Missing Rich Mullins

I’ve decided this week is a memorial to people that have greatly influenced me—specifically ones who’ve already gone home.

Rich Mullins (1955-1997). I get teary even typing his name. Music moves me, and I don’t know an artist who has moved me as much as Rich. I saw him in concert one time. He was the most authentic Christian I ever heard. His songs and his statements have had such a huge impact on my spiritual journey. I am still, even now, challenged by his faith—which often came as the result of his own failures.

I have far too many of his lyrics and quotes stuck in my head and heart to possibly list them all here. The amazing thing about Rich is that he could say something absolutely profound in the intro to one of his songs, and then could blow you away with the song lyrics that followed. On of many examples is in Rich’s concert intro to the song Sometimes By Step, he said this: 

“God takes the junk of our lives, and He makes the greatest art in the world out of it. And if He was cultured, if He was as civilized as most Christian people wish He was, He would be useless to Christianity. But God is a wild man. And, I hope that in the course of your life you encounter Him. But let me warn you, you need to hang on for dear life. Or let go for dear life maybe is better...”

So, my brother, Rich... Thanks for your art. Thanks for hanging on and letting go. Thanks for being real and vulnerable. Thanks for making me uncomfortable. 

I can’t wait to see you again someday. I will just follow the trail of the hammered dulcimer music, for I am certain you’ll be there.