ShoeBox Thoughts: Messages From the ShoeBox Prophet: ShoeBox Thoughts, #1

By Randy Dysart

ShoeBox Thoughts is a composition of life lessons, thoughts about religiosity and the failures and triumphs of a man looking for God. Each chapter is a singular message of grace, forgiveness, and the unstoppable love of God. This book is written to encourage each of us on this journey through life, emphasizing that God loves and accepts us all as His children. It's viewpoint is not based on pastoral or seminary doctrine, but in the life and experience of a follower of Christ. In it, are stories and discussions about answers to questions and desperate pleas we ask every day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Randy Dysart
• Release date: Nov 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386143390

Randy Dysart

  Randy was born and raised in the central valley of California, a small town in a large agricultural community. As a young musician he appeared with symphonies and big band jazz groups, serving as principle trombonist for several. Over the past four decades, he has served on church boards, advisory councils, worship teams, church plant and concert production teams. The focus has always been finding ways to reach the hurting and lost with the good news Gospel. As an audio sound engineer and designer, he has produced and visited with artists of many different beliefs and backgrounds; Audio Adrenaline, PFR, Randy Stonehill, Bob Carlisle, Bryan Duncan, Russ Taff, Guardian, and many more. He has also served as a staff worship leader and outreach coordinator. Currently, he is ministering through ShoeBox Prophet Ministries speaking and sharing the stories and life lessons of his own.

Book preview

The Introduction for ShoeBox Thoughts

The Strong-Willed Child

The story of me 

THE IDEA FOR ME TO write a book has not been a lifelong ambition, in fact, I never considered writing a Christian based book in my life. I would be much more comfortable writing science fiction, or at the very least something less personal in nature. It started out with my headaches, nerve pain and subsequent neck surgery in 2014, during which I was forced to retire from producing and worship leading, (I pretty much had no voice after the procedure on my neck), and due to residual pain and medications, I could no longer participate in production type things as I had known for most of my life. In all of that, I turned to writing down a journal of my thoughts and frustrations, crying out to God for some type of direction. I felt as though my life’s ministry and passion had been cut off all at once. It seemed like I was alone spiritually and useless.

Growing up in church, and being a servant at heart, I have spent a great deal of my life volunteering at the church, but at a very young age, I had a dynamic pastor that taught me something that you might find familiar. His philosophy was, I find them, and God cleans them up. I always thought the church’s job was to reach out to the lost, but as you know, it’s all too common in our past, and still today, that sometimes the local church isn’t the dynamo for outreach that it should be. I struggled with the establishment of the church; denominations choking out creativity, and new worship ideas. It wasn’t until my late 20’s that I began to believe again, that I could be part of something that made a difference with the lost people I see every day.

I lived through painful church splits, worked early mornings and late nights building church plants, endured several building projects, and served on church boards of all kinds; was told I had too much fun in my church Sunday school class because we were having discussions with coffee and donuts, and weren’t using the prescribed denomination material. For more than thirty-five years, my music was too loud, my hair was too long, and was told that if I was serious about reaching people for God that I needed to grow up. I never did, at least in my pursuit of serving God, I hated the idea of getting complacent or boring. I loved producing and singing on Sunday mornings and just about any other time the church met. I wanted to give my best for a God that had never given up on me. While I do enjoy a flair for entertaining, I learned from several very wise mentors that when we are on stage or in front of a crowd, we are leaders, not stars on a stage for our fans.

The real audience was God, and Him alone

The real audience was indeed God, and Him alone. But in my bag of talents lay an undeniable desire to paint pictures and weave tapestries with my music and stories, something that has often been mistaken for being overproduced, or too Hollywood. As I've grown older, nothing could be further from the truth; I do however, strive to take the people I am blessed to share with, on a majestic and powerfully genuine journey before my King, and in that quest, only my best effort will do. For me, it isn't a stardom seeking ego that makes me work hard putting forward a good effort, it is the fact that I know that God knows I can do it. And in a case so transparent before His throne, anything less would embarrass me before my Lord.

After my surgery, I was alone in recovery a lot. Unable to praise God in pretty much the only way that I had ever known, through producing, singing and music; I wondered if I would ever be used by Him again. The depression and sense of failure was overwhelming. One day while surfing for something to watch on TV, I happened across a particular movie that changed how I looked at myself and this issue of self-doubt. It was Ragamuffin. The movie told the life story of Rich Mullins, a long suffering, introverted and brilliant Christian songwriter and singer/storyteller. I watched in amazement, because I felt just like he did at times; worn, depleted, and not at all impressed with most of the Christians that I knew. I also learned that the teachings that changed his life, also found in the Ragamuffin Gospel, had a very similar message to what I had believed inside myself for all those years, but had been unable to explain. For so long, I thought that I was controversial for thinking the way I did; and outcast among many older Christians because I thought about grace differently than they did. I picked up a computer and started to write down what I felt. Somehow through that process I found personal encouragement and relief from the act of putting words on a page. I kept these writings private even from my family for the most part, because I really wasn't sure that I could explain them. Some months later, I happened to hear from Marla, a long-time dear friend that I had led worship with in years past. She was struggling with a life lesson of her own, and as we had been in touch a little here and there, wanted to know if I would pray for her. A few days later I met her for coffee just to catch up. I took the papers that I had written and wanted her to read one, because I thought she might identify with its message. It seems that she was moved beyond what I expected, and she insisted that what I had given her to read was quite good. I heard back from her a few days later, and she again insisted that I needed to release these writings publicly somehow. That there were hurting people in our world that could relate and might find a sense of belonging through reading them.

Out of the blue one night, without a clue on how to do it, I decided to start a blog, (it was a free way to publish my work after all). I put a few of the writings online, calling it ShoeBox Prophet, because I am, as anyone would tell you, no theologian. Nor do I pretend to be a biblical scholar. I am a simple man, that has lived most of his life in the church, watching it fail all too often to take care of hurting people, both in and out of the church body; Godly people for the most part, who have lost sight of the value of living life together and caring for the lost enough to reach out to them in a way that brings them to the Truth. During the process that became ShoeBox, I remembered a mentors' creed from an earlier ministry time in my life: find, serve, love. That is what ShoeBox Thoughts and my ministry is all about. I try to share about the completely overflowing grace and forgiveness of a God which is here for every one of us. Though we are different, and some of us bloodied from life's battle, He isn’t interested in what we’ve done, both good and bad, He’s interested in being our father and He wants us to love Him.

My intention is not to become famous or make a lot of money from this book or its' messages. Originally it was only intended to be a love and advice letter to my children when I was no longer around. However, God has had different plans from the beginning I think. Currently, ShoeBox Thoughts, (the blog) is read in over 40 countries around the world. I am humbled that Marla was so right in what she said; there are people out there that identify with what I write, and how I feel, whether it’s a life lesson of victory or defeat, I want to help you all to remember your Abba Father, who loves you, without limits or definitions. That’s hard for me to understand and grasp each time I write it, but I know it’s true. And that, is what ShoeBox Thoughts is here for.

ShoeBox Thoughts is a composition of life lessons, thoughts about religiosity and the failures and triumphs of a man looking for God. Each chapter is a singular message of grace, forgiveness, and the unstoppable love of God.   

Randy

P.S.: Just a note to finish a thought, my voice eventually came back. It took over a year, but it is now almost 100% of its former self. I thank God for giving me those months where I had to seek a new way to offer my praise and find a different avenue to serve Him. We all need to pause from time to time and take inventory of our life and methods to tell our story. I am now working on a team ministry idea to write some new songs and visit more of the hurting, telling our stories, sharing these messages, and serving the ragamuffins of this world... Of which I am one.

God is very good indeed.

Another New Year

IT HAPPENS EVERY JANUARY first. A new year begins, new goals are set, and a whole new chain of events are put into motion. We decide to lose weight or get a new job, and all with the best of intentions. Year after year, we look with longing at the opportunity to change something about ourselves. Something that will make life better or renew our self-image. Perhaps you start a business that you have always wanted to be a part of. I think we can all admit that these agreements that we enter into with ourselves can be overrun by eventual thoughts of doubt and failure. I appreciate that some people succeed in these endeavors to change and or improve, but more often than not, they fall short of our expectations, and leave us feeling like we've let ourselves down. But before you go with me too far down this road of pity and self-depredation, let me share with you one of my favorite verses from the Bible.

Written by the Apostle Paul and paraphrased here in my thoughts; Romans 12, 1-2 goes something like this, 'go out in your everyday life, in everything that you do, eating, working, exercising, playing and all, and do it all knowing that you are a child of God. That everything you do should honor that relationship, giving the best that you have, mistakes and all, to Him as a gift of yourself, without holding back. Don't get used to being like everyone else, but keep reminding yourself of that task, to give God your best effort, your most honest behavior, and your unbridled thoughts, even when you fail. If you continue to do that, you will find purpose and peace on the inside. And unlike many of the people that you might know, who when tough times come to them they fall apart, you will have strength and wisdom, that few will understand. You will be at the top of your game because your game will be God's plan for your life.'

Repeatedly, Paul spoke about grace. It's important for us to remember that, like human anatomy, we each get our meaning from being part of the whole body, not the other way around. If you separate an arm or a foot from their owner, they don't amount to much more than just incomplete pieces of something greater. So, we too are important to each other. In all our planning to do better or live healthier we sometimes forget the value of being genuine with each other. The importance of who we are and whose we are. I know for myself, it is hard to accept the fact that I may have gained more weight than I want to or cannot see as accurately as I once did. As life moves along, we can become overly aware that we aren't as young as we once were. That we can't run or heal as fast as we used to. And certainly, responsibilities and life circumstances change the way we look at ourselves, both in positive and negative ways. I write to you about this way of thinking because often, we make these deals with ourselves, these resolutions, not based on positive and uplifting goals, but because we feel less than perfect, substandard, or inadequate. But go back to what Paul wrote, do everything that you do in life as if it were a gift to honor God. Even when you cannot possibly see a way for God to use it for something good, don't second guess Him, just keep going and giving your best. God's grace does not depend on what we accomplish, in fact it doesn't need us at all. But what does matter to God is how we accomplish what we do. Is it our best effort? And realize this, sometimes our best still fails. You've heard it said that 'it isn't whether you win or lose, but how you play the game'. That is a life lesson for us to tuck away and keep for all future reference. Win or lose, resolution kept or not, did you run the race with conviction and purpose? Did you give your gift of 100% effort to your calling? I believe you know the answer to that. And certainly, God knows as well.

Whether your 'new' year is your first year sober, being a new Christian, or striving to be healthier, we all need to focus on honoring God and each other, when we eat, work, play, and struggle through our lives. That's never an easy thing. I write this as much to myself as I do to you. The difficulty for all of us is in our disbelief in true grace. We know our past, and our weaknesses. I believe it is within our nature to realize that there are consequences to actions, both good ones and bad ones. But the miracle gift of God's grace is very simple. Just ask Him and accept it.

So back to our 'new year' scenario. Whatever yours is today, the answer to