“What God is doing in the coronavirus is showing us—graphically, painfully—that nothing in this world gives the security and satisfaction that we find in the infinite greatness and worth of Jesus. This global pandemic takes away our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face relations. It takes away our security and our comfort. And, in the end, it may take away our lives. The reason God exposes us to such losses is to rouse us to rely on Christ. Or to put it another way, the reason he makes calamity the occasion for offering Christ to the world is that the supreme, all-satisfying greatness of Christ shines more brightly when Christ sustains joy in suffering” (John Piper, 82).

I confess there’s a lot I don’t know about the way the world works. I don’t pretend to know the ins and outs of suffering or why it exists or how God uses it in His greater plan. I do know that God is great, God is good, and He is for us. The Bible says God is working all things — including pandemics — for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

I’ve learned lately that a lot of what I have considered vital and important doesn’t really matter all that much in the grand scheme of eternity. All the toys and trophies we’ve accumulated over the years won’t mean anything when this life ends. What will really matter are the lives we’ve impacted for God and God’s kingdom.

We as believers have a message of hope to a world that desperately needs it, provided we haven’t been too busy compromising it away in order to be relevant to the culture we’re called to redeem and transform by the power of the gospel. Let us endeavor to pray that God will lead us to serendipitous encounters that lead to gospel conversations and gospel relationships for the glory of God.

Yes, it is a well known fact that I am not a fan of math. It was probably my weakest subject in school. Let’s just say that on the last day of my last math class in college, there was much rejoicing. Honestly, I did alright with math until they started putting letters and symbols in it. That’s when I got all kinds of confused, and it never got better from there.

I can handle literature and grammar and history. Looking back, my favorite subject in school was probably lunch, followed closely by recess. But math was my nemesis. It stressed me out and literally made me cry a couple of times, but thankfully, all that is in my past. No more math classes . . . ever!

After all the trouble I went through with math, they went ahead and made smart phones that do all your math for you. Now I ask you — how is that fair?

First of all, I have a major announcement that has nothing to do with what will follow, but here it is. Henceforth, all my blog posts can be found at oneragamuffin.com instead of oneragamuffin.wordpress.com. It’s a bit simpler and easier to find (hopefully) and to share with all your family and friends and neighbors and acquaintances.

Now starts the real blog post. I have sighted two other red Jeep Cherokees in the last three days. For me, that’s like spotting not one but two unicorns. I used to see the old Jeep Cherokees all the time, but nowadays (spoken like an old timer), I rarely see them. Especially red ones.

A bit of background: they quit making the old-school Jeep Cherokees in 2001. That means they are at least 20 years old. They probably have a bazillion miles on them by now, or at least if they are like mine which has almost 385,000 miles on it.

All this may not mean much to you. If you’re not versed in the Jeep lore, it might not mean anything to you. But it means a lot to me. I almost feel validated as an old car driver. There are others out there who appreciate vintage vehicles that were built to last over the new fangled cars with all the technology. As all the old people say, they don’t make ’em like they used to. And it’s true. They don’t.

So now you know that 1) I’m old and 2) I essentially drive a pink unicorn and 3) I like the older cars. Oh, and don’t forget about oneragamuffin.com. You’re welcome.

I’ve come up with a small list of places I want to see in the near future. Some are close to home, and some are not. Some are very attainable, and well . . . some are me dreaming big. Here are a few of them:

1. Graceland — the home of Elvis Presley. In all my time living in Memphis, I never went once. Shame on me.
2. Lorraine Motel — it’s a piece of history that I think I need to experience. May your dreams all come true, Dr. Martin Luther King.
3. Biltmore mansion — I’ve been there once, but I believe they’ve opened up another floor. Plus, I like to think I’m older and wiser than the last time I went.
4. In-and-Out Burgers — I need another burger like I need another hole in my head. Actually, with all the humidity, another hole in my head might make breathing easier.
5. Scotland, Ireland, Wales, etc — the works.
6. New England — I’d like to visit all the towns up and down the New England coast area. I’d especially like to visit Mystic Pizza, made famous by the movie of the same name. Me being a foodie and all.
7. Grand Canyon/Yellowstone — why not?
8. Rosemary Beach — I’ve heard good things about it not being all touristy.
9. Santa Fe, TN — I believe this is where there is a group of AirBNBs that are made to look like hobbit dwellings. As a major fan of Lord of the Rings, I can see this being right up my alley.
10. Opryland Hotel during the Christmas season — I know I will go there at some point between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. I just wanted one item on my list that is almost guaranteed to get checked off.

I’m sure I will think of more later on and might even add them to this list. If you have any suggestions, I welcome them in my grand quest for adventures.

I found something on a website that got me thinking. These days, so many people who profess to follow Jesus and so many places of worship have become so accommodating to the culture that they have sacrificed the very doctrines and beliefs that set them apart and made them meaningful in the first place. Here’s an example I found on the Colson Center website:

“Responding to a church’s tweet that celebrated all ‘sexual orientations and gender identities,’ a self-described atheist retorted, ‘[I]f your church is just preaching the exact same thing as the broader culture, what’s the point of going to church? Just imbibe the party line somewhere with more comfortable seats.’

CS Lewis once said something similar: ‘I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.'”

I heard a pastor say that the world doesn’t hate Christians because we’re too different but because we’re not different enough. Too many times they can’t tell the difference between someone who claims to be a Christian and one who does not.

We do no one any favors when we compromise away the core components of the gospel in order to be more relevant to the culture we’re trying to reach. If we end up with no real hope to offer them, what good are we? What purpose do we serve other than to waste people’s time and take up space in a building on Sunday mornings?

Jesus said we worship God in both spirit and truth. We are called to love people the way God loves us — not enabling us in our sin and endorsing our poor choices but redeeming us and transforming us into what He envisioned for us when He created us in the first place.

Remember, Jesus said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone” and “Neither do I condemn you,” but He also said “Go and sin no more.” Compassion without convictions does no one any good; neither does convictions without compromise. We need both.

Let’s commit to holding fast to the whole gospel of Jesus Christ, not just the parts that make us feel good and are considered to be politically and culturally correct. That’s the only hope that can truly save the world.

I wrote this little note 11 years ago. I think I just happened to stumble across it today for a reason. I needed to be reminded that the grace of God is still amazing after all this time:

I have learned a few thing in my time that I want to pass on:

1) Never try to figure out anything, especially people, when you are tired. I personally tend to drift toward the negative when I am exhausted and am not really good at being balanced or fair to others when I am worn out.

2) When you are inclined to judge someone’s actions, remember that there is at least one factor that you don’t know about that person that if you knew, would cast a totally different light on their actions. Also, remember that in the same circumstances you might do the same or worse. Which leads to the next point.

3) If you err, err on the side of grace. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Of course, use common sense and don’t be a doormat, but think of what you would be apart from the grace of God and then you realize that you have no place to give up on or despair of anyone (I totally stole that one from Oswald Chambers!)

4) Remind yourself that in life and the big picture, it never was, is not and will never be about you. It always was, is and always will be about God and His redemptive plan for the world. His will for you is always in context of His plan for the world.

5) Never go by first impressions, regardless of what the world tells you. Some of the best people I know who have impacted me were the ones whose first impression was unfavorable. I think you sometimes have to step out of what is comfortable and familiar if you want to find God’s secret blessings and surprises.

6) What is important in life, what I want you to remember, is not me or how well I write or how clever I am. You can forget all about me and if you remember that God loves you, that God is in love with you, and that God can take the worthless and transform it into somethng priceless, then I am OK with that. As one person said, I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody that can save anybody. That’s all I am, regardless of what my ego tells me.

What are some lessons you have learned? Share them with me, because I am always learning and God always has something to show me. Plus, we only grow and mature in the faith in community. You can never discover God’s will for your life by yourself, but only with other believers as you share yourself and your gifts to serve one another in love.

That’s all for now. More later.

As usual, I’m thankful for two things: coffee and weekends. Better yet, I’m thankful for the coffee that allows me to survive until the next weekend. It also helps me with the whole talking, adulting, putting on pants thing. I’m sure everyone else appreciates when I do all those things.

I’m also thankful for God’s stedfast love and daily new mercies. Those also help me make it through the week. Probably even more than coffee.

If I had to, I could live without coffee. I absolutely could not live without God’s faithful love and mercy. That’s a fact, Jack.

When I’m having one of those days where I’m annoyed or frustrated, I always remember the saying that someone out there in the world would give anything to have one of my bad days. I take that to mean that what I call my bad days are better than their best days. It helps give me a little perspective.

Most of the world would give anything for one of your bad days where you have more than one meal, access to clean water, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, transportation, and so much more. So many would love to have all those things we routinely take for granted on a daily basis. Again, it helps to have a bit of perspective.

Measure your life by what you have, not by what you don’t.

“What God is doing in the coronavirus is showing us—graphically, painfully—that nothing in this world gives the security and satisfaction that we find in the infinite greatness and worth of Jesus. This global pandemic takes away our freedom of movement, our business activity, and our face-to-face relations. It takes away our security and our comfort. And, in the end, it may take away our lives. The reason God exposes us to such losses is to rouse us to rely on Christ. Or to put it another way, the reason he makes calamity the occasion for offering Christ to the world is that the supreme, all-satisfying greatness of Christ shines more brightly when Christ sustains joy in suffering.” (John Piper, 82)

2020 was a dumpster fire. I think just about everyone agrees that it was not a year any of us want to relive any time soon.

But I think it made us painfully aware of our dependence on and desperate need of God for every waking moment. When all the props and crutches got kicked away, we found out the hard way where our hope really was. For most of us, our idols got exposed big time.

Yet God is faithful and patient, not treating us and our idolatry as we deserve, but granting us mercy upon mercy. May Jesus become supreme in our vision in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.

I remember a pastor I knew once said that Jesus never gives us an excuse for disobedience. We are called to love our enemies. Period. We are called to forgive those who hurt us. Period. Note: forgiveness does not mean we disregard the hurt or allow the other to continue to hurt us.

In matters of debate, we are always to speak the truth, but always in love. We are called to seek peace, but never at the expense of compromising our core beliefs. We are called to love people, but not by enabling them in their sin. As I read recently, Jesus hung out with prostitutes and drunkards and outcasts, but when He was finished with them, they weren’t prostitutes and drunkards and outcasts anymore. He had transformed them, not indulged them. He calls His people to surrender, not comfort. He calls us to align ourselves to His standards, not the other way around.

But it’s always in love.