Ragamuffin Gospel

Thoughts on Grief

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“I don’t believe grief passes away. It has its time and place forever. More time is added to it; it becomes a story within a story” (W. Berry).

Don’t worry. No one I know has died lately.

I was just missing my old cat Lucy a bit today after seeing an old video of her and ran across this memory on Facebook.

How true it is.

Grief never passes away. You never completely get over the sadness.

I heard that grief and loss is somewhat like losing an arm or a leg. You don’t go back to the way you were before, but you can learn to live with a new normal.

Even though I haven’t been touched by grief lately, I know several who have. I also know that this life is fleeting, so grief is inevitable for any of us who haven’t completely closed off their hearts to love.

I also know that we serve a God who in Jesus is completely acquainted with grief. Isaiah called Him a Man of sorrows.

This same Jesus also took the sting out of grief and death when He burst out of the tomb on that Easter Sunday morning. Now those of us who belong to Jesus don’t have to grieve as those who have no hope. We have hope.

I still don’t know how it works with animals. I’d like to think there’s that rainbow bridge and I’ll see Lucy again one day. I do know that all the best parts of what we had will live on in my memory and what awaits in heaven will be far better than anything I could ever possibly imagine.

In the meantime, grief and loss are a part of life. Right now, I wish they were not. One day, I know for certain that they won’t be.

 

A Needed Reminder

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I don’t like to be corrected. I get defensive and angry. But just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean that I don’t need it from time to time.

Every one of us needs that one person who will always speak the truth to us in love. We don’t need yes people who will tell us only what we want to hear and who will always go along with us, no matter what.

Sometimes, we need that person who can gently rebuke and correct us and show us the error of our ways. What we need is that someone who will hold us accountable.

I know I need that. I also know that I can probably be that person for someone else.

The question from Sunday still haunts me: Who is pouring into your life and discipling you, and whose life are you pouring into and discipling?

In order to fully experience the abundant life that Jesus promised, you need the whole gospel. That starts with salvation but doesn’t end there. The whole gospel starts with justification, continues on with sanctification, and concludes with glorification.

Or maybe it never stops. You never ever get over how amazing this gospel is, even in heaven. Not for all eternity.

That whole gospel experience includes you being discipled and you discipling someone. It means not being satisfied with being saved but continually striving and reaching toward spiritual maturity every single day.

Again, the question: who is discipling you and who are you discipling? Whose life are you pouring into and who is pouring into you?

It all starts with the patience of God. Once you get that, you will be astonished at how patient and understanding you are with others, because you know what it feels like to expect condemnation and receive mercy instead.

 

 

Two Weeks from Thanksgiving

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So be careful how you live; be mindful of your steps. Don’t run around like idiots as the rest of the world does. Instead, walk as the wise! Make the most of every living and breathing moment because these are evil times. So understand and be confident in God’s will, and don’t live thoughtlessly” (Ephesians 5:15-17, The Voice).

I used to hear my grandparents talk about how much faster time went by when they got older. I probably nodded and smiled and pretended to understand, but didn’t really get it. Until now.

It’s two freaking weeks until Thanksgiving. Then a month until Christmas. Then a week until 2018. It really feels like a whole week passes by in 24 hours.

It feels like 2008 was just yesterday. And 1990 still feels like 10 years ago, not almost 30. If I weren’t already in bed, I’d feel a strong need to lie down for a while.

That’s why it’s so important to savor the moments when you can. It’s vital that you cherish the people in your life while you have them. I know of some friends who have had parents pass away very unexpectedly. You just never know.

I also remember that for God, a thousand years is like a day. To Him, a whole human life is like a blade of grass that springs up in the morning and withers in the evening.

Life’s too short to live with un-forgiveness and bitterness in your heart. Life’s too short to hold grudges and have a cynical worldview.

I still believe that Jesus meant what He said about how He came to give us the abundant life– life to the full. Yes, He meant a limitless span of years, but He also meant a life that is rich, full, and satisfying.

I’m hoping 2018 will be a good year, but right now, I’m trying to savor and enjoy as much of 2017 as I can. More specifically, I’m just trying to be fully present in today as I can be and let God take care of tomorrow.

 

 

 

Happy 99th Birthday, Billy!

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“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith” (Billy Graham).

I can think of no better example of a legacy of character and faith than Billy Graham. His whole life has been devoted to the spread of the Gospel. His motto might as well be “He [Jesus] must increase, but I must decrease,” because he has always deferred the credit to his fellow workers, and especially to Jesus.

I believe there are thousands of people going to heaven because of Billy Graham. I also believe that one day he will hear the words from his Lord and Savior, saying “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

I’d love nothing more than to see him live to be 100, but I imagine he’s ready for heaven, to be reunited with Ruth, to meet again with family members gone before him, but best of all, to finally see Jesus face to face.

I echo the words of so many others whose lives have been touched by his faithful ministry and his servant’s heart when I say simply, “Thank you, Billy Graham.”

 

Safe in the Storm

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“My soul quietly waits for the True God alone
    because I hope only in Him.
He alone is my rock and deliverance,
    my citadel high on a hill;
    I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my significance depend ultimately on God;
    the core of my strength, my shelter, is in the True God.

Have faith in Him in all circumstances, dear people.
    Open up your heart to Him;
    the True God shelters us in His arms” (Psalm 62:5-8, The Voice).

Right now, I’m typing these words as I’m lying in bed (or laying in bed– I’m still fuzzy on which of these is correct). Anyway, I can hear the thunder rumbling outside, signifying that more rain is coming.

One of my least favorite things to do is to be out on the interstate when it’s storming. One of my favorite things to do is to be safe at home, able to hear and see the storm while being safely under a solid four walls and a roof.

It seems lately that storms are raging all around us. Not so much literal storms with lightening and thunder, but so many senseless acts of violence and destruction. Not even the church building is a safe sanctuary anymore.

I read something amazing today. It was from the pastor of the church in Texas where the latest mass shooting occurred. He lost half his congregation, as well as his own 14-year old daughter. He said, “Christ is the one who is going to be lifted up. What you don’t understand you lean into the Lord. Whatever life brings to you, lean on the Lord rather than your own understanding.  .  .  . I don’t understand but I know my God does.”

I can’t imagine. I can’t say that I’d be half as brave or stedfast in the face of unspeakable tragedy and grief. I only know that God is near to the broken hearted and to those who are crushed in spirit, and in those times, He gives a peace and a love and a trust that truly passes understanding.

Storm come, storms pass, but the love of God is a shelter and a safe place forever.

 

Praying for Sutherland Springs

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“Death opens a door out of a little, dark room (that’s all the life we have known before it) into a great, real place where the true sun shines and we shall meet” (C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces).

I’m having a really difficult time processing yet another mass shooting at a church. This time, it was First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The town has a population of about 400 and the church typically runs around 50 on any given Sunday.

That makes it especially heinous that a gunman walked in and opened fire on the congregation, killing 26 and wounding 20. I have no words.

Just when it seems that we’ve seen the worst kind of evil, something like this comes along and reminds all of us that this world is a broken place suffering under the crushing weight of original sin. Nothing’s the way it was supposed to be in the beginning.

I do know that the answer still lies at the foot of the cross. I know that Calvary still remains the best example of the worst kind of evil ever inflicted. God in Jesus took that evil upon Himself and in the process, defeated sin, death, and hell forever.

I know that tonight, God weeps with those who are weeping. I know that God in Jesus is no stranger to grief and sorrow, as Isaiah 53 calls Him a Man of Sorrows and Hebrews says that Jesus has experienced everything common to humanity, yet was without sin.

Because of that cross, my hope is that the Kingdom of God is breaking into this world, and that one day God will put everything right and turn this crazy upside-down world right-side up again.

In the mean time, we live with the unspeakable. In the midst of ultimate evil, there is still Immanuel, God with us. That remains our hope.

 

Finding God in the Valley

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“‘Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.’ The psalm does not pretend that evil and death do not exist. Terrible things happen, and they happen to good people as well as to bad people. Even the paths of righteousness lead through the valley of the shadow. Death lies ahead for all of us, saints and sinners alike, and for all the ones we love. The psalmist doesn’t try to explain evil. He doesn’t try to minimize evil. He simply says he will not fear evil. For all the power that evil has, it doesn’t have the power to make him afraid.

And why? Here at the very center of the psalm comes the very center of the psalmist’s faith. Suddenly he stops speaking about God as ‘he,’ because you don’t speak that way when the person is right there with you. Suddenly he speaks to God instead of about him, and he speaks to him as ‘thou.’ ‘I will fear no evil,’ he says, ‘for thou art with me.’ That is the center of faith. Thou. That is where faith comes from” (Frederick Buechner, Secrets in the Dark).

The valley of the shadow of death is where you go from knowing about God to really knowing God, where faith goes from intellectual assent to confident trust and heart-yielded allegiance.

Some of you are in that valley right now. You are walking through the shadow of death. You can cling to the hope of the God who does not see you from afar, but who walks beside you through that valley.

God in Jesus knows all about walking through that valley, because Jesus’ goal led through a valley to a cross on a hill. He walks with you. Therefore, you can fear no evil, for He is with you.

 

 

Poverty and Kindness

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“The poor are the center of the Church. But who are the poor? At first we might think of people who are not like us: people who live in slums, people who go to soup kitchens, people who sleep on the streets, people in prisons, mental hospitals, and nursing homes. But the poor can be very close. They can be in our own families, churches or workplaces. Even closer, the poor can be ourselves, who feel unloved, rejected, ignored, or abused.

It is precisely when we see and experience poverty – whether far away, close by, or in our own hearts – that we need to become the Church; that is, hold hands as brothers and sisters, confess our own brokenness and need, forgive one another, heal one another’s wounds, and gather around the table of Jesus for the breaking of the bread. Thus, as the poor we recognise Jesus, who became poor for us” (Henri Nouwen).

I can only think to add one thing– be kind to everyone you meet, for every single person is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Every single person has one past event, one scar, one wound, one story that if you knew it, would completely and radically change the way you looked at them.

Be kind to everyone, even those who think and vote differently than you. Every single person has reasons for what they do and why they do it.  Just because someone has a different viewpoint than you doesn’t make them automatically wrong or evil. In fact, it’s good to take in different perspectives, so as to help you avoid myopic narrow-mindedness and pharisaical judgmentalism.

Be kind, but not a doormat. Be kind, but be assertive. Be kind, but don’t ever sell out your convictions or beliefs. Be kind, but be wise and discerning.

Above all, be kind because you might be the one who need it the most.

 

 

 

Believing is Seeing

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“When John Kavanaugh, the noted and famous ethicist, went to Calcutta, he was seeking Mother Teresa … and more. He went for three months to work at ‘the house of the dying’ to find out how best he could spend the rest of his life.

When he met Mother Teresa, he asked her to pray for him. ‘What do you want me to pray for?’ she replied. He then uttered the request he had carried thousands of miles: ‘Clarity. Pray that I have clarity.’

‘No,’ Mother Teresa answered, ‘I will not do that.’ When he asked her why, she said, ‘Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.’ When Kavanaugh said that she always seemed to have clarity, the very kind of clarity he was looking for, Mother Teresa laughed and said: ‘I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God.'”

“Faith is the assurance of things you have hoped for, the absolute conviction that there are realities you’ve never seen” (Hebrews 11:1, The Voice).

“Seeing isn’t believing; believing is seeing” (The Santa Clause).

What we need isn’t clarity as much as faith. What I need isn’t to know how everything will play out in my life for the next five years, but to have faith for the moment that God is still working everything for my good.

Trust more, worry less. That’s a good mantra to practice in the middle of the week when Friday seems impossibly far away and Monday still seems right behind you in the rear view mirror.

Trust more, worry less. That’s something good to repeat to yourself when you’re less than confident in your own abilities and decisions.

Trust more, worry less. That’s the best stress relief/relaxation/detox/calming way to live that I know of.

Trust more, worry less.