ministry

Speaking Life

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 5 Comments

A bit of a conversation I had earlier today is still ringing in my ears. A well-turned phrase won’t let go of my mind.

We speak into each others’ lives. As believers, we call life out of each other and bring out the best in each other.

I can see in you what you can’t see in yourself. I can speak beauty and faithfulness into your life and you can speak the same into mine.

The best example I know of this is a man who married a woman many considered unattractive and plain.  Over the years, he spoke beauty into her life, telling her she was more lovely and telling everyone he met how beautiful she was. Eventually, she became the beauty he always said she was.

Only God can speak creation out of nothing. Only God in us can speak hope into hopelessness, love into apathy, courage into fear, and life into death.

What are you speaking into the lives of those around you? Who is speaking into your life?

I know many times people saw things in me I couldn’t see in myself and helped me to see myself through God’s eyes.

One of the reasons for this little blog is so I can hopefully speak life and hope and peace and love into your lives and more importantly, help you to hear what God is speaking into your life right now.

May He speak beauty into your ashes, a testimony into your trials, compassion into your pain, and a minstry into your scars. May you ever hear the voice of your Abba singing over you nightly, calling you Beloved.

And may we encourage each other daily and spur each other to love radically, serve sacrificially, and be no less than Jesus to everyone we encounter wherever we go.

Amen.

Is Good Enough Really Good Enough?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Tonight, I watched the movie Courageous. On a side note, I found it not to be a Christian movie with some good parts, but a good movie with a Christian message. We need more of these kind of movies out there.

But I digress.

One of the main characters said something to the effect of “I don’t want to just be a good enough father.”

We shouldn’t be just good enough fathers and mothers. We shouldn’t be just good enough brothers and sisters, or sons and daughters, or husbands and wives, or friends. Or anything.

More than anything, we shouldn’t strive to be just good enough to get by with God.

We should strive for excellence in everything.

We should seek to go the extra mile in serving and loving others.

We should turn the other cheek and not return hate with more hate, but with love.

We should make time for those people in our lives, no matter how inconvenient, to show them they matter not just in lip service, but in actions that speak louder than words.

It’s easy to settle for second-rate and coast. I’ve done that too many times.

But did Jesus only do good enough to secure our salvation? Did he halfway seek to win our hearts?

I’m not saying if we do more and work harder, God will love us more.

I am saying that if we are truly living out of the freedom of being forgiven and we are truly grateful, our lives will show it. If we live in complete dependence on the power of the resurrected Jesus, we won’t be half-hearted anymore. We will be all in.

I don’t want to just be good enough anymore. Do you?

Living Sermons: Thoughts from Tonight’s Kairos Roots

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Something Aaron Bryant said really hit home with me today in a way few things have lately.

He said that we as believers could be the only sermons some people will ever hear.

Many people who will never step foot inside a chuch building are watching you and me. They are listening as we talk about our faith and how much we love the worship services and sermons we participate in each week.

But what speaks loudest of all is how we live. How we respond to bad days and failure and criticism. How we react when people yell at us or berate us or make fun of us and our beliefs.

When they see us not chasing after the next new big fad or product, they notice. They might think something like, “This is a person just like me who’s not captive to making the same bad choices I always seem to make. There’s something different about her (or him).”

When you exhibit contentment in Christ, it’s hard to miss. When you can be at peace in the middle of the chaos of a hectic day, it’s hard to miss. When you forgive after being hurt, they see Jesus in the flesh, your flesh, as He really is, full of love and grace and mercy.

You are preaching something every single day. How you live either glorifies you or God. How you treat others around you will influence how they see the God you profess to serve.

It’s not about being perfect and always acting out of love and never slipping up and giving in to anger. It’s about being able to ‘fess up when you mess up. It’s about being able to say the words, “I’m sorry. I was wrong. What I said (or did) didn’t reflect what I believe. Will you forgive me?”

So preach love. Not the touchy-feely sentimental much that passes for love these days, but the “get your hands and feet dirty” kind of love. The unconditional agape love that only can come from God, not from us.

Preach grace. Preach forgiveness. Preach not rules and regulations, but a better way to live.

St. Francis said it best (or at least this quote is always attributed to him, so that’s close enough for me): “Preach the Gospel at all times and, if necessary, use words.”

If you live Jesus on a daily basis, when the time comes, you will have an open door to share Jesus to a willing audience.

2012: The Leap Year

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 7 Comments

Today is February 29, 2012, leap year day. Or for me, My Birthday: Part II. It’s a strange day that only comes once every four years and no one is sure what to do with it.

I know on February 29, it is supposedly acceptable for a girl to propose to a guy and if the guy refuses, he has to give her a dollar or 12 socks or something like that.

Maybe this is the day you will set your mind to take that leap of faith. Kinda like Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade movie.

What will that leap of faith look like?

Will it be you quitting your comfortable and safe and cushy job to take go on the mission field to a place where the gospel has never gone before?

Will it be you stepping out of your comfort zone and volunteering at a local mission that serves the homeless?

Will it be you walking across the room and speaking to that person no one else wants to acknowledge, much less befriend?

Will it be extending forgiveness to the person who hurt you, even if that person doesn’t apologize?

Will it be choosing to live each day in radical dependence on and obedience to Jesus, even if it means stepping away from the in-crowd and walking alone?

Will it be saying no to the so-called American Dream and to the pressure that for you to be happy you need to buy this one thing more? That you will be radically counter-cultural and say, “No thanks, I have enough. I’m good”?

I believe God is calling you and I to take a real leap of faith this year. It may look different for you than it does for me, but it requires the same faith in the same God that your foot will find a firm foundation when it lands.

Let 2012 be the Leap of Faith year and watch how God honors and rewards your stepping out in obedience.

My Faux Oscar Acceptance Speech

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

First of all, I really thought Viola Davis should have won the Best Actress Oscar. No, I haven’t seen The Iron Lady, but I can’t imagine any performance being more pitch-perfect and soul-moving than her work in The Help. Even Meryl Streep’s.

On the last day of me being 39, I came up with an acceptance speench on surviving 40 years with all my hair and most of my sanity intact.

Thank you to my family for being awesome. Thanks to my mother, without whom I wouldn’t be here. Literally. And to my dad, who had his share in the blessed event. 50% to be exact. I will never be able in a million years to repay the debt I owe them.

Ditto for my sister and brother-in-law, two nephews and niece. I love you guys and I can’t wait to have you be a part of my birthday celebrations!

Thank you to my friends who have shown me what real grace looks like and have been Jesus to me countless times. You’ve seen my worst and believed the best for me and about me. I am a composite of what I have seen and learned and imitated in you.

Thank you to all the great artists who make up the soundtrack of my life. Life without music would still be worth living, but barely. Ditto for movies and really good books.

Thank you to all the animals I’ve grown up with. All the dogs, cats, and even the parakeet. I still miss you, Sammy. Currently, my cat Lucy has the disctinction of being my best birthday present ever 12 years running.

Thank you, Jesus. You are not just Savior and not just Lord. You are my Life, my Oxygen, my Strength, my Joy, my Salvation and my Song I will sing every day of my life until the day I die (and then I will keep singing it every day after that).

I am still Abba’s child and He is still very fond of me and I will never stop proclaiming to the world that Jesus can take anyone at any point, no matter how far they’ve fallen or how profoundly they’re broken, and make them shine and make them radiant and beautiful trophies of the grace of God.

Thanks in advance for all my birthday wishes. I do read each and every one and they all mean the world to me.

Thanks for reading this little blog by this guy who is way more blessed than he deserves. This Ragamuffin who is still trying to tell other beggars where to find the Bread of Life.

Sacred Places

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I have one of those sacred places I love to go every once in a while.

Whenever I’m in downtown Franklin. there’s an old church I love to step inside and just walk the creaky floorboards and take in the history of the place.

It feels more sacred to me than a lot of places because so many people have expressed devotions of faith and worship there over the years. You can almost feel the ghosts of old saints still lingering about the place.

I think everyone needs that special place where they can commune with God. Some place private where only God and they can go, where the world must stay outside until you both are done.

I have a quiet corner of the couch in the mornings where I sleep. . . I mean, pray very intently and where my cat crawls up in my lap and prays, too. Probably for me to include more tuna in her diet.

The sacred places are the places you can’t wat to get to, the ones where you long for after a long, hard day. Sometimes, before the day you know will be long and hard is about to start.

Obviously, the most sacred place of all is the human heart where the Spirit of God dwells. If you are in Christ, then wherever you are is where God is and that place you are standing is holy ground. Kinda makes you think twice about where you go and what you do, doesn’t it?

If you only get one thing out of this little blog, it’s this. Your Heavenly Father desires to spend time with you. Your spending time with Him is not a have-to, something you do and check off your list, but a get-to, a privilege, and a blessing.

Your desire to be more like Jesus and to be fully mature in the faith will only ever be as strong as your desire to spend time daily with Jesus, getting to know Him and His heart for the world.

As my blogger friend always says at the end of hs blogs, “You think about that.”

A Vacation From My Problems

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

I’ve come up with a revolutionary new way to take a vacation. It goes like this:

1) You don’t show up for work. If you’re working, it’s not a vacation.

2) You stay home. You don’t spend insane amounts of money on plane tickets or gas or hotel rooms or any of that rubbish. You stay home, sleep late, go wherever you want, whenever you want.

I’m thinking of calling it a stay-cation. Catchy, eh? It’ll be the next big catch-phrase that all the hip young kids will be dropping in their sentences from now on.

The best kind of vacations are the free ones anyway.

The best kind of vacations are the ones where you get a break from everything that wears you out and holds you down. Like fear or doubt or worry. Like concerns about the future or haunting memories of the past.

I have a fantastic vacation package deal for you.

Tomorrow is the start of your vacation. Whatever is in your past is past. Whatever fears controlled you yesterday can’t touch you today. Whatever doubts you had are losing their hold on you.

Jesus promised that for those who believed that perfect love would cast out fear. He promised that to those who love Him He would work everything out for the good. He promised that every morning His mercies are new and His faithfulness is still great.

Your vacation is a clean slate. It’s freedom from the burden of trying to undo all you did wrong yesterday. It’s liberty to live today with no baggage.

Your vacation is a chance to be whatever Jesus wants to you be, to go wherever He leads, and to serve Him in the faces of every one you meet. It’s an opportunity to be blessed in giving yourself away, to find that you are now a conduit of blessing to others.

Your vacation starts at 12:01 am.

P.S. You still have consequences from past decisions and troubles to come, but you’re not held captive to them anymore. You’re free to face them as a blood-bought redeemed child of the King. You’re free in the knowledge that ultimate victory is yours. Just thought I’d add that in there for clarification.

As always, thanks for your  comments, especially the ones that point out to me my blind spots. It’s always good to get a new and fresh perspective on things every now and then.

Something “Borrowed”

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Like the title says, I am “borrowing” this one from tonight’s Kairos, featuring guest speaker Thom Wolf. He spoke about how God has provided the answer to how we are to live in the 21st century. The syllabus for life is found in Micah 6:8: “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

The three parts are justice, mercy, and faithfulness (see Matthew 23:23-24).

We must seek justice. Justice means that where you live never determines whether you should live or not. Justice means that no child should ever go hungry or die of preventible diseases or be sold into slavery or sex trafficking. Justice means that Jesus has come not to turn the world upside-down, but to turn an upside-down world the rightside up again.

We seek mercy. Not just to those who deserve it, for by its very definition mercy is always for those who don’t deserve it. By the love of Christ, we love our enemies into friends and then into brothers and sisters in Christ. We turn the other cheek and lay down our rights, looking to God to defend us. When someone close to us falls, we don’t extend a pointing finger, but a helping hand.

We seek faithfulness. I love the illustration of unfaithfulness as a step that looks outwardly sound, but is eaten away and has no real substance. You can’t depend on it or put any weight on it. Faithfulness means we don’t talk humbly before our God, we walk humbly. We live out what we profess and our actions and attitudes line up with our confessions.

If we live these things, we won’t ever have to con anyone into the Kingdom of God. We won’t have to ever trick someone into praying a prayer or manipulate anyone into a decision. If we do justly and lover mercy and walk humbly before God, we will show Jesus to the people around us and they will want to know Him.

I for one have been challenged to broaden my thinking and seek God’s heart for the world. If God has a special place in His heart for the poor and needy, outcast and forsaken, then why don’t I?

 

Who Looks Out for You? For Whitney: Part II

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I got to thinking more about what Kevin Costner said at Whitney Houston’s funeral. Something else he said resonated with me on more than one level.

He spoke of how he decided to cast her in the leading female role of The Bodyguard. He not only chose her, but he fought for her when the bigwig studio execs wanted another actress with more experience than Whitney (and who was white, although they never explicitly said so).

Kevin was even willing to wait a year until she finished her concert tour. He believed in her for the role to the point that he made her believe in it for herself. The result is history– a mega-blockbuster movie and a soundtrack that sold a gazillion copies.

Do you have someone that fights for you like that? Do you have someone in your corner willing to speak on your behalf with that kind of tenacity? One that won’t quit even when you have?

When the Bible calls Jesus your advocate who goes before the Father on your behalf, that’s exactly what it means. He fights for you– not against God– but as God in human skin.

When the devil claims you because of your past, Jesus points to the cross and says, “That’s taken care of. This one belongs to me now and you have no more claim over my child than you did over Me at the cross or the grave.”

When the world says you’re beyond saving, Jesus says, “I have called you by name and redeemed you. You are never beyond My reach and never, ever gone for Me to be able to save. It’s never too late for Me to step in and transform you into My image.”

When the voices in your head say that you’ll never amount to anything and that you are a waste of space and effort, Jesus says, “I know what plans I have for you and I won’t ever stop until I’ve finished what I started in you.”

When your failures and mistakes tell you it’s hopeless and you are nothing more than all your worst sins, Jesus says, “You are not what those other people says you are. You are not the names you call yourself in your darkest moments. You are who I say you are, and that is Beloved Redeemed Beautiful Transformed Child of the King of Kings.”

I wish someone could have spoken up for Whitney in the last days of her life. When all she was hearing was how the drugs would finally kill her and she was hopelessly spiralling out of control, I wish someone could have told her, “I believe in you. I believe you can beat this. I believe that God in you is stronger than anything you’re facing right now and I will stand by you, no matter what.”

Maybe you can speak for someone right now. Maybe you can be the voice for those who have no voice and take a stand for those the world has forgotten or discarded. Maybe you can believe good things for someome when they can’t believe for themselves.

Remember above all that Jesus speaks for you always. His love trumps your greatest fears and failures. He has already defeated anything you have or will ever face in your life.

That’s Who looks out for you.

 

Thoughts on St. Jude and Stepping Out in Faith

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Today, the radio station I was listening to had a marathon fundraiser for St. Jude. It was a gut-wrenching, tear-jerking experience as they played all the saddest songs in their arsenal interspersed with audio clips of parents talking about watching their children get sick, suffer, and sometimes die.

I heard about Danny Thomas, founder of St. Jude’s Research Hospital for Children. His vow was that no child should ever have to miss out on a cure for an inability to pay. The hospital we have today is the living imbodiment of that vision.

But what if Danny Thomas had said something like, “That’s a real shame that kids can’t get treated because they don’t have the money. Someone should probably do something about that. I’m sure someone else will step up.”

More than likely, there would be no St. Jude. Probably, many children would have not gotten treatment. Many more would have died. Many forms of cancer would still be untreatable.

History shows what can happen when one person steps out in faith to make vision a reality. When one person says, “I won’t wait for someone else to step up. I will step up.”

What burden has God placed on your heart? What breaks your heart and keeps you up at night? What is one tragedy or trauma that you went through that you would want to spare anyone else from having to go through?

Now, what are you willing to do about it? You may not be able to cure cancer or solve world hunger, but you can do something. You may not be able to change the world, but you can change one person’s world.

I love the illustration of an older man walking on the beach littered with starfish. He found a young boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.

He said to the boy, “Son, you know you can’t possibly hope to make a difference with all these starfish laying around.”

The boy replied, “Maybe not, but I can make a difference for this one,” as he threw another starfish back into the ocean.

May we each make a difference in someone’s life today.