“DURING HARD TIMES REMEMBER:
The soil is always richer in the valley.”
So true.
Author: Ragamuffingospelfan
Vinyl Obsession
I used to scoff at all the people who were completely obsesses over all things vinyl. I figured that records had been replaced by CDs in the 80s and were obsolete technology. I also saw the prices of some of the newer records and decided the whole thing was ridiculous.
Then I got a record player for Christmas. Excuse me, a turntable. I have to use the correct terminology.
My favorite part is still the hunt. Going into my favorite record store, I always check out the new arrivals first. Then I’ll check out the Christian music section. Last but not least (and if there’s time), I’ll go through the bargain bins.
On rare occasion, there will be a free bin or two. That’s when I’ll really nerd out.
The best part is never knowing what you’ll find in the cheapies. There might be nothing but Mitch Miller and Lawrence Welk. That’s great for the blue-haired crowd, but I’m still a bit too young (with apologies for you if you like tiny bubble music).
This last time, I scored a couple of Morgan Cryar albums and a Geoff Moore record. That may not mean much to most, but to those of us who grew up listening to CCM back in the 80s, that’s a gold mine. Playing those records is guaranteed to bring back some instant youth group memories. Or youth group road trip memories.
Plus, watching the needle drop on the record at just the right spot before the first song is still magical. Even the pops and crackles sound good. The whole experience is just one long trip to nostalgia and simpler days.
There is one record I’m looking for that’s my new holy grail. It’s by an artist called Michael Omartian and the album is called White Horse. If you run across it, let me know. Or you can send me a link or whatever. My email is gmendel72@icloud.com.
To my fellow vinyl enthusiasts, may all your record hunts be successful and may you find that one elusive album. Happy vinyling!
Not Good but God’s
“For years, I begged God to help me be good. Didn’t you join up because you wanted to be good? I’d worked years trying to be good and I wasn’t good! Oh, I was gooder than I was when I started out, but I still wasn’t good because as good as I was getting, I still wasn’t good enough. I couldn’t sustain it long enough. Sometimes I’d go 7 or 8 minutes without sinning. But it still wasn’t long enough!
And the Lord spoke to me very clearly that day. He said, ‘The issue isn’t being good, the issue is being God’s. Just come to Me and I’ll provide goodness for you. Just come and love Me. Seek Me with all your heart.’
Now I’m not arguing for sin, but I am saying this: my focus these days is not on trying to be good. I am gooder than I’ve been in the past, but it’s not because I’m focused on trying to be good, it’s because I’ve focused on Him and doing His bidding. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for me and my sinning” (John Wimber).
As I’ve heard before (and maybe you have as well), Jesus didn’t become incarnate to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. See, it’s not about behavior modification and better morals. It’s about being made new.
I still think that more than being gooder, I need to focus on being more like Jesus. That can only happen when the Spirit of Jesus inside me starts to manifest outward from me as I live more surrendered and obediently. It’s no good if I behave better when I still have the illusion of control over my life and my destiny. It’s only when I acknowledge that I belong to another that I really begin to transform.
It’s not about being good as much as it is being God’s.
The Soliloquy of Prayer
They tell me, Lord, that when I seem
To be in speech with you,
Since but one voice is heard, it’s all a dream,
One talker aping two.
Sometimes it is, yet not as they
Conceive it. Rather, I
Seek in myself the things I hoped to say,
But lo!, my wells are dry.
Then, seeing me empty, you forsake
The listener’s role and through
My dumb lips breathe and into utterance wake
The thoughts I never knew
And thus you neither need reply
Nor can; thus, while we seem
Two talkers, though are One forever, and I
No dreamer, but thy dream” (Unknown, quoted in Letters to Malcolm by C. S. Lewis).
That’s how prayer works for me. Sometimes, I feel like I’m talking to the ceiling. My words can’t possibly be reaching God’s ears, and if they are, He doesn’t seem to hear. But then I remember that God is not just in some faraway heaven beyond all time and space. He’s in the room with me.
Other times, my prayers seem to come from somewhere else. I find myself praying words the same way an actor speaks lines written by another. It’s as if God Himself is giving me the very words to speak to Him the desires of my heart.
Often, I will rattle off a list of my own requests and desires and then give God no time to reply. Even then, I think He hears the heart cry behind the list. He is way more patient with me than I am with Him most of the time.
On occasion, I won’t even be able to speak. Either through grief or fear, I can’t find the words. In those moments, the Holy Spirit and Jesus intercede for me in those groanings too deep for words.
Whatever the case, I am never alone. If there is but one voice speaking, it’s not mine, but God praying through me to God who hears and honors the request. Not God in the sense of me and all things are a part of God, but God as holy and totally other who still dwells in me and makes Himself known to me. That God.
More Like Jesus
More purity give me;
More strength to over-come;
More freedom from earth-stains;
More longings for home;
More fit for the kingdom;
More used would I be;
More blessed and holy;
More, Saviour, like Thee” (Phillip P. Bliss).
Sometimes, I think the reason that I’m not more like Jesus is that I’m not willing to do whatever it takes to look more like Jesus. Sure, I pray that God would conform me into the image of His Son, but when that process starts, it looks a lot like stuff I don’t like.
When my job position got eliminated, maybe that was God’s answer to my prayer to look more like Jesus. When I was having trouble with my old Jeep and wondering why it kept breaking down and leaking, maybe God was molding me.
If it were up to me, I’d never have to deal with anything stressful or uncomfortable. I’d go from strength to strength, from comfort to comfort. And at the end of the day, I’d look a lot less like Jesus and a lot more like the old me.
Thankfully, God didn’t ask for my permission before He began chiseling away at the sharp edges and the abrasive angles and the rough patches in me. I’m grateful God loves me as I am but won’t let me stay that way.
The old analogy is perfect. It’s like I’m the arrow that God is aiming at the target and He keeps pulling and stretching sometimes beyond what I can endure, but still He goes on pulling and stretching. He waits until I am perfectly centered on the target that only He can see, then He lets loose.
You never really think about archery from the perspective of the arrow. At least I normally don’t. But God does. Every single trial, every single set-back, every single disappointment is God preparing you for a future that only He can see and a destiny that only He knows.
And one day it will all have been worth it. You will look back and see that everything worked out beautifully and had you known what God knew all along, you would have chosen exactly the same all over again.
A Love That Conquers the World
“The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles. The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world. The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints. And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world” (Frederick Buechner).
When they came to a place called The Skull,they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:33-34a, NLT)
Social Rules to Live By
This post is a bit outside my wheelhouse, so to speak. What follows is some good advice that I wish I had learned earlier (or maybe paid better attention to when someone else was trying to teach me). Some of these may be more applicable than others, but I hope they will all be useful at some point in your life:
- Don’t call someone more than twice continuously. If they don’t pick up your call, presume they have something important to attend to.
- Return money that you have borrowed even before the person who loaned it to you remembers or asks for it. It shows your integrity and character. The same goes for umbrellas, pens, and lunch boxes.
- Never order the expensive dish on the menu when someone is treating you to lunch or dinner.
- Don’t ask awkward questions like ‘Oh, so you aren’t married yet?’ Or ‘Don’t you have kids?’ Or ‘Why haven’t you bought a house?’ Or ‘Why haven’t you bought a car?’ For God’s sake, it isn’t your problem.
- Always open the door for the person coming behind you. It doesn’t matter if it is a guy or a girl, senior or junior. You don’t grow small by treating someone well in public.
- If you take a taxi with a friend and he/she pays now, try paying next time.
- Respect different shades of opinions. Remember, what may seem like 6 to you might appear as 9 to someone else. Besides, a second opinion is good for an alternative.
- Never interrupt people while they are talking. Allow them to pour it out. As they say, hear them all and filter them all.
- If you tease someone, and they don’t seem to enjoy it, stop it and never do it again. It encourages one to do more and shows how appreciative you are.
- Say “thank you” when someone is helping you.
- Praise publicly. Criticize privately.
- There’s almost never a reason to comment on someone’s weight. Just say, “You look fantastic.” If they want to talk about losing weight, they will.
- When someone shows you a photo on their phone, don’t swipe left or right. You never know what’s next.
- If a colleague tells you they have a doctor’s appointment, don’t ask what it’s for, just say “I hope you’re okay.” Don’t put them in the uncomfortable position of having to tell you their personal illness. If they want you to know, they’ll do so without your inquisitiveness.
- Treat the cleaner with the same respect as the CEO. Nobody is impressed by how rudely you treat someone below you, but people will notice if you treat them with respect.
- If a person is speaking directly to you, staring at your phone is rude.
- Never give advice until you’re asked.
- When meeting someone after a long time, unless they want to talk about it, don’t ask them their age or salary.
- Mind your business unless anything involves you directly – just stay out of it.
- Remove your sunglasses if you are talking to anyone in the street. It is a sign of respect. Moreover, eye contact is as important as your speech.
- Never talk about your riches in the midst of the poor. Similarly, don’t talk about your children in the midst of the barren.
- After reading a good message, consider saying “Thanks for the message.”
APPRECIATION remains the easiest way of getting what you don’t have.
I am including the original post to give credit where credit is due.
Practicing Gratitude
I read earlier today about a man who lost his 10-year old son in a terrible accident a couple of weeks back. Suddenly, my problems don’t seem so big.
I’m not advocating comparing your problems with other people. For one, you never really see the whole picture with the other person. Also, it denies the reality of what you’re going through currently. It may not be a huge deal, but it’s real.
I remember a quote where it said that a lot of people would give anything for one of your bad days. They’d love to have your terrible job. They’d love to be in your shoes for one day.
It’s easy to make your problems seem bigger than they are when you become inward focused. When you look to others, you see that you’re not the only one struggling. When you look to God, you see that while your problem may seem big, God is bigger. Always.
I’m praying for the family of the 10-year old. I can’t begin to imagine the nightmare they’re living through. But I do know that even there, God can turn something tragic into good. The little boy’s organs will be donated and help save lives. Maybe people will hear about Jesus at the funeral and come to a saving faith in Him. God will be with that family. After all, He knows about losing a Son.
So before I go to bed tonight, I’m breathing out a prayer of gratitude for all my blessings.
Another Dad Joke
When does a joke become a dad joke? When it becomes apparent.
When is a dad joke fully mature? When it’s full groan.
Seriously, dad jokes are the best. Amiright?
Every now and then, it’s good to take a break from all the weightiness of the world and laugh at a really dumb joke. Or groan inwardly and outwardly.
Enjoying the Not Yet
There’s a quote about how we spend our days wishing it were night and our nights wishing it were the next day. We let present anxiety rob us of future joy and we miss the present. We’re so focused on what might go wrong that we can’t see everything that is right right in front of us.
The secret to joy is learning how to experience it not in some theoretical future when your conditions have been met, but right here and now. It’s not “when I get out of school” or “when I get married” or “when I have children” or “when I get that job.”
When you’re in an in-between place, that’s where you learn to trust God. When you’re in the hallway waiting for the next door to open, that’s when you truly learn to worship in spirit and truth. When you declare God’s goodness before you see the good hand of God, you practice genuine and unshakeable faith.
Maybe what you need right now is a good belly laugh. Or maybe what would do you the most good is a nap. Or maybe you need to sit in the moment and count your blessings, naming them each one by one. That’s when you learn that true riches aren’t possessions or even people, but living out of the overflow and abundance of the presence of God, not for what He can give you but for who He is alone.
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