Home with rich

I found a book I'd kinda forgotten about: Rich Mullins: Home. It's a collection of articles Rich wrote when he was alive. I think he wrote them for Release magazine between '91-'96, but I'm not sure if it's the same Release as the one still being published. And I see my copy was less than half of what they're charging now.

Anyway... Rich Mullins had a lot to do with shaping my faith. I loved his music, more for the lyrics than the music; and I maybe even admired him just for how he was as much as anything. Simple, humble, a "man of no reputation"... but yet so real.

Just flipping through the pages took me back to so many places I'd long forgotten; so many memories filled with joy and hope and peace. I'm kinda speechless...

I read the first article, from spring 1991. He was talking about how hard it is to try to explain why Jesus is the only true hope for the world. He said it's like telling a joke - and we need to find a better way to tell it. He talked about the frustration of talking with a friend who simply didn't want to believe in Jesus, and there's really no argument left. As Rich said, "Faith is a matter of the will as much as it is of the intellect." You have to want to believe.

He went on to say this:

I am a Christian because I have seen the love of God lived out in the lives of people who know Him. The Word has become flesh and I have encountered God in the people who have manifested (in many "unreasonable" ways) His Presence; a Presence that is more than convincing - it is a Presence that is compelling. I am a Christian, not because someone explained the nuts and bolts of Christianity to me, but because there were people who were willing to BE nuts and bolts, who through their explanation of it, held it together so that I could experience it and be compelled by it to obey. "If I be lifted up," Jesus said, "I will draw all men unto me."

I used to love seeing Rich in concert. Saw him several times. I remember once at Cornerstone watching he and Ashley Cleveland talking backstage... I just stood and stared. I feel like an idiot even saying it, but it was just ..."something."

I've always wished I had a worship leader like him; or better yet - a friend.

As usual this is just a disjointed ramble. I'm sad and hopeful at the same time. Man, I miss Rich. A lot.