Ten years ago today, Christian musician Rich Mullins died in a car accident in Illinois. Though I had appreciated his music for years, I didn’t know much about Rich Mullins, the person. In fact, when I heard he’d died, I gave it little more than an unaffected “Oh, that’s too bad,” like someone had just told me we were out of milk, or that we didn’t get our trash to the curb before the truck came. “Oh, that’s too bad.”
But about two years ago, I happened upon the book An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, by James Bryan Smith. I often raid my pastor’s bookshelves, and I borrowed this one without even asking. I stuck a post-it note on Rusty’s door: “Stole your Rich Mullins book.–Thanks.”
After leaving it atop my tower of “books I intend to read” for a few weeks, I finally picked it up…and couldn’t put it down. I read the whole book in one day, practically in one sitting. I was simply amazed at what I read. And saddened, and challenged, and hopefully, changed. What an example of Jesus Rich Mullins was! And I don’t say those words lightly–but I can think of no other way to describe him. He simply followed Jesus, in everything. From his love for all people to his desire to live simply–everything about him pointed to Jesus. He was, as Rusty calls him, “the real deal”.
Maybe his death ten years ago lets us see inside his life in a way that we couldn’t have before. Maybe we can learn even more from his life than we can from his lyrics (if that’s possible). Read An Arrow Pointing to Heaven, see what following Jesus truly looks like, and most importantly, let his life change your own. The “real deal” shouldn’t be so rare.
The Love Of God
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
I cannot find in my own
And He keeps His fire burning
To melt this heart of stone
Keeps me aching with a yearning
Keeps me glad to have been caught
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God
Now I’ve seen no band of angels
But I’ve heard the soldiers’ songs
Love hangs over them like a banner
Love within them leads them on
To the battle on the journey
And it’s never gonna stop
Ever widening their mercies
And the fury of His love
Oh the love of God
Oh, the love of God
The love of God
Joy and sorrow are this ocean
And in their every ebb and flow
Now the Lord a door has opened
That all hell could never close
Here I’m tested and made worthy
Tossed about but lifted up
In the reckless raging fury
That they call the love of God
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