Thin Skinned

"People with good sense are slow to anger, and it is their glory to overlook an offense." -Proverbs 19:11

Every now and then, one of our chickens will lay an egg that has no shell. Instead of a shell, the egg will literally be only a thin, leathery membrane of skin. For some reason or other, the egg didn't become calcified before being laid. With no shell, it doesn't take much to destroy the delicate innards of the egg.

It is easy to become offended. It's second nature to allow our innards to become scrambled by life's abrasive and abusive ways. We need to be prepared for the fact that our enemy is merciless and is seeking to destroy us. We must not be thin-skinned! We must put on the armor of God to protect our precious hearts. One of the greatest ways to protect ourselves is through basic obedience to God's Word and self-control.

"Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control." -Proverbs 25:28

Ruling our spirits and submitting them to God's ways protects us from most of what the enemy will throw at us. Life will happen, but how will we react? Men will betray, and many will hurt us without even trying. What will we do?

"For if you forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others their offenses, your heavenly Father will not forgive yours." -Matthew 6:14&15

Forgiveness protects us from not only destroying ourselves with bitterness, but also from the wrath of God. Forgiveness is like a shell protecting us. God will not forgive us our offenses if we do not forgive others. If a holy God can overlook our offenses when we humble ourselves and repent, who are we to not do the same to fellow people when we are no better than they are?

Let us not live like the "reject" eggs from my chickens. They are formless, floppy, and vulnerable to nearly every provocation. Instead, let us be conformed to the image of Christ who bore no bitterness despite the fact that he was the most wrongfully assaulted person ever. Let us not be weak and floppy, but strengthened and renewed by waiting upon the Lord and exercising ourselves spiritually so we are fit enough to do battle for others in the name of our Lord. As we bear the name and standard of Christ's righteousness, may we be found without chinks in our armor due to our own lack of self-government.

"Hear a just cause, Adonai, heed my cry;
listen to my prayer from honest lips.
Let my vindication come from you,
let your eyes see what is right.

You probed my heart,
you visited me at night,
and you assayed me without finding evil thoughts
that should not pass my lips.
As for what others do, by words from your lips
I have kept myself from the ways of the violent;
my steps hold steadily to your paths,
my feet do not slip.

Now I call on you, God, for you will answer me.
Turn your ear to me, hear my words.
Show how wonderful is your grace,
savior of those who seek at your right hand
refuge from their foes.
Protect me like the pupil of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings
from the wicked, who are assailing me,
from my deadly enemies, who are all around me.

They close their hearts to compassion;
they speak arrogantly with their mouths;
they track me down, they surround me;
they watch for a chance to bring me to the ground.
They are like lions eager to tear the prey,
like young lions crouching in ambush.

Arise, Adonai, confront them! Bring them down!
With your sword deliver me from the wicked,
with your hand, Adonai, from human beings,
from people whose portion in life is this world.
You fill their stomachs with your treasure,
their children will be satisfied, too
and will leave their wealth to their little ones.

But my prayer, in righteousness, is to see your face;
on waking, may I be satisfied with a vision of you."

Psalm 17

Dearest friend, overlook offenses and rule your spirit. Our just Lord will surely settle all accounts and make all things right. We believe He is good and trustworthy, so let us act like it.

The Lust of the Flesh

Autumn on the farm means primarily one thing: downsizing. I walk meditatively among my animals and pause and reflect among many of them. I decide which ones I will keep and which ones I will sell or slaughter. Winter drives the beasties into the barn and all that they eat comes from my pocketbook instead of what the Lord has produced in their pasture. Old laying hens will soon meet the plucking machine...breeders who haven't produced well will meet the gambrel...temperamental goats that don't share food with their neighbors will share their own selves soon...and the ones who were destined from birth (wethers) will finally live up the names they've borne for the past 8 months or so. Let's see, there's Baby Beef, Little Sausage, etc....

I'm not hungry, but I cannot help gazing over my flock and mentally pick off the ones I know will taste so good; I am imagining maple sausages, grilled chops, meatballs, stews, and roasts. Jokingly, we say I am literally lusting after their flesh and they don't seem to know it. They contentedly munch their hay and grain and bleat with their little tails wagging.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said,'If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.' Jesus answered,'It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"(Matthew 4:2-4)

When Jesus was tempted with turning the stones into bread, it was referred to as being tempted with 'the lust of the flesh'. The other things he was tempted with were called 'the lust of the eyes' and 'the pride of life'. However, lust of the flesh is simply desiring something natural to desire. Jesus was legitimately very hungry. If he were not hungry, it wouldn't have been much of a temptation. However, it was the Spirit who led him into the desert, so it must be the Spirit who was to sustain him. He passed the test. He was not supposed to use his divine power to satiate his flesh.

Lust of the flesh takes on many, many forms that are overlooked. For example, have you ever had a task that you knew you should complete, but you yielded to your tiredness and didn't complete it? Tiredness is natural and is no more sinful than desiring bread when you haven't eaten in 40 days. Have we tried the divine path when tempted with quitting? We could say,"It is written: You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised (Heb. 10:36)".

The Lord is not looking to build an army of weak-willed people who cave to natural cravings. Yes, we are fearfully and wonderfully made so that our body signals when we are to satisfy a need. But one need so desperately forsaken is the need to exercise our spiritual self. We are more than flesh, we are born again...born of the Spirit of the One who raised himself from the dead! Surely, we are more than ovecomers!(Romans 8:37)

I am not suggesting that I am strong. Indeed, I am weak. However, God transforms my helplessness into something beautiful that He can use. A leaf that desperately tries to dig it's little stem into the ground will weary itself with each puff of wind that tests it's resolve; plus, it is likely it will become trampled into the ground and will become nothing more than the dirt it's pressed into. However, a leaf that yields itself to the wind, takes flight and rides the current of the wind and avoids being trampled underfoot. I am that leaf. May the power of the Living God move me and use me. Breathe on me, O Breath of Life.

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin." Romans 6:6

So, it is written.

Ezer

How can I not write about my dog, Asher? Asher is a border collie, and he helps me move the livestock every day. Before I had him, I would run around like a fool, yelling and waving my arms trying to round up the sheep. They didn't take me very seriously. I didn't take me very seriously.

Asher does so much more than help me move the stock. Asher is a good friend. Ask anyone who has visited my home, and they will tell you that he greets you with a hug. He will wrap his arms around your leg and squeeze. He is extremely obedient and will always go out of his way to obey. He not only answers to me, but to anyone. He responds even to my children as an authority. If you tell him to lay down, he will drop to the ground immediately with no hesitation. His desire is to please...always. I have even had friends bring their dogs to my home, and Asher keeps them in line and will not let them disobey their owner or chase chickens or whatever else naughty a dog may do.

When we need a job with the stock done, the first question is: "Where's Asher? I need him." He brings order to the barnyard and he carries authority. The very sight of him makes the sheep bolt into the barn, so I actually cannot have him out during feeding time or the sheep would never get fed. With all he does, though, he doesn't assume his own authority; but he submits to me.

The word "ezer" accurately describes Asher in my life. Ezer is the Hebrew word for "help".

One of the first uses of it in Scripture is when Adam meets Eve and she is called his "ezer kenegdo" (help-meet). This is found in Genesis 2:18. God says that it is not good for man to be alone. Man alone is a lot like the picture of me trying to round up the sheep without Asher. Now, granted, some men are called into a life of celibacy, but they are hardly alone; God is their all. What I'm speaking of is that woman was created to help man do his job. She was not created directly in the image of God, but the image of man, who was made in the image of God (1 Corinthians 11:8&9). This is not to say that women are NOT made in the image of God at all, but simply that she was taken from man and is the glory of man. Women indeed are made in the image of God same as man, only more indirectly so. Thusly, for the ladies, remember to submit to your husband and have a heart for pleasing him. If you are not married, do it for your father. If you are single, do it for God who is your heavenly Father and your Bridegroom. Be His ezer kenegdo...it's who you were created to be, and anything apart from that will leave you feeling incomplete because you are truly being delinquent against the very fiber of your being. For the men, look to God as your Head and Leader--come alongside Him and allow His authority to work through you to bring order to a rebellious world.

Help can also take on the form of something much stronger than something that comes alongside you that aids you in your tasks. The word "ezer" is used again in Psalm 121--

"If I raise my eyes to the hills, from where will my help come? My help comes from Adonai, the maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip--your guardian is not asleep. No, the guardian of Israel never slumbers or sleeps. Adonai is your guardian; at your right hand Adonai provides you with shade--the sun can't strike you during the day or even the moon at night. Adonai will guard you against all harm; he will guard your life. Adonai will guard your coming and going from now on and forever."

Come again? "...at your right hand?" That sounds like God is our helper! Not only do we come alongside God to carry out His will, He comes alongside us to aid us in what He's called us to do. What a beautiful design the Lord laid out for our relationship with Him! My dear Asher is much like this picture of "helping guardian", as nothing happens on my land that Asher is not aware of first. He alerts me so that I can be watchful. He makes me a better ruler over this land the Lord gave me.

Ezer. What a beautiful word.

"Two are better than one, in that their cooperative efforts yield this advantage: if one of them falls, the other will help his partner up--woe to him who is alone when he falls and has no one to help him up." -Ecclesiastes 4:9&10

Passing On The Power

"Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha,'Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?'
'Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,'Elisha replied.
'You have asked a difficult thing,'Elijah said,'yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours--otherwise not.'
As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out,'My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!' And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.
He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. 'Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?'he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over."
-2 Kings 2:8-14

My goats were delayed in their breeding season this year, so I decided to do something to stimulate them into cycling. A neighbor was giving away a pygmy goat buck that had a lot of musk...and I mean A LOT!!! As my husband was driving in the truck on the highway in front of me with the goat in the bed of it, I could smell our furry friend 40 or so feet behind him in the car! It was my hope that this buck would, by pure fragrance, trigger my goats to go into heat.

Now, I have a buck. I have a wonderful buck. However, he's a six month old baby and puberty has eluded him the benefits of being stinky enough to woo the ladies. He's ready, he's eager, he's able...but he's not enough "buck" for my goats. He needed help.

Mr. Stinky (as I shall call the sexually charged pygmy, as we had many other less affectionate nicknames for him as time went on) successfully triggered my goats into heat. The problem started when my does wanted only to breed with him, and I didn't want such an ugly little monster to breed. Poor Pilgrim (that's my lamancha buck) didn't stand a chance against all that musky goatishness in the next pen. In turn, Mr. Stinky took his frustration out on us when we wouldn't let him breed. He became very aggressive and began charging at me, my husband, and my children. My legs became very bruised up and I found myself running with a full bucket of milk from the garage to the house just to avoid getting attacked. All barnyard peace was abandoned during his short stay!

The obvious decision had to be made to euthanize the aggressive Mr. Stinky. However, how then would we be able to make sure Pilgrim was "buck enough" for the girls? After my husband shot Mr. Stinky, we carefully removed his collar. It was saturated and literally greasy with all of his various funky musks. Perfect. After we burned Mr. Stinky's body, we bequeathed Pilgrim with his old collar.

From the moment we placed that collar on Pilgrim, it was as if we had knighted him. He was now stinky and he knew it. He smelled like a "real" grown-up buck! He got a strut in his step and he promptly began wooing all of my does relentlessly. That smelly collar is like a ring of power around his neck.

What God has given to us for His purposes is no more an object to call our own than as the sky owns the sun. The passing of the prophet's cloak was a beautiful transference of power from Elijah to Elisha. Where Elijah was going he didn't need it any more. We shall be utterly changed in the fire and will not need anything any more. What we try to hold in our hand shall be burned up, so pass it on!

As John the Baptist lived his life as a harbinger for Jesus himself, so should we be living a life ready to stand aside for those greater than ourselves. The natural man wants to be the greatest and the most wonderful, but the spirit man looks to lead people into becoming better than himself. Elijah mentored and prepared a man who became a prophet with double the anointing that he even had. Make a way for those behind you to supersede you in excellence. Our life is not our own. Sow into others all you have so that when you cross the Jordan and are taken in a whirlwind of fire, what you leave behind will carry on greater works than you ever achieved.

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last." -Matthew 20:16

"Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." -Matthew 25:40

"After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." -Mark 1:7

"Therefore, I urge you to imitate me...my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church." -1 Corinthians 4:16-17

"'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?'
Jesus replied,'You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.'
'No,'said Peter,'You shall never wash my feet.'
Jesus answered,'Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.'
'Then, Lord,' Simon Peter replied,'not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!'
....(Jesus says)'Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.'" - John 13:6-9&14-15

"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." -Luke 14:11

Dance With Abandon

Goats tend to be seasonal breeders, much like deer. Breeding season is always eventful. As dignified as some people act about breeding goats, the goats themselves forsake all dignity to reproduce.

When a female goat cycles and goes into heat, she will accept the service of a male goat. At all other times, she will refuse. When a female goat is in heat, she often wags her tail a lot (this is called flagging) and will rub her head on the male. This is not very ostentatious, but what the boy goat does is indeed nothing short of ostentatious.

To varying degrees, the male will make an utter fool of himself to get the girl. Most goats will hang their tongue out of their mouth, snort, wave their front leg in the air, pee into their mouth, flip their upper lip up, and make a series of vocal noises ranging from little grunts to full throaty octaves. I even had one buck that used to say the word "whoop, whoop" plain as day over and over. It gets the girl every time. The most beautiful of bucks will turn into a clownish imbecile in the presence of a receptive doe.

This made me think of King David as he danced before the Ark of the Lord (2 Samuel 6:13-15). He "danced with abandon" before the Lord because all of his excitement was tied up in the presence of God. Whatever is our object of worship demands our all, and our all includes our dignity.

Why did David wear only his undergarments and a ritual vest? I don't know. Why do male goats pee on themselves and sing hideous songs? I don't know. What I do know is this, though: David got what he wanted when he danced with abandon. What he wanted was an intimate experience with God, and he got it. If we worship with our eyes darting to and fro to the people around us who we think are watching us, we, too will get what we want. If that is how we worship, what we're wanting is a proper image, and we'll have it. If we close our eyes and yield our hearts to the Spirit's leading, what we want is what David wanted.

If a male goat became inhibited and was less focused on the girl in heat and more focused on the other goats watching him...he wouldn't get the girl. Quite honestly, he'd likely be the weenie of the barnyard. It's a personal opinion, but I think that when we worship God while thinking how we appear to others, the angels see us as worshipping weenies.

If I could, I would scream these words of David, the psalmist, from the rooftops: "As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father. Serve him wholeheartedly and with desire in your being; for Adonai searches all hearts and understands all the inclinations of people's thoughts." -1 Chronicles 28:9

Worship God with abandon. Serve God with abandon. Dance for God with abandon. All of heaven's eyes are looking on you, cheering you on to be a fool for Christ. You'll get the desires of your heart; so what is it that your heart is truly desiring?

Copper In The Gut & Clay In His Hands

Yesterday, I copper bolused my goats. At least, I think I copper bolused them. It's hard to tell when you're wrangling creatures that nearly match your weight and have jaws that they are only too ready to use to your digit's demise.

A copper bolus is quite simply a capsule that is loaded with tiny bits of copper wire. After the capsule dissolves, the bits of wire lodge themselves in the lining of the goat's stomach and dissintegrate over the course of 8 months, steadily releasing copper into the animal's system. The copper, in turn, will correct deficiencies in goats. Control of parasites is the #1 reason to copper bolus your goats.

To give you an idea what it looks like when I do this, I'll try to describe it to you:

I bring a cup full of capsules into the garage along with my balling gun (which shoves the pill down the throat). Each adult goat only needs two capsules, but I bring more knowing some will get caught in their molars and chewed and wasted. I enter the barn and catch an apprehensive goat by the collar and lead it into the garage despite the loud protests of the captured goat's friends left behind. I say a quick prayer that the procedure will go as smoothly as the diagrams in a book say, and then I act like it will be so. I straddle the goat and tie the lead rope around my belly so that even if I lose my grip on the goat, it cannot bolt without dragging me with it. I place the capsules in the end of the balling gun and insert it into the goat's mouth. This doesn't work, even though the book says it does. So, after my failure, I use the balling gun the way I think it should be used. I place it sidewise like a gag in the goat's mouth, shove the pills against the roof of the goat's mouth, and then pour water down it's throat. Sure, it gurgles it's protests and lunges to get away from me, but it's just a dumb, self-willed animal that has no idea that I'm trying to give it the best and most healthy life.

Often, I find that I have a sensation of God straddling me, gagging me, and flushing things into me that I don't understand. People say that Jesus is a gentleman because he knocks on the door of your heart instead of kicking it down. I agree. However, once you open the door and call him Lord and say,"I am yours, do with me what you will," ... interesting things happen. He accepts the position of being what He is best at ( a potter, a consuming fire, a teacher, etc) and gets to work.

The Bible is filled with passages much like the calm diagrams in my books painting a picture of what it should look like to bolus a goat. Reality can often be that we are stubborn, fearful, and self-willed and won't trust that God is working things together to help us. If we won't relax and trust, God will often have to use His tools in a more creative way to ensure that His goodness will come about in us. More than once I've forced Him to have to roll up His sleeves and get down and dirty with me!

Proverbs 3:5-8 says," Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones."

All good things come from God. Trust Him. You let Him in once before when He knocked at the door of your heart because of His irrisistible wonderfulness! Yield to Him. Things will go MUCH smoother. Let us not be like a dumb beast that fears nearly everything, but let us be good sons and daughters of our Lord who fear only Him...and even that fear is one of reverential love!

The Doughnut Gospel

"When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter,'Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?'
'Yes, Lord,' he said,'You know that I love you.'
Jesus said,'Feed my lambs.'" -John 21:15

Last week, I heard a knock on my door during dinner time. I opened the door and saw a woman. "Are you missing a sheep?" she asked. Puzzled, I said,"No, why?"
"There's an intact ram up at the BP gas station at Route 46, and someone said you had sheep and it was probably yours," she answered.
"It's not mine, but I'll take him," I said.

Upon arrival, I noticed a large ram with enormous horns pacing between the gas pumps and the air compressor. My husband and myself opened the back of our truck, pulled out some ropes, and prepared ourselves for a battle to catch and load this rogue ram. The woman who had come to our door before approached us and said,"Oh, you won't need those ropes. He's awfully friendly. He's been here all week."
"What's he been eating?" I asked.
"Doughnuts," she nonchalantly replied.
Wow.
So, we found that this ram was indeed partially in a sugar coma and was as easy to load into the truck as a sack of laundry. He was dazed and confused and was all too happy to collapse in the back of the truck and be left alone.

When we unloaded him at our home, he was greeted with a rude awakening. Pappy, our 280 lb ram (actually, he's more like a furry hippo) was none too pleased to find another ram on his turf. The new ram staggered into the pen and as soon as Pappy had a clear shot, he plowed into the new ram's side. After a few more hits, he shook his head, gazed about and began squaring up Pappy to ram him a few times himself. After a few more intense head-butts that lifted each other off the ground, they became the best of friends. By the next day, the new ram was as keen and alert as the best of sheep. He had come down from his sugar high.

When Jesus ordered Peter to 'feed his sheep', Peter was wise enough to know that the 'feed' he was to offer must be nourishing. Sometimes, the gospel we hear is anything but nourishing. Sometimes, the gospel we hear is like a doughnut.

What's so bad about a doughnut, you may ask? It's sugar coated and has a giant hole in it! Is there someone who has offered a gospel that focuses only on the tasty parts of the faith and none of the good, wholesome parts that require discomfort? Then it's an incomplete gospel, same as a diet of doughnuts is an incomplete diet.

The Apostles knew and understood the gravity of their task to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the peoples. 1 Corinthians 15:1-3 says,"Now, Brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel--which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say it again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Am I now trying to win the approval of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ." - Galatians 1:6-10

A 'doughnut gospel' might be popular, and it might fill pews, and it might help you feel better about yourself...but it's a lie. It's sugar coated with a giant hole in it. Those who preach for popularity preach to their own demise. Those who preach as Paul did (as a tortured, beaten servant in chains), preach as Christ did. Christ suffered and carried a cross, and a servant is not greater than his master. Beware of those who say that Jesus died so you can have the good life. Indeed, it is a good life to serve Christ; you will experience joy immeasurable...but you will also suffer, as did your Savior. You may not get much of what you ever wanted, unless all you ever wanted was intimacy with God and a life He blesses.

There will be those who have bought into a lie and will in turn attempt to deceive others. Some false teachers may not even understand that they are, but that does not make them innocent.
"There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They wills secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed, these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping." -2 Peter 2:1-3

Make sure your shepherd preaches the Word of God --unadulterated. There is no truth in a sugar coated gospel. What comfort we have is in God's faithfulness in His promises. My shepherd teaches that there is no such thing as padded crosses.


"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death." - Philippians 3:10

After his encounter with Christ in which he got interrogated as to the level of his devotion, Peter understood that he was to tend some sheep. The food he was to give them was to be the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing less. To feed them simply tasty morsels that satisfied their current craving would be to doom them. As my ram nearly forgot he was a ram until he was plowed over by one, the truth of Jesus often hits like a raging beast. Shake the sleep from your eyes, nourish yourself with truth, and charge into battle with power!

We are all commissioned to preach the good news, so let this be our prayer: "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should." -Ephesians 6:19-20

When I first yielded to my Jesus, I automatically became his slave. I could do no else. Out of this, a poem was birthed. This was the first poem after meeting him for who he really was, and it's my response to him:

I'm shackled, I'm chained,
I'm beaten, I'm torn;
Blood runs down
And spells out your name.
I cannot curse you;
You died for me
And I can only do the same.

Make me a martyr;
Let me die for your love.
Let me scream, let me cry--
And all for your perfect love.
I'm shaken by your Spirit!
Let me die for you
As you did for me.
You're the only Savior,
But I can die, too.

I love you and your perfect love.
I love you and you've gained my trust.
I'll die, too, and be an example;
Then my work will be done.
Let me die for you."

I shared this not because I think it's a good poem or even theologically accurate or emotionally healthy...I share it because when the Spirit of the Lord descended on me, I knew who Christ was, and I knew it wasn't a God who was like a magic fairy or a teddy bear. I want to know if I have brothers and sisters in Christ who will forsake the insignificant morsels of false gospel that pets our ego and pads our pride. I want to know if I have brothers and sisters who embrace the REAL Jesus for who He is and adore the REAL gospel and the power within it. Who's with me?!