I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel.
'For He is the Living God
and He endures forever;
His kingdom will not be destroyed,
His dominion will never end.
He rescues and He saves;
He performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.'"

This was an expansion of God's kingdom. It was a public testimony, story, and word that was heard throughout the land. And this from the mouth of a non-believer. This leader chose to praise God and he used his influence to spread the message. How's that for irony?

Now, some might offer criticism that, 'Whenever Christianity or faith of any kind is officially and politically made the law of the land, like with Constantine a few centuries later, that it's a bad thing.' While I agree that the long-term fruit of Constantine wasn't always a beautiful and lasting testimony, but God didn't step in and thwart or criticize the spontaneous decree that King Darius made. And you can sure as heck be convinced that many Christians were able to continue the work of God's kingdom when the restraints of anti-Christian laws were lifted. While complacency may have been a legitimate problem after Constantine's decree, I bet a lot of families that were used to seeing their loved ones martyred were certainly relieved.

It's probably a good idea to back off when someone spontaneously responds to God or His people. Many times its an innocent response to the Living God and we probably shouldn't be so quick to squelch such a thing. Sometimes our so-called knowledge and experience can really get in the way of something special, surprising, and new that God wants to do. I imagine God sometimes smiles with great joy over us at times like these -- even if we are making strategic and long-term mistakes. There's a balance, and to maintain that balance we need to sometimes be patient and restrain ourselves from reacting. Mistakes can be a good thing in the long run. Sometimes we need to fail in order to learn how to succeed.

Well, the news from New Orleans keeps getting worse. May the God of peace rescue and restore the many people who are dealing with the hardships from Hurricane Katrina.

Daniel Ate No Donuts

This is one of the first sites I saw when driving away from LAX last week -- that giant donut sign. I wonder if it was fatty foods like this, among other things, that Daniel chose not to "defile himself" with. In the first few chapters of Daniel, we see him and his peers in exile. Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who all got new names during their exile in Babylon. Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the head official for permission to do this. He received some resistence and hesitation, so he had him test he and his peers. For ten days they ate nothing but vegatables and water. At the end of ten days these guys looked healthier than all the rest.

That's so cool. The details aren't completely apparent, like what was it about the royal food that would "defile" them... Would it make them ceremonially unclean (like eating pork)? Or was it just the spoiled rich and fatty food that would defile them by making them weak or lazy? And why did they fare better than the other guys? Maybe it was part determination, part healthy diet, part regimented exercise. Either way it was plenty cool. They excelled in wisdom and were also gifted supernaturally with the ability to interpret dreams, etc.

Three of those guys were really tested not too long after. King Nebuchadnezzar made a 90 foot tall gold statue that he wanted everyone to worship on musical cue. These three guys (now known as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) spoke humbly but boldly before the king:

"'O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.'"

Of course, this made the king furious, and he threw the once favored lads into the fiery furnace, with the furnace heated seven times the normal setting. The flames were so intense that it flat out killed the soldiers who threw them in the furnace.

What happened next makes the believer often stand up and cheer (cuz it's better than a Rocky movie): "'Weren't there three men that we tied up and threw into the fire?' They replied, 'Certainly, O king.' He said, 'Look! I see four men walking around in the fire, unbounc and unharmed, and the fourth looks like a son of the gods.' Nebuchadnezzar then approached the opening of the blazing furnace and shouted, 'Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!'"

When they came out, everyone noticed that nothing on them was burned -- not even a hair of their heads was singed -- and not even the smell of fire was on them. "Then Nebuchadnezzar said, 'Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, Who has sent His angel and rescued His servants! they trusted in Him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. Therefore I decree that the people of any nation or language who say anything against the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego be cut into pieces and their houses be turned into piles of rubble, for no other god can save in this way.'"

There are several details that are cool about this story. I love the fact that these guys made room for the potential of God's will to be death for them. "But even if He does not..." That is a powerful testimony. It defies one of the chief principles of the faith movement (never doubt or waver, claim the positive, don't ever utter a doubtful or negative word). People in this movement are taught to mimic or use only one part of Scripture (like the phrase where Paul talks about the double-minded man being unstable in all his ways), yet this passage of Scripture AND the famous teaching where Jesus instructs us how to pray ("...not my will, but Thy will be done...") give us a balance that reinforces the overall picture that God is in control and He does what He wants to do. When He wants us to tenasciously hold on to a positive confession and believe for something to happen, that is what we should do. When we are in doubt or do not know everything that's going on (face it, that's practically all of the time), then we can pray or stand up like these guys did. It also reinforces the truth that God is not a giant gumball machine in the sky, waiting to give us our goodies and requests when we say the right prayer and put a quarter in. His is the Boss, the Father, the One in charge. He does what He wants to do. All we can do is ask like children, and know (this is a real kicker) that He is good and He is still in control even when we don't get our way. These guys made a stand even in the face of their possible death. They wanted this king to know that even if their God didn't rescue them, that they wouldn't bow down to his false gods. That is awesome.

This reminds me of a subject that is sure to come up (especially with jaded critics and unbelievers) about the disaster in the Gulf Coast right now. Judgment of God. God's judgment. Wrath of God. His response to sin. Blah blah blah... The people that immediately jump to a conclusion of, 'Oh, God must be judging New Orleans because it is a place of drunkenness, drug use, illicit sex, palm reading, homosexuality, the occult, all kinds of evil...' That is probably the last conclusion you want to come to when it comes to stuff like this. If it's our early response, we might have to ask ourselves if we think we are better than non-believers and if we expect to be treated better than the "sinners" in the world. First of all, we are sinners set free and saved by grace, not by earning it or deserving it. Secondly, the rain falls on the just and the unjust. We live in a fallen world. Bacteria randomly attacks with no morals or judgment on the body it's invading. Thirdly, if you look at Scripture, it is often God's people that get the WORST TREATMENT, not the better. In many, many cases, standing up and believing in God means getting the worst end of the deal, getting the worst treatment, getting slavery, inprisonment, getting beat up, ripped off, raped, mocked, and getting killed.

Could the point be made any clearer?
I could be wrong, but I'm convinced that Hurrican Katrina is not God's judgment on the Gulf Coast. Man, jumping to the wrong conclusion can be so stinkin' wrong! Now, it's true that God may bring judgment upon man for his decisions and behavior, and sometimes we may not know if He did or didn't, but that's the last conclusion I'm going to draw.

This is a great time for Christians to shine, though. This is a great time to volunteer and help out. If you've been wanting to do some short-terms missions work, there are probably opportunities to help. Contacting the American Red Cross is probably a good resource to start.

In SoCal

Have been having a good trip to SoCal. I'm up early and ready to head out to the church where the "Up From The Ashes" show, as the interviews with the bands are going to be done early in the morning so the crew can move their setup to film the show later (and not move back and forth).

My time at Edwards AFB was very fun and helpful. I ended up not addressing the students, as I had a problem getting into the gate yesterday (I left my driver's license at the Lancaster Public Library), and had to turn around and retrieve my ID. By the time I arrived at the school, the bell had just rang and the parking lot was full of students out for the week. I was given full access to the team, and enjoyed chatting with a few players. I was envious of their cool new uniforms.

Today should be fun.

God's Had Enough ... and He's Got Your Back!

In Ezekiel 36, God is telling His prophet to prophesy to mountains (interesting instruction, don't you think?), and He reveals that He's heard the derision and scoffing that Israel has received from its neighbors (i.e. warring nations around it). It seems that God gets perturbed about people talking trash about His people. So He steps in.

"'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I speak in my jealous wrath because you have suffered the scorn of the nations. Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I swear with uplifted hand that the nations around you will also suffer scorn.'"

Wow.

God goes on to clarify, however, that He's not doing this for His people's sake. (You see, they acted unbecomingly and shamed His Name.

"'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of My Holy Name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone.'"

They surely did not represent well. So God is stepping in to keep His Name "from being dragged through the mud" any longer.

He also speaks of restoring His people:

"'I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws."

I want that kind of heart (a heart of flesh, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, anxious to follow God's ways, eager to please Him).

I'm heading back to California tomorrow. I will visit my old stomping grounds to gather information for a novel I'm writing. I asked the coach of my old high school if I can have permission to visit the locker room and whatnot, and watch their scrimmage from the sidelines. He also asked me to "speak to the students." That was quite a shock and pleasant surprise. It'll be interesting to see how that works out. It'll be around 2 pm PST on Friday, for those that want to pray. Then Saturday will be the "Up From The Ashes" concert/makeup show for the cancelled Beyond The Mountain 2-day Festival.

Here are some pictures of the big cats that Klank got us close to last week.

Jerusalem's Sins

The members of the rock band Jerusalem...
No, this is the heading over chapter 22 of Ezekiel in my Bible.

God is surely displeased at the amount of sin in His people. There's a list, that unfortunately reads like a typical episode of The Soprano's or some other show (there are many) that seem to gloat or revel in sin. It's not always treated glamorously, and is therefore treated quite biblically or through a lens that agrees with Scripture (not all biblical art is G-rated or for families, as not all of the Bible is good for young minds to read). But sometimes sin in general is thrown at us in a way that makes us desensitized. We get used to it. This is bad.

The Lord told Ezekiel that He was going to melt the people with His wrath the way a man takes silver into a furnace to burn off the impurities. He cares for His people and He wants someone to "stand in the gap," interceeding for them and calling out a warning. I think of people who are on a high horse about this issue or that issue. I wonder, 'Where is the love? Where is the concern?' I don't mean that someone cannot warn people and preach God's judgment. (duh, I'm talking in that context) But I'm talking about people that seem to want to prove themselves right and others wrong simply for the prideful purpose of feeling smug. We need parental judgment, consequences, and warnings. But we don't need flamboyant, arrogant so-called "teachers" to correct for the sake of correction. We need correction so we can get back on the right path, and have our relationship with God healed, buoyed up, and improved. When people really care, you should be able to tell (at least a little...I imagine that sometimes anger is quite appropriate, but for those that hang around long enough, they should see the loving part that rejoices with, hugs, and celebrates God's forgiveness.). That's kind of a ramble and not as explanatory as I'd like, so I hope it makes some sense.

Things I miss:
Seeing Intern Tim Hallila lipsync and animate his moves when Eminem's "Loose Yourself" is blaring from my computer. I miss Jason's laughter. I miss Lonny's changing fashion images. I miss watching Brian dance and act goofy for one second as our time-lapse video camera would shoot a second's worth of footage per minute. There's been some good times in the old HM office.

[Pictured above: Klank by his company truck.]

Exiles of another race

Ezekiel 11 finds the prophet having to suck up his fear of man and obey the Lord. Just like Peter, who found out that denying Christ was much worse than the fear of man, we too should obey God the first time. Ezekiel was face to face with 25 leaders of Israel. They were the "big shots," and I'm sure there was some fear there about prophesying to them. 'What if they don't receive the word? What if they get mad and kill me?' These were some legitimate fears, but God was giving him instructions, and he followed them.

They had been using a phrase amongst themselves, as arrogant leaders of Israel: "This city is a cooking pot, and we are the meat." When Ezekiel made reference to that ("'This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat int it; I will execute judgment on you at the borders of Israel.'"), I bet it got their attention. 'Someone's been reading our mail!' hehe. I bet they got the "fear of the Lord" real quick. One of the guys died right there on the spot.

I want to obey the Lord. Sometimes I assume that God is going to want me to do something weird. But beyond that, I need to face the prospect of Him asking me to do anything. Once I can face that and step out in obedience on the "hard stuff" or the stuff that I don't really feel like doing, then I think I'm growing a little bit and some of the other obedience things will come a little more naturally.

The Word says that "the fear of man is a snare." Ain't that the truth?

Electronic Music Tip For The Day

This is an affordable option that will change your automobile experience:

Purchase a new CD player/deck for your car that plays mp3 CDs. You can get one on sale at a place like Best Buy for $99. It plays normal cds, but also cdrs, and also cdrs that have mp3 files on them. You can fit around 120 songs on one cd, so if you buy one of those cd holders that fit on your sunvisor, you are now driving around with over 1,440 songs! That is just insane! And most of these types of cd players have a read out on the front panel that will tell you the name of the song, artist, and even what album it's from. You can have fun naming the songs on your computer before you burn the cd (include the track # at the start of the track title if you want them to play in album order, otherwise they're likely to play the songs in alphabetical order).

Driving around with 1,440 songs at your disposal (just right above your head, where you can probably grab one without having to look at it, popping it in the player without distracting you from the road -- although it's best to be stopped and pop in the disc when you're not tooling down the road).

This is what most people will be doing in the future, as mp3s or even other song digital compression options are available. All I know is it's fun, and dramatically increases my listening options on the road...

Klank Is Taking Us To The Circus

Yes, that Klank.
He works for Ringling Bros. & Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Fun stuff for my daughter, Rachel and I.

My other daughter, Kaela, went with her mother to the Purple Door Festival, which is broadcasting live this weekend.

Encouragement is the best energy drink

wow. this little comment feature can be so cool. encouragement can be so empowering. it's like those ducks that fly in an arrowhead formation. the ones that quack increase their drag quite substantially, and they have to increase their efforts to stay in formation. some have postulated, i'm told (i hope they were scientists), that the only function of the other ducks in formation to quack is to encourage the leader or "point duck," who is taking the brunt of the wind and drag. i wonder of that's true.

Anyway, Jeremiah was called "The Weeping Prophet." In Lamentations 3, we can get a practical glimpse as to why! Not only did he see affliction, but it seemed as if it came from God.

"He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness rather than light;
indeed, he has turned his hand against me again and again, all day long..."

That is some harsh perspective. Read on.

"Even when I call out or cry for help, He shuts out my prayer...
Like a bear l ying in wait, like a lion in hiding, He dragged me from the path and mangled me and left me without help..."

That some feeling of hopelessness. To top that off,

"I became the laughingstock of all my people; they mock me in song all day long."

That's like a Top-40 song that's all about you and what a loser you are. Wow.

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
'Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.' The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord..."

There was hope even in the midst of cumulated mishaps, tragedy, and just plain ole "bad luck."

We are reminded later on in this chapter of why Jeremiah was refered to as "The Weeping Prophet." It was because he cared about his people. He had compassion for his fellow countrymen.

"Streams of tears flow from my eyes because my people are destroyed. My eyes will flow unceasingly, without relief, until the Lord looks down from heaven and sees."

I want to experience this kind of travail in prayer as I pray for others. Have you ever had someone weep over your condition in their prayer? Maybe it was a grandmother or parent. Maybe it was a friend who cared about you. When I hear Christians get on a rant about someone's behavior, it usually smells like they are sitting in judgment of them. "Can you believe so and so said this in an interview? He's supposed to be a Christian. It's obvious he's not..." Sometimes the "concern" is over a non-essential or just based on rumor or incomplete facts. Other times there are really situations that warrent sadness and grief. If we just took this adament energy to the Lord in prayer, letting Him break our hearts over a situation, I imagine the words of our mouth then (in prayer) would be much more effective in resolving the situation.

I don't think prayer is a formula, per se, but I honestly believe that God enjoys passion. We all believe that honesty in prayer is important, but some of us might be reluctant to think "God pays more attention to prayers if the person is crying." While I would stop short of saying that emphatically, I think there is some truth to it. When we are moved to tears by a broken heart, we are "pouring our heart out" in prayer. I think that must move God. Force Him to act the way we want? Not a chance. Make an impact on His heart? Quite possibly. You can't fake tears (at least not very easily), so what I'm talking about is authentic passion and care. I think this is good. I hope that I can be a more compassionate man. Even though I do not wish for calamity or bad things to happen to inspire such prayer, I hope that when things worthy of such grief happen, that I do pay attention and get moved.

Perhaps it is true that maybe "God created me to cry." Tear ducts are certainly part of God's wonderful creation of the human body. It wasn't a perversion of the devil. Satan had no part in crafting our being. So, it's pretty safe to assume that crying is the will of God. It comes down to context, though, I'm sure. Cause walking around weeping ALL of the time might be kind of counter-productive. But walking around and never ever crying might be counter-productive to our character building. It doesn't have to be in public, but it's probably healthy to cry every once in a while. I don't know.

Pray

I just got off the phone with a friend whose mother is not doing too well. That's the kind of thing that can drive you crazy -- especially if you are on the road away from her.

I wonder how prayer works. I like to pray specifically for people -- by name and need. But I am confident that God knows what I need before I even ask, so my specific details aren't necessary (just good). For instance, anyone reading this could ask God, "Father, please bring Your healing to Doug's friend's mom. Please restore her body to the healthy way you created her." I'm sure God will hear and respond to that prayer just as if you had mentioned her by her full name in prayer. It's not voodoo or witchcraft or a formula.

When His disciples asked Him, "Teach us to pray," (in Luke 11), He gave them what we call "The Lord's Prayer."

"Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be Your Name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."

Praising God, and stating how hallowed His Name is can be classified as worship. This prayer is a good outline that can "equip" us to pray for a good length of time. If we devote 15 minutes to this "point" in the "outline," then check out how easy and organized it can be to "tarry one hour" in prayer!

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is akin to asking for guidance and simply aligning yourself with His will and His kingdom. It is also a point where we can intercede for others, asking for God's will to be done in their lives.

Give us today our daily bread.

This is another point where interceding for others can come in. It's also one of the most common areas of prayer (at least in my life), which is asking God to meet my needs. It's funny how sometimes when I'm in the process of asking God to meet such and such a "need" that I see that such and such might just be a selfish and unnecessary "want." It's amazing how much prayer can act like a mirror of my own heart. Sometimes I don't appreciate that!

Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

This is a point where we confess our sins. One by one we can confess our specific sins to God and ask (and receive) His forgiveness. It's very interesting and most important that forgiving others is related to this. In fact, when Jesus teaches this method of prayer, He caps it off with parables about servants who don't forgive. He really drives home the point that "if we forgive others, our Father in heaven will forgive us." That is huge.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

This can be seen as a point where we engage in what Paul the apostle called "spiritual warfare" or "struggling ... against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." This is serious stuff. We can ignore it and go about our lives without having to consider it much, but we might get awakened out of our stupor at some point with a confrontation with evil. Jesus apparently thought it important enough to include as His last point in this method of teaching prayer.

13 Years Ago Today...

I was walking down the aisle with my lovely bride, Charlotta Marie. I am so blessed to have such a beautiful, smart, and loving wife.

A good wife, who can find?
The heart of a husband is glad in her.

My calling is to love my wife,
just as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself up for her
to make her holy,
cleansing her by the washing with water
through the Word...
and to
love my wife as my own body,
loving her as I love myself.

That's a good calling. I know (by looking at my selfish ways) that I love myself, and I also know that taking my eyes off myself and serving others brings more satisfaction than trying to satisfy my own wants.

Like anything else I'm called to do,
I am confident of this:

That God will provide the grace and strength I need.

It is cool to sometimes take the small (and sometimes large) step of faith to simply kneel down and pray, asking for God's help. I should do that every day.

My razor's not dull...I am

I just got off the phone with Rose Morgan of Sevendust. I've been meaning to interview them for years (over a decade), so it's nice to finally talk to a band like this.

I'm staring at a prom photo of Len Nash atop my computer monitor as I write this (which is scary).

Okay, here's the thing: Thank You.
Yep, "Thank You" sections or the credit portion of liner notes. Everyone reads them, but nobody admits it. It's like "Yearbook Day" in junior or senior high school. You're getting all your friends and even that pretty girl you're afraid to talk with to sign your yearbook. You can't wait to open up the pages in front and back and see what people wrote.

I remember one fateful moment in Pflugerville, Texas -- back when Pflugerville was just the suburb of Austin I'd drive to 2-3 times per week to rehearse with Lust Control in our drummer's mom's house. Well, during the time we were working on the We Are Not Ashamed album, Michael Knott and his people (Chris Colbert and Chris Rumba) contacted me about releasing something on his new Blonde Vinyl Records label. I told them I had some demo tapes of songs that we weren't re-recording for the WANA album (we were re-doing "hits" like "You Make Me Puke" and "Mad At The Girls" and "The Big 'M'" and "Planned Parenthood," among others, but I had an album's worth of un-used songs from the This Is A Condom Nation and Dancing Naked recordings, so we put them out on his label and called it Fun Fun Feeling. Well, it came out before we had finished recording WANA and were still rehearsing that album a lot (our producer, Kemper Crabb, asked us to play the songs 200 times each before we'd go in the studio to record, which got us "tight" enough to "knock them out" quickly in the studio. On the day that I received promotional copies from the label, I brought several to practice to give to the band, which was different, since none of them played on those recordings (it was essentially LC2, as the original rhythm section quit the project after Dancing Naked and I carried on), but we were all excited about it anyway and it was this lineup that was photographed for the back of the CD. So I handed a copy to Matt's mom, Yvonne, who graciously let us rehearse 3 times a week (for 3 hours at a time) at high volume levels in her house. She opened it up and went straight for the "Thank You" section. I was screaming inside: "NO! NO! NO! Don't look there!" I had neglected to thank all the current people working with the band, as this was a past-oriented release (at least that's what I was thinking), and that was one of the LOWEST points of my life -- seeing her disappointment in not being thanked. Two inches tall -- that's how big I felt. Oh man!

So anyway, don't let the false humility police fool you. Everyone reads those things and everyone likes to be appreciated. Yes, it effects us in that pride area of the heart and soul and can get ugly quick, but it does matter and it does make a difference.

So today I got a copy of Bradley Hathaway's incredible book (with cd of slam poetry) and admired how it was laid out. Then I remembered that the publisher asked me to write a blurb for the book. I guess they're called "endorsements." I flipped to the front and read his introduction. It was so simple and so cool and honest. This guy just amazes me. I love what he's doing. I hope he keeps up the good times. Anyway, I flipped to the front and found the "endorsements" or whatever and read what the singer for The Chariot (Josh Scoglin) thinks of Bradley's stuff. These are awesome statements. Then I scanned around looking for mine. Not on this spread. Not in the front. I went back through each of the two pages, looking for my name. Yes, I am that lame!

I didn't see it, which was slightly sad. 'I guess they had more than they needed,' I thought. Bummer. 'That kind of thing can really help promote HM Magazine,' was a natural thought. It is cool how lifting others up can in turn lift us up (especially when done in the right direction, and not as a cause-effect motivation). Mine wasn't there. I wasn't go to say anything or ask why they didn't use the endorsement I sent. I understand how people change their minds when putting together a project. Sometimes you don't like how something turned out, or sometimes you have too many ingredients and you have to make the tough decision to cut something out. 'Oh well,' I thought. 'I guess I got cut out.'

And then I flipped over on the back of the book (sometimes they put a few of those blurbs on the back, too). Oh my gosh! There it was: my blurb. As stupid and prideful as it sounds, it's a darn cool thing to see. I'm goofy and I'm being painfully honest here, but you better believe that it makes ya feel good when ya see something like that. The thing I like is it's praise for someone else. Proverbs say to "let another man's lips praise you," and not your own. And it's so easy to praise (don't freak out and think "blasphemy" when you hear about someone praising someone else and that someone else ain't God. Praise is just another word for compliment. We all need it and thrive on it.)... it's easy to praise this Hathaway cat, because he's so good.

I was amazed when doing some deadline layout and having the interns watch. We don't have the layout program on more than one computer here, so they can't do the final layout work. It's possible that they can do some in QuarkXpress, which I can then import into InDesign (we did this for the HM new shirts/merch color ad in the upcoming issue, which should ship out on Monday). But while doing layout I play some pleasant music. Usually it's stuff I really love, like U2, Dashboard Confessional, Type O Negative, H-I-M, The Awakening, Outer Circle, Johnny Cash, or even that 2004 Scorpions album (the great Unbreakable -- buy it now), but also fun stuff like Brother Russell's Radio Jihad and Melba Comes Alive. And, of course, Bradley Hathaway's All The Hits So Far, But Don't Expect Too Much. And while I played this, Frances was quoting right along and even ahead of Bradley. That's hot! That's like people singing along to every word at Dashboard shows. I noticed that at Cornerstone this year, when he went on before (was it Project 86?): people in the audience were quoting right along with him. They knew all the words.

That is a compliment.

Maybe memorizing Scripture can be seen in this light, too. I've never thought about it this way before (I've always thought, 'This will help me in my spiritual life. I can do spiritual warfare this way,' and 'This is a spiritual discipline that's good for me' -- like eating vegatables, hehe). Maybe we can just bless God like a performer feels when the audience has the words they penned memorized. That's kind of cool, huh?

Aug/Sep issue of Heaven's Metal fanzine

Off to Houston (NASA Space Center) to see Mikee Bridges. Perhaps we can "enlist" him as an astronaut...?

It's Raining...It's Pouring

Things are moving along. Writers and stories have been chosen for the Nov/Dec issue (with No Innocent Victim on the cover...yes!); and the new issue of Heaven's Metal fanzine is just about finished and ready to go over to Kinko's. All the while our printer in Michigan is printing the Sep/Oct issue of HM. I'm so excited about this new issue. One of the reasons is that there's this four-page feature on black metal that starts off with a photo spread across both of the first two pages, with a member of Slechtvalk weilding a battle axe. It is so awesome!

I sure hope the electricity doesn't go out today.

Jeremiah 44 shows some intense judgment and disobedience. The people of God were giving their allegiance to the "Queen of Heaven," a false goddess. God was not happy.

"Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present -- a large assembly -- and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, 'We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the Name of the Lord! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.'"

God's response was mixed with sarcasm. He was basically saying, "Fine! You do what you want, but here's what I'm gonna do..." And then He told them that they'd all die. I think it's brave when people are honest and own up to their sin, but to hold on to it like that and defy God...not smart. Stupid. Foolish. Those freaking idiots died. I would so hate to hear the Word of our Lord speak so forcefully and condemning-ly to me and my own. You'd think a certain amount of holy fear would kick in. You'd think...

I hope I can always retain (and nurture) a "tender" heart towards the Lord, one that can repent and not stiffen like a stubborn-necked mule. I want to obey Him and be found wrong and He right. I want to humble my heart to Him. He is God. I'm grateful that He is so merciful, because like everyone else my propensity is towards pride. Yikes.

I'm planning on seeing Mikee Bridges and one of his friends in Houston tomorrow. I will congratulate him on a Tom Festival well done. We will hang out at the NASA Space Center in Houston and check that place out. They are deserving of congratulations for another successful Space Shuttle mission, which touched down in my old home of Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert.

...and Johnny Cash (and Tomfest is back)

Man, I've been listening to The Legend, a 4-disc Johnny Cash boxset, all day long. What a joy. Very good stuff.

I talked to my friend Mikee Bridges a few times this weekend, he was excited to report that the festival was huge. They had to expand their parking in order to hold everybody. He's not a number counter when it comes to this stuff, but he and his friends were majorly stoked at the turnout. Ronnie Martin of Joy Electric was heard saying on the way out, "Tom Festival is definitely back!"

We couldn't be more excited for Mikee and crew.

The Plans God Has For Us...

All the verses of the Bible are for us. There are not any that we should tear out and throw away, ignore, or disobey. However, not every book of the Bible is written as wisdom/advice/instruction. It can be extrapolated as such...with understanding. But the poetry and "love story" in Song of Solomon does not deal directly with justice matters as, say, the Sermon on the Mount does. And the Proverbs can be applied a little easier than First and Second Chronicles, even though they were both "written for our instruction."

It is with this understand, or "light" that I view the famous passage in Jeremiah 29. Odds are, you can finish this sentence/scripture:

"'...For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord..."

How it starts is this:

"This is what the Lord says:
'When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill My gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,' declares the Lord, 'and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.'"

This is a cool verse that shows the Lord's heart towards us (that is is towards us and not against us), but it gives us additional insight if we study the context that it was spoken in. God's people were disobedient to Him, which God then allowed its enemies to scatter God's people and carry them off into exile. There was suffering. This was not fun. But God told them to settle down, give their kids in marriage, set roots, plant stuff and eat it. He was kind of telling them to settle in, cause it was going to be 70 years before He took them out. He was keeping His Word and also giving them perspective. I know I need that kind of perspective sometimes, because I tend to look at things in an "all or nothing" and in the "immediate" time...

In chapter 33, we see another oft-quoted verse (3):

"This is what the Lord says, He Who made the earth, the Lord Who formed it and established it -- the Lord is His Name: 'Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'"

He revealed to Jeremiah that He would fill the houses and royal palaces of Judah with dead bodies; but He also revealed that He would heal His people. He reiterated that His Word and His covenants would come to pass (most notably of which was a messianic promise about a king from the lineage of David). It's almost like He was saying, "It's going to get worse before it gets better, but it is going to get better." That's not a "refrigerator magnet" type thought, but one of truth. I hope that when I hear the Word of the Lord that I will recognize it. There are certainly a lot of sentimental "refrigerator magnet" words that comfort and tickle my itching ears; and I don't want to make the mistake I alluded to last week of assuming that any "word of judgment must be the Lord's Word," because that is just resting on formulas and history to tell me what God is going to say, rather than listening and hearing.

What would it be like today if the USA was taken off into captivity? This is hard to fathom, and I wonder if Israel ever had the "confidence" that we do that we're safe from attack and being overtaken. That would not be cool. I would resist such an enemy. I'd be curious if allowed to speak with God's people up in Heaven who were leading and living in the nation of Israel at the beginning of the Babylonian exile. What were they thinking? Did they fight? Were there righteous men who had not bowed their knees to false gods and/or disobeyed the Lord and grieved Him? If so, what did they do? Did the accept their deaths, loss, captivity as the Lord's chastising? Or is that something that's only seen in hindsight? I'm curious how they wrestled with that.

I Am Snakekiller

So I went out for lunch with my wife yesterday, and on the way home I was chatting on my cell, talking to Paul Q-Pek, when I saw it -- a snake. I ran over it in my car. No, it didn't flip around and land in the back seat (I don't have a convertible, by the way). I backed up (over it again) to take a look. I stayed parked there for a while and watched it writhe. It's mouth kept opening as if to scream. I thought a snake could handle being run over (as long as you weren't braking when riding over it), but this guy died. On my way home he was curled up in the same spot, but upside-down. Lots of rain last night and this morning washed him away (unless some cowboy or road kill kleaner came by for a trophy or a pick-up. Perhaps an angel will knock on my door with the stuffed snake mounted as a trophy for me...?
hehe

Tim and Frances did a wonderful thing for HM's website. They deleted the thousands of robot-dung comments left in many of these online features. Now you can read other people's comments and not have your eyes spoiled by the calloused, idiotic pitches for poker, viagara, or other such nonsense. Much thanks go out to those two. They were great interns.

Jeremiah 23 gets into some interesting stuff. God is not too pleased with the false prophets who proudly proclaim, "I had a dream! I had a dream." God clearly states that they are "speaking visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord."

I wonder about prophecy today. How much is really the Word of the Lord, and how much is just man's mind? We are crafty little creatures and can come up with some imaginative things.

"They keep saying to those who despise me,
'The Lord says: You will have peace.'
And to all who follow the stubborness of their hearts they say,
'No harm will come to you.'
But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see or to hear His Word?
Who has listened and heard His Word?'"

In this context, God is really speaking about war and death, not peace and safety. I think some people use this as some sort of "formula" and think that their prophecy is true because it speaks judgment. If this isn't a real "fresh from the Lord's mouth" prophecy, then it's false just like the "peace, peace" idiots in Jeremiah's day.

Another thing that's great about our God is that He gave us minds, hearts, and even the Person and Presence of His Holy Spirit to help us judge prophecy. We don't have to take some man's word as if it were the Lord's. We can doubt it, we can test it, we can mull over it. Apparently one of the great by-products of living in the "age of grace" is that false prophets aren't stoned to death anymore!

God is good. "Do not despise prophecy." The Bible makes it clear. It also goes out of its way to forbid us from hating the body of Christ (or parts of it). And that goes as truth -- even if a member or members go out of their way to make it a temptation for you. The Church is the Bride of Christ. Remember that. Remember that the Bride is made up of people. People fail. People sin. But our Bridegroom (Jesus) does not abandon us in our failures. Neither should we. In fact, failure (big, fat, open failure) is a great place to learn and experience (and give) love. Those are probably times when we have God's very acute attention. He's probably ignoring (does He do that?) any prayers of "Bring judgment down on so and so, please," and instead focusing on how His people will respond under duress and trouble.

Does that mean we can go out and willingly utter false prophecy? Well, that's a really stupid thing to do, but yes. We are allowed to fail. Afterwards, we are to get up and look up.

On a side side note, I got this new album by a (secular) new group, World Leader Pretend (Punches), which accomanied lots of hype and critical praise (in the bio and press clippings material). But wow! It really is good. Reminds me a ton of the popular pop rock sound of the day (U2, Radiohead, Coldplay), but just really solid songs, sonics, and vocals. That's always nice to hear something new and good...

I Am Repenting

I am a bad driver. I am changing the way I think about driving and, in turn, the way I drive. I took a driver safety course last night to dismiss a ticket. (Remember the car accident I was in last May? I was given a citation for "failure to control speed.") Anyway, here's my problem:

I act immature and drive aggressively. While I don't race "to be the first" to where I'm going, I do strive to maintain the speed at which I choose to get there. In other words, if cars are going slower than my chosen speed, I will dart around them to keep my "pace." That's really stupid, and it puts my "precious cargo" (i.e. my family) at risk.

I know better than to drive this way, but perhaps it's seeing myself through other people's eyes that finally opened my eyes and heart to repentance. The Driver Safety DVD goes into aggressive driving and points out its dangers and unnecessary risks. I also had another clue that something needed to change: I was having lunch with our two summer interns (Tim and Frances), and we stopped to have lunch at a KFC/A&W combo restaurant. When Frances prayed the pre-meal "grace," she asked God to keep us safe on the way home. Guess who the driver on that trip was?

Sigh.
That was humbling.

So, besides doing what I can do to repent (changing my mind or the way I think about something, and ultimately the way I act), I am praying a simple prayer. I'm asking God to forgive me for putting my family at risk by driving aggressively, and asking for His help in driving safer. I want to keep Him the Lord of my life -- and specifically this area of driving. Why not?

Jeremiah 9 has a great statement:

"This is what the Lord says:
'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom
or the strong man boast of his strength
or the rich man boast of his riches,
but let him who boasts boast about this:
that he understands and knows Me,
that I am the Lord, Who exercises kindness,
justice and righteousness on earth,
for in these I delight,'
declares the Lord."

Jeremiah 15 has an interesting verse, too:
"Therefore, this is what the Lord says:
'If you repent, I will restore you
that you may serve Me;
if you utter worthy, not worthless, words
you will be My spokesman.'"

(The context is God's people having turned away from Him over time, and God's judgment coming in the form of attacking armies and death. Jeremiah pleaded with God, telling Him how he "ate" God's Word: "they were my joy and my heart's delight..." He was faithful amidst hard times.)

I've Been "INTERNED"

Uh-Oh! When I walked into my office this morning, there was "evidence" tape across my door in a big "X." When I got closer, I noticed it wasn't the red evidence tape that I've seen before, but a Jesus icon tape. And then I opened the door to find a giant spider web of streamers and (cough) red and white balloons (many of which had a giant "N" for Nebraska on them.

Sigh.

Revenge is a son of a gun.

Wow, revenge of a different matter is kind of discussed in Jeremiah 6. Israel is going to get its national butt kicked in this chapter, as they have turned away from and rebelled against God. The key to keeping Him from being angry with you is to turn quickly from your sins, to stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and respond with repentance when confronted or convicted of sin. God shows His heart is ever willing to forgive. He is slow to anger.

But when He punishes...look out! Israel was getting a warning from their weeping prophet, and the news was real bad (invading armies, who will crush and destroy....)

If God withdrew...

I hadn't given much thought to it, and the confession of that makes me feel guilty for taking the Lord for granted. The God that created all things and through Him came into being...if He withdrew, we'd all be gone! While God's creation is solid and long-lasting, the fact that He holds it together is often overlooked...at least by me. I have to repent of this and simply acknowlege from my growing awareness, that He is bigger and more awesome and powerful than I thought.

I wonder how God's people of old (the Jews in the Old Testament) viewed God. They certainly had a different context of life. Granted, most of these people had to rely on God's Word and the retelling of His works and wonders (like the mighty deliverance and exodus from Egypt), so that is something I can relate to. Jeremiah was told by God that:

"'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.'"

Even though Jeremiah must've felt inadequate, God was big and willing and able to work through Jeremiah. That is crazy that the God of the universe would work through and with us, but He certainly does.

"'Ah, Sovereign Lord,' I said, 'I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.'"

Just like Moses many years prior, this guy makes himself out like he's unqualified; but God saw differently. I wonder about what areas in my life that I feel inadequate and unprepared for... Could I see my potential in a different light? If God wants to use me, certainly He'll prepare me for it and equip me for it. That's kind of exciting...