The One Where It All Begin

The Prodigal :: The One Who Wasted Something Valuable on Nothing

Prodigal. That word capture my heart since the first time I've heard it. In Sunday School, the  Luke 15:11-32 must be my favorite story of all time.

A year ago, my connect group leader at that point introduced me to Timothy Keller's book, the prodigal God. My heart and my head almost burst into smithereens upon the revelation of God's "prodigality". While the son was called prodigal because he wasted his dad's money on, well, nothing; the Father shares the same trait in the manner of dispensing His love.

He wasted His love on His sons.

Yes. If you are thinking: are you saying that we are nothing? Looking back in my life the one thing that I have realized is how much 'nothingness' that existed. How I spend my time, my heart, and my mind on the things that are good for nothing. What surprised me the most is that the moments in my life that I actually, vividly, unashamedly remember is the one that I spent with Him, or doing what He says.

In this section, my second magic word came in: The Rumpelstitskin

The Rumpelstitskin :: The One Who We Allow To Make Us Who We Are

Some of you guys might heard this word before. Rumplestitskin. Beside hard to spell, this word is actually represent a character in a story (that I shall later post).

Rumpelstitskin represents the people, the atitudes, the things that we allow to define who we are. In the Prodigal Son story, Rumplestitskin can clearly be seen all over it. For the first son, his "rumpelstitskins" is his gluttony, his "high-end" life, and his lust for the ultimate freedom. The second son's are his pride, his title, and  -of course- his money (remember that when the little rascal left the house, everything become the oldest's - hence the money for the p-artay at the end was supposed to be his as well!).

The catch is: rumplestitskins always have a price tag attach on them. In the real fairy tale, the price was the princess' son. The eldest son's is his family, his happiness and his youth. For the youngest son the price tag was...well, at the end he became a pig-caretaker. Need I say more?

My rumplestitskin? Oh dear.... Hence the blog! That's how much rumplestistskin I have :p

How do you defeat your Rumpelstitskin? I will be posting that one in a short moment.

Let's get to the last part: the Ragamuffin

The Ragamuffin: The Dirty, Rugged One

Saw a book over at Instagram (Thank you Jesus for Insta) called the "Ragamuffin Gospel" one day. Do u know how sometime you saw a piece of cake that yells your name? This book shouted to my soul. The result: Kindle impromptu-shopping. 

In this book, Brennan Manning describe a ragamuffin :: a burnt-out, broken, beaten up human being who all in all realize his/her "ragamuffin"-ness and at the end, realize how much grace we needs. 

Ragamuffins have no pride, no demands, no expectations. They might even have lost hope. They have seen to much in life to know that they can't do it themselves. 

In my experience, ragamuffins are the kindest souls in the history of humans and eternity. Because they have been there, have done that. They don't judge. They hold your hands while you are going through the valley of the shadows of the death so you won't be alone, assuring you that someone cares. Ragamuffins are a bit like Jesus because they have openly, unreservedly, accept His grace and forgiveness knowing that they are hopeless. As they accepted Him they become more like Him. We are what we fixed our eyes upon.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, the youngest son become a ragamuffin when he decide that the only hope he has is in his Father's mercy and grace. I bet my bottom dollar that after that day, he will never take his father's love for granted again (I surely hope so!If not I may beat him into a tiny pulp). 

Those who have lost everything, who have realized our nothingness can put our trust in our Father knowing that we have nothing to lose, and we are of no value whatsoever.

What a beautiful coincidence, that our Father in heaven is a Prodigal God. He is more than happy to lavish His love to us -wasteful, invaluable, burnt-out and broken us.

This is what this blog will be about.