Some of the coolest and most powerful dreams I’ve had over the years involve lions. They show up often, but what’s different is they’re never against me—they’re with me, for me, protecting and helping me.
Most of my other animal dreams are the complete opposite. I’m usually running for my life from polar bears, tigers, or something else trying to eat me. But not the lions. They’re my brothers.
Here’s the dream I had last night…
I was in a wilderness-type place, deep in a jungle. I was riding in an old Roman chariot, and we were moving incredibly fast. I say we because I wasn’t alone.
The chariot was being pulled by a magnificent beast—a lion. A male, in his prime. Massive, powerful, and absolutely fearless.
I held the reins and gave them a snap. He glanced back at me for just a moment, then surged forward. I was in charge of him.
I wasn’t sure where we were headed, but he seemed to know. He moved with purpose, as though he was on a mission.
The ground ahead was flat at first, but in the distance stood a great mountain with a road leading to its summit. We charged toward it and began climbing with incredible speed and power.
About halfway up, the lion sensed something.
His pace slowed. Then he stopped.
He turned and looked back at me. There was something in his eyes. He seemed concerned… uncertain… even worried. Not for himself, but for me.
It was as if he was trying to protect me… as if I wasn’t ready for whatever lay ahead.
There was a season where I was writing about my dreams fairly regularly, but it’s been a fat minute since I’ve shared one. I’ve continued to have them—I just haven’t been writing them.
All my life my dreams have been constant, vivid, and unforgettable. Here’s one from a few weeks ago.
I was lying on a cold, hard floor, staring up at a tall ceiling lined with rows of fluorescent lights. It felt like a large commercial building. I could feel the cold pressing against my back and running all the way down my legs.
I kept thinking, Where am I?
I tried to move. I tried to lift my head, but it took everything I had. After several attempts, I finally managed to raise it just enough to look around.
I was in a large grocery store.
I could see the produce section. Women were shopping as though everything was perfectly normal. Then I ran out of strength and laid my head back down.
I remember thinking, How in the world did I end up here?
About that time, a very pretty woman in her 40s, with long brown hair and kind green eyes, knelt beside me, holding the gentlest smile, and asked, “What are you doing on the floor?”
I didn’t have an answer.
I just froze.
For what felt like about ten seconds, I just got deep into my thoughts as I looked at her, searching for words. Finally I said, “I don’t know… I’m not normally like this.”
She looked at me with such kindness, and in the softest, most sincere tone she said,
“Get up. I’ll help you.”
She reached out her hand, and I took it.
She helped me to my feet, handed me a shopping cart, and together we walked the aisles while she helped me find the things I needed.
I woke this morning with the blues… the Sunday blues, to be more exact.
I was reminded of Kris Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” and for a moment I could feel myself walking that lonely sidewalk. I could almost smell the fried chicken.
Then my heart turned to others.
So I decided to forget myself, pray for those whose blue is a much darker shade than my own… and maybe even try on their shoes for a little while in my head.
So about these songs…
For the Lauren Daigle song “Still Rolling Stones,” I decided to amp it up a bit with the guitar lick. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to play it, and I just thought I’d do it a little differently.
And “Worn” by Tenth Avenue North was actually the very first song from the bathroom that I ever posted. I hid it inside another post though, so it was easy to miss. I thought I’d share it again.
Back in 2o18, I was involved in music ministry, and one Sunday I wasn’t feeling well. I was supposed to lead worship that evening at a men’s service for my good friend, Pastor Cecil Johnson.
Pastor Cecil had a message to bring, and he needed me there… so much so that he came in my room while I was sleeping, woke me up, told me he needed me to get up and come sing Victory in Jesus… 😄😁
Cecil was a great man of God. Sadly, he passed away a year later after a long battle with cancer.
There is a movie about his life called No Vacancy, starring Sean Young 🦸♂️ Dean Cain, and T.C. Stallings from War Room plays Pastor Cecil. It’s a really good movie, and I believe it will bless you. I encourage you to check it out.
One of the things I’ll never forget about an old friend of mine was the way he’d greet me.
He’d smile and ask,
“What’s really going on?”
Not, “How are you?”… but, “What’s really going on?”
It’s been about 20 years since I last saw him, but today I found myself thinking about those words again. Such a simple question… yet so profound.
Now, let’s get into the music.
…
…
The Words I Would Say
Keep Making Me
…
…
Physically Building Churches in Buenos Aires, Argentina 🇦🇷 Oct 2o19
…
…
Jude 1:24-25
To Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before His glorious presence without blemish and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
No matter your beliefs… I like you… I’m for you. Together… we can lift each other up. We’re not meant to live this life alone.
Work on trying to let someone in… even if it’s just one.
Ain’t no life outside each other.
…
I have two excellent songs for you today
🎵 No Man Is an Island 2o14 🎵 I Have This Hope 2o16
…
Be blessed… and don’t forget.
…
Hebrews 10:24–25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another
What’s a fear you’ve overcome — and how did you do it?
This is my first ever blog… ¡ started it back in November of last year… one reason was to help make it easier for me when ¡ get ready to write my first ever book… about my life…
¡ know fear
It knows me
¡ve been at war with it since the 90s
And newsflash
¡m winning
¡ always knew ¡ would
¡ do not give up
And ¡ do not give in
There’s been many dim lit days… dark nights… where it appeared though it had me.
But fear’s power is one that is borrowed
Borrowed from me
So ¡ve learned not to fuel it
…
All ¡ know… is what it did take to make this
All ¡ am… is what it will take… to break this
…
On a lighter note
Let’s talk about something a little more relatable
Spiders.
Big effin’ huge ones.
So ¡ve always been scared of them in the past… like fearful…
And I’m an outdoorsman haha
¡m not scared of much
Like snakes for example
Even poisonous ones ¡ will catch and hold carefully…
They don’t bother me at all
But spiders had my number
Until the summer of 2o1O
That’s when ¡ finally dealt with it
¡ was living and working at a Christian men’s drug rehab in Florida
It was a long-term treatment program
The guys lived there for 18 months
¡ was the resident director and lived in the same house with them
Well… the pastor that ran it wanted me to have my own place separate from everyone
So he purchased a used fifth-wheel camper trailer and we set it up out back on the ten-acre property
Hold up…
Let me back up a lil
The property had a lot of spiders
Florida has a lot of spiders lol
We would find them in the men’s residence all the time
Come to find out… they are called Huntsman spiders
And they are enormous and intimidating… most as big as your hand.
Ok… back to the story…
The camper had some type of hole somewhere underneath the frame
And shortly after ¡ moved in
So did all my long-legged, hairy little roommates
They would crawl on me while ¡ was sleeping
¡d wake up and they would be on… the ceiling… the walls… the floor… just all over
¡ went to put my bedroom shoes on once…
And a big one was in there
¡ could feel it on my bare toes
It was frantically moving around trying to get out haha
So like lightning… ¡ pulled my foot out and out it came… then it ran up my leg
These types of things happened often with my new friends
…
¡ didn’t think ¡ could stay
Live here like this
In this place… with them. 😬
…
We searched and searched trying to find how they were getting in
But we never found it
As the days passed
¡ had more encounters
Daily…
Nightly…
Then it occurred to me
¡ had never once been bitten by one
So ¡ did much praying
Asking God to help me get over this fear
And He did
Little by little
¡ got to where it didn’t bother me
¡ even stopped trying to kill them
¡ got to where ¡ could lay in bed at night and read
Even if one was resting on the wall beside me
Sometimes there might be three or four in plain sight in the room at the same time
And it didn’t faze me anymore
…
¡ stayed in that camper for about a year
…
Never once got bit
Not one time
…
There was nothing to fear… ever.
…
…
only something to face.
…
…
This is a Huntsman Spider I was told… not a Wolf Spider as me and my friends are calling it in this video…
…
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. — 2 Timothy 1:7
Two more great ones this week from Matthew West… (not hidden gems… 2 of his more popular ones)
Broken Things 🎶 Hello, My Name Is
Both are among my favorites of his.
I saw this comment on YouTube and thought it was pretty cool…
“Imagine you have two ceramic pots. One is cracked and missing pieces. The other is perfect. Now put a candle inside both and place a lid on them. Which pot do you see more light coming through? The broken one. That’s what God does. Sometimes you have to be broken to let God’s light shine through.”
Hope you enjoy. 🎧
…
…
…
2 Corinthians 5:17 🎵 Therefore… if anyone is in Christ… he is a new creation. The old has passed away… behold… the new has come.
I recently left a comment on Reddit that got me permanently banned from one community 😁…
For like the past 3 months… I’ve been getting notifications from the Christian Dating page… I think this happened when I was bouncing around different communities promoting my YouTube channel…
But anyway…
Every now and then… I’d click on the posts… and honestly? Some of the topics and comments were fascinating 😂
Reading all the complaints from both sexes was like watching the Discovery Channel… but with Bible verses and emotional damage…
One night the question was…
“Why do you want to get married?”
So I started reading the answers…
And honestly… these bored me even more than the question did.
That’s when I thought to myself…
“This is a perfect opportunity for me to help these poor people become more creative with their words… maybe attract a good mate… and at the same time… work on my Christian stand-up bit.”
So I commented this…
“I just need someone to do work around the house… especially kitchen and yard work… but I’m a nice guy. I plan on getting her some sister wives… you know… to help her out… It’s ok don’t worry… I’m half pentecostal… half baptist… half Irish… so it’s all good 🤷♂️”
Well…
This did NOT go over well with my hopelessly romantic spiritual peers 😂
Within about 30 minutes… I got a message from the moderator saying I was permanently banned.
HAHA.
So I replied…
“Hey I get it… I understand… but it was just a joke… it’s called comedy…”
To which he replied…
“You cannot joke like that!”
Then I said something like…
“I feel you bro… but honestly I didn’t mean anything by it…”
And then………
HE HIT ME WITH A SCRIPTURE BOMB…….💣💥
Bro quoted Luke 6:45 on me…
“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
Also in Matthew 12:34 I believe…
But he completely twisted the meaning and used it like…
“SEE?! YOU SAID IT… SO YOU SECRETLY MEAN IT!”
😂😂😂
At that point I wasn’t even gonna debate theology with the guy…
even though I went to college for it… and hermeneutics and proper interpretation are kinda my thing…
it was just too funny of a situation to let it turn serious 😁
So I just said…
“Ok bro I understand… hope you have a blessed night… no hard feelings.”
…
What can I say though sistas and brothas?
I’m just a wild and crazy rogue Christian 🤷♂️
…
Hallelujahs to the Amenzes!
…
Pardon me Deacon Johnson… but can you please pass the fried chicken…
Heart of Loia `'.,°~ 