Jesus

Oh So Tired

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I finished the work week and I am tired. I mean dog tired. Or better yet, cat tired, since cats seem to sleep more than dogs. At least my cat does.

I’m looking forward to turning off the alarm clock and sleeping in tomorrow. That will be lovely. No 5:40 wake-up call for me. No sirree.

It’s the good kind of tired. It’s the kind of tired where you feel like you’ve accomplished something productive and made a difference, albeit the tiniest, in people’s lives.

I’ve learned that sleep is God’s gift. Some nights, it doesn’t matter how tired I am. I simply can’t sleep. I also noticed that I do my best sleeping just before my alarm is set to go off. What’s up with that?

Sleep belongs to those who know it’s not up to them to figure it all out. Sleep belongs to those who understand not just intellectually but experientially that God is in control of every aspect of their lives.

It still amazes me how my cat can fall asleep at any moment in any place at any given time. Cats never have insomnia. I suppose they have a lot less on their little kitty minds to keep them awake at night.

In fact, my cat is asleep close to me as I write all this. I suppose when you’re as cute and cuddly as Lucy is, what better way to exhibit it than to sleep all the time. Plus, you get the added benefit of being your own blanket.

So here’s hoping and praying that you find not just sleep but rest. Here’s hoping and praying that you can rest in the knowledge that your Abba is very fond of you at this moment just as you are. And His love will lead you all the way to where you need to be.

 

28 Days (Not That I’m Counting or Anything)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

gatsby_quote

What happens in 28 days?

Relax. There will (hopefully) be no outbreak of zombies.

There will however be an outbreak of autumn, my very favorite season.

There will be pumpkin spice everything, bonfires, hayrides, s’mores, flannel, crisp mornings, leaves changing colors, and a million memories that fall always conjures up for me.

There will be no humidity, no excessive sweating, no bugs, and no sunburns.

Fall means Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Advent (which leads into my all-time favorite holiday, Christmas).

Fall reminds me of the words Jesus said, of how unless a seed falls into the ground and dies, it will remain only a single seed. But if it dies, it will bear much fruit. Autumn symbolizes the season where so much is happening that you can’t see, but you know that a great harvest is coming.

So many of my favorite movies are set at least partially in the fall. There’s the iconic scene of Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan walking through Central Park surrounded by a riot of colors from the leaves changing colors.

Fall seems more quiet than the other seasons, more conducive to reflecting and remembering. Maybe that’s the reason I like it. Or maybe it’s one of the plethora of reasons I like it.

I will have my pumpkin spice latte with my pumpkin spice scone and sit somewhere with a patio where I can people-watch. I will wear every flannel shirt I own at least once. I will give thanks that for every fall and winter and death, there comes a spring and a summer and new life.

I will keep typing until I get in my 300 words for the day because I am a bit OCD like that. Still not there, so still typing. Only eleven more words to go. Now only five more to go.

BOOM. Made it.

 

 

Belmont Move-In Day, 2015 Edition

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Feature_Belmont_MoveInDay

I’m sore. I don’t think I’ve been this sore in quite some time, but it was more than worth it.

I got out of bed at the most ungodly hour of 5:40 (on a Saturday, no less) to drive to Belmont Heights Baptist Church. From there, several Kairos folks and I went to the Patton-Bear Dorm to help move freshmen into their dorm rooms.

I’m feeling every bit of those six flights of stairs I climbed more times than I can count. I’m also feeling satisfaction over the knowledge that we helped to ease the stress and trauma (mostly to the parents of the freshmen). What would’ve taken all day for them took approximately five minutes.

I met four new canine friends who just happened to be hanging out at Belmont near where we were working. One was a rescued Boston Terrier who had the distinction of having one blue eye. I can’t fathom who would get a dog only to neglect, abuse, and abandon it. But I am glad he’s found a good and loving home at last.

Most of service in the Kingdom of God is being faithful in the details and small stuff. We earn the right to have our gospel message heard when we walk the extra mile with people and help them carry their burdens (in this case literal burdens). We gain an audience when we first listen to what they have to say.

I counted in my head and this makes my fourth year of toting boxes up and down stairs and seeing the faces of grateful freshmen and their parents. I also figured that most of the freshmen I helped the first time are probably getting ready to graduate in May of next year.

God willing, I plan to be back for my fifth year in 2016. Maybe by then I’ll be in better shape. Maybe we’ll get assigned to a dorm with less floors.

 

My Life is God’s Prayer

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

“When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse everything I know of you, From Jordan depths to Hermon heights, including Mount Mizar. Chaos calls to chaos, to the tune of whitewater rapids. Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers crash and crush me. Then God promises to love me all day, sing songs all through the night! My life is God’s prayer” (Psalm 42:8 MSG)

That’s the kind of rehearsal I really like, remembering everything I know of God and all He’s done for me. Or even better yet, looking back through ages past and seeing how many times in how many places God has come through for His people.

God’s faithfulness trumps my faithlessness. God’s promises outweigh my doubts. Not that I am so bad, but God is so good. Not that I’m so very weak, but God is so very strong.

I could go on and on, but I am really tired. It’s a good kind of tired, but it still leaves me wanting to visit my pillow in the worst way possible.

I’ll be up excruciatingly early on a Saturday, heading over to Belmont University at 6:30 am for Freshman Move-In Day. It’s still in my top favorite activities that I’m involved in over the year.

Yes, you read that right. That’s 6:30 in the AM. A nap will be had later on in the day by me. Then I think there will be the usual frivolity up and down Main Street in Franklin in celebration of surviving a week of waking up at 5:30 am.

“So let my deeds outrun my words
And let my life outweigh my songs” (Jonas Myrin, Matt Redman).

 

Motownphilly Back Again

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but there are certain songs and albums that take me back to a specific time and place.

For me, one example is Boyz II Men’s Motownphilly, which takes me back to my freshman year at the Deusner 7 (or maybe it was 5) dorm room at Union University in the fine city of Jackson, Tennessee, where (I might add) you can’t go 50 feet without running into either a college or a church.

I’m not the world’s biggest hip-hop fan as a general rule. Not that I have anything against that genre. I just never really have gotten into it.

But there’s something about hearing songs like “End of the Road” and “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” that make me nostalgic.

Sadly, that dorm building is no longer there. It got taken out by the tornadoes that swept through the campus back in 2008. In fact, the last time I was there, I didn’t recognize most of the campus (or the people).

I do remember the first time I set foot on the campus of Union, it was like God was telling me, “This is where I want you. This is your place for the next four years.” It felt like home and the peace I felt was undeniable.

There were some scary and stressful moments when I thought I wouldn’t be able to stay due to finances, but thanks to Stafford loans I managed to graduate four years later.

I made some great friends and great memories that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Sometimes, I think I’d like to get together with some fellow Unionites and reminisce about those days and catch up with what everybody’s doing these days.

I think that should happen soon, preferably in the Nashville area. I might even bring my Boyz II Men CD with me.

 

 

This Is It

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“This is the testimony in essence: God gave us eternal life; the life is in his Son. So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life” (1 John 5:12).

The life is in Jesus.

When I was a kid, I thought eternal life was simply living forever. Not that anyone overtly told me this, but it’s what my kid brain grasped when anybody talked about how whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. To me, that meant life that lasted a long time.

I think what I’m beginning to understand is that, while the forever part is right, there is more to it than that. It’s more than just quantity of life. It’s about a quality of life, too.

Eternal life is life with Jesus at the source. It’s where Jesus becomes my life. It’s where even my best days now are nothing compared to what my eternal future will be like.

As I’ve said before, I like to think of C.S. Lewis’ description of the New Narnia in his book, The Last Battle. It’s like everything you were always looking for but never knew it.

It’s like waking up on the first day of summer after school ends, knowing you have freedom up ahead. It’s like that first day of pure vacation bliss. Oh, and it doesn’t end in August or when you go back to work. It never ends.

It’s like that one book I read so long  ago. I can’t remember any of the detail, only that it was one of those books that I couldn’t put down and was sorry to see it end. Eternal life is the realization that this life now are like the title page and the introduction and the rest is the real beginning, a story where each chapter gets better than the last.

 

 

Something I Read Lately

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 4 Comments

philippians

 

I’ve prayed this prayer many times on many different occasions. Never once has God answered my prayer by changing my circumstances, i.e. making my life easier, taking away my difficulties, instantly transporting me to the other side of my trials. What He has done is reminded me ever so subtly that He will be with me as He always has during my dark road.

Peace isn’t always  a feeling of contentment. Sometimes, the butterflies remain but so does the promise that God won’t forsake me. For me, a feeling of peace doesn’t always mean peace, nor does a lack of it indicate its absence. Try and work that one out and see if it makes sense.

After all, it is a peace that is beyond my utmost understanding. I don’t need a god who I can figure out and manage and understand. I need a God who is bigger than me, stronger than me, wiser than me. I need a God who is completely Other than me (not a bigger, stronger, wiser version of me).

My advice to you? Keep praying for that peace that passes all understanding and keep claiming it, whether you feel it or not. Keep trusting that the God of peace is walking with you through your dark road.

Sometimes the absence of peace means there is something in your life that needs to change. You’ll generally have an idea of what that something is and how to go about making the changes. You can’t have peace if you’re consistently making choices that go against God’s Word and refuse to submit to His will for your life.

Even then, peace comes with repentance. Peace comes to those whose hearts are broken, like King David’s, over their sin. Peace comes to those who admit once again their total and complete dependence on God.

That’s all for tonight. Come back for something completely different. Or maybe more of the same. You never can tell with me.

 

 

 

Keep On Keeping On

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God’s Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God’s creation, says: “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!” (Revelation 3:14,20 MSG).

That’s who wins– the conquerors. Those who keep showing up day after day and never give in or give up. Those who stand by their convictions, no matter how popular they are, and don’t compromise for the sake of appeasing others and fitting in.

It may not feel like winning at the time. It may feel like all that you can do to make it out of bed, put on clothes, and put one foot in front of the other until it’s time to go to bed again.

You may feel defeated. You may feel hopeless. But you still keep getting up and going forth. Sometimes, that’s what winning looks like.

To be on Jesus’ side is to be on the winning side. To have Jesus in your corner is to already be more than a conqueror.

Jesus has read the past page in the last chapter of your book. In fact, He has written it. He knows how your story ends. He’s even promised that it would be the best ending you could ever imagine. And the best part? He’s not only read it; He’s in it as the main character. The hero.

Remember that the next time you feel dragged down and beat up by life. Just think about that when you’re closer than ever to throwing in that proverbial towel. You have already won.

 

 

Return to Randomness

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

This is what I do when I can’t think of anything productive to write about. I start typing and let the words fall where they may.

I’m thinking a lot about what it means to live gratefully. It’s harder than it sounds. It’s definitely counter-cultural when every other ad tells you that you need to be more, do more, buy more, invest more, and try harder in order to be happy. It’s funny how each of the ads has a different idea about what will make you whole and complete.

I’m thinking still about Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner. He/she may look and act different, but those old fears and hang-ups are still there. You can’t change yourself from the outside in– it’s the other way around. I do hope he/she finds true peace and fulfillment, but I wonder what will happen when all the hoopla dies down and they turn off the cameras.

True peace comes from knowing Jesus and reclining fully on everything He is– everything He said and did and promised– and believing in that completely. Not minus anything and not plus anything else.

The key to fulfillment (as I am learning) is to see your life as a gift and every adversity as a tool to chisel you into something better. That’s what truly transforms you. Plus, it costs a whole lot less than an operation.

I know people are struggling with issues that I can’t even begin to comprehend. I can look at a person’s profile picture on Facebook and see only a smiling face and not all the secret baggage, hurt, and pain that person bears each and every day.

I still believe that Jesus is in control and that He will set all things right one day soon. I still believe that nothing is impossible for God and it is never too late to become who you might have always been.

On top of all that, I’m starting to get interested in Major League Baseball again. According to Back to the Future Part II, the Chicago Cubs are supposed to win the World Series this year. Also, those day-glo hoverboards should start showing up just about any day now.

That’s all the randomness I can muster up for one night. I’ll see you again tomorrow with something more organized and normal.

 

Journeying Homeward

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

As Mike Glenn put it, Abraham was the world’s oldest teenager when he finally left home at the ripe old age of 75. He set out for a place he’d never heard of, away from everything he’d ever known, and he and his wife set out into a journey towards God’s promises that would last them both the rest of their lives.

Abraham never got to see the ultimate fulfillment of the promises God made to him. He never got to see the great nation God promised to make from his seed. He never got to see the Promise Land in the hands of the people of God.

Still, he went, believing and trusting that God was as good as His word.

That gives me hope. That should give all of us hope.

We’re all journeying toward a destination. We all have hopes and dreams that we strive toward. Sometimes it seems like they fall into our laps. Sometimes, it seems like we will never get to the place we’re so desperately seeking.

I think ultimately the reward Abraham got in all his travelling was God Himself. The journey itself became the destination as Abraham found God all along the way.

That’s where we find God– on the road. We may or may not see what we longed for come to pass, but we will find that God has been– and will continue to be– a constant companion for our travels.

God isn’t merely the rewarded at the end of the journey. He’s the reward along the way.

That’s what I’ve been learning. If you have God and nothing else, you have everything you need. If you have everything else and not God, you end up having nothing at all.

God won’t leave you high and dry. He will finish what He started in you and get you where to the place He had in mind for you when He made you. He will be faithful to be the true fulfillment of all your heart desires.