Ragamuffin Soul

This is Sara.
But I don’t know that Sara.
I know this Sarah.

The Sara that comments encouraging people to chase their dreams in spite of pain.
The Sara that comments in total and complete authenticity that the fact that her sickness did not allow her to attend her fathers funeral was agonizing , yet she would not give in to the pain.

Sarah has been commenting and existing in this Ragamuffin Soul community for as long as most anyone.
There are some of you who are great friends of Sara’s.
I’m not a great friend of Sara’s.
I’m just someone who she would pass by on occasion to give words of grace and wisdom and love.
For no reason other than to love.
I didn’t read Sara’s blog.
I mean, I don’t even read my wife’s blog…
But Sarah wasn’t stopping by here to get traffic to her blog…
She was stopping by here to bring love to mine.
Tonight I have spent 6 hours on Sara’s blog.
6 hours.
Why?
Because I want to be reading the words she spoke to make the earth better as God Himself speaks words to her that make Heaven better.

Well done my good and faithful servant.

Well done Sara.
You can rest in Him and know that my view of pain and joy have been radically destroyed and rebuilt after spending 6 hours with you tonight.

May the breath that fills your lungs as you explode with adoration of seeing our Savior face to face be the most freeing breath you have ever released.
Your ragamuffin brother…
Carlos

Who do you trust?  Who don’t you trust?  Why?
Los

The message? Timeless.

The need? Endless.

Their passion? Limitless.

Let’s be honest, shall we? There are men and women who take Jesus’ challenge to change the world, and give their lives to live, breathe and actually do what he said.

These people rule me.

Join us as we honor them.

 
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There are two ways you can honor these men and women.

Attend the Gala on October 24th at Fox Theater in Atlanta! I know, I feel like that word is a little too fancy for us Ragamuffins, but they really want us there! In fact, Ragamuffin readers who use the discount code “LOS” get $25 off ticket price. (Before October 2nd)

Partner with them! You can be a corporate or ministry partner right now. They’ve got some amazing partners and you can join them in making the night possible.

Let’s give honor where honor is due.

Brilliant…
Los

I’m at fault in this.
In the Christian leadership world we tend to hijack the word community to somehow only relate it to Sundays or small groups.
Um.
That sucks.
Cause that would mean community is not the 99.999% of other amazing things in this world.
So this is a vague question.
But I think it’s vagueness give room to answer.

Lose your Christianese for a minute.
The word community to me looks like…

People walking their dogs by your house and throwing your paper closer to your door.
Your local barista starting your drink when they see you in the parking lot.
When you hear Mrs. Ripleys dinner bell from down the street all the kids sprint from the creek back home.

What does community mean to you?
Los

The kid just kept screaming.
SCREAMING.
“But I Want It NOW!!!!”
I put on my Beats to cancel whatever noise I could cancel out.
Every few minutes I would gaze left to see his mom sipping on her iced cuban while the gray of the clouds outside the window silhouetted her portrait against the glass.
Probably late 20′s.
But her kid.
Holy crap.
A terror.
I could almost feel him lock his eyes on me.
“SCUSE ME. SCUSE ME!”
“Yea buddy?”
“What’s that? What’s that?” he was screaming pointing at my laptop.
His mom was 20 feet away oblivious that her 5 year old was bugging the crap out of me while I’m trying to close a consulting deal that I had been working on a few weeks.
“Um. Hey kid. I’m on the phone. It’s my laptop. Go back to your mommy now.”
He gave me a look that could stop Jack Bauer in his tracks and ran back to his mommy.
By the time I got off the phone I realized a few more of the customers in the coffee shop were getting annoyed.
OK Carlos. Time to do your job. Stand up for what is right.
I got up from my table and headed over to her table.
I was going to gently let her know that I have kids and I know how crazy it can get and he can play on my jacked up phone if it would shut him up, I mean calm his spirit…
About a foot away from her table I saw a dried streak of pain on her left cheek.
And another drop was rolling down her right one.
She saw me out of the corner of her eye and quickly snapped out of her trance…
“Hey! Oh. I’m sorry! Was he bothering you? I’m so sorry. I’m just a little out of it”

Humanity

“Honestly, I was about to come over here to tell you that your kid could play with my phone if he needed a distraction. I mean look at it. It’s unbreakable.”

She managed a smile.
“I’m not his mom. My sister is. Was. We are on our way to the airport. So I guess I’m his mom now. I mean, not his mom, but his aunt. Anyways.”
I almost said something really stupid.
Like “I’m sorry for you pain”.
Then I realized I don’t even know what the hell that means.
So instead I said…
“Wow. That sucks. Like really sucks.”

This prompted an outburst of laughter from her. And me.
“No shit. It does suck. That’s about as true as anything anyone has said to me this week. This does suck!”

She rejected my offer for my phone as it would have probably injured her nephew as opposed to occupying him.
She got up, not wanting to be a bother to anyone else in the shop, and started out the door.

“Hey, That Sucks lady.” I whispered, loudly…

“Yea?”  she didn’t whisper back to me…

“It will stop sucking one day. A long time from now. But the suck will be less”
We were deeply entrenched into a contest of how many times we could say suck only because it was a temporary cure for the pain.

“Jill? What does SUCK mean?” the kid said…
She laughed again and walked out the door.

When I got back to my laptop I realized what “my job” really is and how to “stand up for what is right”…
It is to make peoples life suck less at the moment.
I think that is all of our jobs.
Sometimes we think we need to stand for the many, when in fact we need to sit with the one.
It’s better that way.
Los

There’s a few people unfollowing everyone who follows them on twitter right now.
They each have their reasons.
Chris Brogan started this trend last week.

He’s a trend setter.  

I get it.
But that is also why I don’t auto follow people back on twitter.
People began following everyone back on twitter because their numbers would grow.
And they did.
But gone are the days where it’s important how many people follow you on twitter.
It’s now about WHO follows you back on twitter.

Here is my system.
I have 2 twitter accounts.
One I use to communicate with my social media amigos and one I use to simply just read a list of about 70 people whom I “really” follow.
If you look at my HooteSuite screen I have 4 columns.

The far left one is my “secret” account.
It’s not really secret. It is just not interesting for you.
Cause I don’t tweet from it.
I just only use it to follow people I actually know.
I don’t tweet from it. I don’t reply from it. I don’t DM from it. I just read it.
The next two are my @replies to my main @loswhit account and my DM’s to my main @loswhit account.
As you can see I don’t have a stream setup that actually reads 12k tweets in my main @loswhit timeline.
That would be insane and stupid.
So I use my @loswhit account to talk with you in real time.
The last column is a search column that I use to see who’s talking @$# about me and send my cousin Joey to beat them up.
It’s that simple.

Now my reasons for following everyone who asks me to follow them.
1. It speeds up communication.
When someone asks me how to get a hold of me, I say tweet me.
This turns 4 page emails into 140 character emails.
This turns 2 minute voicemails into 140 character voicemails.
It allows me to be connected to my tribe while not drowning in emails and voicemails.
The amount of time I spend answering emails has literally been cut 75%
2. It let’s me hang out with 22k people at a time.
I I don’t use an “autofollow” script.
This is why you are following porn.
This is why you get so much spam.
If somone asks me to follow them back so they can DM me, I do.
It’s simple.
Following real people will result in real conversations.
And when they do decide to accidentally type their credentials into a hacked site, and when I do get their spam messages, I let them know personally and they see me as even more a human than they did before.
3. Twitter is the new Google.
Gone are the days where I use Google to find where to go eat in a new city.
I now just tweet at you and you tweet back at me or DM me some of the most delicious plates in your cities.
You tell me what the best homeschool math program is.
You tell me when I mispell something on my blog.
You DM me about how offended you are when I post pictures of beer.
4. Did I mention it allows me to see who the up and coming social media ninjas are?
I’m not fooling myself into believing that I am the one with all the important stuff to say.
There are THOUSANDS of you who are coming up with WAY better crap than I am. And I get to see it all.
If you are interested enough to read what I have to spit, than I want to know who I am influencing, so I can in turn, be influenced.

So there you have it.
What do you think of my strategy?
What is your twitter strategy when it comes to how and why you use it?
Los

As I’ve been writing and collaborating for my next album, I am reminded that writing music is tough.
It sucks. I have been struggling for melodies, fighting for words that penetrate the heart. Wrestling with the music…
And then I remember I can only write, I can only sing, what I know.

What is real. What is truth. What I have lived.

My friend, fellow Compassion Blogger, and silver haired freak, Shaun Groves, knows this. Lives this.
I was blessed to be able to go to Uganda with Shaun a few years ago and literally saw his heart beating in the shape of the unloved.
For them and with them.
The forgotten.
His new album, Third World Symphony,is a reflection of this truth.

I mean, listen to his words from his song, No Better:

There’s no justice here
It’s just as well you know
We’ve all got hell to pay
And grace pays all we owe

Lay me down with the liars
Brawlers, thieves and backbiters
Lay me down with the others
‘Cause I’m no better

This is the stuff that my generation not only needs to be singing, but needs to be living.
It’s funny. Shaun consistently makes light of his self by calling himself a soft rock star.
Lay me down with the liars
Brawlers, thieves and backbiters
Lay me down with the others
‘Cause I’m no better
There is nothing soft about that.
Listen. This is not a sponsored post.
He is not paying me for this.
Shaun is a ragamuffin among ragamuffins and his music is necessary in our lives.
So I’m asking you to go give this fellow ragamuffin some love.
BUY IT HERE!!!

Our world is better with these melodies filling her.
Los

Israeli illustrator Noma Bar teaches the creative in all of us how to take less and make more.  A book of his illustrations takes us deep into his cultural icon minimalist mindet.  Guess Who?: The Many Faces of Noma Bar features over 50 minimalist vector illustrations that encapsulate the essence of famous politicians, philosophers and pop culture legends.  The way he captures their essence is almost haunting.

Brilliance…
Los

I love my wife. I love my church.
They both inspire me to be a Christian and creative that does not live out my faith with weaksauce.
Last week Heather pulled of what I consider her greatest event.
With the help of the amazing staff at Crosspoint.tv, my wife’s vision was implemented into a fantastic evening.
Heather designed the evening and with the help of the crew, cooked all the food, built all of the tables, built all the lighting, framing, and basically took the big room at the Bellevue campus and turned it into amazingness.
This is me showing off how amazing my wife and church are.

Yes. She really is that amazing.
Los