Poems, Headaches, and Mjolnir

This is one of my most favoritest poems ever. If you can’t tell, I prefer poetry that speaks about something solid. Especially funny poetry.

I’ve Got An Incredible Headache

by Jack Prelutsky

I’ve got an incredible headache,
my temples are throbbing with pain,
it feels like a freight train with two locomotives
is chugging about in my brain.
I’m sure I can’t stand it much longer,
my skull’s being squeezed in a vise,
as regiments march to the blaring of trumpets,
and thousands of tap-dancing mice.

My head’s filled with horrible noises,
there’s a man mashing melons inside,
someone keeps drumming on bongos and plumbing,
as porpoises thrash in the tide.
An elephant herd is stampeding,
a volcano is blowing its top,
and if I keep hitting my head with this hammer,
I doubt that my headache will stop.

So often in life we do this. Not literally. But a lot of times we keep doing things to ourselves that just cause us more and more pain. Whether it’s a sin or a bad habit or something else, all of us do things that harm us. I have some. If you think really hard, I’m sure you’ve got at least one, too.

So, for crying out loud, put down Mjolnir and give your poor head a break!

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Bible Trivia: 8-23-14 Answers

As some biblical characters were known by more than one name, what was Saul’s other name?

1. Paul

“He that is without ___ among you, let him first cast a stone”?

2. Sin

The chapter of 1 Peter 5 compares Satan to which animal?

2. Roaring lion

Brought to you by out Bible Trivia Challenge Calender.

Hulk Smash – Part Two

Let’s get something straight.

Anger is not a sin.

Jesus was pure. He didn’t sin, and yet, in Mark 11:15-25, Jesus is clearly angry with the people who are defiling God’s temple. This shows us that anger is not a sin, in and of itself. There is such a thing as “righteous anger”.

This is not righteous anger:

In a much later scene, the Hulk does have the good type of anger, when he’s fighting Loki and the Chitauri. Now, like I said before, anger is not a sin. It’s what you do with your anger that makes you sin. We’ll be talking about that in a later post, so, for now, just remember; even Jesus got angry. Anger is not necessarily a sin, as long as you’re angry at the right thing.

 

The Red In Our Lives

“I’ve got red in my ledger, and I’d like to wipe it out.”

-Natasha Romanoff, The Avengers

Just as the Black Widow has “red in her ledger”, we all have sin in our lives. Jesus is the only one who can wipe it out. We can’t do it on our own.

Is He Dead Or Not?

Caution: There may be a few spoilers in this post, or, if you’re like Sherlock Holmes, you could deduce spoilers from things I say in this post. Just sayin’.

Have you ever noticed that it’s impossible to believe that people are actually dead in superhero movies?

I’ll admit that the same problem occurs in other movies, too, and in books fairly often. Or is that just my imagination? It’s not.

Sherlock Holmes, for example. He “died” in the books, and he “died” on the BBC Sherlock show (Which I have not watched, but I know quite a bit about thanks to a few friends. *wink* And a past post I reblogged.)

And then, of course, there’s all those minor characters in the superhero movies that supposedly die but don’t. Sometimes main characters, too, like Captain America, although we know that something’s up from the beginning of the movie. You can almost never believe that people are actually dead in those movies.

But you know what’s cool? That’s happened in real life before, too! All those people that are raised from the dead, like Lazarus. (We don’t know the names of most of them.) But the best coming-back-to-life episode? Jesus.

Unlike in superhero movies, Jesus really died. And then he came back to life. He conquered our sin by suffering the worst death the Romans could invent, and then he rose again, conquering death itself. He love us that much.

 

The Flaming Arrows

In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

-Ephesians 6:16

So what are the fiery arrows of the devil?

Temptations.

I talked quite a bit about temptation in another post, but after yesterday’s post, with faith as our shield, I thought it would be nice to add a little to our allegory-ish thing with the fiery arrows of temptation.

When you think Marvel, “the shield” normally makes you think of Captain America’s shield (or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D…), and “arrows” normally make you think of Hawkeye. (Quick note: Everything I know about Hawkeye comes from watching the Avengers, and my friends talking about him. So… don’t judge.)

So, when Hawkeye shoots one of his explosive arrows, what normally happens afterwards?

Yep. Ka-poof. That’s what happens when we give in to temptation. Now, maybe it doesn’t get that bad, but consequences always follow sin. Even if it doesn’t seem like anyone will ever find out.

So use your shield of faith to block the arrows of temptation. Cuz the devil won’t mind if you blow up.

If you want to read more about temptation, check out my previous post about it.

Purge

Purge v.

To rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; cleanse; purify.

As Christians we need to purge the sin from our lives. We need to completely reject that sin, cleanse ourselves from what is undesirable to God. We must purify our hearts from… impurities.

Here’s the bad news.

You can’t do it.

No matter how hard you try, there is no way that you can completely rid yourself of your sin. It will simpy lay dormant and wait for the right time to come back and attack you. It’s impossible to do.

The good news?

Our God conquers the impossible.

On our own, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. He can completely cleanse and purify you. Ask Him to do it today.

Challenge: Ask God to purge you from your sin. He will give you His strength.

Not Of This World

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

-Colossians 3:1-4

If we believe in God, Christ becomes our life. We will appear with Him in glory when He appears. We are now hidden in Christ!

We are not of this world.

That’s why this verse talks about setting our hearts and our minds on things above, not on earthly things. That’s one of the best ways to grow closer to God: focusing on Him and not on all of the junk and sin of this world.

Challenge: Focus on God instead of all of the sin around you, and let Him lead you in the direction He wants you to go.

Mistakes – Part Two

Lord, the Lord Almighty,
may those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me;
God of Israel,
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me.

-Psalm 69:6

As stated in Mistakes – Part One, God knows about all of our mistakes. And, as stated in Connections – Lines, we all make mistakes.

So what happens when non-Christians see those mistakes in our lives. That’s what Psalm 69:6 is talking about. When people see our sin, and see our lives, especially the messed-up parts (and, yes, we all have those, too) a lot of non-believers will be turned off.

That’s one (and there are many more) of the reasons why it’s better to admit that you’re wrong and that you’ve messed up, that you’re not perfect. ‘Cause you’re not. Romans 3:23 says: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That includes everyone. Even believers.

Recognizing your mistakes is a good thing. Try it and see how God uses you to change others lives by showing them that you have problems, too.

The Lord’s Temple: Part 2

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?

-1 Corinthians 3:16

Yes, that’s the same verse from yesterday. 😉

So, continuing from yesterday and building off the challenge. How do we make our “temples” clean like Hotel Room #1? Obviously, it’s kind of hard to actually bake some cookies for God, or at least to get them to Him.

One way to do this is obviously to try and keep from sinning. Ask God to help you keep your temple pure and clean from sin. He’ll help you.

Another way is to stay healthy. One way to do this is to eat healthier, (obviously, but still…) and to exercise. Yes, my current “exercise program consists of running around the yard with the dog just about every day and horseback riding once a week, although I do get to play the occassional tiring game of hide-and-go-seek/tag. Those little kids always beat me! 🙂

Challenge: Same as part one. But maybe you should try moving the cookies a little farther away from you this time, so you don’t eat all of God’s cookies.