"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back!

Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes;
    and I will keep it to the end.
Give me understanding, that I may keep Your law
    and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
    for I delight in it.
Incline my heart to Your testimonies,
    and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
    and give me life in Your ways.
Confirm to Your servant Your promise,
    that You may be feared.          Psalm 110:33-38

And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12

We went up to the cabin this weekend, Nicole and Momma and Reed and I. And it was complicated and messy and discouraging actually getting up there, as always. Always when I think about making my way up to the mountains to seek His face, His rest and His glorious beauty, there are ever so many distractions.

But we made it. I know that it was the Spirit who propelled me up. Or His angels, the same way that they grasped Lot by both hands and dragged him out of Sodom. And I met Heidi Baker in a fresh new way because I was finally ready to listen to her heart immersed in the river of His love. Not wading in the river, ankle-deep, or knee-deep, or waist-deep, but all the way in and under and among His love. And read story after story of His power, of His passion to save His aching and broken children if only there was someone to send, someone willing to go.

And all of the verses about being willing to leave all of my thoughts which are not His thoughts and my ways which are not His ways took on a fresh joyous trumpet call, much like a the horns of Rohan.

And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet You

As the day rises to meet the sun.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, Amen.

Come, let us bow down and bend the knee; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.

For You are our God, and we are the people of Your pasture, and the sheep of Your hand.

O Lord, let my soul rise up to meet You

As the day rises to meet the sun.