Prayer for Salvation

You win some.
You loose some.
And other times your mind runs ahead of itself and into tangents that were pointless to begin with.

Clarity.
Focus.
A deep breath.
The darkness of the soul thrives on the chaos embodied in confusion.
It is hate which seeks control.
It is rage at the injustice.
It is the Dark Ones in the shadows which seek to reach and latch onto my soul.

My anger is no resolve for holiness.
It merely opens up the floodgates to the evil around me.
The sonic explosion of my scream as I turn against you and beat my fists into your mind, into your soul and rip apart your emotional immaturity is nothing but the source of the villainy inside of me.

I talk an excellent game of spiritual hypocrisy as my soul instantly runs to rage at the second I loose my footing.

I seek my own will, I see my own path, I want the world, I want the mindless self indulgence and as soon as I receive what I beg for...I explode in rage. I sell my soul at a cheap discount price to this world's religious whores for useless change.

I hate all of you.

This world will burn with the fuel of my senseless and depraved ego.

And why?

So I might make a mark?

Rage, seething and useless rage.

Rage that I let consume my heart, like the cancerous lust that forms the base of my mindless addictions. None of you reading this will understand, can understand the processes of my mental faculties because it would require you to listen beyond what is comfortable.

I want to destroy the world with my rage.

But my desire is to burn this tower of Babel I built with my hands.
This profane and perverse altar of Baal that I am willing to cut my wrists and bleed over as a sacrifice.
I want to eradicate this altar to Moloch on which I sacrificed my childhood innocence and what was stolen from me by the bastard demons that I see mocking me from the shadows.

Rage.

Furious rage.

An exhaustive collection of self entitled redundancy that I cannot possibly explain because you will never bother to try and look to see things through my eyes.

I want to throw up, I want to be sick just so I can get this poison out of my system. I want a cure that will let me never hurt inside, that will deliver me from every emotional insecurity and make me invincible when it comes from this ever so false sweet words that were nothing more than lies contrived to fool me into believing in the fragile and useless human heart.

I want my rage, I want my wrath to have no end but ultimately I am just as useless as I am weak.

I lay in wasted pain as I throw up the poison in my lungs and I cry for help.
I cry because I do not know why I am angry.
Do I have a right to spit venom because I wear my heart on my sleeve?
Do I have right to wage war because I cannot control my mind?
Because I refuse to control my mind?
Do I have fair access to violence to use in destroying the evil in me?

Love is the only cure for this useless disease of hate that consume my body, my mind, my soul, my entire being...every breath I take is corrupted, every thought is weak and I lay down and simply cry.

I am lost without You.
Everything else is useless.
I wasted breath on useless things.
I cried out to You and need to be rescued.
I want to be cut out of this reality and returned to You.
I want to feel my spirit leave while it can, I no longer know why I have fought.
I just know that You are You and all I want.

Rip my desires away, tear away this torn soul that lays in tatters. I do not want to desire this anymore...I not longer want to feel the need for any intimacy outside of Yours. I don't want to be touched, I no longer want to feel...I just want to feel the full power of Your wrath against the sins I refuse to repent of.

Destroy me.
Smite my existence into nothing.
Bring me into the lower levels of Hell so I will no longer be.
Break apart every molecule, split every cell and divide every corrupted atom that composes my existence.

Destroy me before I spread the plague of my hate.

And rebuild me.
Create me anew.
Make me good, make me pure like only You can.
I can do nothing expect pray for solace, pray Your love endures my senseless pride.

I am lost about what to do.
My plans are nothing.
I am nothing less than a broken tool in a war against life.
Convert me.
Beat me from a sword into a plow-sheer.

I've seen everyone around as being part of some utterly useless game.
I've seen and felt emotions that were ultimately a part of nothing more than the false reality my mind created for me to live in. As soon as reality hits the cracks appear and blossom into this ugly red thing that is my blood pouring steady from the black lined veins.

I see the spider in my heart, the unholiness that seeks my will as its own.

I can't pray for You to forgive me Father because I knew, I knew going in the addiction and the hate I feel when things do not work. I know how useless and ultimately pointless every relationship, every connection is.

They leave or more often than not simply die.
It's the root of my insecurity, I want humans to last and to be God for me. I want to be treated like a child and feel my hand being pulled when all I have left is this soul, this beaten soul covered in mud.

Can You still clean me up?
Do You even want me still?
Why, why did You die for worthless scum like me?
Why did You create this disgusting race of humanity?
We're not even worth the dignity of being stepped on like a cockroach.
We have achieved nothing and will only succeed in killing ourselves faster by the second.

How are we made in Your image, when all we do is eradicate?
Are we just made to die?

Don't leave things as they are.
Don't let things remain.

Break me, destroy me, rip me asunder and make me a tool for You.
Make me something that will heal instead of destroy.
My life is worthless.
Save me, heal me or eradicate me before I take the task into my own hands.

I cannot be content with going halfway.
You know my heart and how much hurt I suffer from trusting and giving it away to things that never had a right to hold it. All I wanted was a perfect cherry blossom in a world that only burns and eats at the beauty in it.

I want to vent my venom and rage by ripping the demons apart with my bleeding hands. I want to fulfill my need for senseless hate by creating the next generation of broken.



Everything is spinning, falling and twisting out of control.

Jesus, Jesus, I know I'm not alone.
I know I have never been alone.
I know others will stand with me but it still hurts.
I feel isolated.
Like my soul is being eaten by cancer.
Please do not leave me here.
Give me my task,
send me now.
Do you not see the angst,
the anguish shredding my soul to pieces?
I want to love but I want to leave this Hell!
I hate it here,
I can't stand the feelings of isolation,
knowing I'm abandonment
and knowing these feelings will only worsen.
Jesus, this world is so fucked up.
All the innocents raped and murdered
and somehow,
somehow this is Your perfect will?

Hold me Jesus.
I only have You.
I will only have You.
I wasn't made to hug others
so please hold me.
Take me in Your arms,
give me a holy kiss
and purify me of me.
I want to give You me,
give You my soul all over again.
My body, my mind, my heart
and my everything.
Make this new day new.
Like only you can do.
Abba, Father, Lover
take this soul.
Forever and forevermore.

Quote of the Day - Part Two:

"The only enemy of art is taste."
-Thomas Hoving

I found this painful/embarrassing and yet a somewhat amusing look at stereotypes among the evangelical culture: http://www.stuffchristianculturelikes.com/

1 John 1

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life--and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us--what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.

This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

"In the Light" - dc Talk

"Day of Pigs" - Roper

Saturday
I could feet the crowd's dismay
They've acquired quite a fire
to burn the profane on a funeral pyre
Voices shrill
cutting silence like they mean to kill
Some pep rally where we scream His name
like God was loosing in a football game

I don't want to waste His name this time
I will never cast Him to the swine
(Grasping at some feeling you once knew
is nothing sacred ever safe with you?)

Silver tongues
all the spirit of an iron lung
Selling highs as if we needed one
Flash the lights so not be outdone
Counterfeit
wanting joy so much we take a hit
like a tapeworm deep in hunger digs
Waste the sacred just to feed these pigs

I don't want to waste His name this time
I will never cast Him to the swine
(Grasping at some feeling you once knew
is nothing sacred ever safe with you?)

If this is real, then you must find it
between the space of grace and grim
It's nothing you can manufacture
your walls cannot contain Him

"We Are to Follow" - Blindside

Fire Encasing my Soul

I feel You tonight,
just tonight
I hear that voice
that called me,
called out to me at creation
speaking unspeakable wonders
as I drifted alone,
never knowing a soul,
never knowing I was made
just made for something so much more.

I'm drunk off our love,
the grace that bought me
the mercy that saved me
I'm casting about
with no footing
praying I find You
at the end of this long night.

This closer to death
I never felt more alive
hearing You call
and feeling the touch
knowing this world is crashing
and soon,
so very soon the veil of the sky
will be ripped back
and torn in two
just like in the temple
and no more will we cry alone,
no more hurt
no more disease.

No longer will we feel alone
but this divide
that seemingly was eternal
will be cast aside
and Love,
perfect, pure, infinite Love
filling my sight
and filling me
with such love
that I'm drunk again.
I can't stand,
move or talk,
I lay here overwhelmed
knowing that,
knowing what it means
to be forever loved.

Could someone please explain why I have had Abba's song "Dancing Queen" stuck in my head for two and a half weeks?

Aww shucks...someone quoted ME on facebook. ^_^

Quote of the Day:

"If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favourable."
-Seneca

Old Thoughts, Fears Beloved Run Amuck

I have such a way of viewing things...that I am surprised I have as many relationships as I have.

Am I not being true to myself?
Or to Jesus?

I don't like to offend people but my Love is something I will never compromise on...I can't stand the thought of how my sins have caused so much infinite pain...so I refuse to see out my Love just to make life easier.

I want to love like I never have been able to, I want to change so I can be more of a light to the world...I want to go Home so badly but I'm here for a reason...I'm so tired, my body aches so completely and my soul is exhausted...Father, give me strength to run this race.

I want to give up, I want to quit, I want to simply lay down so my body can give up this spirit and allow me freedom.

I want to be taken from this shell and brought to You.
I want to touch You.
I am a man of unclean lips, my ways have never been Your ways, I am no better than my fathers, I deserve so much worse...and yet You have rescued me from this Hell. You have lifted me out of this mud, You have wiped my soul clean, You have forgiven me of a multitude of sin.

How can I begin to respond?
In fear, holy terror of Your infinite love and how You can easily save as destroy me, how You forgive me as You hold me.
Thank You for never making salvation performance based, thank You for choosing me, for loving me, for saving me...God, Jesus, thank You so much...thank You so much.

I feel hope in my chest, in between the moments of pain and fear...I feel such vivid hope.

In the middle of this dark night, in the middle of my pains You take me, You break me, You love me, You complete me.

No human can do this.
No woman, no friends, no nothing, nothing at all can make my soul burn like You do.
I'm a fool for never realizing how desperately I'm in love with You and will be the rest of my days.

It feels foolish but I wish to dance, I want to loose myself in this live, I want to die so I can live again in You...I want to see Matthew Pike die and vanish for good and just this old man be gone so You can remake me.

I'm tired of the old sins, I'm tired of being human, I'm tired of being so sick, I'm so very exhausted from being human. I want to be new, I want to be made clean.

Please.

There is no one like you, there never could be, You are so beautiful, so perfect, so beyond any comprehension.

Saying You are love is an insult, saying you are grace and good are never enough...You are so beyond anything I could imagine.

You first went to that nine year old kid to save him...and then you called that frightened fourteen year old to serve You.

Why?

I can't pretend to understand it...I can't.
I want to...but as always Your beauty and mystery elude my feeble mind.


I want to lay here...and just breath deep while I can.
Take this hate away, take away my fear.
Be my vision, my sight, my hands and feet.
Cleanse me like only You can.
Dear Jesus, love me like only You can oh Lover,
hold me close and teach me what it means to love.

At least my old, albeit psychotically moody, cat won't judge me.

He just uses me for food, water and shelter.

In exchange he glares at me and complains.

So...yay.

Ah conflict...you had to come back...didn't you?

This whole health thing is driving me crazy...one minute I feel amazing and the next I'll feel as though I have been ran over by a metaphorical truck that forget that it shouldn't exist in reality.

And...most people confuse me.

There are only a handful of people I trust...some I'll never understand how they worked under my skin and armor...but they are there for better or for worse.

I'm not complaining, at least I do not think I am trying to complain.

I want peace, I need hope and I'm lost without Your love oh Lover.

Temporal human love baffles me...I don't understand the intrinsic draw that makes people wish to commit to something that they know is doomed from the start. There is a selfish part of me that wishes the only fellowship I was created for was with God...that way I could avoid all of these awkward and painful moments with people.

Hugs hurt because they are fading, temporal symbols that won't endure the night. They aren't made to...and so the problem is partly mine for putting the desire for the eternal on things so temporal.

Do people even stop to think what Heaven is?
No more division from God, pure love with no bound as we are brought close to Yahweh.
I can think of so many pointless and trivial that feel like they just burn away in the presence of the Father.
It's a terrifying thought of being united with the Holy one who knows no sin, who destroys everything unclean out of holy and just wrath, knowing that nothing I can do can make Him love me more or less...and I can just go on because there is just so much good mixed with fear.

He isn't a tame Lion, He is fierce and beautiful.

I want to love so deeply that everything else becomes nothing, the rubbish and trash it is.

Quote of the Day, the Fourth:

"I mean that to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love. We learn that we are lovable or unlovable from other people," Paul says. "That is why God tells us so many times to love each other.""
-Donald Miller

I would like to formally request for someone to dropkick me in the face should I actually go about trying to reactivate my Final Fantasy XI account.

Anyone who does me this service shall be paid in candies.

Quote of the Day - Part Three:

"My most recent faith struggle is not one of intellect. I don't really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out there are some guys who don't believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and some other guys who can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now it's about who is smarter, and honestly, I don't care.

And that's when I realized that believing in God is as much like falling in love as it is like making a decision. Love is both something that happens to you and something you decide upon."
-Donald Miller

"Oh you look so beautiful tonight
in this city, city of blinding lights"

I...I think,
I think that,
I just...I just
might be beginning,
yeah beginning to believe.

Quote of the Day - Part Two:

"Never call yourself a philosopher, nor talk a great deal among the unlearned about theorems, but act conformably to them. Thus, at an entertainment, don't talk how persons ought to eat, but eat as you ought. For remember that in this manner Socrates also universally avoided all ostentation. And when persons came to him and desired to be recommended by him to philosophers, he took and recommended them, so well did he bear being overlooked. So that if ever any talk should happen among the unlearned concerning philosophic theorems, be you, for the most part, silent. For there is great danger in immediately throwing out what you have not digested. And, if anyone tells you that you know nothing, and you are not nettled at it, then you may be sure that you have begun your business. For sheep don't throw up the grass to show the shepherds how much they have eaten; but, inwardly digesting their food, they outwardly produce wool and milk. Thus, therefore, do you likewise not show theorems to the unlearned, but the actions produced by them after they have been digested."
-Epictetus

Quote of the Day:

"'What is truth?' said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer."
-Francis Bacon


Talk about some pwnage right there.

"Last Night on Earth" - U2

Here is the kitsch horror movie esque music video version silly youtube won't let me post on here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwWCUSrpXFw&feature=related

Breath, yeah baby yeah!

It's excessively silly things like that...that make me wonder...but then I remember how little of life I am refusing to take serious now. Not everything is a joke...but more things should make people laugh more than it should make them cry or even upset them in the first place...because...who really...can take the time to care?

Drama?
Oh no, oh no thank you, no thank you, it's not for me, never for me.
I want to smile and see other people smile.
If I can play a song that will make people dance or at least stop to think...then I am doing something beautiful.
If I can write a poem that makes someone realize they are never alone, that they aren't the only person left being human...then that is something too.
I don't NEED to find myself like that...it's a want...but God, thank YOU so much for being so beautiful to a broken wretch like me.
Thank You so much for being so good.

=)

I can breathe.

"Walk out into the street
Sing your heart out
The people we meet
Will not be drowned out
There's nothing you have that I need
I can breathe
Breathe now
Yeah, yeah

We are people borne of sound
The songs are in our eyes
Gonna wear them like a crown

Walk out, into the sunburst street
Sing your heart out, sing my heart out
I've found grace inside a sound
I found grace, it's all that I found
And I can breathe
Breathe now"

Woah...sleepy what evers...hmm...

Strange thought.

But I am tired beating my head on that door.

No sense trying to do something that never was really wanted.

Hmm...I also can't stand friends of convenience but that is enough confused and sleepy rants for the night.

Yay!

Quote of the Day - Part Three:

"Faith is the highest passion in a human being. Many in every generation may not come that far, but none comes further."
-Soren Kierkegaard

Expectation and hope are so very nice...but I think I need to go ahead and give them up and sell the extras I have kept in storage. The recession is hitting everyone hard so I'm sure I can find a buyer on ebay.

Cynicism, bitterness and self betrayal are so much easier to maintain because all one has to do is stagnate long enough and the world because the enemy.

Maybe that is the Church's problem. We're so good at sitting on our hands that we have nothing better to do than play games of who is more holy than whom.

Ultimately the problem is me, I'm not on the front lines in Africa or China doing mission work...so I don't have the right to point the finger. Heck, I won't even part with clothes or food to give to those who are freezing and starving to death.

Child of God I may be...but...I flaunt it too much for someone who doesn't realize what that means anymore.

"It's not if I believe in love
but if love believes in me."

Quote of the day Three:

"Bah, humanity."
-C.S. Lewis

If John Lennon was right in that "God is a Concept by which we measure our pain" then love itself is nothing more than this man invented self delusion by which we attempt to force order and structure into a senseless chaos that has no ultimate meaning or real purpose.

Love is is this tainted, useless, fetid, rotten and disgusting human invention that we use to justify waging wars, the ludicrous acts of procreation and reason enough to get out of bed in the morning.

Humanity is its own worst enemy because we do not allow systems of checks and balances unless they suit us and our needs, therefore negating the very purpose and reason thereof.

God, how I hate the arrogance of my own intellect.

May this rage, this outrage give birth to enough energy to help me punch a hole through this wall, so I can crawl through back into life.

"Undying" - Demon Hunter

Ever since the day that I was made I’ve been deciding the end
And I was made of wood and stone that won’t diminish or bend
So when the heavy hand of death is here to take me away
I’ll be the solid grip of time, forever holding my stay
Nobody ever made a force that took a beating like me
I call the earth and every scum to come and try to fight me
Cus when I made the choice to live beyond the dirt that we tread
I felt the curse of mortal limit fall before it was said

When this season ends…

One final heart-break
And blinding lights will guide our way
Free us our blind state
They will call us by our name
Undying

Tearing through these days I find the tolerance to strive and push on
I know what lies beyond this life for me is already won
No one can take away the blood that covers over my fall
Without the blood of perfect life I know I’m nothing at all
So now I reign forever hallowed in eternity’s hand
No man can shake me from the everlasting ground that I stand

When this season ends…

One final heart-break
And blinding lights will guide our way
Free us our blind state
They will call us by our name
Undying

We are the ones who will still remain when all is laid to waste
We are the ones who, when angels cry, will see them face to face
We are the ones

See my Sickness, See the Burns and Feel the Hope

I stayed this way
and just danced to this tune
because I thought
yeah I just thought it was you.
It wasn't until I realized
I made it about you,
just about you
how shallow this all ever way.

I speak about home
and hope about hope
all the time just dancing
in and outside of time
hoping for hope
and hoping to be,
just to be something I'm not.

I never played at being anything
unless it was a part
just being a part
of everything
and nothing
all wrapped into this nonsense
so I could distract
while I detract from my own soul
and not care as I die
all forgotten and alone
by the One Love
that carried this burden
that my crisis was
and seems to forever be.

At the end,
at our end
at every end
we just find we ended where we began,
hoping to find hope
and needing something more
beyond us
and at the end
it's not about us.
With shock and horror
we find that none are righteous
none were saints,
our absurd thoughts on morality
were nothing more than a play,
a bad play on words
while we pretend to know
that we know
when it is we know nothing
and act as thought everything
was ours for the taken.

If I cared more for truth
you never would have read this,
it would be in the rubbish pile
waiting for the flames.
This is an altar,
my desecration
waiting unashamed
in its horrid naked state,
waiting to be told
just how twisted
and broken it is.

If I cared for truth,
I would have burned this vile trash
and never looked back.
But desiring lust
my heart is forever entwined
in everything that isn't
instead of everything that is.

You are not me
and you never were.

You can see me
but you can't see
with these tainted eyes.
All we can all see
is our lack of hope
while waiting
and burning
and crying in here.

My soul's transgressions
are summed up in saying everything
and nothing
all at once
so I am thought wise,
but only Jesus sees me as I am.
Broken, needy, oh baby so needy,
and hopeless without His Love.

I'm not playing at playing
just seeing to be me
and nothing more
because I can't take this anymore.
I refuse to admit to the drugs,
the sex and bad rock
but you can take this poem
and cash it at the bank
and maybe,
just maybe it won't eat your soul
like it's devoured mine.

I'm ready to feel
just the weight of the eternal
being lifted
and to know what it is like
to see the sky peeled back
and the ecstasy
of my soul leaving this cadaver
as I long to hear Your sweet voice
just once, just once more
as I lay here dying,
covered in morose regret
and a lifetime of shame.

Christ have mercy
for I never had mercy,
Christ show grace
to the one who lacked grace,
Christ give love
to the one who made a game of love
and hold back Your wrath
just one more day,
so maybe,
just maybe
these will see Your eternal love
stretched
and cruelly pinned
to cheap wood
as we play this game
of religion and church
as You weep for us.

"I tried everything to find you
I even took the stairway to hell
I wrote these words down to remind you
that I know life is never pass or fail

so hand me the keys to your kingdom
give me back my garden of Eden
lead me to a place that I can call my own

a home
a sanctuary
home

and we are standing on the edge of it
trying to make some sense of it all
the fear is building and the hatred
until you know we're left with nothing left at all
you know I'm falling"
-Kevin Max, "Sanctuary"

Quote of the Day - Part Two:

"God will look to every soul like its first love because He is its first love."
-C.S. Lewis

Quote of the Day:

"What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?"
-Irv Kupcinet

Hope is a bit trickier to have than one might think...

Such an overload...maybe I'll sleep tonight and things shall be washed away.

"If mercy fall upon the broken and the poor
dear Father I will see You there on distant shores."

"Between You and Me" - dc Talk

"Digital Love" - Daft Punk

Wow.

For once I'm actually speechless...

Good job Madam Muse.

But aren't you supposed to give me words instead of stealing them all away with such a small gesture?

The finite is pain laced as the eternal looks on.
I hate the feelings of irrelevancy.

I don't know what hit me when it hit me...but it did.
Now things can't be the same ever again.
I want my lips purified so I can speak and my soul washed so I may fly free.

I'm so grateful to feel any sort of love...any sort of connection anymore....thank you Father for putting these people in my path...even when I'm scared, afraid, terrified of making any decision...You never cease to pour on grace.

Take my life, take my soul, take these hands, take these feet, take my words and these lips...give them a holy kiss and let me serve You again.

Show me where to go and I will go.

I love You so freaking much, I can never cease to.
Help me to walk through this door.
Be my vision and strength.
Help me to give out twice the grace You give to me so freely.

My Father, my Love.
My Jesus.
Thank You.

"Live High" - Jason Mraz

"They won't see the fire you have lit inside of me.
They look up to the stars and wonder where you might be.
They look up
Without realizing they're standing in the palm of your hand.
I can't explain or understand.
I just love you.

It's common knowledge that; you've been dead for a while.
It's well known that the cross is only a burden with pains and trials.
But thinking how come my shoes are so light,
how come I can walk for miles?
And still, just love you?

So I think I'll stay, caught up in silent prayer,
cause I believe in silence.
Our hearts speak the same words.
So why don't we just walk along the shoreline with our silent song?
Cause I believe in silence.
Our hearts speak the same words, the same words."

Quote of the Day - Part Two:

"Agape doesn't love somebody because they're worthy.

Agape makes them worthy by the strength and power of its love.

Agape doesn't love somebody because they're beautiful.

Agape loves in such a way that it makes them beautiful."
— Rob Bell

Quote of the Day:

"If the gospel isn't good news for everybody, then it isn't good news for anybody. And this is because the most powerful things happen when the church surrenders its desire to convert people and convince them to join. It is when the church gives itself away in radical acts of service and compassion, expecting nothing in return, that the way of Jesus is most vividly put on display. To do this, the church must stop thinking about everybody primarily in categories of in or out, saved or not, believer or nonbeliever. Besides the fact that these terms are offensive to those who are the "un" and "non", they work against Jesus' teachings about how we are to treat each other. Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor, and our neighbor can be anybody. We are all created in the image of God, and we are all sacred, valuable creations of God. Everybody matters. To treat people differently based on who believes what is to fail to respect the image of God in everyone. As the book of James says, "God shows no favoritism." So we don't either."
— Rob Bell

"Spartan" - Five Iron Frenzy

Billie Holiday on the radio
my sluggish heart is beating seven beats too slow
another sad song and another shot of blue
cold and unconcerned are anything but new
He said “Love endures all things”
and it hurts to think He’s right
If I mark the span of failure
is his burden just as light?

I am, Spartan
close my heart so tight
Jesus
Save me
from myself tonight

Limping through the world
there’s a knowing look or two
is it just the cripples here
who understand the truth?
Why is love so painful
why do we always lose
paving pathways for the lost
the bitter, and recluse?
He said “Love endures all things”
and it hurts to think it’s true
did it nail Him on a cross
did it crucify Him too?

I am, Spartan
close my heart so tight
Jesus
Save me
from myself tonight

The angels are singing over the plains
the shepherds are quaking, echoing refrains
And all of our slogans designed to take away the pain
meant nothing to the Son of God that night in Bethlehem

Encouragement comes in all forms:

Always nice to know someone has already been recognized as the worst writer of all time, saves me the fear of claiming the title for myself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_McKittrick_Ros