Daily Readings And then, alas, there is the church. Christianity, as it currently exists, has done some terrible things to men. When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe that God put them on the earth to be a good boy. The problem with men, we are told, is that they don’t know how to keep their promises, be spiritual leaders, talk to their wives, or raise their children. But, if they will try real hard they can reach the lofty summit of becoming . . . a nice guy. That’s what we hold up as models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys. We don’t smoke, drink, or swear; that’s what makes us <i>men</i>. Now let me ask my male readers: In all your boyhood dreams growing up, did you ever dream of becoming a Nice Guy? (Ladies, was the Prince of your dreams dashing . . . or merely nice?) <BR><BR>Really now—do I overstate my case? Walk into most churches in America, have a look around, and ask yourself this question: What is a Christian man? Don’t listen to what is said, look at what you find there. There is no doubt about it. You’d have to admit a Christian man is . . . bored. At a recent church retreat I was talking with a guy in his fifties, listening really, about his own journey as a man. “I’ve pretty much tried for the last twenty years to be a good man as the church defines it.” Intrigued, I asked him to say what he thought that was. He paused for a long moment. “Dutiful,” he said. “And separated from his heart.” <i>A perfect description</i>, I thought. <i>Sadly right on the mark</i>. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 7) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/11/2010 3/11/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-11T00:00:00 My gender seems to need little encouragement. It comes naturally, like our innate love of maps. In 1260 Marco Polo headed off to find China, and in 1967, when I was seven, I tried to dig a hole straight through from our backyard with my friend Danny Wilson. We gave up at about eight feet, but it made a great fort. Hannibal crosses his famous Alps, and there comes a day in a boy’s life when he first crosses the street and enters the company of the great explorers. Scott and Amundsen race for the South Pole, Peary and Cook vie for the North, and when last summer I gave my boys some loose change and permission to ride their bikes down to the store to buy a soda, you’d have thought I’d given them a charter to go find the equator. Magellan sails due west, around the tip of South America—despite warnings that he and his crew will drop off the end of the earth—and Huck Finn heads off down the Mississippi ignoring similar threats. Powell follows the Colorado into the Grand Canyon, even though—no, <i>because</i>—no one has done it before and everyone is saying it can’t be done. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 4) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/10/2010 3/10/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-10T00:00:00 By the grace of God, we cannot quite pull it off. In the quiet moments of the day we sense a nagging within, a discontentment, a hunger for something else. But because we have not solved the riddle of our existence, we assume that something is wrong—not with life, but with us. <i>Everyone else seems to be getting on with things. What’s wrong with me</i>? We feel guilty about our chronic disappointment. <i>Why can’t I just learn to be happier in my job, in my marriage, in my church, in my group of friends?</i> You see, even while we are doing other things, “getting on with life,” we still have an eye out for the life we secretly want. When someone seems to have gotten it together, we wonder, ,i>How did he do it?</i> Maybe if we read the same book, spent time with him, went to his church, things would come together for us as well. You see, we can never entirely give up our quest. Gerald May reminds us, <BR><BR>When the desire is too much to bear, we often bury it beneath frenzied thoughts and activities or escape it by dulling our immediate consciousness of living. It is possible to run away from the desire for years, even decades, at a time, but we cannot eradicate it entirely. It keeps touching us in little glimpses and hints in our dreams, our hopes, our unguarded moments. (<i>The Awakened Heart</i>) <BR><BR>He says that even though we sleep, our desire does not. “It is who we are.” We <i>are</i> desire. It is the essence of the human soul, the secret of our existence. Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished without it. Desire fuels our search for the life we prize. The same old thing is not enough. It never will be. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 10–11) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/9/2010 3/9/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-09T00:00:00 Something awful has happened, something terrible. Something worse, even, than the fall of man. For in that greatest of all tragedies, we merely lost Paradise—and with it, everything that made life worth living. What has happened since is unthinkable: we’ve gotten used to it. We’re broken in to the idea that this is just the way things are. The people who walk in great darkness have adjusted their eyes. Regardless of our religious or philosophical beliefs, most of us live as though this life is pretty much the way things are supposed to be. We dismiss the whispers of joy with a cynical “Been there, done that.” That way we won’t have to deal with the Haunting. <BR><BR>I was just talking with some friends about summer vacations, and I recommended that they visit the Tetons. “Oh, yeah, we’ve been there. Nice place.” Dismissal. And we deaden our sorrows with cynicism as well, sporting a bumper sticker that says, “Life sucks. Then you die.” Then we try to get on with life. We feed the cat, pay the bills, watch the news, and head off to bed, so we can do it all again tomorrow. <BR><BR>Standing before the open fridge, I’m struck by what I’ve just watched. Famine in Africa. Genocide . . . where? Someplace I can’t even pronounce. Corruption in Washington. Life as usual. It always ends with the anchor folding his notes and offering a pleasant “Good night.” Good night? That’s it? You have nothing else to say? You’ve just regaled us with the horrors of the world we live in, and all you can say is “Good night”? Just once I wish he would pause at the close of his report, take a long, deep breath, and then say, “How far we are from home,” or “If only we had listened,” or “Thank God, our sojourn here is drawing to an end.” It never happens. I doubt it ever will. And not one of us gives it a second thought. It’s just the way things are. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 9–10) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/8/2010 3/8/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-08T00:00:00 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10) <BR><BR>Have you ever wondered why Jesus married those two statements? Did you even know he spoke them at the same time? I mean, he says them in one breath. And he has his reasons. By all means, God intends life for you. But right now that life is <i>opposed</i>. It doesn’t just roll in on a tray. There is a thief. He comes to steal and kill and destroy. Why won’t we face this? I know so few people who will face this. The offer is life, but you’re going to have to fight for it, because there’s an Enemy in your life with a different agenda. <BR><BR>There <i>is</i> something set against us. <BR><BR><i>We are at war</i>. <BR><BR>I don’t like that fact any more than you do, but the sooner we come to terms with it, the better hope we have of making it through to the life we do want. This is not Eden. You probably figured that out. This is not Mayberry, this is not <i>Seinfeld’s</i> world, this is not <i>Survivor</i>. The world in which we live is a combat zone, a violent clash of kingdoms, a bitter struggle unto the death. I am sorry if I’m the one to break this news to you: you were born into a world at war, and you will live all your days in the midst of a great battle, involving all the forces of heaven and hell and played out here on earth. <BR><BR>Where <i>did</i> you think all this opposition was coming from? <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-19-waking-the-dead-hard-back.aspx"><i>Waking the Dead </i></a>, 12–13) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/7/2010 3/7/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-07T00:00:00 According to the part of the story God has allowed us to see, the Haunting we sense is his calling us forth on a journey. The resurrection of our heart requires that the Sacred Romance be true and that is precisely what the Scriptures tell us. As Frederick Buechner reminds us in his wonderful book <i>Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale</i>, the world of the gospel is the world of fairy tale, with one notable exception: <BR><BR>It is a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight. It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too. It is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure who belongs to which side because appearances are endlessly deceptive. Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good, who live happily ever after, and where in the long run everybody, good and evil alike, becomes known by his true name . . . That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still.<BR><BR>Let us explore together the drama that God has been weaving since before the beginning of time, which he has also placed in our hearts. Who are the main players in this Larger Story? What is the plot? How do we fit in? As we rediscover the oldest Story in the world, one that is forever young, we journey into the heart of God and toward the recovery of our own hearts. For perhaps God would be reason enough to stay open to the Romance if we knew he would keep us safe. And therein we experience a great fear and confusion. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-12-sacred-romance-the-hardback.aspx"><i>The Sacred Romance </i></a>, 46) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/6/2010 3/6/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-06T00:00:00 We come into the world with a longing to be known and a deep-seated fear that we aren’t what we should be. We are set up for a crisis of identity. And then, says Frederick Buechner, the world goes to work: <BR><BR>Starting with the rather too pretty young woman and the charming but rather unstable young man, who together know no more about being parents than they do the far side of the moon, the world sets in to making us what the world would like us to be, and because we have to survive after all, we try to make ourselves into something that we hope the world will like better than it apparently did the selves we originally were. That is the story of all our lives, needless to say, and in the process of living out that story, the original, shimmering self gets buried so deep that most of us hardly end up living out of it at all. Instead, we live out all the other selves which we are constantly putting on and taking off like coats and hats against the world’s weather. (<i>Telling Secrets</i>) <BR><BR>Think about the part you find yourself playing, the self you put on like a costume. Who cast you in this role? Most of us are living out a script that someone else has written for us. We’ve not been invited to live from our heart, to be who we truly are, so we put on these false selves hoping to offer something more acceptable to the world, something functional. We learn our roles starting very young and we learn them well. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-12-sacred-romance-the-hardback.aspx"><i>The Sacred Romance </i></a>, 84–85) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/5/2010 3/5/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-05T00:00:00 Something has gone wrong with the human race, and we know it. Better said, something has gone wrong <i>within</i> the human race. It doesn’t take a theologian or a psychologist to tell you that. Read a newspaper. Spend a weekend with your relatives. Simply pay attention to the movements of your own heart in a single day. Most misery is the fruit of the human heart gone bad. <BR><BR>Scripture could not be more clear on this. Yes, God created us to reflect his glory, but barely three chapters into the drama we torpedoed the whole project. By the sixth chapter of Genesis, our downward spiral had reached the point where God himself couldn’t bear it any longer: “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain” (Gen. 6:5–6). This is the first mention of God’s heart in the Bible, by the way, and it’s a sad beginning, to be sure. His heart is broken because ours is fallen. <BR><BR>Any honest person knows this. We know we are not what we were meant to be. Most of the world religions concur on this point. Something needs to be done. <BR><BR>But the usual remedies involve some sort of shaping up on our part, some sort of face-lift whereby we clean up our act and start behaving as we should. Jews try to keep the Law. Buddhists follow the Eightfold Path. Muslims live by the Five Pillars. Christians try church attendance and moral living. It never works. It never will. For heaven’s sake—we’ve given it several thousand years. You’d think we’d have gotten <i>somewhere</i>. Of course, the reason all those treatments ultimately fail is that we quite misdiagnosed the disease. The problem is not in our behavior; the problem is <i>in us</i>. As Jesus said, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matt. 15:19). We don’t need an upgrade. We need transformation. We need a miracle. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-19-waking-the-dead-hard-back.aspx"><i>Waking the Dead </i></a>, 57–59) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/4/2010 3/4/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-04T00:00:00 The Phoenix rises from the ashes. Cinderella rises from the cinders to become a queen. The Ugly Duckling becomes a beautiful swan. Pinocchio becomes a real boy. The frog becomes a prince. The Cowardly Lion gets his courage, the Scarecrow his brains, and the Tin Woodman a new heart. They are all transformed into the very thing they never thought they could be. <BR><BR>Why are we enchanted by tales of transformation? I can’t think of a movie or novel or fairy tale that doesn’t somehow turn on this. Why is it an essential part of any great story? Because it is the secret to Christianity, and Christianity is the secret to the universe. “You must be born again” (John 3:7). You must be transformed. Keeping the Law, following the rules, polishing up your man-ners—none of that will do. “What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people” (Gal. 6:15). Is this not the message of the Gospel? Zacchaeus the trickster becomes Zacchaeus the Honest One. Mary the whore becomes Mary the Last of the Truly Faithful. Paul the self-righteous murderer becomes Paul the Humble Apostle. <BR><BR>And us? I doubt many of us would go so far as to say we’re <i>transformed</i>. Perhaps we have changed a bit in what we believe and how we act. We confess the creeds now, and we’ve gotten our temper under control . . . for the most part. But “transformed” seems a bit too much to claim. How about “forgiven and on our way”? That’s how most Christians would describe what’s happened to them. It’s partly true . . . and partly <i>untrue</i>, and the part that’s untrue is what’s killing us. We’ve been told that even though we have placed our hope in Christ, even though we have become his followers, our <i>hearts</i> are still desperately wicked. And of course, so long as we believe that our hearts remain untouched, unchanged, we will pretty much live untouched and unchanged. For our heart is the wellspring of life within us. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-19-waking-the-dead-hard-back.aspx"><i>Waking the Dead </i></a>, 56–57) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/3/2010 3/3/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-03T00:00:00 Now Beauty feared that she had caused his death. She ran throughout the palace, sobbing loudly. After searching everywhere, she recalled her dream and ran into the garden toward the canal, where she had seen him in her sleep. There she found the poor Beast stretched out unconscious. She thought he was dead. Without concern for his horrifying looks, she threw herself on his body and felt his heart beating. So she fetched some water from the canal and threw it on his face. <BR><BR>Beast opened his eyes and said, “You forgot your promise, Beauty. The grief I felt upon having lost you made me decide to fast to death. But I shall die content since I have the pleasure of seeing you one more time.” <BR><BR>“No, my dear Beast, you shall not die,” said Beauty. “You will live to become my husband. I give you my hand, and I swear that I belong only to you from this moment on. Alas! I thought that I only felt friendship for you, but the torment I am feeling makes me realize that I cannot live without you.” <BR><BR>Beauty had scarcely uttered these words when the castle radiated with light. Fireworks and music announced a feast. These attractions did not hold her attention, though. She returned her gaze to her dear Beast, whose dangerous condition made her tremble. How great was her surprise when she discovered that the Beast had disappeared, and at her feet was a prince more handsome than Eros himself, who thanked her for putting an end to his enchantment. <BR><BR>It is the deepest and most wonderful of all mythic truths, unveiled here in the original <i>Beauty and the Beast</i>, written by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont. The Transformation. A creature that no one could bear to look upon is transformed into a handsome prince. That which was dark and ugly is now glorious and good. Is it not the most beautiful outcome of any story to be written? Perhaps that is because it is the deepest yearning of the human heart. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-19-waking-the-dead-hard-back.aspx"><i>Waking the Dead </i></a>, 55–56) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/2/2010 3/2/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-02T00:00:00 God gives Adam some instructions on the care of creation and his role in the unfolding story. It’s pretty basic, and very generous (see Gen. 2:16–17). But notice what God <i>doesn’t</i> tell Adam. <BR><BR>There is no warning or instruction over what is about to occur: the Temptation of Eve. This is just staggering. Notably missing from the dialogue between Adam and God is something like this: “Adam, one more thing. A week from Tuesday, about four in the afternoon, you and Eve are going to be down in the orchard and something dangerous is going to happen. Adam, are you listening? The eternal destiny of the human race hangs on this moment. Now, here’s what I want you to do . . .” He doesn’t tell him. He doesn’t even mention it, so far as we know. Good grief—<i>why not?!</i> Because God <i>believes</i> in Adam. This is what he’s designed to do— to come through in a pinch. Adam doesn’t need play-by-play instructions because this is what Adam is <i>for</i>. It’s already there, everything he needs, in his design, in his heart. <BR><BR>Needless to say, the story doesn’t go well. Adam fails; he fails Eve and the rest of humanity. Let me ask you a question: Where is Adam, while the serpent is tempting Eve? He’s standing right there: “She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. Then he ate it, too” (Gen. 3:6 NLT). The Hebrew for “with her” means right there, elbow to elbow. Adam isn’t away in another part of the forest; he has no alibi. He is standing right there, watching the whole thing unravel. What does he do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He says not a word, doesn’t lift a finger.* He won’t risk, he won’t fight, and he won’t rescue Eve. Our first father—the first real man—gave in to paralysis. He denied his very nature and went passive. And every man after him, every son of Adam, carries in his heart now the same failure. Every man repeats the sin of Adam, every day. We won’t risk, we won’t fight, and we won’t rescue Eve. We truly are a chip off the old block. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 50–51) <BR><BR> <BR><BR>* I’m indebted to Crabb, Hudson, and Andrews for pointing this out in <i>The Silence of Adam</i>. http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=3/1/2010 3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-03-01T00:00:00 I hope you’re getting the picture by now. If a man does not find those things for which his heart is made, if he is never even invited to live for them from his deep heart, he will look for them in some other way. Why is pornography the number one snare for men? He longs for the beauty, but without his fierce and passionate heart he cannot find her or win her or keep her. Though he is powerfully drawn to the woman, he does not know how to fight for her or even that he is to fight for her. Rather, he finds her mostly a mystery that he knows he cannot solve and so at a soul level he keeps his distance. And privately, secretly, he turns to the imitation. What makes pornography so addictive is that more than anything else in a lost man’s life, it makes him<i>feel</i> like a man without ever requiring a thing of him. The less a guy feels like a real man in the presence of a real woman, the more vulnerable he is to porn. <BR><BR>And so a man’s heart, driven into the darker regions of the soul, denied the very things he most deeply desires, comes out in darker places. Now, a man’s struggles, his wounds and addictions, are a bit more involved than that, but those are the core reasons. As the poet George Herbert warned, “He begins to die, that quits his desires.” And you know what? We all know it. Every man knows that something’s happened, something’s gone wrong . . . we just don’t know what it is. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 44) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/28/2010 2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-28T00:00:00 All his wildness and all his fierceness are inseparable from God’s romantic heart. That theologians have missed this says more about theologians than it does about God. Music, wine, poetry, sunsets . . . those were <i>his</i> inventions, not ours. We simply discovered what he had already thought of. Lovers and honeymooners choose places like Hawaii, the Bahamas, or Tuscany as a backdrop for their love. But whose idea was Hawaii, the Bahamas, and Tuscany? Let’s bring this a little closer to home. Whose idea was it to create the human form in such a way that a kiss could be so delicious? And he didn’t stop there, as only lovers know. Starting with her eyes, King Solomon is feasting on his beloved through the course of their wedding night. He loves her hair, her smile; her lips “drop sweetness as the honeycomb,” and “milk and honey are under her tongue.” You’ll notice he’s working his way <i>down</i>: <BR><BR>Your neck is like the tower of David, built with elegance . . . Your two breasts are like two fawns . . . Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense. (Song 4:4–6) <BR><BR>And his wife responds by saying, “Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits” (Song 4:16). <BR><BR>What kind of God would put the Song of Songs in the canon of Holy Scripture? Really now, is it conceivable that such an erotic and scandalous book would have been placed in the Bible by the Christians <i>you</i> know? <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 32–33) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/27/2010 2/27/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-27T00:00:00 Our false self demands a formula before he’ll engage; he wants a guarantee of success; and mister, you aren’t going to get one. So there comes a time in a man’s life when he’s got to break away from all that and head off into the unknown with God. This is a vital part of our journey and if we balk here, the journey ends. <BR><BR>Before the moment of Adam’s greatest trial God provided no step-by-step plan, gave no formula for how he was to handle the whole mess. That was not abandonment; that was the way God <i>honored</i> Adam. <i>You are a man; you don’t need me to hold you by the hand through this. You have what it takes</i>. What God <i>did</i> offer Adam was friendship. He wasn’t left alone to face life; he walked with God in the cool of the day, and there they talked about love and marriage and creativity, what lessons he was learning and what adventures were to come. This is what God is offering to us as well. As Oswald Chambers says, <BR><BR>There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to, <i>because his call is to be in comradeship with himself</i> for his own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what he is after. (<i>My Utmost for His Highest<i>, emphasis added)<BR><BR>The only way to live in this adventure—with all its danger and unpredictability and immensely high stakes—is in an ongoing, intimate relationship with God. The control we so desperately crave is an illusion. Far better to give it up in exchange for God’s offer of companionship, set aside stale formulas so that we might enter into an informal friendship. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 213–14) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/26/2010 2/26/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-26T00:00:00 You may recall the story Jesus told of the man who entrusted three of his servants with thousands of dollars (literally, “talents”), urging them to handle his affairs well while he was away. When he returned, he listened eagerly to their reports. The first two fellows went out into the marketplace and doubled their investment. As a result, they were handsomely rewarded. The third servant was not so fortunate. His gold was taken from him, and he was thrown into “outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” My goodness. Why? All he did was bury the money under the porch until his master’s return. Most of us would probably agree with the path he chose—at least the money was safe there. But listen to his reasoning. Speaking to his master, he said, “I know you are a hard man, harvesting crops you didn’t plant and gathering crops you didn’t cultivate. I was afraid I would lose your money, so I hid it” (see Matt. 25:14–30 NLT). He was afraid of the master, whom he saw as a hard man. He didn’t trust his master’s heart. <BR><BR>The issue isn’t capital gains—it’s what we think of God. When we bury our desires, we are saying the same thing: “God, I don’t dare desire because I fear you; I think you are hard-hearted.” <BR><BR>Even though we may profess at one level a genuine faith in him, at another level we are like the third servant. Our obedience is not so much out of love as it is out of carefulness. “Just tell me what to do, God, and I’ll do it.” Killing desire may look like sanctification, but it’s really godlessness. Literally, our way of handling life without God. The deepest moral issue is always what we, in our heart of hearts, believe about God. And nothing reveals this belief as clearly as what we do with our desire. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 57–59) <BR><BR>) http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/25/2010 2/25/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-25T00:00:00 I thought of the last story we have from the life of the prophet Elisha. Jehoash was king of Israel at the time, and he went to visit Elisha on his sickbed. He knew that without the help of this great prophet, the future of Israel was looking dim. Enemies were closing in on every side, waiting for the kill. Elisha told the king to take in hand some arrows. <BR><BR>And the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated [your enemies] completely . . . But now you will defeat [them] only three times.” Elisha died and was buried. (2 Kings 13:18–20)<BR><BR>That’s it? What a strange story! Why was the old prophet so angry? Because the king was nonchalant; he was passionless, indifferent. He gave the ground a whack or two. His heart wasn’t in it. God says, in effect, “If that is how little you care about the future of your people, that is all the help you will get.” In other words, if your heart’s not in it, well then, neither is mine. You can’t lead a country, let alone flourish in a marriage, with an attitude like that. To abandon desire is to say, “I don’t really need you; I don’t really want you. But I will live with you because, well, I’m supposed to.” It is a grotesque corruption of what was meant to be a beautiful dance between desire and devotion. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 56–57) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/24/2010 2/24/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-24T00:00:00 Dare we forget King David? Yes, his passions got him in a heap of trouble—and gave us our book of <i>worship</i>, the Psalms. Sure, Peter was a hotheaded disciple always quick with a reply. Remember in the Garden of Gethsemane—he’s the one who lopped off the ear of the high priest’s servant. But he was also the first to acknowledge that Jesus was the Messiah, and despite his Good Friday betrayals he became a key apostle, contributed important pieces to the Scripture, and followed Jesus all the way to his own crucifixion, asking to be nailed to the cross upside down because he was not worthy to die in the manner of his Lord. Surely we remember that Paul was once Saul, the fiery young Pharisee “advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and . . . extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers” (Gal. 1:14). His zeal made him the foremost persecutor of the church. When Christ knocked him off his donkey on the Damascus road, Paul was hunting down the church, “uttering threats with every breath” (Acts 9:1 NLT). Christ captured his zeal, and after Damascus it led him to “work harder than all the other apostles” (1 Cor. 15:10 NLT). <BR><BR>Augustine was also a passionate young man, sexually licentious, enamored with the pleasures of Rome, “scratching the sore of lust,” as he would call it after Christ got hold of him. He went on to become one of the great pillars of the church, laying the foundation for the rise of Christendom after the fall of Rome. Desire, a burning passion for more, is at the heart of both saints and sinners. Those who would kill the passion altogether would murder the very essence that makes heroes of the faith. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 52–53) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/23/2010 2/23/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-23T00:00:00 God’s relationship with us and with our world is just that: a <i>relationship</i>. As with every relationship, there’s a certain amount of unpredictability, and the ever-present likelihood that you’ll get hurt. The ultimate risk anyone ever takes is to love, for as C. S. Lewis says, “Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.” But God does give it, again and again and again, until he is literally bleeding from it all. God’s willingness to risk is just astounding—far beyond what any of us would do were we in his position. <BR><BR>Trying to reconcile God’s sovereignty and man’s free will has stumped the church for ages. We must humbly acknowledge that there’s a great deal of mystery involved, but for those aware of the discussion, I am not advocating open theism. Nevertheless, there is definitely something wild in the heart of God. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 32) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/22/2010 2/22/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-22T00:00:00 This is the world [God] has made. This is the world that is still going on. And he doesn’t walk away from the mess we’ve made of it. Now he lives, almost cheerfully, certainly heroically, in a dynamic relationship with us and with our world. “Then the Lord intervened” is perhaps the single most common phrase about him in Scripture, in one form or another. Look at the stories he writes. There’s the one where the children of Israel are pinned against the Red Sea, no way out, with Pharaoh and his army barreling down on them in murderous fury. Then God shows up. There’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who get rescued only <i>after</i> they’re thrown into the fiery furnace. Then God shows up. He lets the mob kill Jesus, bury him . . . then he shows up. Do you know why God loves writing such incredible stories? Because <i>he loves to come through</i>. He loves to show us that he has what it takes. <BR><BR>It’s not the nature of God to limit his risks and cover his bases. Far from it. Most of the time, he actually lets the odds stack up against him. Against Goliath, a seasoned soldier and a trained killer, he sends . . . a freckle-faced little shepherd kid with a slingshot. Most commanders going into battle want as many infantry as they can get. God cuts Gideon’s army from thirty-two thousand to three hundred. Then he equips the ragtag little band that’s left with torches and watering pots. It’s not just a battle or two that God takes his chances with, either. Have you thought about his handling of the gospel? God needs to get a message out to the human race, without which they will perish . . . forever. What’s the plan? First, he starts with the most unlikely group ever: a couple of prostitutes, a few fishermen with no better than a second-grade education, a tax collector. Then, he passes the ball to us. Unbelievable. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 31–32) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/21/2010 2/21/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-21T00:00:00 This may come as a surprise to you: Christianity is not an invitation to become a moral person. It is not a program for getting us in line or for reforming society. It has a powerful effect upon our lives, but when transformation comes, it is always the <i>aftereffect</i> of something else, something at the level of our hearts. And so at its core, Christianity begins with an invitation to <i>desire</i>. <BR><BR>Look again at the way Jesus relates to people. There is the Samaritan woman Jesus meets at the well. She has come alone in the heat of the day to draw water, and they both know why. By coming when the sun is high, she is less likely to run into anyone. You see, her sexual lifestyle has earned her a “reputation.” Back in those days, having one partner after another wasn’t looked so highly upon. She’s on her sixth lover, and so she’d rather bear the scorching rays of the sun than face the searing words of the “decent” women of the town who come at evening to draw water. She succeeds in avoiding the women, but runs into God instead. What does he choose to talk to her about—her immorality? No, he speaks to her about her <i>thirst</i> : “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking <i>me</i> for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water” (John 4:10 <i>The Message</i>). Remarkable. He doesn’t give a little sermon about purity; he doesn’t even mention it, except to say that he knows what her life has been like: “You’ve had five husbands, and the man you’re living with now isn’t even your husband” (John 4:18 <i>The Message</i>). In other words, now that we both know it, let’s talk about your heart’s real thirst, since the life you’ve chosen obviously isn’t working. “The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life” (John 4:14 <i>The Message</i>). <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 35–36) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/20/2010 2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-20T00:00:00 At some point we all face the same decision—what will we do with the Arrows we’ve known? Maybe a better way to say it is, what have they tempted us to do? However they come to us, whether through a loss we experience as abandonment or some deep violation we feel as abuse, their message is always the same: Kill your heart. Divorce it, neglect it, run from it, or indulge it with some anesthetic (our various addictions). Think of how you’ve handled the affliction that has pierced your own heart. How did the Arrows come to you? Where did they land? Are they still there? What have you done as a result? <BR><BR>To say we all face a decision when we’re pierced by an Arrow is misleading. It makes the process sound so rational, as though we have the option of coolly assessing the situation and choosing a logical response. Life isn’t like that—the heart cannot be managed in a detached sort of way (certainly not when we are young, when some of the most defining Arrows strike). It feels more like an ambush, and our response is at a gut level. We may never put words to it. Our deepest convictions are formed without conscious effort, but the effect is a shift deep in our soul. Commitments form never to be in that position again, never to know that sort of pain again. The result is an approach to life that we often call our personality. If you’ll listen carefully to your life, you may begin to see how it has been shaped by the unique Arrows you’ve known and the particular convictions you’ve embraced as a result. The Arrows also taint and partially direct even our spiritual life. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-12-sacred-romance-the-hardback.aspx"><i>The Sacred Romance </i></a>, 27–28) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/19/2010 2/19/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-19T00:00:00 Life <i>is</i> the offer, friends. Let us not forget that. <BR><BR>For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) <BR><BR>The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10) <BR><BR>This is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth. (John 17:3 NLT) <BR><BR>There is no simpler or more beautiful way to say it than this: Act Four is the restoration of life as it was always meant to be. <BR><BR>It is the return of the beauty, the intimacy, and the adventure we were created to enjoy and have longed for every day of our lives. And yet, <i>better</i>, for it is immortal. We can never lose it again. It cannot be taken away. Sunrise and sunset tell the tale every day, remembering Eden’s glory, foretelling Eden’s return. <BR><BR>And what adventures shall unfold when we are given the kingdom that was always meant to be ours? Listen to this: <BR><BR>Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come,you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, <i>the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world</i>.” (Matt. 25:34, emphasis added)<BR><BR>Adam and Eve, and all their sons and daughters after them, were created to reign over the earth—to explore and discover and create and do all those things you see people do when they are at their very best. <BR><BR>That is our destiny. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-4-epic-hardback-.aspx"><i>Epic </i></a>, 92–94) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/18/2010 2/18/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-18T00:00:00 The shriveled figure lay in the sun like a pile of rags dumped there by accident. It hardly appeared to be human. But those who used the gate to go in and out of Jerusalem recognized him. He was disabled, dropped off there every morning by someone in his family, and picked up again at the end of the day. A rumor was going around that sometimes (no one really knew when) an angel would stir the waters, and the first one in would be healed. Sort of a lottery, if you will. And as with every lottery, the desperate gathered round, hoping for a miracle. <BR><BR>It had been so long since anyone had actually <i>spoken</i> to him, he thought the question was meant for someone else. Squinting upward into the sun, he didn’t recognize the figure standing above him. The misshapen man asked the fellow to repeat himself; perhaps he had misheard. Although the voice was kind, the question felt harsh, even cruel. <BR><BR>“Do you want to get well?” <BR><BR>He sat speechless, blinking into the sun. Slowly, the words seeped into his consciousness, like a voice calling him out of a dream. <i>Do I want to get well?</i> Slowly, like a wheel long rusted, his mind began to turn over. </i>What kind of question is that? Why else would I be lying here? Why else would I have spent every day for the past thirty-eight seasons lying here? He is mocking me</i>. But now that his vision had adjusted to the glare, he could see the inquisitor’s face, his eyes. The face was as kind as the voice he heard. Apparently, the man meant what he said, and he was waiting for an answer. “Do you want to get well? What is it that you want?” <BR><BR>It was Jesus who posed the question, so there must be something we’re missing here. He is love incarnate. Why did he ask the paraplegic such an embarrassing question? <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-211-desire-paperback.aspx"><i>Desire </i></a>, 33–34) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/17/2010 2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-17T00:00:00 In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case and left us with a chess-player God playing both sides of the board, making all his moves and all ours too. But clearly, this is not so. God is a person who takes immense risks. No doubt the biggest risk of all was when he gave angels and men free will, including the freedom to reject him—not just once, but every single day. Does God cause a person to sin? “Absolutely not!” says Paul (Gal. 2:17). Then he can’t be moving all the pieces on the board, because people sin all the time. Fallen angels and men use their powers to commit horrendous daily evil. Does God stop every bullet fired at an innocent victim? Does he prevent teenage liaisons from producing teenage pregnancies? There is something much more risky going on here than we’re often willing to admit. <BR><BR>Most of us do everything we can to <i>reduce</i> the element of risk in our lives. We wear our seat belts, watch our cholesterol, and practice birth control. I know some couples who have decided against having children altogether; they simply aren’t willing to chance the heartache children often bring. What if they are born with a crippling disease? What if they turn their backs on us, and God? What if . . . ? God seems to fly in the face of all caution. Even though he <i>knew</i> what would happen, what heartbreak and suffering and devastation would follow upon our disobedience, God chose to have children. And unlike some hyper-controlling parents, who take away every element of choice they can from their children, God gave us a remarkable choice. He did not <i>make</i> Adam and Eve obey him. He took a risk. A staggering risk, with staggering consequences. He let others into his story, and he lets their choices shape it profoundly. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 30–31) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/16/2010 2/16/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-16T00:00:00 The resurrection of Jesus was the first of many, the forerunner of our own. He paved the way, as the saying goes. <BR><BR>The fact is that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has become the first of a great harvest of those who will be raised to life again. (1 Cor. 15:20 NLT) <BR><BR>God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. (Rom. 8:29 <i>The Message</i>) <BR><BR>So we, too, shall live and never die. Creation will be restored, and we will be restored. And we shall share it together. “Today,” Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Imagine that. Imagine being reunited with the ones you love, and with all the great and noble hearts of this Story, in paradise. <BR><BR>We will walk with God in the Garden in the cool of the day. We will see our Jesus face-to-face. We will hear him laugh. All that has ever stood between us will be swept away, and our hearts will be released to real loving. It begins with a great party, just as in <i>Titanic</i>, what the Scriptures call the “wedding feast of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:9 NLT). You’ll raise a glass with Adam and Eve, with Paul and St. Patrick, with your grandmother and your grandson. <BR><BR>Imagine the stories that you’ll hear. And all the questions that shall finally have answers. And the answers won’t be one-word answers, but story after story, a feast of wonder and laughter and glad tears. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-4-epic-hardback-.aspx"><i>Epic </i></a>, 87–88) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/15/2010 2/15/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-15T00:00:00 If you have any doubts as to whether or not God loves wildness, spend a night in the woods . . . alone. Take a walk out in a thunderstorm. Go for a swim with a pod of killer whales. Get a bull moose mad at you. Whose idea was this, anyway? The Great Barrier Reef with its great white sharks, the jungles of India with their tigers, the deserts of the Southwest with all those rattle-snakes—would you describe them as “nice” places? Most of the earth is not safe; but it’s good. That struck me a little too late when hiking in to find the upper Kenai River in Alaska. My buddy Craig and I were after the salmon and giant rainbow trout that live in those icy waters. We were warned about bears, but didn’t really take it seriously until we were deep into the woods. Grizzly signs were everywhere—salmon strewn about the trail, their heads bitten off. Piles of droppings the size of small dogs. Huge claw marks on the trees, about head-level. <i>We’re dead</i>, I thought. <i>What are we doing out here?</i> <BR><BR>It then occurred to me that after God made all this, he pronounced it <i>good</i>, for heaven’s sake. It’s his way of letting us know he rather prefers adventure, danger, risk, the element of surprise. This whole creation is unapologetically <i>wild</i>. God loves it that way. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 29–30) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/14/2010 2/14/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-14T00:00:00 God has a battle to fight, and the battle is for our freedom. As Tremper Longman says, “Virtually every book of the Bible—Old and New Testaments—and almost every page tells us about God’s warring activity.” I wonder if the Egyptians who kept Israel under the whip would describe Yahweh as a Really Nice Guy? Plagues, pestilence, the death of every firstborn—that doesn’t seem very gentlemanly, now, does it? <BR><BR>You remember that wild man, Samson? He’s got a pretty impressive masculine résumé: killed a lion with his bare hands, pummeled and stripped thirty Philistines when they used his wife against him, and finally, after they burned her to death, he killed a thousand men with the jawbone of a donkey. Not a guy to mess with. But did you notice? All those events happened when “<i>the Spirit of the LORD</i> came upon him” (Judg. 15:14, emphasis added). Now, let me make one thing clear: I am not advocating a sort of “macho man” image. I’m not suggesting we all head off to the gym and then to the beach to kick sand in the faces of wimpy Pharisees. I am attempting to rescue us from a very, very mistaken image we have of God—especially of Jesus—and therefore of men as his image-bearers. Dorothy Sayers wrote that the church has “very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah,” making him “a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.” Is that the God you find in the Bible? <BR><BR>You can tell what kind of man you’ve got simply by noting the impact he has on you. Does he make you bored? Does he scare you with his doctrinal nazism? Does he make you want to scream because he’s just so very nice? In the Garden of Gethsemane, in the dead of night, a mob of thugs “carrying torches, lanterns and weapons” comes to take Christ away. Note the cowardice of it—why didn’t they take him during the light of day, down in the town? Does Jesus shrink back in fear? No, he goes to face them head-on. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 25–27) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/13/2010 2/13/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-13T00:00:00 Now—is Jesus more like Mother Teresa or William Wallace? The answer is . . . it depends. If you’re a leper, an outcast, a pariah of society whom no one has <i>ever</i> touched, if all you have ever longed for is just one kind word, then Christ is the incarnation of tender mercy. On the other hand, if you’re a Pharisee, one of those self-appointed doctrine police . . . watch out. On more than one occasion Jesus “picks a fight” with those notorious hypocrites. <BR><BR>One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised and thanked God! But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd.“ Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.” But the Lord replied, “You hypocrite! You work on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from their stalls on the Sabbath and lead them out for water? Wasn’t it necessary for me, even on the Sabbath day, to free this dear woman from the bondage in which Satan has held her for eighteen years?” This shamed his enemies. And all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did. (Luke 13:10–17 NLT)<BR><BR>Does Jesus tiptoe around the issue, so as not to “rock the boat”? Does he drop the subject in order to “preserve church unity”? Nope. He walks right into it, he baits them, he picks a fight. Christ draws the enemy out, exposes him for what he is, and shames him in front of everyone. The Lord is a <i>gentleman</i> ??? <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-22-wild-at-heart-hard-back.aspx"><i>Wild at Heart </i></a>, 24–25) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/12/2010 2/12/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-12T00:00:00 Few have ever felt so pursued. Sometimes we wonder if we’ve even been <i>noticed</i>. Father was too busy to come to our games, or perhaps he jumped ship altogether. Mother was lost in a never-ending pile of laundry or, more recently, in her own career. We come into the world longing to be special to someone and from the start we are disappointed. It is a rare soul indeed who has been sought after for who she is—not because of what she can do, or what others can gain from her, but simply for herself. Can you recall a time when a significant someone in your life sat you down with the sole purpose of wanting to know your heart more deeply, fully expecting to enjoy what he found there? More people have climbed Mt. Everest than have experienced real pursuit, and so what are we left to conclude? There is nothing in our hearts worth knowing. Whoever and whatever this mystery called <i>I</i> must be, it cannot be much. <BR><BR>“In fact,” we continue, “if I am not pursued, it must be because there is something wrong with me, something dark and twisted inside.” We long to be known, and we fear it like nothing else. Most people live with a subtle dread that one day they will be discovered for who they really are and the world will be appalled. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-12-sacred-romance-the-hardback.aspx"><i>The Sacred Romance </i></a>, 83–84) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/11/2010 2/11/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-11T00:00:00 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. (Ezek. 36:26–27) <BR><BR>This we now know: the heart is central. It matters—deeply. When we see with the eyes of the heart, which is to say, when we see mythically, we begin to awaken, and what we discover is that things are not what they seem. We <i>are</i> at war. We must fight for the life God intends for us, which is to say, we must fight for our heart, for it is the wellspring of that life within us. <BR><BR>Standing in the way of the path to life—the way of the heart— is a monstrous barrier. It has stopped far too many pilgrims dead in their tracks for far too long. There is a widespread belief among Christians today that the heart is desperately wicked—even after a person comes to Christ. <BR><BR>It is a crippling belief. <BR><BR>And it is untrue. <BR><BR>(<a href="http://www.ransomedheart.com/p-19-waking-the-dead-hard-back.aspx"><i>The Sacred Romance</i></a>, 53–54) <BR><BR> http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx?id=2/10/2010 2/10/2010 12:00:00 AM 2010-02-10T00:00:00 3/11/2010 1:00:06 PM http://www.wildatheartaustralia.com.au/more_dailyreading.aspx 3/11/2010 1:00:06 PM orderhelp@ransomedheart.com