brennan manning

Covered by Blood

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Choose a one-year-old male that is intact and free of blemishes; you can take it from the sheep or the goats. Keep this chosen lamb safe until the fourteenth day of the month, then the entire community of Israel will slaughter their lambs together at twilight. They are to take some of its blood and smear it across the top and down the two sides of the doorframe of the houses where they plan to eat” (Exodus 12:5-7, The Voice).

Blood is not a topic for polite dinner conversation. Or any polite conversation. Or any conversation for that matter. Some people get queasy at the sight or even the mention of it.

Lately, any songs about the blood are becoming more and more taboo at many churches. People like to believe that we’re generally not that bad and that our mistakes aren’t that serious.

Any time that I sing about or hear about the blood of Jesus, it’s a stark reminder of the seriousness of my own sin. I’m reminded again that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not that I’m okay, you’re okay, so let’s all try to be better people in the future.

The gospel is that we all have sinned and missed God’s mark. That sin always comes at a cost. Romans 3:23 say “The payoff for a life of sin is death.” There’s no loophole or any other way around that. Sin earns spiritual death now and physical death later.

But read the rest of the verse– “but God is offering us a free gift—eternal life through our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One, the Liberating King.”

Easter is all about how Jesus took the punishment and death that we deserved because of our sin, giving us the free gift of eternal life to all those who repent of their sins and place their faith in the final and finished work of Jesus.

I may not like the sight of blood or always like to talk about it, but I’m thankful for the blood that Jesus shed, not sparingly but freely, for my sake and for the sake of all of us who have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

Here’s how to know for certain if you belong to Jesus:

https://www.lifeway.com/en/articles/salvation-through-christ-a-matter-of-faith.html

 

Waiting

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I’m waiting on my retro Nolan Ryan jersey to arrive in the mail. If it’s anything close to the picture on the ebay listing, then I will be thrilled.

I feel like I spend a lot of my life waiting. It’s exhausting at times and scary at times but always worth whatever time it takes.

I remember when I found out that Mafiaoza’s was coming to The Factory in Franklin. It felt like forever. I drove by several times and it seemed like nothing was happening. Then boom, one day there it was, all filled with customers and glorious pizza.

Most of us will spend most of our lives waiting on one thing or another, whether that be a spouse or a career or a place to live.

I still don’t believe that waiting is sitting idly by, like waiting for the phone to ring.

I believe waiting involves action.

That action is mainly preparing yourself to receive what it is that you’re waiting for.

The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Again, it’s not an idle and passive kind of waiting, but one that involves surrender and constantly being vigilant to the voice of God.

As my pastor has said more than once, when God calls you, you won’t have time to get ready. You’ll have to be ready. And waiting is the process of being made ready to answer God’s call when it comes.

Waiting is hard. The temptation is always there to give up or to take matters into your own hands to achieve your own desired outcome. Sometimes, the bravest part of waiting is simply showing up and not giving up for one more day, one more hour, one more minute.

Good things come to those who wait, not passively and idly, but with expectation and readiness.

 

It’s Not All Good

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“We are confident that God is able to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan” (Romans 8:28, The Voice).

The popular rendition of this verse is that in God all things work together for good. Note that it does not say that all things are good but that all things work for good.

In other words, it’s not all good.

All you have to do is watch the news, read the newspaper, or catch the headlines on any news website to know that. Creation is beautiful but broken, due to that original sin that messed everything up.

It’s not all good when racism still exists and people are looked down upon as being less than for skin color, ethnicity, or gender.

It’s not all good when schools aren’t a safe place to learn, as too many students have died from gun violence.

It’s not all good when parents bury their children, when women want desperately to have children but can’t, and when someone else gets a cancer diagnosis.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not “I’m okay, you’re okay.” It’s not an “It’s all good.”

The gospel of Jesus Christ says that God can take anything, even the worst kinds of evil, and work it into something good and beautiful.

The gospel says that one day, all will be made right and there will be no more pain or tears.

So no, it’s not currently all good, but the cross proves that God can take even the very worst and redeem it.

That’s all good.

 

No One Should Be Left Out

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Praise the Eternal!
Praise the True God inside His temple.
    Praise Him beneath massive skies, under moonlit stars and rising sun.
Praise Him for His powerful acts, redeeming His people.
    Praise Him for His greatness that surpasses our time and understanding.

Praise Him with the blast of trumpets high into the heavens,
    and praise Him with harps and lyres
    and the rhythm of the tambourines skillfully played by those who love and fear the Eternal.
Praise Him with singing and dancing;
    praise Him with flutes and strings of all kinds!
Praise Him with crashing cymbals,
    loud clashing cymbals!
No one should be left out;
    Let every man and every beast—
    every creature that has the breath of the Lord—praise the Eternal!
Praise the Eternal!” (Psalm 150:1-6, The Voice).

As I read the words to this particular Psalm, I was reminded of something that John Piper wrote. He said that worship is the ultimate purpose of the Church. Missions, he said, exists because there are places where worship does not. Missions exists because there are people who still have not heard of God’s saving power in Jesus and of His worth and value and of His redeeming love.

Missions will not always exist. The Bible says that one day there will be a multitude of people from every ethnicity and race and language gathered around the throne of God and that the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh as the waters cover the seas.

Until then, we have the Great Commission, so that no one is left out of the opportunity of an eternity with God.

 

50 Years of YEC

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Again, I was privileged to participate as a volunteer in the 50th Youth Evangelism Conference put on by the Tennessee Baptist Convention. For me, it’s been 7 years in a row that I’ve been able to help out.

I still can’t get over the Friday night invitation when I lose count of how many students are coming forward to give their lives to Christ. I never went to a Billy Graham Crusade in person, but I can imagine that this invitation felt a lot like one of his.

The whole entire area around the stage was filled with these students who prayed to receive Christ. Even the speaker, Clayton King, was amazed.

I heard that in the 50 years of these conferences, over a million students have attended and somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 kids have come to saving faith in Jesus. That comes out of a lot of sacrifice, dedication, and faithful service by a lot of people.

Hats off to Kent Shingleton, who once again led this year’s conference. I hope I get to thank him again for allowing me to be on the ground floor for something that can only be explained in terms of the power of God.

It’s 11:59 pm and I have to be back at 7:30, so I see lots of coffee and naps in my very near future. And maybe Chick-fil-A.

I hope to make it 8 years in a row in 2019, but for now, I will relish another chance to serve and be a part of something grand.

A Puritan Evening Prayer of Praise

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I have a collection of old Puritan prayers called The Valley of Vision. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about these Puritans, other than they prayed some of the most beautiful prayers ever, as evidenced by the book.

One of their prayers is my own prayer at the close of another day. It’s my own words put much better than I could ever pray them:

“Giver of all, another day is ended and I take my place beneath my great redeemer’s cross, where healing streams continually descend, where balm is poured into every wound, where I wash anew in the all-cleansing blood, assured that You see in me no spots of sin. Yet a little while and I shall go to Your home and be no more seen; help me to gird up the loins of my mind, to quicken my step, to speed as if each moment were my last, that my life be joy, my death glory.

I thank You for the temporal blessings of this world — the refreshing air, the light of the sun, the food that renews strength, the raiment that clothes, the dwelling that shelters, the sleep that gives rest, the starry canopy of night, the summer breeze, the flowers’ sweetness, the music of flowing streams, the happy endearments of family, kindred, friends. Things animate, things inanimate, minister to my comfort. My cup runs over. Suffer me not to be insensible to these daily mercies. Your hand bestows blessings: Your power averts evil. I bring my tribute of thanks for spiritual graces, the full warmth of faith, the cheering presence of Your Spirit, the strength of Your restraining will, Your spiking of hell’s artillery. Blessed be my sovereign Lord!”

I think that says it all. If I had any doubts about how blessed I am, I think those are put to rest for now.

 

 

Morning and Evening

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Pause and wonder. You had ‘goings forth’ in the person of Jesus ‘from everlasting.’ Before you were born, Christ loved you., for His delights were with human beings even before there were any children. He though often of them, and from ‘everlasting to everlasting’ He had set His affection on them.

My soul, has He been drawing you  to Him for such a long time that He will not accomplish it? Has He from everlasting been going to save me and will He lose me now?  Has He carried me like a precious jewel for so long only to let me slip through His fingers now? Did He choose me before the mountains were created, before the oceans were dug, only to reject me today?

Impossible! He would not have loved me this long had he not been a changeless Lover. If He could have grown weary of me it would have happened long before now. If His love were not as deep as hell and as strong as death, He would have abandoned me long ago.

Joy above all joys, I know that I am His everlasting and inalienable inheritance, given to Him by His Father before creation. Everlasting love will be my pillow tonight” (Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening).

Every year, I pick out a new devotional to accompany my morning Bible reading. In years past, I’ve read the likes of Henri Nouwen, Frederick Buechner, and Oswald Chambers.

This year, I chose Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening. As the title indicates, there’s two devotionals for each day. As I’m continuing to find out, you can’t go wrong with the classics. While I hold nothing against new books and new writers, there’s something about an old book that has stood the test of time and ministered to people for generations.

If you’re looking for a classic, I recommend My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers or Streams in the Desert by Lettie Cowman, as well as Mornings and Evenings. A good rule of thumb for me is that anything that’s over 100 years old and still in print is bound to be valuable and worthwhile.

 

 

 

The Adventure Begins

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Recently, I posted on social media about my desire to watch all the Doctor Who episodes (that still exist) in order from the very beginning. It seemed like a tall order to find a way to stream all the classic episodes that were made from 1963 to 1989.

My quest has begun in earnest, thanks to an app called Britbox.

I’m two episodes in to the William Hartnell era.  He was the first doctor, and he was a far cry to any of the modern doctors. He could be a little cold and arrogant, and not exactly a fan of humans.

I’m not expecting CGI or any kind of award-winning special effects early on. I’m aware that the BBC is notorious for not having the best visual effects. Then again, the viewer exercised more of his own imagination to fill in what the costumes and set designs lacked.

So far, so good. I learned that the TARDIS machine originally could change form from one place to the next, depending on the time period. Apparently, some circuit malfunctioned, so the end result was that it was always in the form of the familiar police boxes from the 60’s.

I believe there are quite a few episodes missing from the early years. The BBC didn’t think they’d be worth saving past the initial run, so many of the tapes used for the first series got erased to be used over.

Anyway, my little inner nerd is very happy. I’m expecting all kinds of wibbily wobbly timey wimey stuff ahead. Be warned.

A Beautiful Picture of Death

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I’ve always loved the story about the doctor and the patient who was asking about death. Not that I obsess over death, but I was reminded again of this little story that sums up faith so very neatly. Maybe it will speak to you in your grieving.

“A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to
Leave the examination room and said,
‘Doctor, I am afraid to die.
Tell me what lies on the other side.’
Very quietly, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know..’
‘You don’t know? You’re, a God fearing person,
and don’t know what’s on the other side?’
The doctor was holding the handle of the door;
On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,
And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
‘Did you notice my dog?
He’s never been in this room before.
He didn’t know what was inside.
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing…
I know my Master is there and that is enough’”

Heaven won’t be wonderful because of golden harps or white robes or streets of gold.

Heaven won’t be so desirable for mansions or biblical heroes or anything like that.

The best part of Heaven, the part I long for someday, is that Jesus, God made flesh, will be there.

And that will be enough.

A Peanut Gallery Update

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I can’t call my little Peanut my little kitten anymore.

She officially weighs 10 pounds at 10 months old.

She’s not so little anymore.

Since that fateful gotcha day, she’s been nothing but loving and sweet and affectionate. She’s the poster child for tortie cats. Or should I say, the poster kitten.

I suppose I’ll always remember June 30, 2017 as the day she picked me at the Williamson County Animal Shelter, nine days after my Lucy crossed the rainbow bridge.

I had another kitten ready to take home. He was in the crate and all that was left was to sign the papers and be on my way.

Then I turned around and saw a tiny paw stretched out, reaching toward me. I heard this piteous little mew and saw Peanut. I went over to her cage and reached my fingers through the cage to pet her. Immediately, she started purring and the rest is history.

The other cat probably ended up getting just as good of a home with someone else, and I got picked by a cat.

God does work in mysterious ways, even at animal shelters in the middle of June.