Moet & Chandon

Extra Brut --Brut --Extra-dry -- Sec -- Demi-sec -- Doux

Prayer of Confession

Living the Message Dec.28

Heaven

Heaven, in gospels and the Apocalypse (and throughout scripture) is the metaphor that tells us that there is far more than meets the eye. Beyond and through what we see there is that which we cannot see, and which is, wondrously, not "out there" but right here before us and among us: God --his rule, his love, his judgment, his salvation, his mercy, his grace, his healing, his wisdom.
Galling the word, heavena metaphor does not make it less real; it simply recognizes that it is a reality inaccessible at his point to any of our five senses...


Then, I looked, and oh!--a door open into Heavean. The trumpetvoice, the first voice of the vision, called out, "Ascend and enter. I'll show you what happens next."

Revelation 4:1

Living the Message Dec.27

Dec. 27

The Offering (Christmas 1983)

May the kings of Tarshish and of isles render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!
Long may he lives,
may gold Sheba be given to him!(Psalm 72:10, 15)

Brought up in a world where there's no free lunch
And trained to use presents for barter, I'm spending
The rest of my life receiving this gift with no
Strings attached, but not doing well.

Three bathrobed wise with six or seven
Inches of jeans and sneakers showing, kneel,
Offering gifts that symbolize the gifts
That none of us is ready yet to give.

A few of us stay behind, blow out the candles,
Sweep up the straw and put the crèche in storage.

We open the door into the world's night
And find we've played ourselves into a better

Performance. We leave with our left-over change changed
At the offertory into kingdom gold.

Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.

Matthew 1:11b

Living the Message Dec.26

The Gift (Christmas 1976)

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given...
and his name will be called
"Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

Half-sick with excitement and under garish lights
I do it again, year after year after year.
I can't wait to plunder the boxes, then show
And tell my friends: Look what I got!

I rep the tissue from every gift but find
The all the labels have lied. Stones.
And my heart a stone. "Dead in trespasses
And sin." The lights go out. Later my eyes,

Accustomed to the dark, see wrapped
In Christ-foil and ribboned in Spirit-colors

The multi-names messiah, love labels
On a faith shape, every name a promise
And every promise a present, made and named
All in the same breath. I accept.

A savior has just been born in David's town,
a Savior who is Messiah and Master. Thi is what you are to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger.

Luke 2:11-12

Living the Message Dec.25

The Pain (Christmas 1978)

... and a sword will pierce through your own soul
also, that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed. (Luke 2:35)

The bawling of babies, always in a way
Inappropriate--why should the loved and innocent
Greet existence with wails?--is proof that not all
Is well. Dreams and deliveries never quite mesh.

Deep hungers go unsatisfied, deep hurts
Unhealed. The natural and gay are torn
By ugly grimace and curse. A wound appears
In the place of ecstasy. Birth is bloody.

All pain's a prelude: to symphony, to sweetness.
"The pearl began as a pain in the oyster's stomach."

Dogwood, recycled from cradle to cross, enters
The market again as a yoke for easing burdens.

Each sword-opened side is the matrix for God.
To come to me again through travail for joy.

"This child marks both the failure and
the recovery of many in Israel,
A figure misunderstood and contradicted--
the pain of a sword-thrust through you--
But the rejection will force honesty,
as God reveals who they really are."

Luke 2:34bB-35

Be Quiet, Patient and Listen

He gives us one tongue, but two ears.
God never plays the game. Keep seeking, asking and praying.

--
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

Living the Message Dec.24

The Dream (Christmas 1974)

...an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. (Matthew 1:20)

Amiably conversant with virtue and evil,
The righteousness of Joseph and wickedness
Of Herod, I'm ever and always a stranger to grace.
I need this annual angel visitation.

--sudden dive by dream to reality--
To know the virgin conceives and God it with us.
The dream powers its way through winter weather
And gives me vision to see Jesus gift.

Light from the dream lasts a year Impervious
To equinox and solstice it makes twelve months

Of daylight by which I see the crèche where my Redeemer lives. Archetypes of praise take shape

Deep in my spirit. As autumn wanes I count
The days 'til I will have the dream again.

Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. Ha name the baby Jesus.

Matthew 1:24-25

Living the Message Dec.23

The Tree (Christmas 1975)

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesus,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots. (Isaiah 11:1)

Jesse's roots, composted with caresses
Of dove and lamb, parchments of ox and goat,
Centuries of dried up prayers and bloody
Sacrifice, now bear me gospel fruit.

David's branch, fed on kosher soil,
Blossoms a messianic flower, and them
Ripens into a kingdom crop, conserving
The fragrance and warmth of spring for winter use.

Holy Spirit, shake our family tree;
Release your ripened fruit to our outstretched arms.

I'd like to see my children sink their teeth
Into promised land pomegranates

And Canaan grapes, bushel gifts of God,
While I skip a grace rope to a Christ tune.

The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
the power of the Highest hover over you;
There fore, the child you bring to birth
will be called Holy, the Son of God.

Luke 1:35

Living the Message Dec.22

Dec. 22
The Greeting (Christmas 1986)

The following six days are selected Christmas poems written for annual Christmas greetings.

Hail, O favored one,
the Lord is with you! (Luke 1:28)

My mail carrier, driving his stubby white
Truck, rimmed in blue and red, wingless
But wheeled, commissioned by the civil service
Daily delivers the Gospel every Advent.

This Gabriel, uniformed in gabardine,
Unsmiling descendant of his dazzling original,
Under the burden of greeting is stoical
But prompt: annunciations at ten each morning.

One or two or three a day at first;
By the second week momentum's up,
My mail box is stuffed, each card stamped

With the glory at a cost of only twenty-five cents
(Brining the news that God is here with us)
First class, personally hand addressed.

"Good morning!
You're beautiful with God's beauty,
Beautiful inside and out!
God be with you."

Luke 1:28
------------------------------------------------
Cool, I like the message so much, it's so encouraged.
I don't wanna be a stupid girl! Keeping listening and learning.
Follow Him. Don't expect GPS, map or layout anymore!

Changing Winds Will Produce New Trade Routes: Port Cities - Watch Now for the Gates to Change!

Dear Friends and Hungry Saints:

Earlier today we sent out the first portion of the prophetic release from Sunday morning. Now what follows is the word that continued on Sunday AM. Supply lines are changing - get in the flow of the new stream!

During the time of revelation, the Spirit of God began to speak to many. In this portion, you will see the call for us to receive the Changing Winds that will Produce New Trade Routes: Port Cities - Watch Now for Your Supply to Change! Keith Pierce began to prophesy to me: “I see this scripture over your head. I saw a light come up over your head like a light house. Isaiah 60 was beaming above your head as waves in the sea began to lap at your feet. This caused ships to begin to change their directional path and change their courses and come into new ports. The Lord said, ‘You lived in Houston, which is a port city, and you have always had a great love for it. It has changed, and now I am extending the port inland all the way to this area. I will begin to dig from Houston to here and the supply that comes into the Port of Houston will make its way to here.’”

Keith then read Isaiah 60 over me. Here are some excerpts from that chapter:

“Arise, shine, for your light is come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. Darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over My people, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look about you. All assemble and come to you. Your sons come from afar and your daughters are carried on the arm. Then you will look and be radiant. Your heart will throb and swell with joy.

The wealth on the seas will be brought to you. The riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land. Young camels from Midian and Ephrah and all from Sheba (cites in the Arabian desert) will come bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. All Kedars flocks will gather to you. The Rams of Neboah will serve you. (The Gentile wealth from these cities would be brought to complete the second building of the Temple). They will be accepted as offerings on My altar and I will adorn My glorious temple. Who are these who fly along like clouds and like doves to the nest? Surely the islands look to Me. In the lead are the ships of Tarshish bringing your sons from afar with their silver and their gold to the honor of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for He has endowed you with splendor.”

This will be a Season of Redirecting the Ships of Supply

“This will be a season of redirecting the ships of supply. I have held ships in bay for a while. I have kept them in port, but now I will take ships from unusual places and bring them into new places. I am causing a new group to arise who understand trade and the shipping system. These will redirect the ships of supply throughout the earth realm. In the boundaries I have set you in, learn how supply is attached to its source. In other words, if you work for Neimans Clothing Store (like Janice Swinney), you will have to know how the trade is coming into Neimans. I will then give My positioned people the ability to redirect and open up new trade systems. If My people do not understand the power of redirecting trade at this time then they will not pull in their supply for My Kingdom advancement. This is a time of redirecting supply and causing supply lines to form in new ways. Lines of supply have been flowing in one way, but now My people will redirect them throughout the earth.

You will know how you are being supplied. You have been taking supply, but not understanding the root of the produce. That is why My plan of giving is so important. Without giving, you cannot break the power of supply received from a bad root. Most provision that comes into your hands is from Me. However, it must be sanctified. For everything that I allow you to steward on My behalf, you will ask the question, ‘Where did this come from? How do I prosper when I lay my hand upon something?’ This will be a different season for My people. Their sources will not always be “holy”, but they can redeem the provision. They will know and cause lines that have not formed to open up. They will cause lines that have been closed down to be reformed. I am changing the supply lines of nations, and port cities must know NOW that they will change. Watch the ports throughout the earth.

Great Contending for the Ships to Come to Shore - the Pirates are in the Water

There will be great contention for ships to reach their destination. Even though the pirates have risen to take the booty at the ports, My people will be redirecting the booty for they have the law of booty built within them. Because you have the law of booty in you, you will know how to cause lines of supply to come into My house. Even the airline industry will start making a great change in days ahead. You must know the flight patterns and how they are changing. There will be a great change coming in the airline industry in this administration. This is a time that I am replanting your feet. Some will say, ‘I am called to the 7-11’ (gas stations). Others will say, ‘I am called to the newspapers.’ Some are resisting the change I am moving you into. Some will say, ‘I am called to the music industry.’ You will have to understand the supply lines from the source. You must go to the next level if you want to see My Kingdom make its shift in this generation. Don’t try to understand by using old skills and mindsets. For the enemy is developing new ways to pirate the booty. Start thinking in a new way for I will quicken your spirit in the place I plant you and every where your hand extends and touches something you will cause growth to occur. Every contract will have meaning. Watch for supply structures to change.

Teachers Must Teach Differently

I say to the teachers of the earth, ‘You must understand the resources that I have given you and how they affect My Kingdom. You have not been sent into the school system just for jobs. You have been set there to see the resources that I have in the next generation. This is a different time. You have not yet seen how I will cause the next generation to be used. Change the way you are teaching. You will see roots.’

This is a new day of understanding. You will understand the drug trafficking that is going on around you. You will understand how supply is being shifted illegally, and I will give My people the ability to shift it back. You have been focusing on how illegal drug trade is occurring, but not the Mammon system behind it. If I allow drugs into a port, you will have the ability to redirect them into the right place. If you ask Me then I will reveal to you in the night where and what has come in. You will be able to stop illegal spending.

I have new supply strategies. Gather My supply into the new supply lines. I am delivering you from a system that you have been built into. This system has produced familiar spirits around you. I am pulling you out of that system and replanting you all over the earth. This will allow you to gather new supply in fields that are now forming. I will show you new provision that is springing up all around you. You will cause the right path to form for this provision to be brought to the right harbors.

This is a different season. Your mind is still in the last season and that is why your fire is going out. I am redoing the housing system and opening up homes for My people to gather so I can reposition them in various areas. Watch what I am doing. See the recession differently than you have in the past and prepare yourself. Some of you need new skills. Be willing to learn in a new way. You are relying on your understanding and knowledge of the past. Be willing to learn. Know what I AM doing and develop your skills around the opportunities that I place on your path. Study to show yourself approved. Prove Me NOW!

You are entering a war season over supply over the next 7 years. You are being put on the front line to redirect it. Watch every canal system. Watch the Suez and Panama Canals. Watch the trade systems coming in and watch what I AM doing. I will show you boats. The boats and ports that I reveal to you are the key to your future in this generation. You will direct the ships of the earth and where they are bringing supply into the nations and the Kingdom development of My plans this hour. Whether they are in the air or in the sea or in the port, My people will now redirect the ships of the earth. If you are in a port city, this is your assignment: to tear down Mammon systems and to control what is coming into your port.

There is a change that is occurring in the earth. The enemy has had a sound that has caused the ships to crash upon the rocks. But I am giving My people a sound that will redirect the ships to bring them into the harbor. This will release the supply that is intended for a Kingdom advance this hour. Receive your sound. There is a turning of the waters, and ships are being redirected. Release the sound I give you and turn My supply for your future into the right harbor.

Do not look at your wilderness job the same way that you have viewed it in the past. You have seen your job as menial. Every position is a divine appointment - whether you stay there one day or one year. I AM divinely appointing and positioning My people for them to understand supply lines. I AM even going to give you the ships of the desert. You have resisted your desert place and have not seen the ships in the desert, and have misappropriated and misdirected the supply of your desert. This is a time, no matter where you are positioned, for you to gain your skills for the next season. I will not release you from your desert until you understand the supply line of that desert. If you are being released, this means that you are ready to learn something new from Me. This is a new season. Hear Me now: the season has shifted!

You are trying to change the flow of supply and the way things are done. You are looking at a government and becoming bitter over the way that government is doing things. Get to the root of your bitterness. I have a people that I can take into the root systems of control structures, get to the root of where the supply originated and redirect the flow of supply. I have given you the authority to say, ‘Dry up.’ You have the authority to say, ‘Flow.’ You have the authority to say, ‘Unlock the fruit.’ You have the authority because you are grafted into My covenant plan of prosperity. Because you are grafted, you can graft in new creative strands that will produce new prototypes. Many that you have been reporting to will now harden their hearts toward you. Do not resist the training that I am bringing you, for I must harden you to circumstances until you understand that it is Me who has positioned you to take the spoils that I am training you to take in days ahead. You are relying on old supply methods and now they will shift and you will have dreams and visions that tear down old methodologies and cause new systems to come forth.”

LeAnn Squier then began to sing, “I am no longer comfortable in my comfort zone. The Lord is pushing me out. I must find the gold in the desert and the rivers of living water where ever I am.”

The Lord continued, “Move past spirits of divination. Divination is always linked with supply and lust. You will get past divination and you will lead My people past it in days ahead. There is creative ability in each one of you, but you do not understand the root system. You do not understand how to grab the opportunities that I am bringing to you. They are floating right past you and you are unaware of your opportunities that I am producing around you daily. This is a different time and season. You must not think religiously but must see what I want you to see.

Leave, step above words spoken over you in the last season, and step into the words that have been prophesied for your future. If you will move into those words and rely upon Me, I will open doors that will astound you. You will rise up into a call that you have not known. Because of that call, you will shine in new ways. I am changing national alignments and have repositioned you for such a time as this. Learn and follow. Though you might not know, you can get behind the wagon of which way you are to go.

You will move in new ways to see how to multiply your past resources and gain new resources. This generation must learn of Me, sing of Me, and move with Me. You will lead them in a new way and cause them to see in new ways - past their old methods of seeing. This is not a season of prejudices. You are fighting for your future and it has nothing to do with your bloodline or your race. You are fighting for a release that I AM bringing. I am a God that purifies your blood and causes old iniquities in your blood to be released and My Spirit will cause your blood to become new again. New blood flow will cause you conscience to come alive to Me. I am a God who unlocks things that have been held up. This is your day of change and rearranging. I will use everything in your past. Instead of seeing things you don’t like, make a list of the things you want to know and I will not limit My revelation to you this hour. I will make you a father to Pharaoh systems in days ahead and you will administrate My new plans in the earth.

The times have changed. Change with Me, for this will be a house that I throw into a directing call for the future of My people. Those who line up, those who bow down, those that come in will say, ‘I am getting my revelation. I am reforming the way I am doing things. I must let go of the system I have been part of and align with the system God is giving me. I will gain the revelation I need and have an ear to hear what Father is saying to me.’ Hear carefully now for the days of change are upon you. You will not do church the way you have done it in the past. You will get in the flow I have put you in or you will lose your way to go.

LET GO of your expectations from your last spiritual season. They mean nothing anymore except that they will become new strength for your future. Your loss and defeat can now become the bridge of revelation for your victorious future. Get past the structures that come into your path. God will cause demon forces to stand before you so that you can cause them to disintegrate and be bound for a season.

The camels are here! Open the gate. The supply has turned. The flow has shifted. Receive the camels. For today is a new beginning for those who have received My word and are willing to shift and catch the wind in their sails. The supply lines have turned. Grab the new lines and enjoy the journey to the destination. Do not worry about how you are going to do this - just receive the grace you will need to make the shift. My grace is abundant in this hour and My revelation is flowing freely. Receive, and you will prosper in the future.”

Blessings,
Chuck D. Pierce

The original: http://www.glory-of-zion.org/outmail/12-2-08_TradeProphecyOnline.htm

Chinese:http://www.hosanna-tod.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=120908y&Rcg=16334

Living the Message Dec. 21

The World of Words

It is not significant that the biblical prophets and psalmists were all poets?...In reading poets, I find congenital allies in the world of words. In writing poems, I find myself practicing my pastoral craft in a biblical way.

[Jesus said, ] "And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in out traditions. You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk."

Matthew 5:55

Living the Message Dec.20

Sin and the Devil

The most contemporary spiritualities pretty much ignore sin and the devil. The prevailing assumption seems to be that men and women are basically innocent and good, and all that is needed is training and encouragement to become our best selves," and "blossom where we're planted." "Selfism" is fobbed off as spirituality. Sappy aphorism from Khalil Gibran substitute for the tempered steel imperatives of Jesus.
But we Christians are well warned not to be fooled by superficial appearances of holiness, especially at those times when we think we catch glimpses of them in the mirror. We need rigorous and detailed schooling in the nuances of temptation, the ways of the devil, and our seemingly endless capacity for deceiving ourselves and being deceived.

Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better to catch you napping. Keep your guard up.

IPeter 5:8-9A

Am I an Intelligent Woman or Stupid Girl?

This is the question I have been asking to myself today...still no clues.
By the way, picked up "Friends" today.

Q: where is the relationship going?
1. I love spending time with you.
2. I like the ways you are.
3. When I see you two, there is no love there.
4. I really like you, I love hanging out with you; I had a lot of fun.
5. There’s no point in spending time with someone if it’s just fun.

So where are we?
Well, well to sum up, we’re having fun... BUT Ross gave his key to Mona.
Ha! Funny episode.

Living the message

Dec. 18
Our Wiser Ancestors

Herman Melville once wrote to a friend, "I love all men who dive." Most of us do. But where do we find them? Not in the men and women who attract attention. The trivial and evil feed the appetite for gossip in a journalistic culture. Neither goodness nor righteousness make headlines. Anything which cannot be programmed for mass production, particularly moral excellence, is discarded. Maturity, since it cannot be mastered in a semester course, is no longer a personal goal.
Our ancestors were wiser. They looked around for saints looked for the men and women whose lives were courageously conversant with God, and let them be their teachers in how to live as human begins, which is to say, how to live holy lives. Our secularized world, surfeited on celebrities and victims, has lost the capacity to see God working in ordinary and often unlikely people, that is, to recognize saints. The word itself has been so drained of meaning that it is more likely to be heard as disclaimer--"I 'm no saint"--than as an honorific. Leon Bloy puts us on the way to recovering appreciation and insight in this blunt and bold sentence, "The only sadness, not to be a saint"(Tristesse--de pas etre Saint).

I'm about to die, my life an offering on God's altar. This is the only race worth running. I've run hard right to the finish, believed all the way. All tha'ts left now is the shouting--God's applause!

2 Timothy 4:6--8A

Thai Green Curry

It tastes just like what we can have from a Thai restaurant. Amazing! I always feel confident of my cooking, as long as there is no audience around. Usually I look like a dumb having hands like feet when cooking and will forget what to do suddenly; or I don't like let people see me doing the "magic," because they will figure out it is not a big deal. Thus, to keep it as a mystery sounds better to me.
Frankly, what I did just to spend some time browsing the Internet (earlier is recipe books), gathering the materials what I need and then finding a right way to put everything in. OVER! Even a mouse can cook--what's his name? Ratatouille~ haha...

Time to enjoy my green curry~

Soul Tie Prayer

Living the Message Dec. 17

The Business of Holy Living

All Christians, in some way or another, are about the business of holy living, whether we have acquired a suitable vocabulary for it or not. But it is difficult to know exactly what it consists of. We hardly know what to look for anymore. For the last hundred years and more, those who have set themselves up as our authorities in how to live have been taking us on thrilling roller-coaster prospects of either social utopianism or psychological fulfillment--or both. And we are worse. The only things that have improved, if that it the word for it, are our capacities to move faster and spend more.

There are husbands who, indifferent as they are to any words about God, will be captivated by your life of holy beauty....Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way...

I Peter 3IB, 4-5
(I like today's verse so much.)

Living the Message Dec.15

Dec. 15
A Holy Place

The following is a reflection on Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It and Other Stories.

I know a man who used to buy this book in lots of ten or twenty and give it away, as he put, to "those who are worthy of reading it." He gave me a copy. It soon become a family book as my wife and children and I would read it aloud to each other. One reason that we liked it so much was that it gave dignity and a sense of holiness to take place a hundred miles from where I grew up in Montana and where our family returned each summer for holidays. We already knew it was a holy place, but the book confirmed and deepened out reverence. The book functioned as shrine, calling attention to this place: this is holy ground--worship God here.

...Judas, his betrayer, also knew the place because Jesus and his disciples went there often.

John 18:2

Living The Message --Conversation with Friends

Living The Message

Conversation with Friends

Among those for whom Scripture is passion, reading commentaries has always seemed to me analogous to the gathering of football fans in the local bar, replaying in endless detail the game they have just watched, arguing (maybe even fighting) over observations and opinion, and lacing the discourse with gossip about the players. The level of knowledge evident in these boozy colloquies is impressive. These fans have watched the game for years; the players are household names to them; they know the fine print in the rule book and pick up every nuance on the field. And they are immensely about what happens in the game. Their seemingly endless commentary is evidence of how much they care. Like them, what I relish in commentary is no bare information but conversation with knowledgeable and experienced friends, probing, observing, questioning the biblical text. Absorbed by this plot that stretches grandly from Genesis to Revelation, captured by the messianic presence that in death and resurrection saves us one and all, there is much to notice, much to talk over.

I am chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
I 'll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our father,
counsel we learned at our mother's knee.

Psalm 78:2-3

X'Mas Song

by Meiko

I don't think Santa's coming this year
'Cause I've been a bad, a bad girl.
I've made my bed, now I'm lying in it
Without a care, a care in the world.
And I took his heart, I tore it apart.
I left him outside in the cold.
I shot him down, in the middle of town.
Oh, I left him outside in the snow.
I won't have no presents this year
'Cause I've been a bad, a bad girl.
I've made my bed now I'm lying in it
Without a care, a care in the world.
And he took me in, he made me sin,
And I never wanna go back again.
So I did him in, I made it all in,
No I never wanna go back again.
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.
[Dee doo doo doo....]
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.
Maybe next year I'll be good,
Maybe next year I'll be better.

Only being willing to die can make me reborn

Oh my Lord, I have understood what I have done is wrong. It blocked the love from You, in particular the destruction of my prayer life. Help me to avoid from being blind with hate and angry.

I am regretful about that we did the wrong thing, please forgive that we tried to do things ahead without waiting for your leading and calling. I know I have failed You. But, please forgive me--cleanse my heart! Let me reborn. I know that only being willing to die can make me reborn.

Embrace me again, my Lord.

I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"--and forgave the quilt of my sin.
Psalms 33:5


Living The Message

Dec. 12
The Escapist Pleasures
Our cottage industry in murder mysteries didn't last long--a few weeks as I recall. But it was enough to introduce me to the escapist pleasures of detective fiction. I soon found that it is a pleasure much indulged in by scholars, pastors and theologians. Gabriel Marcel always insisted that we have to choose whether we will treat life as a problem to be solved or as a mystery to be entered. Why then do so many of the men and women who choose to enter the mystery slip aside from time to read mysteries that aren't mysteries at all, but problems that always get solved by the last page? I think one reason may be that right and wrong, so often obscured in the ambiguities of everyday living, are cleanly delineated in the murder mystery. The story gives us moral and intellectual breathing room when we are about to be suffocated in the hot air and heavy panting of relativism and subjectivism.

[Jesus said,] "We're not keeping secrets, we're telling them. We're not hiding things; we're bringing everything out into the open."
Luke 8:17

Ingrid Michaelson-- Die Alone

I like this song, I wish I have chance to hear Ingrid's live concert.

Ingrid Michaelson-- Die Alone

I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head.
Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread.
Something tastes different, maybe it's my tongue.
Something tastes different, suddenly I'm not so young.

I'm just a stranger, even to myself.
A re-arranger of the proverbial bookshelf.
Don't be a fool girl, tell him you love him.
Don't be a fool girl, you're not above him.

I never thought I could love anyone but myself.
Now I know I can't love anyone but you.
You make me think that maybe I won't die alone.
Maybe I won't die alone.

Kiss the boys as they walk by, call me their baby.
But little do they know, I'm just a maybe.
Maybe my baby will be the one to leave me sore.
Maybe my baby will settle the score.

I never thought I could love anyone but myself.
Now I know I can't love anyone but you.
You make me think that maybe I won't die alone.
Maybe I won't die alone.

What have I become?
Something soft and really quite dumb.
Because I've fallen, oh, 'cuz I've fall-fallen, oh 'cuz I've fall-fall-fallen
So far away from the place where I started from.

I never thought I could love anyone.
I never thought I could love anyone.
I never thought I could love anyone,
But you, but you, but you, but you, but you
But you make me think that maybe I won't die alone.
Maybe I won't die alone.