For the Beat-Up and Burnt-Out

We're in a series called "What Fuels You?" about the greatest message ever preached, the Sermon on the Mount.

I'm reading for the first time a book I should have read about 20 years ago - The Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. He was a former Roman Catholic priest and alcoholic who encountered the "furious love of God." If you, like me, happened to grow up in a church who told you what movies not to see and what music you couldn't listen to, at some point you burned all your "secular" CD's. You then turned to the newly-birthed 80's Christian rock scene. It had a cheese factor of limburger, but you didn't care - it's the same reason Chuckie Cheese's pizza tastes delicious if you haven't eaten in 3 days. One of the artists who I heard over and over again was Rich Mullins. While I wasn't a huge fan of his music, I liked the name of his band: the "Ragamuffin Band." It came out of this book. Ragamuffin means, a "shabbily clothed child." Sounds like a word Dickens would coin. Brennan Manning uses it to mean that the gospel is for the bedraggled, beat up, and burnt-out.

Brennan says his book is not for, "the super-spiritual...muscular Christians...Allelulia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desolation..." It's for the "wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don't have it together...inconsistent, unsteady disciples...stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags."

As we learned this past week about being poor in spirit, in order to experience the riches of God, we must first admit our spiritual poverty. People who are poor in spirit are rich in humility. While I wish I could quote the whole book to you, I will pass along a prayer from the end of a chapter:

Lord Jesus, we are silly sheep who have dared to stand before You and try to bribe You with our preposterous portfolios. Suddenly we have come to our senses. We are sorry and ask You to forgive us. Give us the grace to admit we are ragamuffins, to embrace our brokenness, to celebrate Your mercy when we are at our weakest, to rely on Your mercy no matter what we may do. Dear Jesus, gift us to stop grandstanding and trying to get attention, to do the truth quietly without display, to let the dishonesties in our lives fade away, to accept our limitations, to cling to the gospel of grace, and to delight in your love. Amen.

Blessed are the ragamuffins (poor in spirit), for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Dominoes Are Meant to Be Knocked Over

Some records are made to be broken. Except the one Don Gorske set. He just ate his 23,000th Big Mac today. That's a lot of special sauce. But every year people from around the world in an effort to get in that Guinness book pick up a jump rope, slam some hot dogs and set up dominoes. Jumping rope bores me and I like hot dogs in moderation, but those dominoes are cool.

4,079,381

That's the world record. A game show in the Netherlands pulled it off. I just feel bad for the guy on staff who got the memo:

1. Clean bathrooms on the 3rd floor
2. Change bulbs in conference room
3. Set up 4 million dominoes for world record attempt

I couldn't find the you tube video about those who set up each individual domino. Guess they figured it wouldn't get much airtime. Apparently it took hundreds of volunteers working around the clock for weeks. It only took 2 hours to topple them. This 2 minute video does little justice.

But how fun would it be to push the first domino.

In Ephesians Paul says, "For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” After God created each one of us, He started setting up dominoes. He called them "good works." Then He asks us - do you want to push them over?

Can you imagine setting up all those dominoes and then saying, "Alrighty, we're done here." Every kid will tell you. Dominoes are meant to be knocked down. But in our world, when God sets them up, I'm tempted to leave them standing.

I've discovered believing in God is not nearly as tough as believing He wants to use me. Before eternity began, God set up good works for each one of us. It may be to start a business. Go on a mission trip. Help a single mom with the yard work. Play on the worship team. Lead a small group. Feed the homeless. Teach kids how God makes them GREAT. The dominoes have been set up. We've been prewired with all the skills, talents, and personality we need. Just one thing remains. A little push.

I like how Paul uses the word, "walk." Not sprint. Not run continuously for a long time. Just put one foot in front of the other. He's put you on that cul-de-sac. He knew about the estranged family member in your life. He's given you the intellect to study and the voice to teach. He gave you those kids, and you can't give them back! If you think about it, He's done the hard work. He just wants to know...

What domino will you push over today?