Remembering Rich

I was reminded earlier that 23 years ago today Rich Mullins passed away. We were blessed by his music, and in the years after he passed I learned a lot from how he lived his life. Here are some words from one of his concerts on Step by Step.

This is yet another prayer song. Sometimes I find it hard to pray. Maybe that’s why I’ve written so many prayer songs because it’s easier to sing sometimes. God may find it more entertaining than if you just say it too. Who knows? Except I’m not sure if God’s all that concerned about being entertained. Maybe that’s just a human thing. Sometimes you try to impress God with all the right words. I just don’t think it’s an easy thing to impress God Almighty.

Here’s the thing that I think we often forget is that we don’t have to impress him. He’s already knocked out about you. He already loves you more than you can imagine.

I remember reading a thing Picaso once said. I like to read what famous artists have to say because I’m barely able to look at their paintings without going into a coma trying to figure out what it’s about. He said that ‘good taste is the enemy of great art’ which I think is very true. Good taste has all to do with being cultured and being refined. If art has to do with anything, it has to do with being human.

One of the reasons I love the Bible is because the humans in the Bible were not very refined. They’re pretty goofy if you want to know whole the truth about.

I remember when I was a kid – I was one of those typical, depressed adolescent types. I wrote poetry and stuff. That’s how morose I was as a kid. People would say “Cheer up because God love you.” And I would say “Big deal, God loves everybody. That don’t make me special. That just proves that God aint got no taste”. 

And I don’t think He does. Thank God. Because God takes the junk of our lives and he makes the greatest art in the world out of it. And if He was cultured and He was as civilized as most Christian people wish He was… He would be useless to Christianity.

But God is a wild man. And I hope in the course of your life you encounter Him. But let me warn you, you need to hang on for dear life…or let go for dear life.”

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