Your Ragamuffin Soul, The One In Your Chest
When I started this blog I came up with the name Ragamuffin Soul in about 2 seconds flat.
That banner up there was the first one ever way back in 2005…
1. I loved Rich Mullins and the Ragamuffin Band.
2. Webster defined Ragamuffin as this… a ragged often disreputable person; especially : a poorly clothed often dirty child
Perfect definition of my heart, soul, mind, and body.
The tag line for the blog on that first day was this…
To dive deep within your chest, past any aspect of self, seeking to admit your faults, while rejoicing in His strength.
While the number and demographic of readers has changed from just me and my mom, to you and your friends…
The vision is still the same…
To dive deep within your chest, past any aspect of self, seeking to admit your faults, while rejoicing in His strength.
I think if that is all I pull of the rest of my life, I’ll be ok.
To teach people to do that through music, words, talks, and actions.
If you had to describe what the term Ragamuffin Soul means to you…
And I’m not just talking about this blog…
What would it mean?
Speak to us Ragamuffins…
Los
I’d really like to hear from you blog stalkers and comment boy-cotters. 
RAIN IT DOWN
As lame as this sounds…treading the path Rich Mullins and Brennan Manning have walked.
That is not lame sauce. That is the real deal.
When I think of Ragamuffin Soul, I always picture Raggedy Ann. A doll, lifeless without the life breathed into it. A heap of a mess with patched clothes, messy hair, and no direction yet dearly loved and cherished by the One who gave her a purpose, a place, a heart. I often feel like Raggedy Ann and I’m thankful my weak and weary soul is loved by the One who breathes its life, gives it purpose, and views it more valuable than gold.
Dude.
Raggedy Anne.
Money
That’s what came to my mind as well while reading this. My sister always had a Raggedy Ann doll growing up. It was her favorite. Perhaps that says something special about my sister? I don’t know.
I love your blog carLOS! Thanks for your thoughts!
Those dolls were the jam
Thanks Los!
i’m a lurker… admittedly. but i’m ragamuffin too. i love the honesty and the reluctant acceptance of what is the reality of our broken conditions. thanks for the community you’ve helped to create with so many others.
Scott. Thanks for stepping over that line.
I love meeting you guys.
“the reluctant acceptance of what is the reality of our broken conditions.”
So well written.
Los
The term “Ragamuffin” equals my tattered and torn, mortal, imperfect humanity. The term “Soul” equals my undeserved, unsolicited ticket into eternity; having the image of the Almighty. The two put together paint a very good picture of every single person who has been redeemed by a Savior, Who came to this earth and became a Ragamuffin Soul, Himself.
Wayne.
That is huge.
He came to become one Himself.
I love the term Ragamuffin Soul. To me it represents the broken, tattered, tired state I find myself in over and over. The best part about it to me is it has such a ring of hope because I know that I am continually renewed by my savior and brought to a place of unending, self-sacrificing love. When I get to the ragamuffin point, I know I am closest to experiencing God and his love.
The ending sentence is money. Love it
hey dude… recently discovered you… you are soon to be on my very small blogroll… not that it is a great feat:) I am a ragamuffin too and we gotta stick together bro! great stuff keep it up!
oh by the way my wife says your photos are stinking awesome and your wife is a cutie…
Thanks!!!
Yes the wife is always our better halves.
Ragamuffin for me has always had a cutesie sort of connotation. Sort of like a term of endearment. It has taken me a while to understand and accept the way you use it. It could be a cultural thing perhaps…I don’t know.
could be.
I think Danny has a Ragamuffin Soul. I’ve been watching that video over and over:
“Jah da make me walk, Jah da make me talk.
Oh Jah remember me, while I go down on my knees to pray.”
To have/be a Ragamuffin Soul is to continually ask God “Who are we that you should save us?” and then listen to His answer.
God will answer; when we struggle to become who God says we are, then I think we are Ragamuffin Souls.
Well put Jen. I’m looking for Danny too!!!!
To me, having a ragamuffin soul means embracing the fact that I am nothing, and God is everything. When I read “The Ragamuffin Gospel” for the first time, I finally saw a picture of what God’s grace really looks like. He loves me, and there is nothing I can do to change that.
Jon. Bingo. That book was nails. Life changing.
Ragamuffin- 100%, totally, completely and utterly… in need… of the One.
g.
shortest name in history.
and you are right. Nails…
it means wanting to be something I am not and striving to get there…
I agree with the previous stalkers, I mean boycottors, I mean commenters! We have to get to that bottom where we are the most exposed. That tattered & broken part we fear. I was thinking as I watched your “make up model video” was playing. The pic of the mask you used when you “returned” after last year’s hiatus. There is another pic right below it on that twitter background collage. Of you taking off the mask. We have to do that with God. Even though He can see through that mask. We must take that step of faith & bare it all. No masks. No makeup. Tattered. Broken. All of us together are the solution.
When I think of “Ragamuffin Soul” my mind goes back to the old “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer” movie and the island of misfit toys.
We are all just spiritual misfits trying to find our way home. Thankfully, we’ve got someone better than Rudolph to lead the way.
I am coming out of the lurker closet to say when I think of Ragamuffin Soul I think orphan. Like Les Miserables, like me. I feel like an orphan sometimes until I remember that I was adopted by God.
Love your blog and your family!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on your blog.
I guess I am not a stalker because you know I am always reading.
The term ragamuffin has to go back to Philip Yancey his brilliant book Whats So Amazing About Grace?
Ragamuffin simple for me is someone who is trying to do it own his own but continues to be broken by God and in return starts to depend on Him instead of himself.
Ragamuffin = messed up but not beyond God’s fixin’ up – EVERY SINGLE TIME!
I wrote something a long time ago called “let me be your God” where there is this picture of us sitting in mudpuddle… and we are trying to dig out the mud from our sores but only serve to drive it deeper into us… and I think that within ourselves, no matter how hard we try… when we try out of our own strength, we are often only digging it deeper. When we rest in His grace and mercy, then we are truly free. When we let Him be our God… and the fullness of all that truly means, we are free. Our souls, dirty, battered and weak… but His strength made perfect in our weakness…
I will let Him be my God.
I’ll email you a copy… it’s kinda long, but its the story of my life…
Has it really only been since 2005? I guess so. I remember looking for Brennan Manning and finding your blog. Granted I’m more of a lurker than a commenter. I was intrigued by the authenticness of your voice and stayed for a while — I lost my blog links a while back, but I’m happy I found your site again. Great stuff.
Ironically-it reminds me of a nickname given to me when I was 3 or 4-my hairdresser gave it to me because she’d make my hair look all pretty and I’d get up and mess it all up. I now relate it to how God makes my life all pretty after I mess it all up. It’s a forever battle to tip the scale so that the beauty surpasses the ugly.
/delurk
2 Corinthians 4:7-9 “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
To me, these verses describe my ragamuffin soul…to own the fact that I am a cracked pot in need of a Savior. To be open and real and honest about my pain. To try to let God be glorified in, through, and in spite of me.
being yourself and not hiding behind fancy words and a hyped up reputation. Just as you say loswhit; “The real deal”
Can I say ditto to all the above since I got here late and all I would say is a repeat? I do go to Bob Pierce’s quote: “Let my heart break with the things that break the heart of God.” If I am at that point I am a Ragumuffin.
I love Brennan Manning’s books and have identified myself as a ragamuffin for many years.I’m a faithful lurker who doesn’t fit in with the people my age at church. (I’m 60.) I’d rather read blogs like yours than play bridge or watch TV.Life is too short not to be radical.
Thank you Kathy for saying exactly how I feel too! (and I’m 47) Rock on girl!
To me, this is about being real. Growing up in church, Christianity was all puppy dogs and rainbows. I was NOT ready for what the world threw at me. It’s nice to know I’m not alone when I doubt, question, or wonder. Thanks.
Ragamuffin Soul:
striving for perfection and understanding that I’ll never get there
Los,
First, love the flashback at your first posts. Wow.
Second, I think you summarize Ragamuffin Soul quite well. We’re all ragamuffins. You don’t find a lot of bums down here dressed like the stereotype “ragamuffin” in my mind. We’re in golf pants and polo shirts. But, we’re just as ragamuffin as the rest. Our souls are nasty, full of disrespect and trash. Homeless on our own. Found with Christ.
My own Pastor said it well a few days ago. “If I did even a portion of what I think, I’d be disqualified immediately” (or something like that). That’s the ragamuffin soul. The peak inside to the soul of the man who is, for lack of better non-churchy words, “redeemed, but unsanctified”.
I stand with you, with my Pastor, and with all. If some of the junk in my mind and heart was on a film, in a tweet, and on a blog … I’d be the outcast real quick.
We’re all ragamuffins.
To me it all starts with Brennan Manning’s book “The Ragamuffin Gospel” (which is btw where the Ragamuffin band gets its name from). In the first pages of the book Manning defines ragamuffins as “the wobbly and weak-kneed… inconsistent, unsteady disciples… poor, weak, sinful men and women with hereditary faults and limited talents… the bent and the bruised who feel that their lives are a grave disappointment to God…smart people who know they are stupid and honest disciples who admit they are scalawags.” As some others up there, I am also a ragamuffin who came to this site googling Manning’s book… I’m glad I did.
Ragamuffin Soul always makes me think about the Raggedy Ann doll I had growing up too. So, for me it’s about how messed up, tired, and weak I am without the Holy Spirit doing His work in me. His strength is perfect when my strength is gone.
Let’s see Ragamuffin soul:knowing you are brocken and allowing God’s love to reflect in your crapy life seeing his strength and not your own
Great question Los. I’ve got some ideas but I’m going to blog about them… will link to it when I’m done.
Awesome sauce
Dealing With Our Rags –> http://gbrenna.com/KETt
Blessings to you and your family Los!
To me the term Ragamuffin means a person who is a bit of a rogue, a person who doesn’t always get it quite right, but whose heart is often in the right place.
I love your blog, your music, and your heart for God!
Your video with the homeless guy, Danny, was truly awesome.
Is your EP going to be available through iTunes UK?
Love and blessings to you!
When I was young, if my clothes didn’t fit right, my grandmother would say I looked like a ragamuffin or someone that was from “tobacco road”. I’ve never forgotten that, but I now wear it kind of as a badge of honor, as something that I want to embrace, my imperfections. And I am always striving to reflect God’s love right through those imperfections…
Here’s another lurker coming out
, and a long-winded one at that.
When I think about my walk with Christ, I think of the word “resonate.” I picture myself as a tuning fork intended to resonate the mind, will, body of Christ. The fork doesn’t make music by itself, but when “excited” by a Creative Force, it starts resonating at the frequencies for which it was designed. Like a tuning fork, my body/spirit was designed to resonate Christ. However, the junk in my life sticks on me like tar and rust, dulling my song and even changing my pitch. I need to pursue Christ daily in an attempt to chisel off the crap and get closer to the untarnished song my life was intended to sing. The more junk I strip away, the more purely I resonate as Christ moves in my life.
So, how does the word Ragamuffin work for me? It says I need to be authentic, so I can recognize I have junk, and am not perfect. But it also acknowledges that God intends me to actively seek to remove the junk I can, and accept the stuff I can’t. I will never be perfect in this life, but I can allow God’s word and Spirit to continuously purify my life so, over time, I resonate more purely His song.
I chose the name ragamuffinpc many years ago from the inspiration of Brennan Manning and, of course, Rich.
Primarily, the Manning quote that always sticks with me is:
“The Good News of the gospel of grace is that we are all equally privileged but untentitled beggars at the door of God’s mercy.”
Not usually a blog commenter but here I go… God has been speaking to me about the word ragamuffin and in my research I came upon your blog. I love what you have to say, but here is a bit more of a different approach. God used it more as a point of reference to who we were before we were saved, yet we’re washed clean. How we need to remember day in and day out that despite being saved, we still need Him. Anyway, here’s a snip-it of whet a ragamuffin means to me.
“Webster defines Ragamuffin as this:
a ragged often disreputable person; especially : a poorly clothed often dirty child.
How true was this of my own heart and soul? Inside it’s easy to feel like a ragamuffin. Our sin can make us feel dirty, disreputable and worthy of nothing but Jesus came and washed me clean. He washed you clean. We once had a ragamuffin soul, but when we invited Jesus into our heart all of that was taken away. Don’t let the sins of the past make you feel like you still have a stain that isn’t able to be fully washed out. We were given a pure and clean heart without any stains when Jesus died for us. No matter what we have done in the past, when we admit our sin we can rest assured that Jesus has forgiven us already and we no longer have to constantly dwell on past actions.
We are not at all disreputable. We are all called to royalty. Others desire to be around us because we carry Jesus with us wherever we are. We can rejoice knowing that we once had a ragamuffin soul but now we are washed clean and a new creation.”