Throughout the day often times I may call out the name Jesus
and I am met with, “What has He got to do with it? Or leave His name out of this.” And my stock
answer is, “As long as I have breath in this body I shall proclaim Him and His
name, it is the best name to call upon. I am His and He is mine. His name is
above all other names. He took my sins and iniquities away by being my personal
sacrifice. And most of all I LOVE Him. So…to those who do not understand I pray
that the scales on your eyes are melted away, your heart is opened and your mouth
too can call upon on Him regularly. But most of all I pray that you too would
accept Him as Your personal Savior and will call upon Him daily. “As surely as
I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before me; every tongue will
acknowledge God.”” Romans 14:11 NIV
Senseless killingsm Heeding Warnings, The Box, The war is on, Friendship Montag,Without Reverence, Blessings in Foreign Form, Self-limiting, Reverand Donna Anderson, Kevin Leal, Judas, betrayal, forgiven, abortion, right to life, Chris Fabry Live, Moody Radio, Sodom, Gomorrah, rainbow Every day is a day of Thanksgiving, underwear,Jet, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Russell Davis, stand your ground.
Followers
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
A Bond Beyond - Part I
Yesterday I was talking with a friend about the connection
between parent and child. The conversation was in reference to a couple of my
life situations which has caused me to believe that the bond between a mother
and her child extends way past what most think. I truly have faith in this
stance and have lived this bond that can be very powerful. About a year and
half after my teen daughter had made her earthly transition I had ran into a
former church member, H. Johnson, Sr. I was on my way home from work to a new
residence that I had relocated to about a half a year earlier. We stop and had a
short conversation about how his son, H. Johnson, Jr. and how him and his wife
would ask their son where my daughter is. He would always state that she is an
angel in heaven. When we attended the same church in the western suburbs both mister
and missus sang in the church choir. Many times my daughter would watch their 2
year old son during the services when they sang in the choir loft. We exchanged
pleasantries and telephone numbers.
About a week after our meeting on the street I received a
call from P. Johnson, the wife of man I’d spoke with the week before. It was
late in the evening and she was frantic because her son H. Johnson, Jr. had
fallen and hit is head very hard. Her son was in the hospital unconscious. She
requested me to offer up prayers on behalf of her only child. I told her of
course and immediately I started to pray for her son after we had hung up from
our conversation. I do no recall the exact prayer but the ending of the prayer
I remember distinctly. I said, “My
daughter’s name, I know that you are here with me but H. Jr. is in the
hospital and I need for you to go to him.” For within my spirit I knew that our
connection was eternal and will last until I meet her again, when she greets me
in spirit, when I’ve made my transition.
The next day the missis called me with wonderful news. Her
son was doing well and was conscious. We praised the Lord and then I told her
about my prayer. She then told me something that confirmed that bond beyond. The
missis told me that after she talked with me she had gone home to get a little
rest and her very good friend stayed at the hospital with her son. When she returned
later her friend told her that after she’d left she saw an angel descend on her
son covering his body. We rejoiced in the Lord for no one, not anyone else,
could have answered our prayer to spare her son’s then 4 year old life but our
mighty Father God. This confirmed to me that although my baby is physically
absent her spirit lives along with me as a….bond beyond… Hallelujah! “For though I am absent from you in body,
I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and
how firm your faith in Christ is.” Colossians
2:5 NIV
Monday, January 28, 2013
Spoiled ≠ to Selfish
After one of the most amazing church services yesterday my
sister in Christ daughter, Vanessa F. and I were having a conversation that for
some reason we got on the topic of selfishness. As the conversation progressed
I spoke of two instances relating to this topic. The first example was of what
I consider pure selfishness of an adult; let’s say an adult friend who later
proved to be an acquaintance (but that’s another topic for discussion at a
later date). The other instance was about my personal thought on raising a
non-spoiled child.
Let’s start with the adult with the selfish tendency. This
woman had received a bottle of expensive champagne from her brother, who had
received a settlement from litigation. She indicated to me that she had sat
down and drank the whole bottle by herself. She didn’t even share it with her
husband. Granted this was her bottle of libation and she was quite within her
own decision to have drunk the whole bottle. Now at this time, I’m thinking we
are friends, I pointed out how self-centered I thought her actions had been.
“But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish
ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth.” James 3:14 NIV I explained that had that
been me I would have called all my close friends over to share in drinking the
beverage. And even if each one of us only got a thimble of the wine, I would
have found joy in sharing it with others in celebration of my sibling’s
windfall. She purely didn’t get it and wasn’t too long later that she proved
herself not to be a friend.
The next instance was when my daughter died, nearly 20 years
ago. After her death, what is now called BFF Kyana C., told me that she will
miss her and she knows that she will NEVER ever have another friend like her.
This is one of the defining moments when a mother knows that she has raised her
offspring to the best of their human ability, not perfect but RAISED with
standards and integrity. Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace,
for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the Lord, saying, “‘The Lord is witness
between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.’”
Then David left, and Jonathan went back to the town.” Samuel 20:42 NIV This conversation took me back further to
when I was raising my daughter as a single child (as I too was also from a
single child) family. I instilled within her the premise that there isn’t
anything wrong with being spoiled but the problem that I have is with being
selfish. To me spoiled means bringing the child up with what they need and
supplying them with on occasion some wants or desires. I believe this is
especially important in raising a girl child. For if the young woman is
instilled with worth and is not impressed with little bobbles then when the
hood rats come sniffing around the young woman she will not be impressed with
dates of small gifts, movies and chicken n’ waffle dinners. Ohhhh, yes I went
there. And this is what I call training up a child which proved exemplary in
the comment that was made by my daughter’s BFF. . “For the commandment is a
lamp, and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of
life…” Proverbs 6:23 NASB
Parents I implore you to RAISE your children, set
boundaries, and yes, be that bad guy and say NO when necessary. You have been
lent or let’s say entrusted with this precious being from the cradle to the
grave. This means leading by example,
sending thank-you notes (via USPS and not email) for gifts you’ve received, setting
boundaries, and recognizing true friendship. For in the case of being thankful for a gift
received, the giver took time to select and presented you with the gift so it
is appropriate to let them know suitably that you indeed are appreciative. And
sharing or even giving away precious items will bring you joy beyond compare.
Don’t take my word for it, try it. Nevertheless we are all accountable for our
actions to a greater authority and I for one want to hear, “Good job, my
faithful servant”, how about you? “‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy
in a very small matter...’ Luke 19:17 NIV
I am thankful that I RAISED my child and that I know the difference between
spoiled (within reasonable parameters) and selfishness. Do you?
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Building Friends
Our humanistic needs to continually keep ourselves busy and
always in motion has in some sense made us less…hummm humanistic. Social media
has caused our youth and our young adults to digress lacking real interpersonal
communication. Technology is good but when it hinders real communication I’d
say there has to be a balance.
To our youth and young adults I say think, are the relationships you are building temporary or long lasting? Are the ones that are with you physically of importance? Then treat them as such. Place technology way and get to know the person or persons who you are within touchable closeness. Use the technology to build on established relationships not frivolous counts of I have an outrageous count of non-real friends.
I’ve noticed on the streets groups of young people, clearly
together for some reason, but each person has their telephone out intrigued with
texting, gaming, or wireless conversations. Even at restaurants and other
gathering places individuals have their phones on the table, texting others, or
engrossed in conversation via technology and not with the person they are physical
with. At one time this is where “real” friendships bloomed. When people use
electronic media in front of the people whom they are in physically vicinity
with (except in emergencies) they are saying, “You are not important.” We seem to have a generation of individuals that
do not value inter-personal communications.
I pray it is not so. For as long as there have been humans
we have craved real relationships, built on mutual admiration, physical
connection, with limited proximity constraints. I’m not saying that people cannot
retain already build relationships via technology. Today a friend is loosely
termed as how many people I can get to friend me on the social network sites.
Are all these people really your friends? Most will agree they are not. Those
that you hold close are the ones you see on a regular basis, or those that
you’ve established years ago that you now catch up with regularly (with handwritten notes, emails, telephone calls,
or even texts), and those that you can call in the middle of the night and
trust in fact that they will answer your call.
To our youth and young adults I say think, are the relationships you are building temporary or long lasting? Are the ones that are with you physically of importance? Then treat them as such. Place technology way and get to know the person or persons who you are within touchable closeness. Use the technology to build on established relationships not frivolous counts of I have an outrageous count of non-real friends.
Monday, January 14, 2013
21st Century lynching?
Earlier
this month I read an article in Jet magazine with an internal title of “Standing
our Ground” and the cover story title of “Is Your Child Next?” and on
completion of my reading all I could think about is the actions taken that
caused this young man’s death is 21st century justification for lynching. Lord
please, say it isn’t so! The teen in this article’s name is Jordan Russell
Davis. According to the writing Jordan was, “a promising 17-year-old high
school junior who had the hopes of being a Marine.” Unfortunately he met the likes of an adult that was adamantly
objective to the fact that he thought that Jordan and his friends music was too
loud, in his opinion. They refused to comply with his request to turn the music
down and he then shot into the car 8/9 times. He then left the scene and on the
next day when he found out that someone died from his actions he drove to his home
170 miles away. Apparently the gunman had just left his son’s wedding to
purchase wine when he encountered the teen and their abrasive volume of music.
This
story has so many similarities reminiscent of the Trayvon Martin case. The
victims where young vibrant teens with loving parent who cared for both of
them. They were not gang bangers or thugs in dress or action. Both cases
happened in the State of Florida which has its wonderful law of “Stand Your
Ground”. The writing also notes and references the National Bureaus of Economic
Research had uncovered a number of 500 to 700 increases in homicides in the
states (20) which have Shoot First laws. In addition that the Stand Your Ground
Law most often favors Whites. And in about 1/3 of the cases where the shooter
is White and the victim is Black the homicides are judged justifiable.
Personally
I’m appalled that these incidents, but unfortunately I am not surprised. I see
this as the rational of legalized lynching no different from the 1950’s when Emmett
Till was beaten and shot for supposedly speaking to and whistling at a white
woman. The legacy continues of being young, black, and doing something that
apparently is offensive to a White person. The offensive act is not illegal but
the person just doesn’t like the behavior of the Black youth. The actions of
the gun welding White men is in my opinion a rational of 21st
century lynching alive and well in the USA. When is it going to stop? What can
WE going to stop this? Law makers get into action on these matters; citizens
get incest with officials and design active organized committees to find
solutions to stop this blatant act of new aged justifiable lynching. (*Note: Jet Magazine, January 14, 2013,
pages 16-23, written by Denene Millner)
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