A Ragamuffin's Story

“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.” 

― Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

My husband and I just finished watching the "Ragamuffin" movie, a biopic of Rich Mullins life.  It was good…very good in fact, surprising good even to someone like me often jaded by the generally poor quality of Christian filmmaking.  Yes, there were some problems, like characters who didn't age like they would in real life.  I liked that movie wasn't afraid to show the artist's flaws as well as his strengths.  He loved God and was deeply loved by God, reason enough to tell his life's story.  "The Love of God" is a personal favorite of mine.

The Love of God - Rich Mullins

There's a wideness in God's mercy

I cannot find in my own

And He keeps His fire burning

To melt this heart of stone

Keeps me aching with a yearning

Keeps me glad to have been caught

In the reckless raging fury

That they call the love of God

Now, I've seen no band of angels

But I've heard the soldiers' songs

Love hangs over them like a banner

Love within them leads them on

To the battle on the journey

And it's never gonna stop

Ever widening their mercies

And the fury of His love

Oh, the love of God and oh

The love of God, the love of God

Joy and sorrow are this ocean

And in their every ebb and flow

Now, the Lord a door has opened

That all hell could never close

Here I'm tested and made worthy

Tossed about but lifted up

In the reckless raging fury

That they call the love of God