Did you believe...

Google "Brennan Manning" and you'll find that many highly-acclaimed Christian authors love his writings (Phillip Yancy, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, etc) while others (mostly fanatical religious zealots, I mean, bloggers) think he is a "wolf in sheep's clothing." The latter group debates that he centers too much on God's KINDNESS and GRACE while forgetting God's "apparent need" to prove that He's MAD, I'm mean, JUST ;-) (reminds me a little of Jesus and his run-ins with the Pharisees). Anyway, personally experiencing the tender mercies of Jesus has "ruined" my life forever... for real, FOREVER.  In light of this, I unashamedly say that Brennan Manning's works are pure masterpiece and HAVE greatly and profoundly inspired me to love God and be loved by Him more deeply.

Many may know him as the author of "The Ragamuffin Gospel." Many others may have never heard of him, but I wanted to share a quote I came across recently from a clip of him speaking on YouTube (-click HERE to watch the actual clip).  He said a few sentences in this clip that at first I didn't know how to receive or even if I believed it, but after more thought and contemplation I came to understand a bit more the profound truth of it.  The following sentence has helped shape my perspective on life, my perspective on death, and even the way I go about my personal daily life with God; I invite you to enter into the beautiful reality of it:

Brennan Manning, after years of study, endless retreats, hours of contemplation and meditation on the Scriptures, and deep spiritual experiences, has concluded that God will ask each of us one and only one question the day we stand before Him at the Judgment Seat of Christ... "DID YOU BELIEVE that I LOVED YOU?" ...That i DESIRED you? ...That I WAITED for you day after day? ...That I LONGED TO HEAR the sound of YOUR voice?

Thank you, God, for Brennan Manning...

"My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it." — Brennan Manning (The Ragamuffin Gospel)

let it RAIN...

I've been having a blast playing with the band at 'Church @ Arkansas.'  Here's a little VIDEO clip of a recent worship service where we opened up with the Delirious song "Rain Down"... gotta LUV them!!!

more baseball...

In light of the last blog posting if you've never seen this before, I'd say it's worth a viewing...