Check me out at Transparent Christian Magazine

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Hey folks. Check out my weekly updated blog/magazine/passion at www.transparentChristianMagazine.com.



Thanks!
Love, Jason

Teacher's Rock!

In doing some research for a story for my magazine (Transparent Christian Magazine) I found this video about teachers. I remember my brother Jeff sending it to me awhile ago, and was just as blown away by it this time.

Because of the use of "G.. Damn" my friend Mike didn't want to include it in his article about his wife retiring from teaching. I was not upset in the least...However the video was so powerful that I wanted to include it here.

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Feel free to leave a comment if you like.

Jason

Story behind the Brad Reynolds Song "Anyway"

This is an additional excerpt for the Transparent Christian Magazine interview with Brad Reynolds:

[If you ended up here before reading the interview with Brad Reynolds, click here to read the interview. This story is more detail on the inspiration for the song "Anyway"!]


The story behind the song is more about how my attitude began to deteriorate towards the people whom I perceived as not so easy to love.

I work a day job in downtown Nashville. I moved here in 2003 and quickly fell in love with the town. One of my favorite things to do is to take a walk at lunch time to grab a bite and just get out of the office for a little bit. As with any city, there are homeless people who will ask for help. The first few times I didn't think much about it and I actually found comfort in being helpful. I would never give them money but would buy them food if I could and if I felt God specifically leading me to do so on a case by case basis. After a while, I found myself becoming a little desensitized and more and more annoyed by their requests, and in turn I became less and less Christ like in my responses. This attitude that had encompassed me did so as a very subtle transformation, but I had become caloused. Then the Lord began to whisper to my spirit that if I am going to be effective for His Kingdom, I need to learn to love those that seemed to me as unloveable. That is what Christ did for me, I was just a selfish sinner with nothing to offer, but Christ loved me anyway. That is what He calls each of us to do... Then I started thinking about how that concept applies to more than just homeless people, it applies to the people we may not necessarily like being around too; People we don't have anything in common with, people like the academic who denies God's existence, or the abortion rights advocate who shouts you down as you walk by, or the flamboyant homosexual who hates everything you stand for... Christ died for all and responded in love to those who persecuted Him. That is His mandate for all of us. Love them anyway. So as I took that lesson and applied it to my life and my journey, the idea for the song "Anyway" was born.

Matthew 5:46-48
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

So that is basically where the song came from... It all comes down to the greatest commandment... To love God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and the second is like it; love your neighbor as yourself...all of the law and the prophets rest on these two things.

So what does that kind of love look like from a practical standpoint?

1 Corinthians 13:3-8a
If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.

Brad Reynolds