Update.

-I'm actually finding I really, really miss the other three seasons of the year (Spring, summer, fall). I love the warm weather, the fact that I don't have to bundle up, doing active things outside, and yes, Baseball. At least we're about half-way through February already...

-Went to Taylor Theatre's production of "The Crucible" last night. Man....I'm glad I wasn't born at that time, in a puritan household. Creepy.

-I've been in sort of a funk recently, which at least in part explains my absence on here, and in response, I was slapped in the face (not literally) with Romans 7 yesterday. It was actually quite cathartic. I haven't read Romans 7 in a long while, and it was really nice to look back at some of the things Paul says that makes you go "Yes! I know that feeling exactly." It was also good for me because I've been heavily engaged in the law recently, and to hit the passage "...our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death." A danger I've been finding now since getting slapped with this yesterday is that I can easily get very caught up in the Old Testament that I lose sight of the answer that is the New. And it's not so much that I don't know that, it's that in my reaction against the modern NT-only (or at least too-NT-focused) Christianity, I've actually gone too far the other way, and without even realizing it, I've lost sight of the freedom from the law. Now, I've never lost sight of Christ's dying work, no, that's been at the forefront, but the practical out-workings (what it means to be freed from the law, etc) are easily buried beneath the sorrow of the prophets when I'm not careful. So, overall, it's been a good couple days of realisation and return.

-I started writing lyrics yesterday to a chord pattern I've had in my head for a while now....it was weird. I think it's going to turn into a sort of chant/supplication which focuses on the different names and meanings of the names of God. I like what I have so far, but I'm really self-conscious about it....for some reason lyrics are very personal and hard to share for me...

-I've been thinking a lot about Dingle recently, and in particular, this photo I took while I was over there:-I also have been going through my document files on my computer recently, and stumbled across this poem I wrote about a year ago. I think it's about Gandalf, but there are some nuances in there that don't quite fit him completely. I also really like the feel of the last verse.

Grey wanderer was he,
A brush on the wind
A leaf on the sea
In the land of Faery

This man it was
No man knew
His purpose trumps
Both king and pawn

His mission secret
His will strong
He th’ro painful feat
Hath served mankind

The Fyre resounding darkly
Grants but mild glory’s grief
The great and glorious
Death of everlasting sleep.