God's Guy

I often keep names out of my posts, changing them to protect people's privacy, but today I want to tell you about a friend of mine. Ryan is a younger man, but a man of God, the likes of which I get to meet on occasion, and am priviledged to see and to be challenged in my faith.

Ryan is a guy who is sold out to God. He has determined to hold nothing back, no matter the cost. Knowing him makes me examine my life and pray in a new way, what am I holding back? I know other men who are sold out for Christ, but there is a special fire to this man, an annointing or a special call that shines.

It is not simply to honor Ryan that I write, but to say that Ryan would never take this kind of praise, but he would turn it back to the God who saved him. And this passion for God, to follow him whatever the cost is the passion that I want to burn in every part of me, burning out the trash, incinerating the sin, leaving me purified with the holiness and righteousness that can only come from our great God and Savior.

When I consider Ryan, I often think of Keith Green, another great man of God. While today some find him hokey, they were somehow not touched by the passion for God that burned through him. He ignited a generation to follow after God with their whole hearts. Whatever Keith had was not held back from the one who saved him. If you see YouTube videos of Keith, you see a simple, scrawny guy in ratty clothes and a white mans 'fro, pounding away at the piano and preaching and prophesying in song and speech. Of all the sermons I have ever heard, Keith's sermon about Matthew 25 has stayed with me for 30 years, hearing his voice each time I read that passage, and each time it is mentioned in a sermon, I hear him declaring it with fire and passion.

What I will likely remember the most about Ryan is "bring it on." Whatever it takes to know Him more, to follow Him more, Ryan's response is "bring it on."

If you are a reader of this blog, you will know that I am rather fond of talking about God's Guys and God's Gals. These men and women, both in the Bible and those of us following after, are called by God. Often the ways of God's Guys and God's Gals involve imprisonment, poverty, illness, ridicule, long periods of defeat, giving the message God gives them only to have no one listen. They are called to a rough road, but on that road God makes himself known to them in ways that he is not known to those of us on easier pathways.

If there is anything I can do to honor men like Ryan, it is to say to my maker, "Bring it on!" So if that's what it takes to know Him, to love Him, to honor Him, to be used by Him, I say, "Bring it on!"

O, won't you join me, men and women of God? What could be better than to be held in the palm of our Father's hand while the storms rage 'round us? In our pain, he draws near. In our sorrow, we begin to understand his sorrow. In our struggles, we begin to see his struggle in Gethsemane. In his presence we find peace that makes no earthly sense. In his hands there is healing that the world cannot provide, there is an opening of wounds that we cannot even locate so that his healing waters can flow in. In this we begin to know God more fully, more deeply. We are such shallow people. We will suffer much for adventure. We will suffer much to complete a marathon or to climb tall mountains, to bench press our own weight or more, to bike that punishing trail, how much more should we be willing to suffer for the ultimate goal of knowing God and following after him.

If you want to know more about Ryan and his wife and their next adventure in following after God, please go to: http://newcitychurchkc.org/ You can support them through your prayers and through your financial support.