Ronnie McBrayer

Francis de Sales said, "I would rather answer to God for being too lenient than for being too severe. Is not God all love? Is not God the Father the Father of all mercy? Isn’t God the Son as a gentle Lamb? Is not God the Holy Spirit like a Dove? Can we act any different than God? It is a terrible thought, but one that is true: We love God as much as the person we love the least."

"I am the true vine," Jesus said. "Abide with me." My friends in recovery really get this concept of abiding - finding home on the way. It’s captured in Step 11 : “Seek - through prayer and meditation - to improve your conscious contact with God as you understand God, praying only for knowledge of God’s will and the power to carry it out.” Staying connected is how you stay on the wagon. Constant,...

“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” Only card-carrying Christians get to go to heaven? Not so fast. This statement has nothing to do with religion. Nothing whatsoever, for Jesus did not come to start a new religion.  “Are you saying it does’t matter what people believe?” I didn’t say that. “Are you saying that all religions are the same?” I did...

"I am the resurrection and the life." - Jesus in John 11:25 Martha says to Jesus as he arrives too late to save her brother Lazarus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died." Mary says the same thing to Jesus.  Jesus had let them down. More so, God’s chosen one had let them down. Thus, God had let them down. But who has not been disappointed with God? Who hasn’t wanted - a...

Maybe the cowboy is the consummate American. Driven. All in with big, thunderous, stampeding noise. Armed to the teeth, fighting, pushing, and eating everything from the head to the hoof on the promise of big payday. “I am the good cowboy.” Jesus wouldn’t say that. He couldn’t! Not in the stereotypical way. But he could say, “I am the good shepherd.” The cowboy consumes. The shepherd cares. The co...

Jesus said, "I am the gate." He didn’t speak of religion, sacraments, denominations, rituals, or even the Bible . He spoke of himself.  If we take Jesus at his word, and if he is the living in-the-flesh representation of all that God is,  then Jesus is enough. I am not anti-religion or anti-establishment, per se. I am simply pro-Jesus, and believe that our universe of faith revolves around the liv...

Consider the sun: It protects us, orders out time and the seasons. It provides what is needed for plants to grow, thus giving us air to breathe. It warms the oceans and keep the water currents moving. It is the basis of all agriculture. It disinfects our water. It provides renewable, abundant energy for life. It creates the gravity that keeps us grounded. When Jesus says, “I am the light of the wo...

In this second part of the Ronnie's series on the gospel of John and Jesus' "I Am" statements, he turns to John 6 where Jesus says, "I Am the bread of life." Jesus offered his listeners, and his readers today, a fulfillment beyond their shallow or misguided desires.

This is an introduction to the Gospel of John, Part 1 of 8: Of all the books in the New Testament, the Gospel of John sits unto itself. There is nothing else quite like it in the Christian Scriptures. Its most unique feature is its focus. From John 6:29: “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.” AndvJohn 20:31: This book was written “so that you may continue to be...

This is my motivational talk for 2026. “You cannot possibly make a difference,” will be whispered into your year, shouted at your face, and felt within the deepest part of your heart this coming year. But you can make a difference for "one little starfish." For one little classroom of school children; in one little corner of the community; with your one and only family. Lasting differences are har...

In A World Where You Can Be Anything...Be Kind. This is Ronnie's take on the Bethlehem Innkeeper, with assistance from Frederick Buechner.

In this conclusion to Ronnie's 9-Part series on The Serenity Prayer, the last word is happiness. "So that I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with him forever and ever in the next:" Is the last line of the prayer. And this prayer shows us this way, if we are willing to surrender our wills to that Power greater than ourselves.

"I really thought I had come up with something a few years ago. But it wasn’t me. It wasn’t John Lennon either, no matter what you read on the Internet. It was Brazilian writer and journalist Fernando Sabino: 'Everything will be okay in the end; and if it’s not okay, then it’s not the end.' "This is my faith. This is my hope. This is what keeps me going, keeps me believing, keeps me looking toward...

Here is the world as it is: There are those tortured by evil and injustice; there are those desperate for help and answers; there are those without the will or ability to be a part of any solution; and there are those who callously point their fingers, write the suffering and desperate masses off, and go on their way. It may not be the world I would have created, but we have no other choice but to...

Part 6: "...Accepting hardship as the pathway to peace..."  If I could take you back to the moment you first drew air into your lungs; if I could take you back to the swaddled little baby that you were and reveal to you all that was going to happen to you over the decades to come, you would have cried - cried that you had been born - and cried to return to the warmth and safety of the womb.  But t...

The Serenity Prayer, Part 5: "'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.' But the prayer continues. The next line: 'Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time.' There is acceptance - you can’t change some things. There is courage - you must change the things you can. There is wisdom -...

Part 4 of Ronnie's series on The Serenity Prayer: "God grant me wisdom." Ronnie says, "Optimism is a false hope. Pessimism is as suicide pact. Idealism is a fool’s errand - as a recovering idealist, it pains me to say that. This world can only be navigated by realists; realists who feel the strain, experience the tension of keeping balance, and beg God for wisdom." 

In this third installment of Ronnie's current series, he picks up the theme of courage: "Having the courage to change the things we can." Ronnie says, "We all have internal insecurities, negative voices that shout out from the basement of our hearts to keep us afraid. We all have challenges that seem insurmountable - impossible to overcome. And our fears won't go away. They must be faced, for cour...

"Oh, God, grant me there serenity to accept the things I cannot change." And by acceptance, what is meant? It means you cannot deny reality. You cannot successfully resist the facts of your situation. Take people and things as they are. The longer you resist reality, frankly, the more desperate you will become. The longer you struggle and fight against what cannot be overcome or modified, the more...

Reinhold Niebuhr, a legendary ethicist and theologian from the previous century, may have produced the greatest single slice of spirituality in the history of North America when he penned a profound prayer in 1932. That prayer begins: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.” This is the first t...

"Why would someone wish or ask to be baptized in the first place? Well, that depends upon who you ask. And then, of course, there is the question of how we baptize properly? Do we pour, sprinkle, immerse, dip, spray, squirt, squeegee, soak or flush? Again, it depends upon who you ask. Modes and means of baptism are as diverse as Christianity itself. But we can’t ignore the fact that it is an essen...

"So, it's true after all: God is out to get you! Just like the sandwich-board evangelists have always said...But it’s not with the closed fist of anger and punishment. God arrives with an invitation in hand. God invites you to the party. God welcomes you to the table. At least that’s the kind of God revealed to us by Jesus. I don’t know where we got this other God who is so hateful and unkind; thi...

"Have you ever seen a peacock? It's a strutting parade. He's popping his feathers...all territorial...marking their boundaries. He makes noise, trying to get attention. And they might shine, but he mostly makes a mess and disturbs the neighbors. A peacock is so noisy because it can’t sing. It shows off its feathers because it has no other redeeming qualities. A peacock struts because it can’t fly....

"If I lose hope – I have lost the very vitality of my present life and given up on the possibility of a more loving future – for myself, and all who will come after me. Without hope, I can only leave my children, my grandchildren, and their children nothing but despair. This I refuse to do. I cannot allow myself to surrender to cynicism; I refuse to accept the status quo as the best we can do; I s...

“How can we regain the ability to form Christian disciples who will actually be guided by Jesus, instead of politics or economics or the fashionable? Can we infuse those in our congregations with such courage, that they will be able stand for what is right and true and virtuous - even if it means losing what have been long-lasting relationships; even if it means losing status or favor with others?...