Today I was pleasantly surprised with a gift of music in a most unusual place.

I had gone for a haircut and pedicure at Hair Perfections as I do like clockwork every 5 weeks, but today was different.  As I was walking from Yvette’s  nail station over to Carols station I saw a young girl walking toward the door with a giant purple hard shell case.  As she opened the door I had to ask, “Is that a cello?”  Tegan quickly answered “yes”.

After a quick trip to the shampoo bowl, I settled into the chair in a plastic cape.  Carol dropped a bag of Fritos in my lap and fired up the clippers as the usual salon chatter continued… it seems  Tegan  was playing a recital that afternoon, and we all asked if she would play.  I never expected she would, but she was all fired up.  She just pulled out the cello, sat down on a chair and began to play.

It was a beautiful gift of music that this charming 15 year old girl shared with us.

Carol just froze with her clippers in the air, a little hair may have even floated into the frito bag, but we didn’t care!  We all turned toward Tegan and listened as this gifted teen closed her eyes and revealed the beauty of her soul with a spine tingling performance right there in the salon.

I wish I had a recording of this!

It was so unexpected, so passionate, and so warm, I just had to share.  Mark my words, this girl is one to watch.  I let her know she would be getting her first blog review.  What I did not say, is that someday when she is a famous musician known all over the world, I will be saying I knew her when, and pointing back to this blog post as my proof.

It just made me feel right with the world!  I had come into the salon feeling the stress of  a family matter I had taken a pretty harsh stand on, and it was as if God Himself had reached out with a gift to soothe my soul.

Thank you Tegan, for a beautiful gift of music!

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

I have learned that the word Christian means different things to different observers.

The reason for this is that many who profess to be Christian do not reflect the true meaning of the word.  If you have followed my blog for any time at all, you know that I am not fond of denominations or any other kind of label we put on a group of people because people are individuals, and will align themselves with the doctrine of a group to different degrees, anywhere from cool,  to tepid,  to red hot fanatical.

The question “What is a Christian?” for me, first requires an exploration of the meaning of the word “Christian” and an assessment of  whether or not the doctrine is aligned with the meaning of the word.

In a sense, I am seeking to define what a Christian should be based on a pure definition.  So let’s look at the root word “Christ” and the suffix “ian”. Christ, according to the bible, is the Son of God who willingly came to join us in the flesh to reveal to us a living and loving God, and to be sacrificed  on our behalf.  The suffix”ian” or “an” indicates that someone or something belongs to a certain group. Thus, an Indian would be a resident of or someone who was born in India, a Faustian philosophy is one promoted by the character Faust, or one that reflects what Faust believed.  A Christian, then,  is a believer in or a follower of Christ, and a Christian philosophy would reflect what Christ believed.  More simply put, to be a Christian is to strive to be like Christ.  To be like Christ, we must first come to know Him.

Stop and think for a moment about the people you know.  We have acquaintances – people we know a little bit about, friends – people we know more about, family – people we have known all or most of our lives, spouses – people we are very intimate with.  The church is filled with the same degrees of relationship with Christ.  To some He is just an acquaintance, to others a friend,  but to succeed as Christians in becoming the bride of Christ as described in scripture, we will need to achieve a wide spread level of intimacy with Christ.

I recently studied a book by Richard Stearns titled “The Hole in Our Gospel“, which explores what Christ called the Church to be and do, and how the Church has fallen far short of that mark.  If we want to call ourselves Christians, the Truth is we need to raise the bar back up to where Christ set it.  If we are to achieve a level of intimacy with Him, it will be done His way, not ours. Read Post »

The reality of freedom, freedom won and freedom lost, has become for me an issue of passion.

I watched an amazing video documentary the other day about the hopes, dreams, and reality of youth and young adults in Cuba. It was an eye opening presentation of a generation that longs for the very freedoms we are allowing to slip away.  As I watched, I could not help but compare their passion for freedom in a rigid political system, to our alarming trend towards allowing, or even worse encouraging a more socialist posture.

In Cuba, “jobs” are government jobs, the pay is not enough to live on, and the rations the government supplies each month, last for only 2 weeks.  Young married couples must often live with relatives due to a shortage of housing, and for them, simple privacy is a rare luxury.  Promising students study hard to earn advanced degrees, and even with the skills and knowledge they have worked so hard to acquire, they have no hope that it will secure them a brighter future.  Only loyalty to the revolution offers one a chance at material success.

But young Cubans are no longer buying into the excuses the aging regime makes for their circumstances.  They have hopes and dreams of a better life, and they believe that Cuba has the resources to build a better future, if only they had the freedom to use them.  Sadly, those who speak out are subjected to censorship, beatings, and all manner of restrictions that will make an example of them, and deter others from being so bold.

If only our young people understood the value of the freedom we have enjoyed in this country.

If only they understood that there are decisions the government should not have the power to make for us. Read Post »

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right spirit within me.”

The above quote is from Psalm 51:10. It is the psalmists plea for God to keep doing the work in him that enables a clean heart to exist. Christians all over the world still sing this and offer this prayer. An outsider looking into the church might wonder, why haven’t they got this right yet? Why do they keep asking for a clean heart over and over again? Doesn’t God answer?

Last Sunday, while these thoughts were running through my head after the praise band led us in this very song, my Pastor made a profound statement. She said, “We all struggle to live under the umbrella of God’s expectation.” Oh yes, we do struggle, and God’s definition of a clean heart surely has a more stringent qualification than anything I could dream up.

The human condition is a reflection of the great fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. Ever since that ancient example was set, all of mankind has shared the same experience in life from birth to physical death, physically, mentally, and spiritually, we fall down, we get up. The plea to God to create in us a clean heart is our cry for help, and I believe each time we ask, God answers yes, but after a while, we will get it all dirty again.

We must work at keeping a clean heart daily, sometimes even minute by minute.

The important thing to help a non believer understand is that we need God because we are not perfect. We don’t serve Him because we are perfect. Too many generations with a “holier than thou” attitude left the non Christian world with a grave misunderstanding of the Christian walk. We desire a clean heart, but it does not come easy. We resolve to maintain a clean heart, but it often does not last for long. We try very hard to achieve a clean heart, but it is something that we cannot do alone. A clean heart is gift from God that is precious, yet so fragile we are just not equipped to maintain it in a manner that would continue to meet His high standard of purity.

Is it hopeless? Will I ever have a clean heart?

No, it is not hopeless. Yes, you can have a clean heart, because God will continue to say yes, as long as we continue to ask for His help. Just as God gave Solomon unequaled wisdom in response to an earnest and selfless prayer, God will cleanse our hearts when we come before Him asking for a clean heart, not to please others, but rather to please Him, and as long as we keep our gaze firmly focused on Him, we will have a clean heart.

There in lies the catch my friends. How many of us will keep our gaze firmly focused on Him for long? That is why I resolve to pursue a clean heart. I know I will achieve it and lose it many times over, but as long as I remain in pursuit of this elusive connection to the heart of God, I am on the road to becoming the person He wants me to be.

Blessings & Adventure,

Lynn “lynnibug” Rios

Psalm 51:10-12 (NKJV)