Become Good Soil

By Morgan SnyderReligion & Spirituality Christianity

Become Good Soil episodes

March 22, 2017 027: Venturing Toward the More (The Marriage Series – Part One)
If we are relational to our core, fashioned in the image of the One who is Three, then it is in dynamic relationship that we participate in the unending Life of God. And among human relationships, there is none more brimming with the loving potential to both expose our "not yet" and to beckon us forward than marriage.

In The Mystery of Marriage, Mike Mason writes,

The book of Proverbs as a whole takes a view of marriage that remains proverbial to this day: there is nothing in the world worse than a bad marriage, and at the same time, nothing better than a good one.

Man, if we haven’t tasted that truth, for better and for worse.

As we reflect on our marriage and on the stories others have shared with us, we hear Love’s offer that pain need not be the final word. Rather, we are finding that the pain in our marriage is becoming a spiritual trailhead of sorts, inaugurating a journey to increasing expanses of goodness and life.

“You are a rare couple. You are choosing not to just phone in some prescription and call it good enough.”

These were the words that marriage counselor spoke into the lives of good friends of ours last week. When my buddy shared them with me yesterday, they became a mirror, causing me to inquire in my own soul—could the same words be spoken of my marriage? I was reminded of how much easier it is—at least in the short term—to settle, find some medication for the pain we experience in our marriage, and simply call it good enough. It is far riskier to let the pain be a teacher, guiding us to risk both the belief and the action toward choosing the more.

Our friends’ choice for more surfaces a question: Am I willing to forsake the shallow waters of good enough and set out into deeper waters where it is all frontier?

Seventeen years ago, having very little acquaintance with what it really meant, Cherie and I included the following poem by Sir Frances Drake on the final page of our wedding program.

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,  

when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little,  

when we arrive safely because we sailed too close to the shore.  

Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess,

we have lost our thirst for the waters of life;  

when having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity;

 and when in our efforts to build a new earth,  

we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim.  

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas,  where storms will show your mastery,  where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.  We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes,  and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ.

Now, with a bit more experience, more pockets of pain, and yet a growing vision of the Goodness of Trinitarian Reality, we take hold of these words afresh, drawn forward by the promise that we do not go alone. There is one who offers His kind, competent—though unnerving—leadership if we are willing to follow.

Our need is great: there is much that is hindering love. We are in need of deeper submersion into the Life of the Trinity; we are in need of the continual exposure of our imposing blind spots; we are in need of deliverance from our vast entanglements with the narrow self-life and all the harm it brings to us and to our marriage.

Yet our hope is greater still: we want it all, the full portion of what is available between a man and a woman in marriage.

We want to uncover and experience all the treasure hidden in this mysterious union as two become one: all of the transformation, joy, co-creativity, ecstasy, play, intimacy, shared mission, and unending giving and receiving of love, honor, cherishing, and delight that is available.

In the spirit of a shared expedition, with joy and a healthy dose of trepidation, Cherie and I offer this series of Become Good Soil podcasts as we venture out toward the more in our marriage.

Together may we seek, ask, and knock unceasingly in order that as it is in the Trinity who is Love, it might be in us and between us and through us.

God, you have our yes.

And, friends, we invite you to set sail into deeper waters with us as we all risk believing there is more.

With all our hearts and hope,

Morgan and Cherie

Looking to go deeper into the mystery and possibility of the full portion in marriage? Consider these onramps to the Narrow Road.

Intimate Allies by Dan Allender

Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge

Love and War Video Series

Mystery of Marriage by Mike Mason

28 min
January 13, 2017 026: I Love Beer More Than Jesus
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By day and by decade.

These words have become a mantra for my masculine soul. A sort of North Star as I attempt to orient and re-align my life with the Reality of God and His Kingdom.

Allen Arnold and I had an opportunity to share some dialogue and prayer regarding how we're choosing to orient our souls at the beginning of this new year.

In the podcast, we reference A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God, which I'd recommend strongly as a read to launch this next year.

I also reference Gerald May's Addiction and Grace.Also, as part of the podcast I reference a blog from a January past titled I Love Beer More Than Jesus.

In The Pursuit of God, Tozer offers these words:

In this hour of all-but-universal darkness one cheering gleam appears: within the fold of [God's people] there are to be found increasing numbers of persons whose religious lives are marked by a growing hunger after God Himself. They are eager for spiritual realities and will not be put off with words, nor will they be content with correct 'interpretations' of truth. They are athirst for God, and they will not be satisfied till they have drunk deep at the Fountain of Living Water.

Friends, be encouraged. You are woven into a redemptive community. A fellowship that spans the globe of like-hearted men who will not be satisfied with less than the full portion of what is available under Heaven.

As you set your face like a flint toward another year of choosing to become good soil, know you are not alone. Nothing is wasted.

Let's keep going.

36 min
December 03, 2016 025: Back To Life – Live with Esther Sparks
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This most recent episode was a treasure to record, featuring Esther Sparks, a Scottish poet and musician whose music has been uniquely sustaining to Cherie and me throughout this decade of excavation and becoming.

Offering transparently from her own story, Esther’s music speaks to central themes of the human experience: love and loss; betrayal and forgiveness; abandonment and embrace; birth, death, and resurrection.

Luminous in her insights and raw in her offering, Esther draws us deeper into our own stories and the Kingdom-among-us that connects all therein. Her songs have become dear companions for the narrow road, songs that say, "Yep. Me too. You are not alone. Don’t give up. We can find our way together."

Join me as Esther shares the stories behind some of our favorite songs. Her music is substantive food and drink for hearts that beat to become good soil and have been broken along the way.

You can find more on Esther Sparks here.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

You're invited to join us for the Sons of Thunder Brewing Christmas Party and you can hear Esther Live.

And as a gift from her heart to yours, Esther is making available the following tracks to the Become Good Soil listeners for your continued nourishment:

Cry All Over You

[audio mp3="http://www.becomegoodsoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/04-Cry-All-Over-You.mp3"][/audio]

Back To Life

[audio mp3="http://www.becomegoodsoil.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Back-to-Life.mp3"][/audio]

Morgan
1 hr 4 min
November 01, 2016 024: Going Deep – An Invitation to Become Good Soil
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It has been said, "The lives of many rest in the courage of a few." How are you becoming the kind of person to whom God can entrust the lives of others? How are you becoming the kind of person to whom God can entrust his Kingdom?

In this third episode of a three-part series, I take us deeper into a Become Good Soil Intensive, where we are invited to participate in portions of a guided session inviting more of us to belong to more of God.

We are now accepting applications for the upcoming Become Good Soil Intensives in Colorado and Australia in May of 2017. Deadline for complete applications is November 15, 2016. To learn if you qualify to apply and to find out more about the message of Become Good Soil, go to www.RansomedHeart.com/BecomeGoodSoil.

Morgan
21 min
October 05, 2016 023: Counsel from Kingdom Giants of Australia
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

In part two of the three part series, we venture behind the scenes into a sacred space where sages of the great nation of Australia offer their counsel at a Become Good Soil Intensive in New South Wales. I want to invite you to savor some wisdom from the ancient path.

We are now accepting applications for the upcoming Become Good Soil Intensives in Colorado and Australia in May of 2017.

Find out more

Morgan
27 min
September 26, 2016 022: What Astonishes the Heart of God?
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

What astonishes the heart of God?

In part one of this three-part series, I want to invite you behind the scenes into a session at the heart of the most recent Become Good Soil Intensive in Colorado.

We are now accepting applications for the upcoming Become Good Soil Intensives in both Colorado and Australia in May of 2017. Find out more.
22 min
July 04, 2016 021: You Are His Favorite

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

It was a shimmering rehearsal dinner, the headwaters of which were most certainly in Eternity.

The choicest wine flowed, but even more, the choicest stories: stories of daring, risk, and deep redemption. Family and friends honored Abbey and Shaun with words of profound affection, honor for obstacles overcome, and the kind of faithful knowing and seeing that forms the texture of our deepest longings.

In the transcendence of that evening God spoke five words that would change our lives forever...

-This podcast is available in written form.

-Want more? Dive deep into this Kingdom reality with additional resources.
16 min
May 31, 2016 020: Did Jesus Wear Flip Flops?

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It all started with a lawnmower, a skateboard, a women's clothing magazine, and a set of flip flops.

What if play is God's idea and is at the epicenter of Kingdom living?

(A version of this podcast is also available in written form.)
17 min
April 14, 2016 019: A Beautiful God
Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field. -Matthew 13:44

In the sunset of his days, D. L. Moody realized that the catalyst for the deepest portion of his conversion was this sentence spoken to his soul by a trusted sage:

The world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by the man who is fully consecrated to him. – Henry Varley (quoted in A Deeper Experience of Famous Christians)

This quote equally entices and disrupts me.

How much more is available in communion with God than I’ve glimpsed or even remotely dreamed possible? How much have I taken for granted as “normal” in the life of a Christ-follower that is painfully less than what is available? How much am I willing to set out again in search of a treasure whose worth would prompt ecstasy, and in the wake of the encounter, the desire to sell everything in order to possess it would be my unforced response?

Surely this treasure is the invitation to share in the Life of the Trinity, and if I could only see both the invitation and the sensual grandeur of the Life of God for what it is, unforced and total consecration would be my ever-increasing response.

There is a woman I know whose heart has long been set on pilgrimage to search for this kind of vision of God. She is the woman with whom I share my children, my body, my dreams, and my life.

And in her search, she has glimpsed a God who is first searching for her. Of the many impacts of her life upon mine, she embodies the words of Simon Tugwell, as John quotes in The Sacred Romance:

“So long as we imagine it is we who have to look for God, we must often lose heart. But it is the other way about—He is looking for us.”

In response to a glimpse of the Treasure, I am witnessing her process of selling more and more to possess it.

After fifteen years of life together, we met up in the studio, pressed “record,” and dove into our first-ever shared podcast.

22 min
March 23, 2016 018: Wild Unfettered and Free
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This episode of the Become Good Soil Podcast is a reflection I wrote after ongoing ventures in recent years through The Message paraphrase of Matthew 21:12-18, the passage commonly referred to as “The Clearing of the Temple.” My hope is that it might help us thirsty ones peel back the glaze of over-familiarity and experience the scene afresh, as we find ourselves among the crowds in the Temple on that day.

Once you've listened to this episode, I suggest you return to the text again as captured by The Message in Matthew 21:12-18 and immerse yourself in it.

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus afresh. Ask to see him even more truly as he is so that you might offer him your consent to become like him, as he is making possible, in this hour of this day.

Enjoy the blog version of this podcast here.

Podcast: Subscribe in iTunes | Play in new window | Download

Strength and Honor,

Morgan

Matthew 21 (MSG)

When Jesus neared Jerusalem...Jesus sent two disciples with these instructions: “Go over to the village across from you. You’ll find a donkey tethered there, her colt with her. Untie her and bring them to me. If anyone asks what you’re doing, say, ‘The Master needs them!’ He will send them with you...” The disciples went and did exactly what Jesus told them to do. They led the donkey and colt out, laid some of their clothes on them, and Jesus mounted. Nearly all the people in the crowd threw their garments down on the road, giving him a royal welcome. Others cut branches from the trees and threw them down as a welcome mat. Crowds went ahead and crowds followed, all of them calling out, “Hosanna to David’s son!” “Blessed is he who comes in God’s name!...” As he made his entrance into Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken. Unnerved, people were asking, “What’s going on here? Who is this?” The parade crowd answered, “This is the prophet Jesus, the one from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus went straight to the Temple and threw out everyone who had set up shop, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of loan sharks and the stalls of dove merchants. He quoted this text: My house was designated a house of prayer; You have made it a hangout for thieves.

Now there was room for the blind and crippled to get in. They came to Jesus and he healed them.

When the religious leaders saw the outrageous things he was doing, and heard all the children running and shouting through the Temple, “Hosanna to David’s Son!” they were up in arms and took him to task. “Do you hear what these children are saying?”

Jesus said, “Yes, I hear them. And haven’t you read in God’s Word, ‘From the mouths of children and babies I’ll furnish a place of praise’?”

Fed up, Jesus turned on his heel and left them and the city for Bethany, where he spent the night.

Early the next morning Jesus was returning to the city. He was hungry.

More on Styles of Relating

More on The Final Week of Jesus

More on this "Wild, dangerous, unfettered and free" Son of God...

Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge

Beautiful Outlaw Video Series by John Eldredge

The Jesus I Never Knew by Phillip Yancey

The Great Omission by Dallas Wilard

Mediations on the Parables of Jesus, by Thomas Keating

Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Comedy, Tragedy and Fairytale by Frederick Buechner

21 min