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_____________________________________ 9/23/02 If you enjoy this free email service, I encourage you to spread the word to family and friends that we may bring inspiration into the lives of teenagers all over the world! If you are not on the list and this has been passed along to you, you can join Heart4Teen.com readers around the world by sending a blank e-mail to: Heart4Teens-subscribe@myinjesus.com Visit our inspirational web site and read all the past articles in our archives at: http://www.Heart4Teens.com/Teen_Stories ____________________________________________________ September 19th was the fifth anniversary of Rich Mullins' death in a tragic car accident. Rich broke into the Christian music industry as a band member for Amy Grant. He is best known for his modern worship song "Awesome God." However, Rich broke out of the Christian music industry by the way he lived his life.
Consider the Lilies By Rich Mullins
Maybe He loved lilies for being white, the way many people love roses for being red. Maybe it was because of the brilliant green of their long, slender stalks or the glorious, darker green of their leaves. Maybe He loved them because their blooms looked like trumpets and their leaves resembled swords. It could have been their simplicity, it might have been their commonness. It may have been because of all of that and it just as easily could have been because of none of that at all. But it seems like He loved them. In the Sermon on the Mount--a sermon that predated the birth of Christianity, a sermon so profound and timeless that it would endure throughout the history of Christianity and would (in fact) shape and distinguish the character of everything Christian--Jesus pointed to lilies as examples of a splendor superior to that of Solomon's. He considered them to be better dressed than kings--lilies, that is (and a lily is one of the most naked flowers known to us). He did not apparently blush or stutter when He commanded His followers to consider them. He gave that command with the same authority that He gave the command to "let your light so shine" and the command to "turn the other cheek." It is an astonishing command maybe given because lilies are astonishing flowers or maybe given because Jesus was an astonishing man. After all, He had a certain fondness for sparrows and did not consider their care and feeding beneath the dignity of God--though God's care and dignity (Jesus would assert) is beyond the comprehension of men. It was God's Spirit that led Him into the wilderness where He fasted and spent forty days (Mark tells us) "with the wild animals." It is easy, considering this attitude about lilies and sparrows, to imagine (and yes, this is imagination and certainly not revelation) that He spent that time romping with those creatures, not cowering from them and thus in His person, partially fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about a "peaceable Kingdom of the Branch." If this was the whole picture of Christ, we could easily write Him off as a nature lover with a heavy Hebrew orientation. But this is where the love of lilies throws us a curve--He loved men. It was to the end that they might be saved that He came. This man who looked at flowers and loved them, also looked at an arrogant young human and loved him. He who romped forty days with the wild animals, spent and worked three years with yet a more savage and brutal species--man. He who rejoiced in God's providence for sparrows miraculously fed a crowd of 5,000 people on one occasion and 3,000 on another. His attention and affection was not won by the attractive and the beautiful--His glance and His love made things and people attractive and beautiful. The touch of His hand would give sight to the blind and from the hem of His garment flowed healing. And even if someone would (and why should they) doubt the accounts of His miracles, I can testify myself I had never seen a lily until He showed me one. I had never heard a sparrow until His voice unplugged my ears. I had never known love until I met Him ... and He is love. So, all those things He did that we call "miracles" became believable to us because Christ, who performed them, operated out of love--and love (His love at least) has a height and depth and breadth and length that reach beyond the dimensions of mere reason. And while reasons may be found within His love, no reason would be able to contain His love. It is possible that He loved lilies because He is love and that He feeds sparrows for the same reason. It is possibly that the evidence of His divinity lies in that love--that in light of love, miracles seem sort of unremarkable. If God can love me, the rest will follow. And Jesus Christ is, for me, the evidence of God's unreasonable and unsolicited attentiveness, His unearned favor, His incomprehensible love. Did I forget to tell you that He loved lilies? ____________________ Rich Mullins Quotes: A lot of people are sitting around waiting for God to tell them what to do. I think God is saying, "Do what you want!" If he wants me to express His love, I need to find a way to do it. -- Rich Mullins I think creativity is a very Christian thing. I think that, at least Christians, have a very distinct understanding that if we are created in the image of God that means we're going to have an impulse, or whatever you want to call that, to create. -- Rich Mullins The Bible is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a book full of all the greed and glory and violence and tenderness and sex and betrayal that benefits mankind. It is not the collection of pretty little anecdotes mouthed by pious little church mice. It does not so much nibble at our shoe as it cuts to the heart and splits the marrow from bone to bone. It does not give us answers fitted to our smaller minded questions but truth that goes beyond what we even know to ask. -- Rich Mullins
~ Calling Out Your Name This site is dedicated to sharing the music, the words, and the life of Rich Mullins. Check it out.
FORGETTABLE FACT From his lucrative song writing royalties, Rich Mullins kept only $24,000 a year. He gave the rest to charity.
"Every tomorrow has two handles. You can take hold of the handle of anxiety or the handle of enthusiasm. Upon your choice so will be the day."
"Imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised." --Hebrews 6:12
And success is peace of mind, a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming, and not just in a physical way: 'Seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be yours as well."
Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says "I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger".
Hypocrite: Someone who complains that there is too much sex and violence In honor of our beloved Candice DeRosier who is serving her country in the Navy, we bring you this humorous story...
As the rest of the squad wandered away, I remained at attention. The Instructor walked over until he was eye-to-eye with me, and then
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