Ragamuffin Soul

I just told Losiah that Santa is watching him and to fix his attitude.
I told the girls last night that The Elf on the Shelf has one more night of flying to the North Pole to let Santa know if they are being little brats.
I told my wife that I am excited about driving to the 432432 family members houses during the next 2 days to celebrate Christmas with every blood line that has ever touched ours.

I lie more during Christmas season than I do any other season.
But it’s for the greater good.  Of’Course…
What was the last Christmas lie you told?
Los

Um.
I’m never stepping foot on a dance floor again.
When he breaks it down half time…
OMG.
You’re Welcome.
Los

It’s time to be selfish.
If I held you hostage, and made you buy you a material possession for you alone to enjoy this Christmas, what would you ask for?
Los

This was too good not to get your captions…
Caption Please
Los

Nana and Papa had a farm…

Sometimes the out of focus blurry pics tell better stories than the sharp ones…

Mrs. Photogenic even at 6:50 am

Heather took this one…

#Fear

Snap…
Los

When I was a kid it was and still is Diego Maradonna.
I was going to be him.
Score goals like him.
He graced the inside of my locker, my trapper keeper, my wallet.
Most of my friends had Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan.
Silly Americans.
This was a pic I took of a kid in Rwanda last week who had taken a magazine and cut out all his favorite soccer players and made his OWN soccer cards.
It blew me away in the moment.
So who was it for you?
Who’s blood did you bleed on the fields of battle?
Who was your childhood sports hero?
Los

To know.
To know is one of the greatest gifts of life.
To know that if you walk outside and it is 32 degrees, you will see your breath.
Yet…
You will only know this, if, you have walked outside, and it was 32 degrees, and you have seen your breath.
If you have only lived in 72 degrees, you do not know this.
You do not know that you can see your breath in 32 degrees.
Not because it is not TRUTH.
Because it is.
But you have never seen the TRUTH of your breath in 32 degrees.
So you do not know.

I remember the first time I saw my breath.
I was 6.
We had just moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta.
3163 Sprucewood Drive Decatur GA 30033.
It was morning and we were heading out to my new school.
Rehoboth Elementary.
I was excited.  Cause our mascot was the RoadRunner.
I don’t know why.
Anyways.
We walked out and I about choked on the cold.
I screamed MOMMY LOOK!
I remember the look on her face as she took in the moment.
I kept breathing, over and over, blowing air out…
For a new reason…
To see it.
To see this new TRUTH.

Normally we breathe to simply exist.
We don’t even know we are breathing until we have a problem breathing.
Then we beg for someone to help us breathe.
But this is different.
When you can see your breath you are noticing your breathing for a completely different reason.
You realize you are breathing because something simple, has now become something beautiful.
TRUTH
You are awakened to seeing your breath.
I still smile when I can see my breath.

I now know.
I know what my breath looks like in the temperature TRUTH has provided for me.
It is an atmosphere that I have never experienced.
I was ignorant to the TRUTH of this reality.
Just existing.
Existing in a great life.
Existing in a life that for most, would be breath SEEING.
But this is my normal.
My reality had become an existence.
One temperature.
Then, TRUTH.
Everyday it’s like walking outside in Decatur GA that morning.
I now can’t stop smiling because I can see my breath.
I now know a reality that I have never known.
And I will never be the same.
I have seen the TRUTH and I thank God, probably every 5 minutes, for TRUTH.
His TRUTH
My TRUTH.
My reality.
My visible breath.

It’s 8:20 am on Tuesday morning.
It’s time to walk outside, and see the fullness of the TRUTH He has provided for you.
Stop existing in your comfortable temperature when God has beauty and TRUTH waiting for you in a temperature you have never experienced.

Breathe…See…Know…
Los

Some organizations are about the founder.
Some organizations are about the cause.
Hello Somebody is about the cause.
Manny Martinez has quickly become one of my closest friends.
The focus at which he heads after the cause is inspiring.
But what I also love is that he steps out of the way to let people do what they are gifted at.
I have officially joined the Hello Somebody family as we would like to coin…
The Paul Revere of Hello Somebody.
Because I’m about to get on my horse and yell throughout the streets all the amazing things that Hello Somebody is doing.
From artist interviews, to trips around the world, to speaking on behalf of them at events, to riding my horse at midnight yelling that the British are coming, you are about to see lots more of me telling you of all the good Hello Somebody is doing.
Now go buy a watch…
Los

Some women cover it all up.
Some women cover barely any of it up.
Most women in between lean towards one direction or another.
Ladies.
Speak up.
You were graced with bodies that men like.
How to you gauge how much of it to show?
How do you measure appropriateness in what you wear?
Los

There is something satisfying about chosen permanence .
You decided it.
It is forever.
It is visible.
And there are many things in our lives that are labeled as permanent.
Marriage.
Tattoos.
Death.
Salvation.
Taxes.
And many more.
But the truth is that there is only one thing that is permanent that does not require faith.
Death.
She is gonna come no matter who you are.
All else…is a false permanence.
Let’s take a look at my fingers for example.
I tattooed the words Graced, Constant, and Favored on my fingers representing my three children and their characteristics.
Tattooed.
Tattooed.
Tattoos are supposed to be permanent.
But the interesting thing about where I got these tattoo’s is that one of them isn’t.

Chris my tattoo artist told me before he even started…”Hey man.  I’m just gonna let you know, this first finger you are getting inked, your index finger, it has some deep ass callouses.  Like deep.  There is no pigment attached to the bottom half of the side of your finger.  This means that the tattoo is not gonna stay after just one session.  you are gonna have to keep coming back, dozens of times until that shit sticks.  And even after it sticks, it will be faded and you will always have to get it touched up…
It’s pretty much a prescription for a lifetime of guaranteed needle pain.”

I looked at him, not really getting it, but getting it, and said…”Well let’s do this then.”
It looked sick.
Amazing.  but after a few weeks…there she went.
The ink started fading.
Not on any of the other fingers…Only on the index finger with the callouses.
And I went back in for a touch up.
Chris smiled.
He knew i got it now.
And when he was done touching it up it looked as good as new.
He said…”See you in a few weeks.”
My finger is faded again.
Not as bad as the first time it faded, but enough to understand what Chris was talking about.
The callous on the inside of my finger is going to take work and pain in order to keep looking good.
And when I go in again on Saturday, I’ll walk out with it looking clean, and in a few weeks, or maybe this time 2 months, I’ll need to feel the needle on the side of my finger again, because of the callous that has developed there.

Work with me…

Look at your spiritual lives.
Look at the callouses that have grown all over it.
The church has defeated you.
The perfect wife has deserted your soul.
Jesus seems like a distant 4th cousin.
Your ministry has fired you because you got caught but your boss didn’t.
You are done.
Calloused.
Over it.

Then comes Jesus again.
Gently knocking on your ethos.
You want to ignore Him but you can’t.
You want to run but you can’t.
He is loud now.
“Come back.  I’m waiting.  It’s not going to be easy or painless, but it will be worth it.”
So you head back.
Here is where Chris my tattoo artesian plays the role of your sanctification.
Your calloused heart is not going to be an easy fix.
It is not going to be one session and everything is as it was.
To be honest, it will never look as pretty as it did the first time your heart got tattooed by the love of Christ.
It will take work.
It will take many sessions, but once again you will wear the mark of Christ.
And once again you will be marked by your faith.
It won’t look pretty.
It will actually look a bit gnarly.
But it will be deeper set than any of your other friend’s faith.
And it won’t ever leave once it has past the callousness into the pigment that is deep below.
At this point the fresh inked people with no calluses will see your faded, black turned to green inked fingers and want to know how you kept it there.
And it is your responsibility to not sugar coat your journey…
To not bow to those who want a pretty, gift wrapped, fresh tattoed faith..
And tell them that you and your faith faded because of your calluses, and although it is painful to keep heading back to see Chris, your sanctification tattoo artisan, it is worth every ounce of pain it takes to get the ink deep, past the callous, and into your pigment…
So that you are marked with an ink that is not shallow, but deep set.

It’s better that way…
Los