A book for the heart...

So last week I went and had lunch at a little sandwich shop downtown where I could eat outside. I had just finished the book I had been reading and so I brought along a book my brother gave me for my birthday called The Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning. I had picked it up several times to start reading but for some reason I kept deciding on something else. Well it was time to dive in. Before chapter 1 there was a section called "A Word Before." As I'm reading this short 2 page introduction, it was as if all of Broad Street disappeared and I was completely alone sitting at my little cafe table with tears streaming down my face, all while smiling! The Lord will find away to speak however He can and He spoke.

Below are the words that I had been needing to hear:

The Ragamuffin Gospel was written with a specific reading audience in mind.
This book in not for the super spiritual.
It is not for muscular Christians who have made John Wayne, and not Jesus, their hero.
It is not for academics who would imprison Jesus in the ivory tower of exegesis.
It is not for noisy, feel-good folks who manipulate Christianity into a naked appeal to emotion.
It is not for hooded mystics who want magic in their religion.
It is not for Alleluia Christians who live only on the mountaintop and have never visited the valley of desolation.
It is not for the fearless and tearless.
It is not for red-hot zealots who boast with the rich young ruler of the Gospels, "All these commandments I have kept from my youth."
It is not for the complacent who hoist over their shoulders a tote bag of honors, diplomas, and good works, actually believing they have it made.
It is not for legalists who would rather surrender control of their souls to rules than run the risk of living in union with Jesus.
If anyone is still reading along, The Ragamuffin Gospel was written for the bedraggled, beat-up, and burnt-out.
It is for the sorely burdened who are still shifting the heavy suitcase from one hand to the other.
It is for the wobbly and weak-kneed who know they don't have it all together and are too proud to accept the handout of amazing grace.
It is for inconsistent, unsteady disciples whose cheese is falling off their cracker.
It is for poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents.
It is for earthen vessels who shuffle along on feet of clay.
It is for the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God.
It is for smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags.
The Ragamuffin Gospel is a book I wrote for myself and anyone who has grown weary and discouraged along the Way.
~Brennan Mannin

I haven't finished the book yet, and I'm sure I will be posting more as I do. But I was so encouraged by just the opening that I wanted to go ahead and share.