Untidy Inspiration from Rich Mullins
As an enthusiast of the untidy but inspired – I’ve recently realized that I’m a fan of the late Rich Mullins.
Rich’s is the story that will put your through the gamut of emotions and had you walking away better for it, maybe helping you embrace the art in your own mayhem.
My husband and I watched the “Awesome God guy’s” story (Ragamuffin) on New Years Eve. Ever since I can’t stop reading about the guy. The barefoot, smoking, cussing, stumbling, scruffy-poet-of-a-dude lived a life of surrender, giving up almost all he had. My kind of guy, my kind of story!
His lyrics have an unprocessed beauty that takes my breath away, and they come back so easily. I realize now that I had most of them memorized. They meant something to me, even as an 8-year-old in sweats wandering the bookstore. At the time, I had no idea that his story was so….so honest, how much struggle was behind the scenes. The words more now, much more. They hit home.
In short, recommend it. I highly recommend reading, hearing, watching, the untidy stories of people who found triumph and trial and failure and perseverance. …and I’m pretty sure I recommend living in that kind of grace too.
“I had a professor one time… He said, ‘Class, you will forget almost everything I will teach you in here, so please remember this: that God spoke to Balaam through his ass, and He has been speaking through asses ever since. So, if God should choose to speak through you, you need not think too highly of yourself. And, if on meeting someone, right away you recognize what they are, listen to them anyway’.” – Rich Mullins
“So go out and live real good and I promise you’ll get beat up real bad. But, in a little while after you’re dead, you’ll be rotted away anyway. It’s not gonna matter if you have a few scars. It will matter if you didn’t live.” – Rich Mullins
Hold me Jesus – Rich Mullins
Well, sometimes my life
Just don’t make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so small
CHORUS:
So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace
And I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It’s so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heart
CHORUS
Surrender don’t come natural to me
I’d rather fight You for something
I don’t really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I’ve beat my head against so many walls
Now I’m falling down, I’m falling on my knees
And this Salvation Army band
Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thin
CHORUS
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace
The movie Ragamuffin is on Netflix and there are many great Rich Mullins and Brennan Manning books on Amazon.
a Rearranged Life 