Ragamuffin Gospel

Back to the Random

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I haven’t really done a completely random, stream-of-consciousness blog in a while, so here it is. Ta-da!

I pride myself on being musically diverse. I drove home listening to the Greatest Hits of Procol Harum and got home to find a package from Amazon containing Adele’s latest album, 25.

Speaking of commutes, you know it’s a long one when you can listen to an entire Greatest Hits CD in the time it takes to get from work to home.

I don’t really mind. I look at it this way. I have a job to commute to and from, a car to commute in, and another day to be alive and driving. The upside is way better than any slow traffic.

Social media is a funny beast. Some posts that you think are completely awesome go seemingly unnoticed and some random picture of a dog taking a bubble bath get all kinds of likes and comments. I don’t get it. Still.

But life doesn’t begin and end with social media. In fact, it’s probably good to put down the smart phone every now and then and experience your life in person. Those kids will only be small for so long. Those parents and grand parents will only be around for so long.

You probably won’t regret not checking your Instagram or Pinterest account for a couple of days, but you will regret one day realizing that you lost precious time to spend with those you love who are now gone.

One of the experiences you’ll miss with your head buried in your phone is the amazing fall weather we had today. If I could bottle up the weather, the sky, and the smells, I completely would. And maybe make it into a Yankee Candle.

Being up since 5:30 am, or as I call it, the Ungodliest Hour of the Day Before The Sun is Even Out, I will call it a night. I’m still completely overwhelmed by and grateful for every single one of my readers, whether they read all my posts or only check in occasionally.  I’m also very thankful for the spelling nazi on my laptop that caught that I had misspelled occasionally (as well as misspelled, which is awkward).

Good night and may the peace of Christ be with you and keep you till morning.

Waiting Expectantly

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“Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert – yes, joyful – waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes” (Henri Nouwen).

And so we wait.

Not in a passive sort of way, like a junior high girl waiting by the phone for her crush to call or a job-seeker waiting for a call from one of the places to which he’s applied.

We prepare as we wait. We anticipate as we wait. We hope as we wait. And we love God and each other well as we wait.

Waiting never gets any easier, but it’s always worth it. Taking shortcuts almost never is. Just ask Abraham and Sarah.

Waiting in faith and expectancy is a way of saying that God’s timing is better than mine and the gain in the end is better than any immediate gratification I’m giving up in the present.

I’m not saying anything new. In fact, this almost feels like a re-run of sorts.

Whatever you’re waiting for from God is worth whatever time it takes. Trust the heart of your Father who knows best what to give and when to give it. Trust that the best is still yet to come and that  it is still coming.

Just as surely as Advent follows into Christmas, so will faithful waiting follow into joy.

 

 

Dem Golden Streets

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“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate expertly crafted from a single beautiful pearl. And the city street was pure gold, yet it was as transparent as glass.

And in the city, I found no temple because the Lord God, the All Powerful, and the Lamb are the temple. And in the city, there is no need for the sun to light the day or moon the night because the resplendent glory of the Lord provides the city with warm, beautiful light and the Lamb illumines every corner of the new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:21-23).

Today as I was driving home from work, I was almost blinded by the setting sun blazing directly in my eyes.

I also noticed how the way the sunlight reflected off the pavement made the road looked golden. It was almost as if I-440 West was paved with gold.

It got me thinking about the place in the Book of Revelation where John describes the streets of heaven as being paved with gold.

This is just me thinking out loud, but what if those streets appear golden because they are reflecting the glory of God. After all, the same book mentions that there will be no need for sun or moon because God and His glory will be the only light there.

I never thought the afternoon commute would ever turn so theological. Nashville traffic inspires lots of thoughts and ideas, but most of them are very non-Baptist. So it was a nice change of pace to be sitting in rush-hour madness thinking of heavenly streets of gold in a new way.

So take that for however you want. It’s just a thought I had.

 

Keep Praying

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At Kairos tonight, Mike Glenn spoke from Luke 18 on the persistent widow and the unjust judge. I wish I could tell you I took copious notes and remembered every word he said. I didn’t. I saw something shiny, my ADD took over, and it was all over from there.

The main point I take from that passage is this: keep praying.

Even if it seems that you’re mouthing words, keep praying.

Even if it seems like you’re the only one listening to your own prayer, keep praying.

Even if it seems that your praying is doing nobody any good, keep praying.

You’ll never know the power of persistent prayer if you quit in the middle.

I’ve learned a few things over my lifetime. One of those is that God’s timetable is entirely different than mine. He’s looking at a much bigger picture than I am.

So what I see as a deadline that’s come and gone, God sees as a better time and a better me to receive what He’s preparing for me.

Often, I don’t receive what I pray for, not because it’s out of God’s will, but because I’m not ready for it. I think I am. I say I am, but I’m not.

Often, what I pray for isn’t big enough. God has something way bigger than what my small mind can dream of and hope for. I’m praying pint-sized but God is thinking Kingdom-sized.

God is not like that unjust judge. He’s not reluctant to give us what we ask for. In fact, He’s often very willing to give us what we ask for. That means that we have to do the asking.

I’m thankful for the Holy Spirit that prays my own prayers better than I can.

I’m thankful for those around me who pray for me unceasingly and who believe for me when I can’t believe for myself.

Most of all, I’m thankful for the God who gives the perfect gift at the perfect time in the perfect way.

The end.

One of the Best Things I’ve Ever Read

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I’m reading through a devotional called Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations by Frederick Buechner, a compilation of some of his best writing.

I read this last night and it resonated with me and spoke deeply with me. I hope it speaks as deeply to you.

“The love for equals is a human thing–of friend for friend, brother for brother. It is to love what is loving and lovely. The world smiles.

The love for the less fortunate is a beautiful thing–the love for those who suffer, for those who are poor, the sick, the failures, the unlovely. This is compassion, and it touches the heart of the world.

The love for the more fortunate is a rare thing–to love those who succeed where we fail, to rejoice without envy with those who rejoice, the love of the poor for the rich, of the black man for the white man. The world is always bewildered by its saints.

And then there is the love for the enemy–love for the one who does not love you but mocks, threatens, and inflicts pain. The tortured’s love for the torturer. This is God’s love. It conquers the world” (Frederick Buechner, The Magnificent Defeat).

“When the time was right, the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak.  Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us” (Romans 5:6-8).

“You have been taught to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you this: love your enemies. Pray for those who torment you and persecute you— in so doing, you become children of your Father in heaven.He, after all, loves each of us—good and evil, kind and cruel. He causes the sun to rise and shine on evil and good alike. He causes the rain to water the fields of the righteous and the fields of the sinner. It is easy to love those who love you—even a tax collector can love those who love him. And it is easy to greet your friends—even outsiders do that! But you are called to something higher: “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:43-48).

A Couple of Good Reminders for the Upcoming Week

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“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him….Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness….And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself”  (Corrie ten Boom, The Hiding Place). 

“Life is but a Weaving” (the Tapestry Poem)

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.” (Corrie ten Boom).

One of My Favorites

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Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival Fri Sep 30 - Sun Oct 2, 2005

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
Fri Sep 30 – Sun Oct 2, 2005

Often at night, I’ll put on my headphones and get out whatever CD strikes my fancy and lull myself to sleep with some good music.

Last night, it was Gillian Welch’s Time (the Revelator). I love her music. In an age where music feels mass-produced, it’s a refreshing change to find songs that seem hand-crafted and lovingly spun.

I have all her music. I could put on any of her CDs and instantly be transported into a happier place of mind.

I actually got to see her and Dave Rawlings at the Ryman back in December of 2011. It was the last stop on their tour and it was fantastic. They had no opening act and played for 2 1/2 hours. It’s at least in my top three best concert experiences of all time.

Also, the Dave Rawlings Machine is good stuff, too. It’s basically a reversal of her albums with him doing the lion’s share of lead vocals.

Basically, go with whatever music moves you, whether it’s popular or not, top 40 or not, recent or not. Even if it’s Kenny G or Zamfir, Master of the Pan-Flute.

I wouldn’t want to live in a world without music and art. It would almost be like living in a world with justice but no mercy.

So yeah, I like music.

The end.

A Certainty that Cannot Be Shaken

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“We say, then, to anyone who is under trial, give Him time to steep the soul in His eternal truth. Go into the open air, look up into the depths of the sky, or out upon the wideness of the sea, or on the strength of the hills that is His also; or, if bound in the body, go forth in the spirit; spirit is not bound. Give Him time and, as surely as dawn follows night, there will break upon the heart a sense of certainty that cannot be shaken” (Amy Carmichael).

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around what happened in Paris.

Granted, I didn’t even hear about it until I’d gotten home from work.

I turned on CNN and saw where at least 153 people had been killed in what looks like ISIS terrorist attacks on innocent civilians.

If it happened there, it could happen here. But still, the fact that it happened anywhere matters. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Attacks on liberty are a threat to liberty anywhere and everywhere.

I still don’t know why things like that happen. I know it’s a fallen and broken world. I know that people are capable of the worst acts, as evidenced by the Holocaust and Slavery and a million other atrocities.

I also know that God is in control.

I know that God can take the worst tragedies and turn them into something beautiful.

I still believe that in the end, Love wins. Jesus wins.

I know and believe with all my heart that, try as it might, darkness can never truly drive out the light. The only failure is a failure of the light when it refuses to shine.

I’m praying for Paris. I’m praying for all those who are burdened by oppression and injustice tonight.

May God have mercy on us all.

 

Why I Love Old Abraham

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“By faith Abraham heard God’s call to travel to a place he would one day receive as an inheritance; and he obeyed, not knowing where God’s call would take him. By faith he journeyed to the land of the promise as a foreigner; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, his fellow heirs to the promise because Abraham looked ahead to a city with foundations, a city laid out and built by God.

By faith Abraham’s wife Sarah became fertile long after menopause because she believed God would be faithful to His promise. So from this man, who was almost at death’s door, God brought forth descendants, as many as the stars in the sky and as impossible to count as the sands of the shore” (Hebrews 11:8-12).

“That’s what Scripture means when it says, ‘Abraham entrusted himself to God, and God credited him with righteousness.’ And living a faithful life earned Abraham the title of ‘God’s friend'” (James 2:23, The Voice).

I like Abraham. I can relate to Abraham.

Sure, he was the father of many nations. Sure, he’s the one through whose line came the Messiah, the Hope of the World.

But he also had clay feet at times.

Remember the time when he lied about his wife, saying she was his sister? Twice?

Remember when he tried to help God out by agreeing to go to bed with Sarah’s servant Hagar to produce the heir God promised?

Remember when Abraham had a hard time believing that God could keep His word in giving him a child?

Yeah, I can relate to all of that. Abraham’s my kind of guy.

The Bible is full of people like that. Not saints in the sense of people who walked through life with halos hanging over their heads who never messed up or got a hair out of place or got their knickers in a bunch. More like saints who stumbled and fell often, but kept getting back up, kept trusting in the next step, kept trusting that God knew where he was leading them through all the deserts and foreign countries.

Sometimes faith is simply showing up and taking the next step, trusting that God knows where He’s leading you. As Corrie Ten Boom said, faith is trusting the conductor of the train when it goes into a pitch black tunnel instead of jumping off the back of the caboose.

I suppose we’re all thankful that even faith the size of a mustard seed can move  mountains and uproot trees. It can change stubborn old hearts like yours and mine.

Best of all, faith leads you to the place where God is, where you were always meant to be, the place where your heart can rest.

 

More Borrowed Wisdom From One Mr. Lewis

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I have the crud, so I invited a guest blogger to share his thoughts. Well, I copied and pasted from something C. S. Lewis wrote. It blew my fuzzy, hay-fevered mind. I hope it blows your mind as well.

“An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He is trying to get into touch with God.

But if he is a Christian he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him.

But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the Man who was God—that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him.

You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying—the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on—the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal.

So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kinds of life—what I called Zoe or spiritual life: he is being pulled into God, by God, while still remaining himself” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

You’re welcome.

Praying starts and ends with God. Sure, I bring my needs and wants to God, but sometimes there are no words. Sometimes, I need to know that God inside of me is praying to the God above me through the God in Christ who is beside me.

That’s prayer.