{"id":1357,"date":"2011-10-31T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jazztheologian\/?p=1357"},"modified":"2011-10-28T16:20:12","modified_gmt":"2011-10-28T20:20:12","slug":"guest-blogger-patricia-raybon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/10\/guest-blogger-patricia-raybon.html","title":{"rendered":"Guest Blogger: Patricia Raybon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A Ghost? Or Our God?\u00a0\u00a0 By Patricia Raybon<\/p>\n

It\u2019s dark, cold and early. But I\u2019m excited. On this morning, the most important thing I have to do is hear from God. And not just a little bit. I want to hear without limits. Isn\u2019t that what we\u2019re all saying today? That we want to be blessed by God this year? So we can bless God without limits?<\/em><\/p>\n

And with those words, I start my new devotional, God\u2019s Great Blessings<\/a>, <\/em>a project for Tyndale\u2019s robust One Year brand. I tried to write bold, that is. To sound tough. To feel unmovable. To act courageous. But I\u2019m not these things. Not every day. And surely not by nature.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m like the disciples in the Gospel of Mark. Seeing Jesus walk on water\u2014as bold and audacious as ever\u2014they were terrified, assuming one thing. A ghost.<\/em><\/p>\n

So they held back.<\/p>\n

Just as I did. Or tried to. But this time, I wrote on God\u2019s great virtues\u2014and how he blesses them deeply. Still, I played safe, exploring \u201csoft\u201d virtues\u2014love, listening, kindness and so on. But a One Year<\/em> devotional runs 52 weeks. And God walks deep. So soon came the tough stuff\u2014persistence, truth, unity, sacrifice, justice. Then came courage. But what would I say?<\/p>\n

I\u2019d forgotten Who defines our courage. It\u2019s God first, offering his audacious promise that when we battle for Him, He battles with us<\/em>. Talking to Joshua of the Bible, as the young leader readied to conquer the Promised Land, God said it like this: \u201cBe strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you<\/em> wherever you go.\u201d (Joshua 1:9 NLT)<\/p>\n

Jesus put it this way: \u201cTake courage! I am here!\u201d (Mark 6:50 NLT) He was walking that water, talking real to his disciples\u2014knowing they were quaking, seeing him as fearsome and ghostly. But Jesus countered. Don\u2019t be afraid<\/em>. Instead, take courage. I am here. <\/em>Not just anybody. But I AM. Not ghost. But God.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Just a bunch of Jesus talk? Or the real deal? Let\u2019s dare to find out. To stop trembling and holding back. To stop waiting to get tough. Instead, \u00a0pray bold. Ask God for courage. Then get moving, knowing that as you face your fears for God, the Lord will bless you with Himself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Award-winning author Patricia Raybon\u2019s newest book is the One Year\u00ae devotional, God\u2019s Great Blessings<\/strong>. She is also author of two acclaimed memoirs, My First White Friend<\/strong> and I Told the Mountain to Move<\/strong>. She also collaborated with calligrapher Timothy Botts in his gift book honoring African American spirituals, Bound for Glory. <\/strong>Learn more at her website: PatriciaRaybon.Com<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ghost? Or Our God?\u00a0\u00a0 By Patricia Raybon It\u2019s dark, cold and early. But I\u2019m excited. On this morning, the most important thing I have to do is hear from God. And not just a little bit. I want to hear without limits. Isn\u2019t that what we\u2019re all saying today? That we want to be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[73,72],"class_list":["post-1357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-misc","tag-gods-great-blessings","tag-patricia-raybon"],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Blogger: Patricia Raybon - The Jazz Theologian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/2011\/10\/guest-blogger-patricia-raybon.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Guest Blogger: Patricia Raybon - The Jazz Theologian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Ghost? 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Author of Finding the Groove: Composing a Jazz-Shaped Faith (Zondervan) and the upcoming, Strange Fruit: The Cross as a Way of Life (2011). Founder of Project 127, a ministry dedicated to seeing the day when there are no children waiting for homes in Colorado's foster care system. Robert deeply desires to see the body of Christ mobilized to serve the least of these. The poor, the down and out, the disenfranchised and disabled, those deemed unimportant and the unborn. He believes that God loves all people yet he has a special heart for the poor and the poor in spirit, the miserable and the marginalized. A Contributing Editor for Leadership Journal and Urbanfaith.com. He acquired a B.A. in Bibilcal Studies from Colorado Christian University and a Master of Arts in World Christianity (Missiology) from Denver Seminary. Robert is married to the love of his life, Barbara, and they have six energetic children (3 boys & 3 girls--one bio, five adopted--two from Ethiopia). Friend of God...Passionate about the Body of Christ...Lover of this thing called jazz! Please visit Jazztheologian.com for contact info., speaking schedule, videos, Facebook and Twitter.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/author\/rgelinas"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1357"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1362,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1357\/revisions\/1362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jazztheologian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}