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 My journey through middle earth is complete – Frodo has destroyed the ring with the help of Smeagol and Samwise… all is now well in the world.
Some thoughts:
1) The books had a lot more detail in them then I recall… for some reason, I remembered a lot more action / journeying and less poems and history. This may have been because I skipped/skimmed those parts before…something I really couldn’t do while listening to the audio version.
2) Along those lines, I have come to the conclusion that the poems and songs of Tolkien were not meant to be read silently. No, they were meant to be read aloud with heart. To this end, I HIGHLY recommend listening to the audio book as Rob Inglis does an amazing job bring these parts to life! 
3) Through out the series, Tolkien continued to highlight the strength of hope – hope that one day all will be set right; hope that darkness will be overcome; hope that rescue would come; hope that the grief experienced now would be worth it…
4) The other big theme in the series was the question, “What will you do with the cards given?” Basically, while we may wish we could live like our fathers and our fathers’ father, sometimes life calls on us to live a different life – one full of pain and sorrow. In Frodo’s case, he had to destroy the ring even though he wished he could have lived a life of peace back home.
Continue reading “The Return of the King” by J.R.R. Tolkien
Spurred on by the filming of the Hobbit in New Zealand, I have been reading listening journeying through Middle Earth.
Even though I have read the famed works of J.R.R. Tolkien many times before, this is the first time I have read them since Peter Jackson’s films came out.
In listening to the unabridged [...]
At church we have been working our way through the Five Vineyard Values in an effort to understand who we are. Yesterday the PRV family was blessed by Reggie and Flo Coleman (Vineyard Boise, Healthy Families Boise, and Angel Food Ministries) who shared with us about the value of experiencing God in and through worship.
It was a powerful service that emphasized going beyond simply singing words on a screen and really connecting with God one-on-one. As Emily mentioned at the beginning of the service (she shared her heart for a few minutes before Reggie spoke), music is a powerful connector between our logical left brain and our creative-expressive right brain. Worship is a way for us to experience God using all our heart, soul, spirit and body (i.e. raising our hands, dancing, sitting in silence, etc)
 Another aspect of worship was highlighted to me this morning on the way to work as I listened to J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Fellowship of the Ring”.
Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin had just been captured by a barrow-wight (an evil spirit) and were in endangered of being entrapped forever inside a tomb of earth and stone. Sam, Merry and Pippin were placed under a deep spell and laid on a stone table with a long sword placed over the neck. Frodo, who had been knocked out, awakes to this sight and tries to protect his friends by chopping down an animated arm that was getting ready to kill them.
Only this action proofs fruitless as it plunges the cave passage into darkness…
Losing courage, Frodo lays his head on Merry’s cold face…only to remember the rhyme given to him by Tom Bombadil:
“In a small desperate voice he began: Ho! Tom Bombadil! and with that name his voice seemed to grow strong: it had a full and lively sound, and the dark chamber echoed as if to drum and trumpet.
‘Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
By water, wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!
Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!’”
Continue reading Worship, God and Tom Bombadil
 When I was preparing for Sunday’s sermon about pursuing God’s adventure, I wanted to use an example from J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Sadly enough, I did not…something about having to spend half the sermon setting up the story, explaining what hobbits were, etc…
(A friend once complained about why pastors are allowed to use sports analogies but not Star Trek analogies…)
Online, however, is a different story – a lot of you folks are nerdy like me! Therefore, I am going to tell you the story I wanted to tell the church. 
Here’s the set up…remember, the sermon is dealing with breaking out of one’s cage (fears, responsibilities, guilt, traditions, etc) and following God in His adventure….
Breaking Out of Our Cages: The Nerd Version
Bilbo Baggins was a respectful hobbit from a long line of respectful hobbits:
“The Bagginses had lived in the neighborhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures of did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him.”
This all changed the day Gandalf and 13 dwarves showed up for tea – quite unexpected, of course as a good hobbit wouldn’t be seen in such company!
Continue reading Breaking Out of Our Cages: The Nerd Version
My very nerdy wife sent me a link to a webcomic (Dumnestor’s Heroes) where the author is trying to calucate the aerodynamic properties of balrogs. Yes – Balrogs. As in LOTR balrogs.
Why?
Because she’s a nerd who wanted to find out just how far the Balrog and Gandalf falls!!
Using the [...]
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Who Writes This Mess? My name is Joshua Hopping and I am a Son of the Most High journeying through a foreign land following the Wild Goose (i.e. the Holy Spirit) one step at a time.
As I journey along the Way, I have the privilege of serving as the bi-vocational pastor of the Payette River Vineyard Christian Fellowship. I am also a voracious reader who loves studying church history, theology, and world missions.
This blog, "Requisite Danger", is a record of what God is teaching and showing me as I try to follow Him wherever He leads as well as occasional random thoughts. I pray that you will join me in this journey through online/offline interaction as this life is lived in community.
May His grace and peace be upon you.
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