Instead of telling you about the computer work I did in Scotland, let me tell you about the adventure I had at Dunnottar Castle. It began when Jessica Heaton, an old friend from Belton, offered to take me on a Castle tour. She purchased a car the day before and this was her first day to drive on the backward Scottish roads.

Instead of driving up to the castle we drove to Stonehaven where we could see the castle in the distance. At the top of a massive hill we saw a small stone building with pillars all about. We decided to visit the the building of pillars first. As we left the car we saw a path above us on a high hill and a bridge before us that appeared to lead up to this path.

The bridge was a foul deception and led to the bottom of a steep cliff upon which was no trail made by the hand of men. The only way up lay in a long journey back through Stonehaven to the true source of the path. Undaunted by the high of the hill, I suggested we ascend it, rather than retrace our steeps which I was fain to do for we were in want of time.

At first Jessica hesitated and bid me scale the hill and bring tidings as to whether the accent may be attained by the gentler sex. As I climbed the hill I found the way fair and summoned Jessica to join me. Upon reaching the crest of the hill we were greeted by a a sign with dark tidings.

The sign forbade the climbing of the cliffs and issued a curse on all who attempted the perilous path. Leave it to the Scots to put such a sign a the TOP of a cliff and not the bottom.

At the top of the hill a fair air and a crisp breeze greeted us. As we looked upon the ocean we could not tell when the waters ended and the sky began. All was but a sea of blue above and and the sea of blue below.

Upon reaching the pillared mound we saw that it was a memorial to great warriors who had fallen in ancient war. We marked that the placed seemed used more frequently for weddings than for mourning. The ping of grief had faded into shadow in the memories of the people.

We continued on as we could see Dunnottar Castle in the distance. It looked as if it floated over an ocean of sky and not of water.

Upon reaching the castle we found the gate locked and the wall high. A gloom came over me for the great iron eagle was to summon me to the far away land of California on the marrow and my only chance to see the castle lay dashed before my eyes.

Un deterred I attempted to scale the wall. Though covered in chain fencing the way was to hard for me for my feet were to big to hold to the fence.

Then we happened upon a hole in the cliff that led away to a different place. I was sucked in by a yearning to scale the castle if only I could find a way.

The cave led us to the far side of the castle beyond which was a bay filled with seagulls. When I gazed upon the castle I saw that it stood above high cliffs.  I saw that the cliffs could be scaled.

I set in my heart to gain entrance. Jessica the wise knew not to dissuade me for the nagging feminine voice of caution is never regarded and often encourages fool hearty actions. She resorted to filming my ascent until she turned off the camera in fear that she might record my doom.

At first the way was easy. But as I climbed higher I was obliged to work my way across the cliff. Soon I hung above a high drop. Several times my hand holds gave way sending earth and stone echoing down into the rocky foam below. But I refused to turn back and be denied entrance to this ancient citadel.

At last I crested the final wall. There at the top of the cliff stood a sign forbidding anyone to climb these slopes. Crazy Scots.

Before me lay Dunnottar Castle in all its glory. As I started to explore the castle I turned a corner and hear a mans voice.

“Hello?”

“Hi” I replied

There sat two men. One with a weed eater and another with clippers. They looked at me with wide eyes. Was this a castle ghost?

“How did you get in?” The man with the clippers asked.

“I climbed.” They both stared at me not saying a word. “Does that happen often?” I asked.

“No.” The man said. He was still surprised but this ghost had an American accent so he must not be so bad.

“My plane leaves for America tomorrow and I wanted to see a castle before I left. Would it be ok if I looked around a bit? The men looked at each other and then shrugged.

“Come get me when you want to get out.” The man said. “I’ll let you go out the door.”

“Thank you!” My heart swelled with gratitude for these kindly Scots.

Photos could not capture the majesty of the place. So I prepared this video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When it was time to leave the man picked up a massive key from a shed and let me out the main door.

Jessica before the cliffs.

As we left the castle the clouds parted and a clear sun caused the sea to shine with green life.

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Last Weekend David Umstattd and I visit the American Christian Writers conference in Oklahoma City. At the conference we learned about how to write better and about the business of writing. This is an exciting to time to write because the web gives us greater access to our readers than ever before. But with that it is harder to get published than it has been in the past.

Here is a quick video with some of the cool people we met at the ACW conference .

I’m in St. Petersurg now and will post about that soon.

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You may not know Charity Chambers but she is an up an coming poet. Unfortunately, she has no blog so it is hard to read her work. The good news is that she gave me permission to publish this poem. I think you will like it even if you’re not into poetry.

A Woman at a Well
By Charity Chambers

I was almost there,
I needed one more day.
I was following a vision,
and I was on my way.

Chasing after this dream,
I joined a mighty throng,
"If only…" was our anthem,
to this world did we belong.

Our thirst for happy living
kept us coming to this well.
But the waters left us thirsty;
that we’d drunk, we could not tell.

If only we drink faster!
If only we drink more!
We must get a bigger bucket!

And soon joy became a chore.

In the waters we no longer found
the satisfaction that we sought.
Still we drank, and deeply,
trusting joy these waters brought.

Then one day as I was drinking
of the water of the well,
a man sat down beside me.
The things that he could tell!

He first spoke to me of water,
his was living, so he said.
I couldn’t understand him,
Did he mean that mine was dead?

He seemed to fully know me;
he’d been watching all the time.
He showed me what I looked like,
that I now lived in crime.

I perceived that he was wise,
but still he didn’t understand.
I may not quite be worthy,
but I do the best I can.

"I worship on this mountain,
I give to God his due.
Because I’ve never seen his temple,
is there more that I must do?"

I trusted that I’d shown him,
there was nothing he could say.
But if only I had known him,
on my lips my hand would lay.

He said the moment hastened
when I would not be simple.
I’d not worship on my mountain,
nor yet in Jerusalem’s temple.

He said my worship was vanity,
for salvation was of the Jews.
My face grew hot in shame
as I thought "this is not news."

A child of illegitimacy,
how did I even think
that of life containing water
I could ever drink?

At once I was in confusion,
I stammered, then sat still.
My gaze fell on my waters
and I thought I’d drunk my fill.

He didn’t seem to notice,
for uninterrupted still he spoke.
And when he’d finally finished,
My heart I knew he’d broke.

For he said the time had come
when false worship was at an end.
I knew with painful conviction
that this rule I could not bend.

He said that God, who is a Spirit,
seeks for worship of one sort:
spirit and truth must meet
and fall adoring in His court.

At last, gathering my courage,
I spoke loudly, to be heard.
"I know Christ, Messiah’s coming
and Truth will be his Word."

Oh! How I should have known it!
I suspected it must be.
The man for whom we waited said,
"I that speak to thee am He!"

The pitcher I’d been holding
slipped unheeded to the ground,
and tumbled, spilling the water.
At last, true joy I’d found!

I rushed back to my village
with marvelous news to tell!
I found my friends still drinking
the dead water of the well.

Excitedly I told them
to hurry up and see!
Jesus Christ had come,
and the things he said to me!

The whole village turned out,
their parched throats drove them on.
Christ spoke to all who’d listen,
And for some, all doubt was gone.

Others wouldn’t listen.
Still others laughed and mocked.
They went back to their water,
and to us no longer talked.

But we no longer cared
for their water or their well.
We found the living spring,
and now in joy would dwell.

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In part one we talked about Spiritual Cancer and how to see if you are a cancer cell in the body of Christ. So now what do we do about the other cancer cells in the Body of Christ?

Here is what Jesus has to say about it:

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away.When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn. ’” Matt 13:24-30

Spiritual radiation treatment is not an option because it will kill good cells as well as bad cells. We often can’t tell between a true and false convert.

So this is what we should not do. So, What do we do?

Well, Saint Paul has some advice on this regard.

"When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that.

I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believer yet indulges in sexual sin , or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people." 1 Corinthians 5:9-11

So if someone is in open sin and calls themselves a Christian don’t have anything to do with them. You can’t make anyone do anything they don’t want to do . But you can pray for them.

Sometimes the clearest way to send a message is to avoid them all together.

One Last Note
Our value is based on who Christ is not on what we do. God has blessed the church with special people who are unable to give much because of an injury or physical or mental impediment. I belive that God has blessed the church with these people so that we can learn to be like Christ in how we treat them. There is a big difference between can’t and won’t .

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Oh Lord, there is a sadness deep within my heart,
The pain of being broken, my world falling apart.
I feel the throb of loneliness the sting of isolation.
My soul is torn asunder and left in desolation.

Fear and questions both assail me, could it have gone a different way?
Could I have spoken different words, to make today a different day?
My heart not only hurts for me but also for another.
The one I spoke the words of death to, why, did I have to hurt her?

My selfish sinful pride hath reared its ugly head.
I could not hold my tongue, and so my hopes are dead.
Should I curse the fates, if they exist at all?
Blame the God in heaven, or Adam for his fall?

But here I stand, all alone,

with blame on none but me.
To ask the King who reigns on high, and her, to forgive me.

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I just wanted to share an update on some of the cool projects I have been working on.

New Business
I now setup websites for Author’s and businesses. Many of them are paying to much for golden handcuff sites. Others have no site at all. What I like about WordPress is that my clients can update the site as easily as they can ask me to do it for them. They like this too because they can keep their site current.

Some wordpress sites I have made include:

• PeerlessRoofing.com Great roofing & remodeling company in the Temple Belton TX area.
  
• RenaeBrumbaugh.com An expository daily devotional.
• AustinRhetoricClub.org My favorite debate club ever
• GreatShalom.org An Austin radio show about healing, homeschooling & health. A podcast is coming soon so that you non Austinites can listen in.
• CaltarionChronicles.com David Umstattd’s blog about a book he is writing.
• JenniferLackey.com A friend of mine. She is smart and too busy to update her blog.

Thomas Camp
I have started an internship program with my businesses called Thomas Camp. Paul Hastings is my first attendee. He is learning about marketing, web design, book keeping, organization, cooking and vacuum repair. Follow his blog for day by day rundown of Thomas Camp.

BrookAudio.com
We will be launching BrookAudio.com today! If you love Audiobooks you will love this site. Brook Audio: Turn your car into a classroom by bringing to the classic audiobooks on the road.

Writers Conference
By God’s gracious provision I have pulled together the funds to go to the Glorieta Christian Writers Conference in New Mexico next week. It is the second biggest writers conference and my best chance to get a publisher all year. At the conference I will get a chance to "pitch" my book to publishers.  Pray that I get favor.

Courtship Blog
Over the last several weeks I have talked to dozens of homeschool moms and a handful of homeschool dads from all over Texas about courtship.  Many of them are concerned that courtship is not working very well to get young people married, particularly young women.

I have also talked with people from all over the world including a member to the Chinese underground church to an Indian who grew up in Singapore about different methods of courtship in other cultures. I have heard about betrothal, courtship, Christian dating, arranged marriage, and even "dateship."

I will start a new blog soon that will examine the obstacles to modern courtship and then discuss solutions. My hope is to spark a dialogue as we pioneer this new approach to marriage. I will post a link once the blog is up and ready to go.

Grandfather
On a sad note we are concerned that my grandfather is dying. Please pray for him. He is not born again as far as we know.

I think thats it. Let me know if I forgot anything. Sorry for all the personal posts.

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in the stillness of a quiet moment
when conscience finds its voice to speak
it tells of deeds done in night’s darkness
pitch-black lust and hidden hate

noise can drown the accuser
and summon back a chaosed mind
but noise cannot hide truth
and chaos cannot cleanse sin

the din that dulls the guilt
cannot save on judgment day
darkness comes not from without
but from within a soiled soul

in Christ alone can there be hope
only He can end the night
to follow Him is to be free
only from Light will the darkness flee

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Every beat of a man’s heart pulses the desire for greatness. We long to take up our sword and join in the fray. Yet, the lives of most men don’t look like a grand battle. They look more like a game of put-put golf. We don’t realize the things we do have little impact on the world outside the miniature golf course.  The game is fun, but it lacks meaning.

What has happened? 

We hear echos or war, the clash of resounding arms and we long to be a part of something greater than ourselves.  The drumbeat for battle echoes the beating of our hearts. But, we can’t see the battle because it is fought not with guns but with words and deeds. The war is not in trenches but in the arena of ideas. Our enemy twists the truth to steal, kill, and destroy.

Will we stand to fight him?

Throughout the centuries men of God have stood up against this unseen foe. They carried the torch of truth and now hold it for us to take. But, for many of us, the only battle we fight is against an enemy that doesn’t exist. Why invest hours trying to beat level thirty when a spiritual war wages all around you? If we, the generation of today, fail to take up the torch of truth, who will pass it on to the generation of tomorrow? Will history remember us as those who let it die?

All my life, adults told me that my generation would be the one that God would use to usher in revival. Yet, when I look around I see Christian youth sitting idle, getting entertained by their TVs, computers and youth groups. Where are the warriors training? Where are the strongmen who long to run into battle? Where are the warrior poets holding the torch of truth for all to see?  Most of them haven’t even signed up for boot camp. Encouraged by their mothers to value safety over obedience they are still boys. Boys living in men’s bodies. 

This is your invitation.

For you, boot camp can start today if you are willing. The only cost of admission is total commitment. There is no room for double mindedness among the soldiers of light. Those who sign up and then look back have no place in the Kingdom we fight for. Our General shares our allegiance with no one. We are either all His or not His at all. God has no grandchildren, step children, or part time warriors. We must follow him alone and with our whole hearts or admit we follow a different king.

But our journey does not end with bootcamp. Some of you reading this are already trained beyond your obedience to God.  If that is you, the next step is to do something with the hundreds of hours of sermons you have heard. Take the Gospel out of the church and share it with the lost. Feed the poor. Care for widows and orphans.

God has not called us to play defense against evil. We can’t win if the game ends with the score 0-0.  We won’t win by attending weekly Sunday training and then seldom showing up for the battle. God is calling boys to become men of God .

Will you be one of them?

Are you ready to put away childish things and get about your Father’s business? If so, there is a place for you. This book isn’t about helping you quit gaming. It’s an invitation to an adventure that is better than gaming.  This book will change your life, if you will let it.

You have been reading an excerpt from a chapter in my book Digital Cancer. What do you think?

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Its the first of the month. Here is a psalm from the archive. Important Note: I wrote this before I ever met Grace.

Questions for My Daddy

Daddy, why did You give us women? You say it is not good
for man to alone, but is it not worse for him to have woman? What is her
purpose if not to torment us? They play with our emotions and ring us dry.
They play with our eyes and tempt us to sin.

Daddy, is it not cruel to give us something and then not let us have it?
Why did You give them to us, only to say later “it is better to walk alone.”
Should only the weak take this “gift” from You?

Why would You give us a thirst that we are not permitted to quench?
Why am I compelled to talk with those who only cause anguish?
Why are they so beautiful?

Selah

Daddy, why did you make the rose? I do not understand it.
The velvet petals are the source of such beauty and fragrance.
Yet the thorns are sharp, hard, and unforgiving.
So different than the beauty above. Why do the thorns cause such pain?
Why does my hand bleed when I try to pick one from the garden?

Was it good when men of old took roses and chopped of their thorns?
Do You take pleasure in allowing men treat the rose as trash? Why is
the simple so complex?

Could it be that I am handling the rose incorrectly? Is there a way to
enjoy a rose without pain? Would You give something so beautiful
that cannot be enjoyed? Do roses exist just to taunt us? Or, did You
give us the rose to teach us of other things?

Selah

Does the blood dripping from my heart come from the mishandling of a
rose? How do I guard my heart from thorns I can’t see? Why are they so
sharp, why do they hurt so much?

Will You, the Maker of thorns and roses cause the bleeding to stop? Will
You teach me to love You more than the rose? Can the rose teach me
something about You?

Daddy, thank You for listening to my questions. Thank You
for Your patience with my foolishness. I know You are wise.
May I find favor in Your eyes that I might learn Your ways.
Thank You for being who You are.

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Lord, set me aflame for You.
let not my fire grow dim.
keep my flame from the quenchers.

the cares of the world press me into the ground

the spiritual rain that comes not from You

crackles and pops on the embers of my heart

make my soul so hot that the waters from the world

turn to steams of praise rising to Your Name.

may my life burn as a living sacrifice for You

shining Your light throughout the earth

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