Earth Day - 2014

When we first entered this plant with Adam and Eve, God gave us but one job, tending the garden. Now many years later, we have to be reminded that we have been given only one Earth, and it is our job to take care of it.  As broken tattered and ragamuffin souls as we are, we only have one dwelling to remain in until we enter heaven, and we best be busy caring for it.

Some might say, we are heaven bound, what does it mater what we do to the earth?  First off, God told us to care for earth.  Secondly, it is a good witness to those who have yet to believe.  Thirdly and personally, there is so much joy to found working with earth and in forest/gardens.  So, if nothing else, take time to day to stop and smell the flowers, enjoy a tree, or watch the birds.  Happy Earth Day!

~ Morria

School of Hard Knocks (1)

School of Hard Knocks: sko'-el  ov har-d' nok's -noun
1) An expression of vernacular slang used to describe the training one gets via life pain, negative experiences and hardships.
2) Informal education.
3) Life itself.

Ragamuffins, like me, struggle through life.  Not that we dont enjoy life to its fullness; it is just it does not come easy for us.  For some if us, our training starts before we even exit the womb.  Dad's walk out on mom's, the state takes us away, we got to foster homes, some are adopted.  Others, stay in their families, but it is not an easy life.  For others the school start sometime between grade school and high school.  Others still enter upon coming of age.

Life has beat us up pretty badly, but for those of us who know the Lord, He gives us strength to carry on.  True we might be nearly homeless gypsies serving Him.  We might not know where to call "home", if there is such a place on this planet.  We might be beaten, battered and scarred by life.  But we are here, and no matter what life's school of hard knocks keeps throwing at us,we are going to keep on showing that raging fury of God's love to those around us.  Yet as broken vessels serving Him some how He uses us to touch others in ways we can never image.  Are we ask ragamuffins really willing to let God use our journeys through the school of hard knocks to touch others?  Why or why not?

~ Morria

Deaths Dark Shadows...

 Death, all moral men and women must face its cold, dark sting. I can remember more deaths since my childhood than I can count on two hands.  Great-Grandma Brauser, Great-Aunt Elizabeth, Grandma Houser, Great-Aunt Norma, Grandpa Fitzpatrick, Grandpa Houser, Samuel, Uncle Bob, "Uncle" Phil, Cousin Bobby Jo, Grandma Fitzpatrick, Uncle Charlie, Aunt Nelda, Randi, Aunt Jewel, Andrew and those are just the ones I can remember...

Some people look at death as a dark angel, some as a bringer of mercy, some as a dark valley, and others the dark river we each must cross through...and each is right in their own way.  Each of those terms come from different places in the Word.  Angel of death from the last plague in Egypt. Bringer of mercy from Job and Paul.  Dark valley from Psalms 23.  Dark river from various Scriptures as well as Pilgrims Progress.  The view, as a ragamuffin and a believer I cling to the most, is it means at last I am with Jesus in my eternal home, no longer to be beaten up in the school of hard knocks.

But how does one hold on through it all?  How does one survive through the school of hard knocks and continual loss knocking at ones doorway?  There is only one way I have learned that sustains me, and that is leaning fully on God's arms.  Nothing, not cutting, not caffeine, not hanging out with friends cuts the loss deep with in.  Not even the strong arms of my beloved husband wrapped around me can cut through.

Only the Lord's loving and tender care has pulled me through.  But how might one ask?  Of that all I can say is, each of us comes to that place differently.  For me, it was Him faithfully caring for me over and over and over through these hard times.  All I can say is, when you feel Him the least in these times, press in all the more.  He is with us through them, and know I pray for all those who share this sorrow as I do, too...

~ Morria 

A Ragamuffin?

Ragamuffin: 'rag-a-muf-in - noun

1)a person, normally a child, in ragged, dirty clothing

2) a Christian, who seems spiritually and physically a ragged soul

I first heard the term "ragamuffin" over 20 years ago, reading Charles Dickens.  I learned studying Irish history, ragamuffin was an Anglicization of the term "ragamullins", the orphans St Moling (Mullins) cared for in the Ossory region of Ireland, where my family's clan, Mac Giolla Phadraig, are from.  Again, I would hear of it via Rich Mullins and A Ragamuffin band and Brennan Manning's book, Ragamuffin Gospel (did not learn till later of the Rich/Brennan connection).  Then there are the cute Ragamuffin cats.  And what of those who call themselves ragamuffins?



A ragamuffin is one who is beat-up, broken, and bruised.  Wounded souls, if you will.  They have been through the school of hard knocks, not once or twice, but all life long.  They are the ones who see their lives as a voyage, running the risk of failure, even if it cuts them deeper.  They are simple, honest, and direct.  They are, many times, not afraid of losing, because they have nothing left to lose.

We are pilgrims, vagabonds, gypsies, outsiders... You find us in your families, your churches, your schools, on the mission field, lonely on the road.  We are all around you... Do you see us?  Do you hear us? Are you one of us?

~ Morria