peace

Forgetful

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

I am quite forgetful sometimes.

Sometimes, I will walk into a room and forget why I went there. Sometimes, I forget I even had a reason for going to that particular room.

I’ve even intended to write myself a note to remind myself of something, only to forget what it was that I was supposed to write down.

I can go to a rousing worship event and be challenged and blessed and motivated and the next day forget when I get bogged down by the everyday details of life.

I can forget how blessed I am and become bitter and resentful of others who have what I think I need right now.

Most of all, I forget who I am and Whose I am.

I listen to the voices that tell me that I’m just not good enough and I’ve only been faking it and it’s only a matter of time before the people around me catch on and expose me.

I  forget that I am Abba’s child and that He is very fond of me. I sometimes feel like I am flunking the school of life and forget that in Jesus I have already overcome and I am more than a conqueror.

I need to be reminded of a Love stronger than death, stronger than my failures and my frustrations and my forgetfulness. I need to be reminded that even when I don’t feel God, I am still held in His everlasting arms.

I need to be reminded that God still works all things together for my good and that He will finish what He started in me.

I bet you do, too.

That’s why we gather together. To remind each other of how blessed we really are. To encourage each other and speak blessing and truth into each other’s lives. So that when my faith is small, you can believe for me, and when your faith is small, I can believe for you.

We need the reminder that we can’t do this life alone. That the enemy’s goal is to get me separated from the community of faith where I am alone and vulnerable.

The best part is that as prone as we are to forget, God is as gracious to remind us of just how big and strong and good He is.

Friday Is a Good Thing

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I don’t think Fridays will ever get old for me. Knowing that the work week is over and that I have a few days of my own is a good feeling. Especially after you have one of those no-good, very bad days that you’re lucky to survive with most of your hair and wits still about you.

I like to think of Heaven as one long Friday, knowing that all the hard stuff and the bad stuff is over and the good stuff, the best stuff, begins and never ends.

C.S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia described Heaven as the the feeling you get on the first day after the school term is over and vacation has begun. That has always resonated with me more than any imagery about Heaven.

Sometimes, the only way you can get through a trial or an ordeal is the knowledge that at some point it will end. It won’t last forever and you won’t be consumed by it.

Take heart. That day is coming, even if you can’t see it or feel it. Even if you’ve all but lost any hope for an end to your pain and suffering and tribulation.

As certain as every week has a Friday in it, the end will come. Again, C.S. Lewis made it come alive to me when He described all of history as the title page and preface to the book, and Heaven is the actual story where each chapter is better than the last and there is no ending.

It’s not an end, but the true beginning that goes on forever.

Heaven’s not just some far away place in a distant time, but it’s wherever God breaks through and shows up in power. It’s wherever God is truly present in His people and where two or more are gathered in His name.

So, I say without any hint of sacrilige, “THANK GOD IT’S FRIDAY!”

Real Peace

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

Tonight at Kairos, I was reminded of the true nature of peace.

Peace is not the absence of war or conflict.

Peace is not the absence of storms and ever-sunny skies with nary a cloud in sight.

Peace is not contented cows chewing cud in a field of grass.

Peace is not a trouble-free life with no worries and nothing heavy weighing on your mind.

Peace is standing firm with the ultimate confidence that God is on your side.

Peace is knowing that there is a battle, but this battle is already won, and Jesus is the Victor.

Peace is  the assurance that nothing can separate you from the love of God, that Jesus has already overcome anything you will ever face in this life.

Peace is believing that even when the storms come– and they will– that even the winds and waves are stilled at the voice of Jesus, because they recognize the voice of their Creator.

Peace is what guards your heart and mind every night as you sleep because your God neither slumbers nor sleeps, but keeps watch over you at all times, singing His own songs over you.

Peace is what you put on your feet that will enable you to hold your ground in the face of whatever the enemy throws at you, because your enemy is a defeated foe and your God has already won.

May this peace be yours always as you know more and more of the Prince of Peace and His love for you. May this peace rule your hearts and minds now and forever.

 

It’s Wednesday

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

It’s Wednesday at 9:48 pm and I can’t think of a blessed thing to blog about. The more I rack my brains together, the less I get. It’s sorta like that feeling I used to get when I sat down to begin writing a term paper or essay. The page stayed blank no matter how hard I stared at it.

I could continue with last night’s thoughts about how knowing who you are in Christ will defend you against the schemes and tactics of the devil. His name means slanderer. He is also known as the accuser. But he has no power over you in you’re standing firm and trusting in the promises and the power of the Christ who defeated him long ago at Calvary.

The truth is that it’s easy to forget these things even after only one day. It’s easy to sink back into old thought defeatist thought patterns and negative name-calling. That’s why the Holy Spirit’s job is to remind us of all Jesus taught us. We’re so very forgetful.

The name I picked out for myself to remind me of who I am was FAVORED. I have been the recipient of God’s unending favor and blessing. When it becomes all too easy to focus on all that I lack and still don’t have yet, I call to mind that I am the Lord’s favored one.

If you pick just one name and hang on to that to remind yourself of who you are when times get tough and God seems distant, you will remember that He may feel far off but He is never more than one cry for help away.

By the way, Wednesday means hump day. We’re over the hump week-wise and it’s all downhill from here. Only Thursday and Friday left to go.

Also a good reminder.

Fire Bad. Tree Pretty.

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

Sometimes, you feel close to figuring out the complex mysteries of  the universe and coming up with a cure for cancer.

Somedays, it’s more like, “Fire bad. Tree pretty.”

I’ll let you guess which kind of day I had. Hint: I won’t be publishing any new theories about quantum physics in the near future.

I’m back at work and over the worst of the flu. I still feel weak and tired. Not up to my usual genius standards.

If I had to come up with my own short summary, it would probably be something like “Life’s hard. God’s strong.”

Life is hard and hard to figure out sometimes, but God is strong enough and big enough to handle all of it.

When you don’t know how you will survive, somehow you find God gets you through the next day.

Life’s hard. God’s strong.

Oh yeah. And fire bad. Tree pretty.

 

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.

For Those Who Have Doubts: From Kairos Tonight

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I love the question John the Baptist asked. He was in prison for speaking the truth against Herrod and he send his disciples over to Jesus to ask, “Are you the One or should we look for someone else?”

I love that question because that’s somethng I’ve wanted to ask at times but never been brave enough or honest enough to admit it.

I’ve had my doubts. So have you, probably. Jesus is big enough to handle our doubts and answer the questions we have.

His answer to John the Baptist was this, in essence: “Yes, I’m the One. I’ve made lame people walk, blind people see, given poor people hope, and raised dead people to live.”

I think His answer to you and me would be something like this

“For those who have staked their very lives on Me, I prove Myself to be the Supply to your every need, the Comfort to your every pain, the Deliverance in your every trial, and the unquenchable hope in each and every circumstance you have ever or will ever face.

I am the God’s YES and AMEN. I am the fulfillment of every one of His promises. I am the One who holds you together and keeps your hope alive. I am your Hope.

Your doubt doesn’t negate my Sovereignty. Your weakness doesn’t negate my Strength. Your failings don’t negate my ultimate victory.

I am the Ultimate Promise Keeper and my ultimate promise is to complete what I started in you, to make you whole and healed and free, to see you become all I meant for you to be when I made you.

Trust in me when circunstances tell you not to, when common sense tells you not to, when your own senses and feelings tell you not to. They may lie to you, but I never will.

I have set My affections on you and My love for you is stronger than your weakness or doubt. It’s stronger than your fear. It’s stronger than any foe you will face or any obstacle that blocks your way. My love for you is even stronger than death.

I will get you Home.”

 

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.

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.