life

Wise Words from Amy Carmichael

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

One of my favorite authors growing up was a lady named Amy Carmichael. She served as a missionary to India for over 50 years and wrote quite a bit on the topic of suffering patiently under the hand of God. Some of her books include Gold by Moonlight, Edges of His Ways, and If. Most people who are familiar with her and her writings probably know her from the fact that she was a hero of Elisabeth Elliott’s. Here is a sample of what made her so great. It’s one of my favorite quotes of hers:

“Let us end on a very simple note: Let us listen to simple words; our Lord speak simply: ‘Trust Me, My child,’ He says. ‘Trust Me with a humbler heart and a fuller abandon to My will than ever thou didst before. Trust Me to pour My love through thee, as minute succeeds minute. And if thou shouldst be conscious of anything hindering that flow, do not hurt My love by going away from Me in discouragement, for nothing can hurt so much as that. Draw all the closer to Me; come, flee unto Me to hide thee, even from thyself. Tell Me about the trouble. Trust Me to turn My hand upon thee and thoroughly to remove the boulder that has choked they river-bed, and take away all the sand that has silted up the channel. I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. I will perfect that which concerneth thee. Fear thou not, O child of My love; fear not.’

And now…to gather all in one page:

Beloved, let us love.

Lord, what is love?

Love is that which inspired My life, and led Me to My Cross, and held Me on My Cross. Love is that which will make it thy joy to lay down thy life for thy brethren.

Lord, evermore give me this love.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after love, for they shall be filled” (Amy Carmichael).

Patience & Wisdom

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Those are indeed two great and important qualities to possess. They’re also sorely lacking in much of the current environment where everything has to happen immediately and where most people react rather than respond.

In my own life, I’m tempted to try to get ahead of God instead of waiting on His timing. My problem is that I’m not seeing the whole picture from beginning to end and as part of the bigger story God is orchestrating involving all of creation and humanity. I just want what I want when I want it.

But good things come to those who wait. That might ring a bell for those of us who grew up listening to 80s CCM groups like Petra. But it’s also true. The song in question ends up saying so hurry up and wait upon the Lord. That’s also good advice.

Wisdom as I have learned is not mere accumulation of facts. Wisdom is knowledge applied to life. More precisely, wisdom is living God’s way. The Bible says that fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom — not being afraid of God but having a reverential awe of Him (although we should understand that God owes us nothing and we owe Him everything).

Both together are essential. No one ever gets it perfectly 100% right in this life. We all fall short of complete patience and wisdom. But the closer we get as we get closer to God and God’s ways, the better off we are. The more we learn to walk in the way of the Rabbi who took the path to Calvary, the better our lives will be.

“Patience is a form of wisdom. It demonstrates that we understand and accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time” (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living).

Anointed with Oil

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered why Psalm 23 talks about anointing the head with oil? I guess I always assumed it had something to do with David being anointed king or maybe it was a symbolic gesture. Here’s something I found that explains it quite well. It’s also a good word for those of us who have intrusive thoughts that won’t go away:

“I always wondered what this part of Psalm 23 meant. I thought ‘He anoints my head with oil’ was figurative language to refer to God keeping the psalmist healthy. I never knew this parallel.

Sheep can get their heads caught in brambles and die trying to untangle themselves. There are horrible little flies that like to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils that turn into maggots and drive the sheep to hit their heads on a rock, sometimes to death. His ears and eyes are also susceptible to tormenting insects.

The shepherd then anoints his entire head with oil. Then there is peace. That oil forms a protective barrier against the evil that tries to destroy the sheep.

Do you have moments of mental torment?

Do worrying thoughts invade your mind again and again?

Are you banging your head against the wall trying to stop them?

Have you ever asked God to anoint your head with oil?

It has an infinite supply! His oil protects and makes it possible for you to fix your heart, mind and eyes on Him today and always!

There is peace in the valley! May our good Father anoint your head with oil today so that your cup overflows with blessings! God is good and faithful!!” (Francisco J. Toledo).

All I Needed to Say

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I know several people who are dealing with grief and the loss of a loved one. It’s never easy, especially with the recent end of the Christmas season that makes loss even more difficult to bear. I found a post with the lyrics from a Michael W. Smith song from his second album. Let these words sink in and express your own grief and loss:

“Sad goodbye
Never quite got said
Now the time is gone
We’re moving on
Even though it hurts so bad

If I could
I’d turn back the days
And I’d love again
To be your friend
In a hundred different ways
But we can’t turn back the time
The days

So if I never said, all I needed to say
I’ll say it now
You know I loved you once
I love you stronger today
Please love, find me a way
Words, I still need to say
But I don’t know how

Can’t stand still
Still I can’t move on
Lord, I need your strength
Need you and me
‘Cause a part of me is gone

In time, I will know
What I’ve yet to see
That through all the pain
You hurt the same
And you’re standing here with me
More than anything it’s you
I need

So if I never said, all I needed to say
I’ll say it now
You know I loved you once
I love you stronger today
Please love find me a way
Words, I still need to say
Please show me how

Words, I still need to say

So if I never said, all I needed to say
I’ll say it now
You know I loved you once
I love you stronger today
Please love find me a way
But I don’t know how
Please love find me a way
Please show me how” (Amy Grant / Michael W. Smith).

Joy Is Coming

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Joys are always on their way to us. They are always travelling to us through the darkness of the night. There is never a night when they are not coming” (Amy Carmichael).

That’s the whole point of Advent, I think. It’s to remind us that there was a time before Christ, a world before God broke through into history and humanity and became a baby. There was a time of waiting and anticipation of the prophecies that foretold of a coming joy that would be for all the people.

That’s what Advent is all about. We wait with joy. On this side of the manger, we wait for the second coming when Jesus arrives not in a cradle but as a king, not as a lamb to be slain but as a lion to conquer.

Even in the darkest night, joy is still on the way. Even when hope seems lost and God seems furthest away, joy is getting closer and closer. In the midst of despair and death, joy is practically knocking on the door.

In this hurry up culture, we’ve relegated Christmas to one day out of the calendar year, but in ye olden days they made it into a 12 day celebration where people opened their gifts slowly, one per day, and savored the meaning of the incarnation and Emmanuel, God with us. I wish we could get back to that pace.

But even if all the decorations come down on December 26 or January 1, we can still hold on to the joy that Christmas brings. The hope doesn’t go away with the new year, but gets bigger and stronger and better as time passes. Just as the child born in the manger doesn’t live in our hearts only one day of the year but all the days of the year (from my favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol).

Let’s not lose sight of joy in the midst of buying and wrapping and baking and decorating. The reason is that joy is almost here. God is with us. Jesus is coming soon.

Prayer in the Mornin’, Prayer in the Evenin’ . . .

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“This order and discipline must be sought and found in the morning prayer. It will stand the test at work. Prayer offered in early morning is decisive for the day. The wasted time we are ashamed of, the temptations we succumb to, the weakness and discouragement in our work, the disorder and lack of discipline in our thinking and in our dealings with other people․all these very frequently have their cause in our neglect of morning prayer. The ordering and scheduling of our time will become more secure when it comes from prayer” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer).

I think starting the day off with God’s Word and prayer is key. Even though I am decidedly not a morning person, I still want to begin the day the right way. It’s not a superstitious thing where my day will go off the rails if I don’t start with the Bible and prayer. I do know that there’s a subtle shift in my thinking when I miss my morning devotional time.

But I do it not because of any reward or benefit but because God deserves it. He deserves the firstfruits of my day. And I definitely understand those who save their quiet time for night or just before bed. It’s hard to read the Bible when you can’t keep your eyes open. I get it.

But the real key is to just do it. Carve out time that suits you best. Don’t let your lack of being a morning person deter you from spending time with God in His word and in prayer. So, to borrow the old Nike slogan, just do it!

The Only Path to Joy

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“The greatest blessing God can give us is to put us in a position where we must trust him. This is our only path to joy. He will do whatever is necessary to disrupt our self-sufficiency and illusion of control” (Jim Dennison).

That doesn’t sound like much of a path to joy to me. I can think of a million other ways to joy other than by having my plans thwarted and my comfortable routine altered. In fact, I’d like very much to continue to live under the illusion that I’m in at least a little bit of control over my life.

But what I want isn’t necessarily what’s good for me. If I had the opportunity, I could eat my weight right now in those Reese’s Peanut Butter Pumpkin-shaped thingies. You know what I mean. They’re like the peanut butter cups, only they’re in spooky shapes.

Anyway, as long as I think I’m in control, I will never seek out God. I will continue to do my daily autopilot where I think about God on Sundays but about me for the rest of the week. I will pat myself on the back and think how good I have it made with nary a thank you to God for actually providing everything that’s good in my life.

But when the job goes away, that’s when I have to look up. When there’s a new normal, that’s when I recognize how much I’ve needed God this whole time. I remember that what I really crave beyond all the toys and comforts is what only God can give me — namely, God Himself.

So thank you, God, for all those disruptions. Thanks for shattering my delusions of independence and self-sufficiency into smithereens. Now I can see beyond my own little made-up pretend world to find You there and to find out You’ve been there all along.

Homesick for God?

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“How many people have you made homesick for God?” (Oswald Chambers, Disciples Indeed)

That’s the key to evangelism, I think. It’s not constantly reminding people how sinful they are or ridiculing their worldview. I think in that approach we forget that we too were once sinful and had wrong beliefs about the universe.

What was it that won you over? What was it that made you want to know and love God? Was it really someone telling you what an awful person you were? Was it someone constantly berating your beliefs?

I think the key is to make people long for God to the point where they’re homesick for God. I think people seeing you loving God and living out of the overflow of God’s love for you will want to know God. People who see you loving others well the way God loved you well will crave that kind of love, even if they don’t have a name for it.

The way the early Church drew people was in how those believers loved each other. They loved lost people as well, but mainly it was in their love for each other that made people want to hear their gospel message.

If all you have is a well-defined set of doctrines and beliefs, no one cares. If all you have is a passion for making people as moral as you are, then no one wants to hear about it. But when you live transformed and let the life of Christ in you permeate everything you do, then people can’t help but see and be drawn to what they don’t have.

The key is to make people homesick for a home they’ve never known but want to go to more than anything or anywhere else. Make them homesick for God.

Back to the Lost Art of Porch Sitting

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

A few months back I wrote about the joys of front porch sitting. Today, I had the chance to fulfill that wish in real time. I was able to sit in an honest to goodness rocking chair on an honest to goodness front porch and look down that winding gravel road.

Honestly, I’m not very good at it yet. I think I — like so many of us — am programmed with the urge to look at my device instead of looking up. But I think I’m getting better at it. I was able to put my phone face down and simply bask in the breezes blowing all around me.

Thankfully, it wasn’t 1000 degrees outside this time. I even thought for a moment that it might rain, which would have been especially pleasant sitting on that porch under a tin roof with the rain coming down. But alas, that didn’t happen.

Lots of houses still have front porches, but I rarely see anyone taking the time to sit on their front porch. We’re probably in the busiest time in the history of the world with people accomplishing the least (or at least hardly anything of true significance). We are slaves to the tyranny of the urgent (which is a great little book that everyone should read at some point).

But sitting on a front porch is simply the art of doing nothing. It’s choosing to exist in the moment that God made like Martha who chose to sit at Jesus’ feet rather than worry about so many distracting and competing tasks. And yes, I know that Mary also did a good thing in being a good host but Martha chose the better way.

It takes practice to sit on a front porch well. You almost have to retrain your brain for the slower rhythm and learn to see everything again. You almost have to become a little child again (although I don’t know too many little children who are good at sitting still for long periods of time) by remembering the art of awe and wonder at God’s creation.

From now on, I want to waste as much time as I can sitting on front porches, especially on near fall-like days like today.

What God Gives

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I would love clarity, answers, and above all a road map. Although I’m not quite in Job’s shoes in terms of tragic losses, I sometimes can relate to His questions of God’s silence and hiddenness.

But what I often forget (and what Job eventually learned) was that God doesn’t so much give answers as He gives Himself. In the long run, that’s better. After all, I’m not always the best at asking the right questions or focusing on the right things.

Right answers and clear thinking and even a five-year plan without God’s immediate presence do me no good. I’d screw it up or try to subvert the process to get to the end quicker. And as I’ve learned sin is taking my own shortcut to God’s promises and/or trying to get God’s provisions apart from God.

So much of what God wants from me in this season means slowing down and really seeping in each day instead of wanting to rush on to the next big event or the next holiday. Lately, I’ve been actually hungering for the Word of God instead of reading it as part of my rote routine.

I think God gets us all to a point where we have to lean on Him and learn from Him for as long as it takes to get us weaned from ourselves and our own self-help. He puts us in a season where all our theoretical head knowledge about God becomes lived-out experience and love for God. Basically, we find out what “Jesus loves me, this I know” really means.

Take your time, God. As much as I really would love to have clarity and answers and a detailed plan for my life, what I need right now is You. Just You.