can I have your story...

All last week I was speaking at a Camp called Suncrest. It was a great time and I totally enjoyed hanging out with some awesome high schoolers! On thursday night I shared a message based on the importance of sharing our stories. Our life stories have power and regardless of where we've been and what mess we've been through, God still wants to use us to redeem this world and partner with us to bring all things back to the way they were created to be. 

There is something powerful in sitting back and hearing people share their stories. Something deep and spiritual happens when you look an individual in the eye and they show you their soul. I don't know if you've ever experienced this, but when I take time to hear someone share their story, I get glimpses of the Spirit. When you take time to really listen when someone bares it all, with no strings attached, it reveals a holy authenticity founded only in the image of our flawless Creator. You sense the masterful work of His blueprint for their life. God takes the mess and makes something beautiful. I love that. 

Our stories are undeniable affirmation that God is at work in this world and everyone around you can be a captive audience. You just need to be willing and ready to be a storyteller. Our stories have power and they breed hope. People will look at what you've endured and come to the conclusion that if you've been there and you keep going, then maybe they can keep going too! We need your stories.

So this is what I want to do, I want to make this a place where others can read your stories and be inspired by what God has brought you out of. I want this to be a place where people will get glimpses of a holy authenticity that can only come from our Creator. I want to share your stories. So this is my plan... I need you to email me your stories and I will regularly post them on this blog. They can be short, they can be long, they can be whatever you want. They just have to be your story. Your story must also include a picture to represent you or your story. Let God use your story to inspire others. Let your story breed hope in a world that is desperate for it. You can email your story to me at:  rgage4@yahoo.com 

come all you weary...

I recently went to a concert this past week with a friend of mine. We went and saw the band Thrice play down in the strip district. The show was incredible! I have been blown away by their latest album. The lyrics of their songs are so deep and thought provoking. Thrice finished the concert with a song of their new album titled Come All You Weary. The song talks about sharing your heavy burden with those you walk through life with. The song has been kind of my mantra over the past few weeks. I feel like I am working with some people who have the heaviest of loads and they gave up carrying them a long time ago. Here are the lyrics to the song:

Come all you weary with your heavy loads
Lay down your burdens find rest for your souls
Cause my yoke is easy and my burden is kind
I’ll take yours upon me and you can take mine

Come all you weary move through the earth
You've been spurned at fine restaurants and kicked out of church
Got a couple of loaves sit down at my feet
Lend me your ears and break bread with me

Come all you weary
Come gather round near me
Find rest for your souls

Come all you weary, you crippled you lame
I’ll help you along you can lay down your canes
We’ve got a long way to go but we’ll travel as friends
The lights growing bright further on further in

Come all you weary
Come gather round near me
Find rest for your souls

Rest for your souls

Let's face it... life can get heavy. Whether you are the type of person who is laden with the burden of difficult times or the type of person who is bearing the burdens of others... know this truth; you aren't alone... and we can do this together. Too many times we get caught up in thinking that this adventure called life is a journey of seclusion. We get fixated with the false reality that our life is a result of the way we live it and our environment and relationships have nothing to do with the outcome. But the truth is that our existence has everything to do with the people we wander with. We were created to need relationships. Especially the kinds of relationships that enable us to keep going. 

Think about the few people in your life who have given you the strength to keep going... the ones who stood by you and were your force and might when you were weary. We all have those people who if it weren't for them, you may have given up and thrown in the towel. Your story could have succumbed to the weight of your experience and the effects would have been irreversible. 

I encourage you to give credit where credit is due. Send those few journeymen a note of acknowledgement and gratitude. Your friends need to experience their worth and you can be a means to that end. Speak the Kingdom into the lives around you... let them know how they reflected the light of Christ to you. Those complements will never get old.

who's behind that flashlight?

I recently joined a small group. For those of you who don't know me,... that's actually a big step. The decision was monumental because I'm one of those guys who thrives on helping other people. I love sitting down with someone and hearing the struggles of everyday life and helping people take themselves out of the situation and seeing it from a different perspective, or just spur them on with some needed encouragement to muster up the strength to put on the armor and face a new day. I love being involved in people's lives. I love the messy glimpses of what's really going on in the minds of people round me. I think I love it because it reminds me that I'm not alone and that the scuffle with the true self is something that is very real. I believe a strength of mine is relationships of character and so I love the experience of relationships. But, as many of you know your greatest strength, in turn can be your greatest weakness. My weakness is that I tend to put all the focus on others so I don't have focus on myself. It's a lot easier to hide in the shadows when you're holding the flashlight.

So, I joined this small group and it's been great. Over the past few weeks we have been sharing our stories of where we've been and where we are going. I have loved how transparent and real some of these stories have been. There is something quite powerful in hearing about the suffering endured by my new friends. What makes it so powerful is seeing how many of them have weathered the storms of life and can still walk with their heads held high. I'm sure it wasn't easy to get to that point, but they are still walking and haven't given up on the hope of things to come. It's like the suffering they have faced has made them into a prized fighter. It's truly inspiring. It makes me want to fight.


Being privileged enough to see the true self of so many around me has sparked a thought that I heard a while back from a mentor of mine. My friend taught me the importance of sharing our wounds with those around us. We can't hide behind the flashlight... our wounds we have endured, our suffering that we have faced... it brings strength to the lives of others. You see, our suffering gives us an authority to speak into the lives of those who are fighting the same fight. And people need to see that you've fought and you've survived what seems to be a losing battle to the hopeless heart. It's incredible but true... Jesus finds strength in those who suffer that they didn't even know they had. Your experience of suffering can be just what someone needs to fight one more day.


Are you hiding behind a flashlight... in hopes that the true self of others would be exposed rather than your own? Your suffering can be the strength of others. Jesus has given you the authority to speak about suffering... so maybe it's time you use it.