This is a guest post by Ricky, a very good friend of mine. He shared this with me after listening to "Honoring God When God Doesn't Make Sense" (honoringGODcast).
Many of you know me as someone who has made a lot of mistakes, and I whole heartedly admit that I am and always will be a sinner saved by Grace. Through environmental experiences, and certain chemical imbalances in my brain, my emotions fluctuate greatly. There have been times when I would get really mad for childish reasons. Other times I would become overly excited and think that I was on top of the world only to find myself falling into a deep despair that would send me to bed for days on end, not wanting to face the world or the delusions that camped in my brain. Often I would feel invincible and would listen to no one, all the while thinking that I was right and they were wrong. Then a moment of clarity would come and I would realize that I had been a fool, and was filled with shame.
I was taught as a child to believe in God and I did. At the age of eight, I decided to be baptized and become a Christian. No adult forced me. There was always a curious inclination to learn about Divinity in my life, while at the same time the religious forces that were at work in the world, both commercially and socially, drove me from the sacred places in my life. There is a great difference between a sick religion and a healthy religion. You must know that! A healthy religion will always center on community, good music, good theology, food, and unconditional love. Music was always a constant reinforcement to my faith. The music I grew up singing in church is a far cry from many of the contemporary Christian songs that people hear in church today. Some of the contemporary music I like, other pieces I do not. The theology and the story (lyrics) coupled with dynamic melodies bring me as close to heaven on earth as I will ever get.
There will never be new Christian songs that mean more to me than "How Great Thou Art" - "It is Well with my Soul" - "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" - "The Gloria Patri" - "Just As I Am" - "Because He Lives" - "When They Ring Those Golden Bells" - "There's A Church in the Valley by the Wildwood" - "Let There Be Peace On Earth" and last but certainly not least, "When We All Get To Heaven".
Through all of my sins and my shortcomings I have never gone a day without a prayer, or a thought about heaven. There is no justice in this world without Heaven. There is no heart without a song. There is no religion without unconditional love and forgiveness, and there is no life without pain. Pain can be a friend or a foe. If pain is ignored it is your enemy. If pain is recognized it can save your life. Without pain we may never know that we are sick. If I have ever hurt anyone with an unkind word or a demeaning attitude or deed, please find it in your heart to forgive me. I hold no remorse or hate for anyone. My mind is at peace. My heart is at rest, and God is still on His throne and prayer really does change things. The color of your skin or the amount of money in your bank account makes no difference to God. If it did there would never have been a rainbow, because true rainbows cannot be bought. They are a gift!
A minister has an extremely difficult task. It is his or her duty to obey God, and to listen in order to hear God. Preaching is a small part of what a "Preacher" does. That's where I failed. I talked too much. I listened to the wrong people, and my heart became hardened. Vanity and conceit will destroy a minister if it lingers too long. It is so hard to love people who only love themselves, and our churches are full of these people, and that's exactly where they need to be, but put them on a a pastor parish relations committee, or a Board that holds power in the church and they will destroy a weak or sickened Christian like a hoe chopping the head off of a cotton mouth snake.
"Now we see through a glass dimly, but one day we shall see face to face." Friends, we don't have to go to hell to know what it's like, it lives among us every day. Just ask any real preacher worth their weight in salt, and they will tell you the same. What do you tell a family when their 20 year old son gets drunk, hot wires a car, and smashes it into a tree, and he's never been inside a church in his life? Yet, the preacher stands before a congregation of hundreds of people trying to find some comfort, some solace. What does a preacher say to a family that attends church every Sunday, but their oldest son at 30 has had a massive heart attack because he had been up on meth for ten days straight? What does a preacher say to a mother who has just lost her infant from sudden infant death syndrome? I could go on and on. The only good news I could ever really tell anyone with certainty was that "God is with us".
"Steven saw that look in their eyes. He saw the stones in their hands. Even though his words had cut their hearts, he knew their plans. And, in that moment of no way out. Stephen never had a doubt. Just a stone's throw away. Heaven is just a stone's throw away."
Ricky
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