Caroling, Caroling

Featured / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I did something I haven’t done in a long, long time. Not since college. Maybe even high school. I went caroling, complete with printed sheets of lyrics and everything. Just like it was back in the late 1900s.

It’s been that long.

Back in the day, we’d all gather together and carpool from place to place with our arsenal of festive seasonal classics. I’m sure we were joyful and triumphant in our attempts to pull off the carols and jingles. We probably came closer to making a joyful noise than anything else. I couldn’t tell if the guy next to me was trying to harmonize or was just really off-key, but it didn’t really matter in the end. A good time was had by all.

Tonight, we started off visiting the house of a deacon who very recently had been fighting for his life. It was heartwarming to see him standing in the doorway, a sort of miracle in itself, with his wife wiping away tears of gratitude as we sang loudly and zestily (if not always in tune or in the same key).

Then we headed over to my pastor’s parent’s to do more yuletide crooning. They’ve both had health issues and have had a rough 2022, but they were both pleased and grateful to see us gathered in their front yard, singing about those herald angels.

The last stop was the next-door neighbor who was a founding member of Brentwood Baptist Church along with her late husband. She lost him around this time last year, and I’m sure she was thankful for the company. Christmas is a beautiful time, but sometimes I forget that it’s not the easiest season if you’re missing a loved one.

I snapped a picture of this forlorn little reindeer in one of the yards. Hopefully, someone got a good snapshot of all of us singing in different keys and sometimes different verses at the same time. The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir we were not.

But I’d do it all again tomorrow night if I could. In fact, I hope this caroling thing becomes another tradition that I can look forward to through the spring, summer and fall.

The Most Reluctant Convert

Featured / Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

I did something that I rarely do these days — I went to an actual movie in an actual movie theater. It’s been a while.

Normally, I like to wait for it to hit streaming services because few films are worth paying the current price of movie tickets. But in this case, I made an exception. I wanted to support a faith-based film from a group that I’ve grown to respect as I’ve gotten to know about them, the Fellowship for Performing Arts, led by one Max McLean.

The film is centered around the story of C. S. Lewis’ 10-year journey from atheism to Christianity. Without giving away too much, the narrative device they use to tell the story is unique and compelling. I feel like Mr. McLean masterfully portrayed the title character and the filming locations gave the production a note of authenticity.

But what captivated me most was the way the movie used Lewis’ own words. I believe a lot of the narrative came directly from his autobiography Surprised by Joy. For once, it’s a faith-based film that actually succeeds at being a good film first, and without being preachy or didactic.

It will make you want to dive deep into the writings of C. S. Lewis, both apologetic and fiction, as well as possibly leading you to check out some of writers who inspired him such as George MacDonald and G. K. Chesterton. I can’t recommend it highly enough for anyone who wants a quality movie about the nuances of faith and intellect.

Do Thou for Me

Featured / Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Do Thou for me, O God the Lord,
Do Thou for me.
I need not toil to find the word
That carefully
Unfolds my prayer and offers it,
My God, to Thee.

It is enough that Thou wilt do,
And wilt not tire,
Wilt lead by cloud, all the night through
By light of fire,
Till Thou has perfected in me
Thy heart’s desire.

For my beloved I will not fear,
Love knows to do
For him, for her, from year to year,
As hitherto.
Whom my heart cherishes are dear
To Thy heart too.

O blessèd be the love that bears
The burden now,
The love that frames our very prayers,
Well knowing how
To coin our gold.  O God the Lord,
Do Thou, Do Thou” (Amy Carmichael).

There are times when we simply don’t know how to pray for a circumstance or a loved one. Try as we may, the words will not come.

I think even then God hears the groans and sighs of our petitions and knows what they mean. He hears the deepest desires of our hearts and knows best how to grant them.

Even when we have words, they aren’t always the best ones. Sometimes, we ask without such a limited point of view. Sometimes we ask selfishly. Sometimes we have too small a view of God and ask too little.

In Jan Karon’s Mitford series, Father Tim Kavanaugh always has his go-to prayer, or “the prayer that never fails,” as he calls it. The prayer goes “Thy will be done.”

You can never go wrong with leaving the matter in God’s hands.

Beyond Easter

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross is the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God” (Oswald Chambers).

I’m more and more aware that while salvation was free for me, that doesn’t mean that it didn’t have a cost. I’m thankful that God bore the cost for my salvation on that cross. I’m thankful that the bill for my eternal life has bee marked paid in full.

My prayer is that we as believers carry our gratitude and thanksgiving beyond the Easter season and into the rest of the year. We should never cease being amazed at what God has done for us and for what God is doing for us right now in Christ Jesus. We should be the most astounded people when we see what God has done in each of our lives.

Because of Easter, I’m alive. I woke up this morning. I have peace with God. There is no condemnation for me or anyone else who is in Christ Jesus. The absolute worst that the Enemy can throw at me is to kill me and send me home to heaven. Every day I get and every gift I get are like unexpected bonuses on top of what He’s already done for me.

Easter Monday 2026

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I stayed up late on a school night, but it was worth it. I may feel like a complete zombie in the morning, but I have complete confidence that even this zombie will be resurrected one day just as Jesus was raised from the grave that Easter Sunday morning so long ago.

Seeing Andrew Peterson and company on Easter Monday is my new favorite Easter Monday tradition. There’s something special about hearing and singing the Easter story one more time. I don’t know about you, but I need to be reminded of the gospel as many times as I’m prone to be forgetful, which is often.

My favorite part is the part where they leave Jesus in the tomb and all the lights go out. Then the drums kick in and the crowd goes crazy because we all know what comes next. Death is defeated forever. The grave that could not hold the Messiah will not hold anyone who belongs to Him. Sin and condemnation will not have the last word.

For me, both Christmas and Easter need more than one day to appreciate fully the incarnation and resurrection. Sometimes I wonder if a lifetime’s not long enough to grasp everything that Jesus accomplished for us in fulfilling all the prophecies and breaking the curse that sin held over us. It will take an eternity to thank Him properly.

I love how Easter heralds in Spring and the annual advent of new life. Gone is the barrenness of winter as flowers bloom and trees bring forth leaves and all is green again. It’s a beautiful picture of life from death, a yearly reminder of the resurrection. We can hope in the fact that since we are in Christ, our story does not in in ashes. We are not left in the dark of the tomb.

May we not relegate the celebration of the resurrection to one day out of the year but to all the days for all the years God gives us. May we always be bold to proclaim that Christ is no longer dead but risen and alive and able to save to the uttermost. May we live as those who have been transformed by this resurrection power that now lives in us through the Holy Spirit. He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Easter Sunday 2026

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

The empty tomb means everything. It means that Jesus is not dead and buried but alive and reigning. It means that Jesus defeated death, the grave, and hell forever. It means that there’s nothing you and I will ever face that hasn’t already been overcome by the cross and the empty tomb.

The Apostle Paul says that if Jesus isn’t alive and raised from the dead, it’s all meaningless. Our faith is futile and our hope is in vain. We’re the most pitiful people on the planet. He doesn’t make any allowances for a symbolic resurrection. If Jesus is only alive in our hearts and in our memories, then our faith is worthless and we might as well go and do what we like and believe in nothing at all.

But because Jesus is alive, our hope is alive. Our pain and suffering now have a purpose as well as an expiration date. Those we lost in the Lord are not gone forever. All the wrong and evil in the world will one day be made right and good. We can survive anything because we look to Jesus who endured the cross and despised the shame because He was looking at the joy just over the horizon beyond the tomb.

Easter gives meaning to Christmas (and everything else). Jesus is not a good teacher who gave us good morals and examples to follow. He is Messiah who fulfilled all the prophecies ever made about Him. He is Lord of all who demands our ultimate allegiance. He is God incarnate, 100% man and 100% God. He is the only one who can take our place on the cross and our punishment for the sins we’ve committed.

If Jesus is dead, then Easter is nothing but a hollow holiday with no meaning. But if He is alive — and He is — then Easter is the day we celebrate the best good news ever. That means that we who were dead can be made alive again. We who were guilty and deserving of death can be forgiven and pardoned and set free. We who were condemned and estranged from God can now become sons and daughters of God and heirs to the promise. Thank You, Lord, for Easter Sunday!

Easter Saturday 2026

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!” (Maltbie D. Babcock)

This is the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I don’t know of any faith tradition that observes this day. I imagine that everyone needs a break after Maundy Thursday and Good Friday before Easter Sunday. Besides, what would you celebrate or honor?

As far as we know, nothing happened. I know the Bible talks about how Jesus preached to the spirits in prison between the crucifixion and the resurrection, but I’m honestly not sure what that means. Did Jesus actually descend into hell to proclaim His victory? Was He preaching through Noah to those before the flood? Better minds than mine have had differing opinions for decades.

I do know that most likely the disciples were locked away in a secret room, grieving and terrified of being discovered. Their Lord had just died. They thought the dream was over. Any thought of a future kingdom was as dead as the Rabbi they had followed for three years.

But we have the blessing of hindsight. We can look back, knowing what the next day would bring. We know that those same disciples who had abandoned Jesus in the garden and watched from afar as He was brutally executed would be the same ones to proclaim the gospel with supernatural boldness, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer as Jesus had suffered.

It does seem sometimes that the wrong seems so strong. From every headline, it seems like evil is winning. But we know that this is still the Father’s world. Jesus is still ruler. We know, and one day the whole world will know. So we can look forward with hope and not despair like so many in the world do.

Easter Sunday is a reminder that evil and wrong have already been defeated. Death is not the end. Those who we love and lose who are in the Lord are not lost forever, but are in the very presence of Jesus, and we will see them again.

“And I will rise when He calls my name
No more sorrow, no more pain
I will rise on eagles’ wings
Before my God fall on my knees
And rise
I will rise” (Chris Tomlin / Jesse Reeves / Louie Giglio / Matt Maher)

Invited (Good Friday 2026)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I got a last minute invite from a friend to see Chris Tomlin’s Good Friday worship concert at Bridgestone Arena. He knew someone who had a suite and couldn’t use the tickets, so he got one and invited me to tag along. We got to sit in comfortable chairs and eat free food. Plus there was a concert.

The concert itself was amazing. Chris sang all of his familiar songs that churches have been worshipping with for years. He had a few special guests, including one Michael W. Smith, to help lead us in worship. The highlight of the evening was hearing David Nassar speak. He mentioned hearing a young Iranian girl named Goinosh singing the song Holy Forever in Farsi at 4 am. Lo and behold, they brought her out on stage to sing it in Farsi while the crowd sang it in English.

The best part was that I didn’t have to pay. I knew someone who knew someone, so when I arrived, all I had to do was walk into the suite and enjoy the show. My ticket had already been paid for.

It struck me how that’s a picture of heaven. One day, I’ll show up at those proverbial pearly gates. I won’t have to fork over a large sum of cash or prove a lifetime of good deeds to get in. When I arrive, I can honestly tell them that my purchase price to get in has already been paid in full.

I love the illustration that Allistair Begg uses about the thief on the cross on his first day in heaven. There’s all these angels asking him all sorts of questions about theological concepts that he doesn’t know the answers to. When they ask how he got in, he said, “The Man on the middle cross said I could come.”

That will be my answer if anyone asks. It won’t be because of my sinless life. It won’t be because my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds. It won’t be because God ignored my sin. It will be because once I asked Jesus to save me from my sin and to be my Lord and Savior. I invited Him to live in my heart.

This invitation isn’t just for a future residence in heaven. It gets me into the throne of grace anytime I’m in need. It gets the Holy Spirit inside of me, enabling me to live a life worthy of God. Right now, I have everything I need for life and godliness. Right now, I have 100% of God in me and with me and for me.

My invitation, bought and paid for, is the same that’s offered to anyone who says yes to Jesus. Anyone who repents and believes in Jesus Christ for salvation. It’s not just a ticket to get into heaven, but an invitation into an abundant life in Jesus that starts right now.

Maundy Thursday 2026

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I love a good Maundy Thursday service, or at least the way my church does it. After growing up in old-school Baptist churches, I’ve loved being introduced to some more liturgical aspects of the calendar year, like Advent and Lent. I especially love the idea of commemorating the week leading up to Easter Sunday.

Our Maundy Thursday service is very low-key. We typically have one person playing music in an atmosphere of reflection and contemplation. There’s no sermon, only a rotating set of slides with verses from Isaiah 53 and other verses relating to the crucifixion. Two deacons stand in the front of the sanctuary ready to offer the elements of the Lord’s Supper.

To appreciate Easter Sunday more fully, it’s good to remember what led up to it. We need to walk through the last supper of Christ with His disciples. We need to see Him in the garden, praying that the cup might pass but also praying not my will but Thine. We need to relive the arrest, the trial, and the crucifixion.

It’s easy to read those passages in light of the resurrection, but I think we miss something. Those disciples were genuinely grieving the loss of their Lord. They had no idea that the bloodied body they saw buried in the tomb would rise out of it three days later. Sure, they heard what Jesus had told them, but it didn’t make sense, along with 90% of what Jesus spoke to them.

Easter means something because Jesus really was dead. Not to go into graphic gory detail, but most paintings and other depictions of Jesus on the cross don’t really do it justice. Isaiah 52 says that He wasn’t even recognizable as human. I still think that if you filmed the crucifixion with 100% biblical accuracy, it’d get an NC-17 or get censored because it would be way too gory and graphic for most people.

That’s what was in the tomb. That’s why Easter is a big deal. Easter means that there’s no such thing as a lost cause or a hopeless situation. Easter means that the same death that couldn’t hold Jesus in the grave will not have the last word. Jesus has overcome death, the grave, and hell and the victory is already won.

I don’t want to rush into the celebration this time. I want to take it all in as best as I can. I want to weep with the disciples and remember that Jesus wept over Lazarus as well, knowing full well that He was about to call him out of his own grave. Easter means that just as Jesus endured the cross for the joy that awaited, so we can endure anything when we know that Easter Sunday is on the other side of our suffering.

The Rock of Ages

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I learned something else new today. Or at least I made a connection that I hadn’t previously.

It’s from a daily email I get with snippets of writings from the late Dr. Adrian Rogers, former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.

He starts off by describing the Israelites wandering in the desert, complaining as usual. This time it was a lack of water, which is a very real threat when you’re in the desert because the human body can only go without water for a very short amount of time and water sources in your typical desert are scarce.

But God leads them to Rephidim and commands Moses to strike a large rock with his staff. Lo and behold, water comes forth from the rock, enough to quench the thirst of every last one of the Israelites. 1 Cointhians 10:4 say that they “all drank from the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock, and that Rock was Christ.”

Fast forward to Jesus on the cross, the Rock of ages cleft for me (as the old hymn goes). What happened? After He died, the soldier stuck a spear into His side and what came out? Blood and water. Isaiah 53 says that He was stricken and smitten by God because of our sins, and what flowed out was water that gives life.

He had said earlier to the woman at the well that He was the Living Water, and whoever drank from Him would never thirst again. Once again, the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. We only have to know where to look and what to look for.

I’m thankful every day that the Rock of Ages was crushed and smitten for us. I’m thankful that He laid down His life for His people so that we could live. I hope I never get tired of hearing the Easter story as much as the Christmas story, because they both point to a Savior who came for me to rescue me from myself and my sin. When we couldn’t get to God, He came to us.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Little Lamb

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

Gave thee life & bid thee feed. 

By the stream & o’er the mead; 

Gave thee clothing of delight, 

Softest clothing wooly bright; 

Gave thee such a tender voice, 

Making all the vales rejoice! 

         Little Lamb who made thee 

         Dost thou know who made thee 

         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee, 

         Little Lamb I’ll tell thee!

He is called by thy name, 

For he calls himself a Lamb: 

He is meek & he is mild, 

He became a little child: 

I a child & thou a lamb, 

We are called by his name. 

         Little Lamb God bless thee. 

         Little Lamb God bless thee” (William Blake).

Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He is the perfect sacrifice. As Just as the sacrificial lamb had to be without blemish, so was the Lamb of God. As these lambs were born for the sole purpose of giving their lives as sacrificial offerings, so was He. As these lambs are swaddled at birth, so was He.

But the difference is that every time, a lamb had to die. The sacrifice didn’t cover the cost of the sin. It was only a down payment. Jesus as the Lamb of God was the ultimate and final sacrifice that forever paid for sin.

Little Lamb God bless thee. Little Lamb God bless thee.

The Suffering Servant

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him” (Isaiah 53:2-6, The Message).

As the old preacher used to say, that’s my Jesus! He didn’t wink at my sin or tell me not to worry about it. He Himself bore my sin on His body on the cross. He took the punishment that I deserved for my sins. He as an infinite being suffered infinitely and died in my place.

There have been lots of renderings and pictures of what we think Jesus looked like. According to Isaiah 53, He was nothing much to look at. He wasn’t anything that would catch people’s eye and hold their attention. The Bible says that there was “nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance” (Isaiah, 53:2, NLT). Basically, He looked like a lot of other 30something year old Middle Eastern men in the 1st century.

But He’s the only one who lived a sinless life, perfectly keeping the law of God. He’s the only one who willingly took up a cross and laid down His life for others. He’s the only one who took peoples’ sins on His own body and paid their penalty. And He’s the only one who walked out of an empty tomb after three days.

That means He’s the only one worthy of worship. He’s the only one worth singing about, talking about, praying to, and praising. And if I had been the only one, I still believe He would have gone through it all even for me. That’s a kind of love that’s worth singing about and celebrating and living out. That’s my Jesus!

Palm Sunday 2026

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Something I read today has stuck with me all day. Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, when the crowds were yelling and singing as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey in clear fulfillment of an Old Testament Messianic prophecy. Yet those were the same ones who were weeping over His death just a few days later.

I wonder what they were expecting. Were they hoping that Jesus would somehow lead an overthrow of Rome and restore independence to Israel? Were they hoping He would set Himself up as a King over Israel?

He didn’t have an army that they could see. He never once spoke about raising up an army. He never told them they needed to rebel against Roman rule. In fact, He’s the one who told them to pay their raxes because the coins which bore Ceasar’s likeness belonged to Caesar.

I wonder how many understood that the kingdom Jesus kept talking about was not one of this world. It wasn’t defined by boundaries or geography. It was God’s active rule in the hearts of all who would believe in His name and have eternal life and be indwelled by His Holy Spirit. It was the Church that would explode in numbers after He ascended back into heaven.

But most of them didn’t get it. Jesus even said they wouldn’t. Their hardness of heart and spiritual blindness kept them from seeing what was right in front of them. Only a few understood, and even they didn’t fully realize what was happening until after Jesus rose from the dead. Even the twelve were most likely expecting what the crowds were expecting.

No one could have foreseen a suffering Messiah. No one predicted that instead of leading a rebellion against Rome, He would lay down His life for them and His own people and the whole world. No one was prepared for Him to die, especially not on a cross reserved for the worst of criminals in a manner that was the worst kind of torture the human mind could conceive.

But to those who believed, He gave the right to become sons and daughters of the living God.