Betrayed by a Friend?

   Have you ever been betrayed by a person you thought was your friend? That’s a hard pill to swallow. We trust our friends with our confidential information, fears, weaknesses and sometimes we tell them our intimate thoughts. It really hurts when a person misuses that trust and reveals your secrets or acts against you.
 

That’s what Jesus referred to in Luke 22:21. At the Last supper he said someone eating with Him would betray him. Someone in his inner circle would turn Him in to the authorities. 

   Everyone at the table asked, “Lord is it I?” including Judas, who knew the answer to the question.

   As believers we must be careful not to betray our Lord. We do that when we claim to be His followers, but live just the opposite. When we try to sleep with the hounds and run with the rabbits we betray him. When we run with devil all week and then sit among the Saints on Sunday, He says, “Someone who is praising me with their lips and shouting hallelujah, is betraying me right now?”

  Every one is the church asks the question, “Lord is it I?”

  Only Judas knows the answer.

Choosing to Suffer

To suffer is to endure hardship, deprivation, pain or loss. Suffering connotes sacrifice, struggle and even death. Yet, even with its gloomy forecast we willingly endure suffering if there is hope that our suffering will lead to a positive end.

A mother faces nine months of suffering buoyed by the joyful thought of bringing new life.
...
Our people suffered as slaves, but they always hoped that the children would be free.

Athletes endure the pain of training encouraged by the hope of victory!

In Luke 22 Jesus told his disciples that his suffering was about to begin. It would be painful, humiliating and deadly, but its end would usher in a new day.

Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and even certain members of our families have lived out the scene, deciding to suffer to bring about a better end.

Verses 14-15 show us Jesus preparing to suffer the cross so that all believers could get the crown of life. He was was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquity..

 

And with His stripes we are healed.

Sleep on it!

Sometimes God shows you some things about your family, your job, your friends or even about your future. Sometimes we don’t like what we see and wish we didn’t know. So what do you do with it?  Sometimes we sleep on it and get up the next day and go about our business and put it in God’s hands.

In Daniel 8 God showed Daniel many things that were troubling. He saw the future and it bothered him. He saw trouble ahead. He also saw victory down the road, but not before a lot of suffering.  At verses 26-27, the last verses of the chapter, Daniel was so sick about what he knew was coming that he fainted.  However, the same verse says, “afterward” he arose and went about “the king’s business” and kept what he felt and knew to himself, astonished, still not understanding, but trusting God.

This verse could very well be for you. If you have been shown some things that are about to happen and you have tried your best, but failed to give warnings or prevent them.  Don’t worry yourself.  Put it in God’s hands, then get a good night’s sleep.

Tomorrow arise and refreshed and ready to do the King’s business.

We have a Pope!

  The Catholic Church named Jorge Bergoglio as its 266^th Pope this week. His record of service demonstrates a passion for the poor and to live the simple life of a man dedicated to God’s service.

   That impresses me.

   When it is all said and done the pope is a pastor. He just happens to pastor more than a billion people. As a pastor his interests are focused primarily on building the kingdom of God.

   Sometimes pastors forget that become absorbed in the accumulation of creature comforts, wealth and fame. Pastors who wear flashy jewelry, live in luxury mansions, and drive expensive automobiles soon become distant from the passion that drives them to save the people on behalf of the Lord.

   The new Pope has lived a  sober and austere lifestyle. He travels on the underground, the bus, when he traveled to Rome he flew economy class.

    He probably won’t see much of that anymore. He won’t get to ride the bus or fly economy class because he is the Pope, but all of his life is interest has been with the poor and downtrodden.

    At 76 years of age he’s probably not going to change, because his address and title has changed.

    When Jesus began his ministry he announced a life of poverty where even “foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man hath no place to lay his head.”

    In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

    To the extent that he remembers the poor and reaches out to the disenfranchised in the name of our Lord, I welcome the Pope and pray God’s blessings upon him.

The New Pope emerges



http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/03/video-pope-francis-elected-cardinal.html

Kate didn't say she would obey

They said what millions of others said, but she didn't say it all.

The world watched the wedding of Prince William and Kate in England. The world saw the pageantry and fanfare, the beautiful dress and the impressive celebration that followed. It was a ritual followed in England for hundreds of years. It has been replicated in smaller events around the world for centuries as well.

However, the vows of the couple were modified a bit. The vows that the couple took at first sounded traditional Old English, but there was one significant twist.

Did you catch it?

William promised to love Kate in sickness and in health, for richer and poorer until death. It is the same vow that has been shared by millions for centuries, including the funny sounding phrase "I plight thee my troth" which means I pledge to be faithful to you and you alone.

Kate gave the feminine response in her vows with the exception that she did not promise to obey her husband, only to honor and respect him. Hmmmm!

It was a beautiful ceremony filled with great pageantry. The price tag was in the millions, all paid for by the English government.

Jesus said in John 19:5-6, "..For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

It was a by the book wedding, except that the couple apparently agreed that Kate could ignore 1 Peter 3:1 "Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands..."

And now the fairy tale begins!

Christ wrote with one finger, did He have an Ipad?

Does anybody write in cursive writing anymore? Has email and texting killed a centuries old communication method?

I was surprised to learn a few years ago that cursive writing is no longer emphasized in many schools. Gone are the days when handwriting was considered a necessary skill. Then teachers took the time to guide a students hand to help them learn to form the letters as they placed their thoughts on paper using pen and ink.

Pen and ink? What's that? Many in this generation have never seen a fountain pen; what's it used for? Many hotels no longer feature writing paper and pens in desk drawers. Who writes when they can text.

Cursive writing is key to the soul. Handwriting experts agree that our handwriting provides keys to who we are, how we feel and what we think. These keys are hidden in the shapes, loops and curves of our letters. Just as a shaky or warbly signature indicates an elderly or sickly person, cursive writing gives clues, too.

The cursive writing gives love letters and diary entries a feel that typing or script cannot do. A typed or printed letter is not as revealing as a cursive written letter. The former is personal, the latter is more formal and businesslike.

Today there is email, texting and tweeting. It's faster and often written without thought and is often oblivious to syntax or spelling. Cursive requires a slower contemplative pace. Today's generation says cursive is too slow.

Today, it's used mostly for signatures, but digital signatures are now legal. Soon signatures will be out, too.

If cursive is not taught, how will this generation read historical documents, or personal notes?

In the past they wrote because they could not type or text. It could be that handwriting as we know it will soon fade away.

God wrote the 10 commandments with his own finger. Jesus wrote in Hebrew. John 8:6 "...Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not."

Today, they would have used an Ipad; they can write on it with one finger. Maybe they would have used a smart phone and used two thumbs.

The death of cursive writing seems such a loss!

The storm is passed, but the sandbags remain

The weatherman said it would rain and to prepare for a storm. When it didn't come Tuesday as predicted, many settled in thinking the storm had passed this area.

We were good scouts so we tried to prepare. We pulled out lanterns and candles in preparation for a flood. The flashlights had batteries and we thought we were ready.

Then it came. The rain poured and the water rose just as the weather forecast foretold.

The wind began to blow and the trees began to sway and bend. We heard hail plummet our roof. We watched the lights flicker so we anticipated an outage. We fully charged our cell phones and IPads, just in case.

We waited and the rain poured.

Around 1 am. there was a flash of lightning and a thunder clap that rumbled across the sky. It wasn't just in Monroe it was stretching across the south. The winds howled and power breakers tripped. The power of the blast popped the caps off of detectors and alarms and sirens began to scream into the watery black night.

The screeching alarm was an erie battery generated howl like that of sick crane yelling into emptiness. No one heard it, if they did, they ignored it. The alarm screamed as we scrambled to follow the smell of singhed wires. We moved from room to room but could not find it. We searched, but that search was interrupted by another crack of lightning and a roll of thunder.

I ran from the front to the back to track down the burning smell then slipped. I couldn't catch myself. My feet went into the air and when I came down there was a splash and a terrible pain in my foot. I rolled over and found
myself completely wet.

The water had begun to gurgle through the floor, slithering like a snake on a meandering path through first one room then another, soaking carpet and leaving a watery trail as it hungrily sought something dry to devour.

I struggled to stand and heard squish of water soaked carpet and watched as more water lapped at our front door.

To slow the flow I put on a rain poncho and some heavy boots and waded through calf deep water to a stack of sandbags that we stored away in case of emergencies. We had them decoratively arranged around the trunks of trees in the yard so that we could get to them quickly in case of high water.

The sandbags were cute under the trees, but they weighed about fifty pounds each. I started moving them, two at a time, in the driving rain. Joslyn was outside, too; moving sandbags and stacking them along the front of the house as the water continued to rise, lapping at the front door, seeping into a bedroom soaking the floors of the pantry.

As determined as the water was to enter, we were equally determined to keep it out. Using a soil barrel I was able to move as many as five bags at a time. Pulling 250 pounds of sandbags through the water was a slow task. I dragged them to the front, Joslyn placed them. She was real trooper.

We covered the entire front of the house with our "decorative" sandbags; they slowed the water.

My sons and daughter-in-law showed up to help, but we had just about used up all of the bags. They assumed the city had bags out and they drove Kita's truck through tire high water to the sanitation department only to learn that there was no sandbags or crews to help.

DeSiard street was like a river. The beautiful new homes built in the DeSiard Street area were water soaked. A car with a woman and child stalled, a wrecker came to her rescue.

Joslyn began calling the elderly in our neighborhood. We could see the water rising at their homes, too. They had no sandbags. The phones were down, but she kept trying. We were prepared to help, but it didn't happen.

We sat in our living room and looked out of the window. As quick as the rains came, they were gone. Not a single drop.
The waters that were crawling over the top of our sandbags began to recede quickly. We could see the ground.

We'll be ripping up some carpet, mopping up some water and throwing out some things that were water soaked, but all in all it wasn't that bad.

As I looked at my water soaked carpet, wet clothes, and the water sitting in my flooor, I thought of a bible passage that says in
Psalms 107:29-31, " He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

At 4 a.m. the weather forecast flashed on my IPad: 64 degrees and clear skies.

When the sun rises, the clean up will begin and maybe that alarm will finally stop yelping.

You can TIVO your movies but not your life

If you could Tivo your life, what parts are worth seeing again?

There is a wonderful gadget on my television, it's called a TIVO. It records movies, news and other broadcast to insure that I don't miss them. I can anticipate upcoming broadcasts and often get replays of old broadcasts, all with a touch of the remote.

What if life offered a TIVO experience. It would be interesting to see the replay of all the episodes that happened in my life that I missed while I was doing what I thought was important.

I probably missed a lot.

Fast Forward. There's a life coming up, I don't want to miss any of it. Too bad I can't TIVO it and cut out all of the commercials and obligations: reading, studying, praying, serving, earning a living and all of that mandatory stuff. It would be really neat if I could just get down to the part where I will be blessed. If I fall, I can skip to the part where I get up on the TIVO edition of my life.

That would be cool! Skip what don't like and zero in on the good parts! Is there anybody out there that sells one of these life TIVO's?

Unfortunately TIVO's only work on television sets, not human lives. We have to live one day at a time, commercials and all. We can't skip the tears and go straight to the smiles; neither can we skip the pain and jump to the joy. We must live each day..one day at a time.

There is a bible scripture in Psalm 118:24 that says, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Today is the next installment of your lifetime episode...No Tivo!

Your Movie's on!

Jailed for Easter Sunday worship?

What if they said you couldn't worship on Easter Sunday? Would you go to jail to do it?

While there are 1.2 billion Christians in the world who are celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Easter, there are millions who do so at the risk of their lives.

In Beijing China the Shouwang Church is growing, but those who worship do so at the risk of their lives. Religious freedom is nonexistent there. They bought a church and the government shut it down.They rented sites, the government shut that down, too. They tried to meet outside and the government arrested them all. The Chinese government won't allow it and has cracked down during this Holy Easter week.

Of course our government won't say anything because the Chinese own our debt and most of our major factories use the country's cheap labor to build everything from automobiles to cell phones.

Those who want to worship Christ must do so under threat of jail or possibly death, not just in China but all over the Middle East. Christians are being jailed and murdered in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and many other places in the world.

Yet, they continue to meet and worship, not with the hope of prosperity like many in America. They worship Christ for who He is, the risen savior. They pledge themselves to serve Him, even if it means death.

A bible passage says in Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake."

The irony is that many in the free world, who do not face the threat of death or persecution, won't celebrate Easter in worship today, but will wash their cars instead.

Our cell phones are watching us and God is too!

Your cellphone is watching you, recording your every step, in minute detail! With the right app, it can draw a step by step map of everywhere you have been for the last year.

That's the revelation that has shocked the world this week as many learned that IPhones, Ipads and Android phones store GPS location data about user movements, even when the phone is off;for as far back as a year.

That revelation instantly sparked concerns from cheating spouses, criminals studying targets, and anyone else involved in mischievous activities. Others have found it rather amusing to retrace their steps on a map over the last year. Nearly everyone is upset that they were not told that they were being watched.

Good or bad, it all means Orson Wells' projection of a "Big Brother" state where the government knows your every movement is getting closer..or has arrived.

Of course, God has been tracking our movements since creation. His goes beyond just our movements: He tracks the words we say and the thoughts that we think and He takes note of them.

It's not a secret, the fact that He watches and knows is written clearly in his life manual that he developed for all of us to read.

There is a bible passage in Psalm 139:1-5 that says, "O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me."

God knows our every step and thought, whether we own a cell phone or not.

The good thing is that He sees us when we stumble and helps us up again. He sees us cry and wipes our eyes.

He sees us sin, too and is disturbed by our actions.

He sees us as we are every second and minute of the day.. and loves us anyway!

Have you ever had "Whupping?" Did mom go to jail?

Have you ever received a whupping with an extension cord?

We don't say, "Whipping" because that conjures slavery flashbacks, but whupping reflects on punishments received with the purpose of helping us as we matured.

Our memories of whuppings differ.

Many who have lived a few years can remember whuppings with extension chords, switches, fan belts and razor straps. It was just an understood rule that the consequence of breaking a family rule could mean stiff punishment using one the above or a long of others that could also be added to the list.

It's cultural thing, I guess, because very few on our side of the track called whuppings child abuse, even if was with an extension cord.

Last week a Monroe woman, Stephanie Banks, was arrested for cruelty to a juvenile after she gave her teen aged daughter a whupping with an extension cord. It appears that the daughter ignored her mother's rule about staying out late. When the daughter came home around near midnight to their 103 Georgia Street home, she met the extension cord.

In response, the daughter called the police, and the mother was arrested after police saw marks on the daughter's arm and chest. There is no doubt that sparks will fly on Georgia Street once mama gets out of jail, especially after mom had to post a $3000 bail, will lose work time going to court, and may pay fines of several hundreds of dollars.

Suddenly, mama becomes the victim and the disobedient daughter gets to watch the woman who birthed her carried off to jail. There is no punishment available for the disobedient teen.

Many in our culture have our definitions of cruelty; extension cord whuppings of tough, defiant, children rarely make the list. What is cruelty? Burning a child with a cigarette, nearly smothering a child with a plastic bag, holding a child's head in a toilet and forcing them to drink are examples of some real cases that went overboard. These methods are called cruelty even on our side of the track.

Laws have changed, but our culture has been slow to adopt the changes. We still follow what we learned in church when we heard the preacher read, Proverbs 13:24 that says, "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."

In our culture it is still believed that parents who love their children must chastise them. If talking to them and taking away privileges don't work, then they use methods that are proven to work.

Many are having difficulties understanding why parents are punished for cruelty for punishing unruly children, but are also punished for neglect if they don't discipline them.

Many have chosen to err or the side of correcting wayward children, even if that means going to jail. Many have heard mama say, "I brought you into this world, I will take you out." -It was a threat made in love, that didn't mean mama would kill her children, but that she would do anything necessary to keep them safe and alive, even if she had to use tough methods that might land her in jail.

One part of our cultural practice has changed however; modern switch and extension cord mamas are learning new techniques to side step the law. It gets tough to prove what mama did if there are no marks. So, the modern extension cord mama has learned to --make sure the marks don't show.

Is today, it's OK to sin day?

Is there a day of the year that a person can live wild, loose and crazy and God will look the other way? Some believe today is that day, it's called Fat Tuesday or in French Mardi Gras.

As the Catholic church spread around the world it encountered many wild customs that were traditional. Some included drunkenness, sexual orgies, nakedness, provocative dancing, costumes, masks, and revelrie, all performed in the open.

No matter how much the church spoke against it, the people did it anyway, so the church decided to try to put limits on all the wickedness it encountered. To remain blessed, believers were allowed to party wildly as long as they waited until after the Christmas Holidays and stopped before Ash Wednesday which begins the 40 days of lent leading up to Easter.

So, people who live in areas with a heavy Catholic influence celebrate Mardi Gras-They party hard from January up to Ash Wednesday (which changes each year). They cry out Laissez les bons temps rouler" which is French for Let the good times roll. Very few church leaders speak against it because "he who speaks against a party OK'd by God must be of the devil."

Today, is the last day before the party stops. It's called Fat Tuesday -There will be more parties, drinking, public lewdness and sexual activity, homosexual and lesbian displays, and public nakedness than the eye can see. Police officers will look the other way, unless someone is physically threatened.

Church leaders won't speak against it, in fact if you look in the crowd many church leaders, pastors, deacons and otherwise holy folks will be laughing, dancing and indirectly endorsing the activities with their presence.

Tomorrow it all stops. Catholic churches will be filled with believers who will attend special worships to get ashes placed on their foreheads. For the next 40 days they will give up something they like, such as coffee, colas, or sweets to do penance for all of the sins they knowingly committed during Mardi Gras.

After that, they will return to their regular lives, frowning on public drunkenness, homosexuality, wild parties, lewdness and ungodly activities. Until next year, anyone who does most of things that are allowed today will be arrested for disgraceful displays of unlawful activity.

Those who are not Catholic or not Christians at all, watch at a distance and probably think God is a conflicting deity. He condemns wild living most of the time, but then gives everyone a free one-day pass, if they give up something for 40 days.

Somehow, I find it difficult to picture Jesus, the apostles, or the millions of martyrs who died for the kingdom of God participating in, endorsing or supporting what appears to be a mockery of the faith.

Over the shouts of the Mardi Gras crowds I hear Galatians 6:7-8 which says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

A free chicken sandwich did the trick

A free chicken sandwich did the trick.

This week a new branch of Chick-fil-A opened in our city. To promote the opening the branch went to many businesses and with bags of chicken sandwiches, fruit, sauces, potato nuggets and other assortments. Our staff waited for the catch; nothing is free without a catch, we said. To our surprise the company wanted to welcome us to their new branch and provided piping hot samples for everyone.

The samples were great. They were tasty and filling. They also achieved their purpose because the next day I was in line at the restaurant to get more. So were hundreds of others; the line wrapped around the corner.

What a way to promote a new business...give away samples to hundreds, order to reach thousands.

Doesn't God do that, too? It seems that every now and then God gives us a little sample of the heavenly life while we are here on earth. Those are the times that the weather is perfect, your health is fine, you are surrounded by friends with great food and entertainment. Those are the times when you pinch yourself and say, "It's almost like heaven."

Days like that are God's appetizers. When we get finger food blessings, its a precursor to larger blessings that will come. The appetizers make us want more; and there are millions just like us who want the same thing.

There is a bible passage in Psalm 34:8 that says, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him."

I tasted the chicken sandwich and it drew me to the Chick-Fil-A front door. I've had a taste of God's blessing, too; it draws me closer to the front door of heaven!

Vick is using his second chance, I'm on my 99th chance

Second chances. Every one deserves a chance to redeem themselves; some use it well, others may need a third chance.

Personally, I think I'm on chance number 99.

Everyone deserves as least one second chance.


A great example of that is the second chance given to football legend Michael Vick. This week President Obama has voiced his approval of the second chance Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Vick is getting this season, just a year removed from serving 18 months in federal prison on charges related to a dog fighting ring.


President Peter Mr. Obama recently called Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie and praised the team for giving Vick a chance. Mr. Obama said, so many people who serve time never get a fair second chance, "it's never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail."

The President said he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall


Everyone needs a second chance, even a third and fourth chance.


We mess up and do stupid things frequently. We make so many errors in life that second chances are never enough.


Jesus said we should have an attitude of forgiveness that goes beyond the ordinary. In Luke 17:4 he said, "And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."


That's a lot of forgiveness! It's something that I certainly desire on the receiving end, but always fall short of on the giving end.

It was such an astounding idea that his disciples in the next verse said.


"Lord, increase our faith."


Ditto.

First there was Anglish, then Ebonics, now Chinglish!

You've heard of Ebonics and Anglish, two words that represent the way we have butchered the English language to make it fit our modern format. Well get ready for a new one Chinglish, but not so fast the Chinese government says that it won't allow the Chinese language to be Westernized.

As of this year (2010) Chinese newspapers, books and websites will no longer be allowed to use English words and phrases, the country's publishing body has announced, saying the "purity" of the Chinese language is in peril.

The General Administration of Press and Publication says the increasing use of English words and abbreviations in Chinese texts has caused confusion and was a means of "abusing the language".

"It is banned to mix at will foreign language phrases such as English words or abbreviations with Chinese publications, creating words of vague meaning that are not exactly Chinese or of any foreign language," it said.

English abbreviations such as NBA (National Basketball Association), GDP (gross domestic product), CPI (consumer price index) and WTO (World Trade Organization) are commonly used in Chinese publications.

The body left a small loophole, stipulating in the regulation that "if necessary", English terms could be used but must be followed by a direct translation of the abbreviation or an explanation in Chinese.

The word of God is suffering the same fate. There are so many translations, interpretations and paraphrases that it is difficult to decide what a text really means on casual reading.

The word of God has been butchered, twisted and truncated, to make it more acceptable and readable to a world unwilling to study for itself.

2 Timothy 2:15 say, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

The Chinese are protecting the Chinese language from disaapearing into oblivion.

If we are not careful, the Word of God can suffer the same fate, becoming less effective to millions as its real meaning is lost in translations, interpretations and rewordings. It can become Biblish. When that happens noone will be able to agree on what it says, or worse, even care.

He blamed God for dropping the ball

When is God good?

Steve Johnson, a wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills has had a remarkable career this year. Not many people know him nationally. He was a seventh round pick, a nobody. Then, suddenly this season he makes 59 catches and scores 796 yards. He's doing great.

To what has he attributed his sudden success?

Apparently he thought he had a good luck charm. Somebody told him "as the praises go up the blessings come down." So, he started praising God continuously. It seemed to work for him and his season miraculously turned around. Then in week 12, Johnson dropped five passes in the Bills' loss to the Steelers, including a pass from Ryan Fitzpatrick that would've won the game for Buffalo in overtime.

Johnson was devastated. He blamed God! His good luck charm failed. He pulled out his phone and agrily typed in the following tweet to God:

"I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO..."

While Johnson's tweet raises eyebrows, there are millions like him, who really believe that simply praising God will mean health, wealth and success. They learn a few bible verses, attend worships looking for a magic "word"- that will immediately insulate them from trouble and guarantee success. When their lucky method doesn't work, they get angry with God!

In reality, we should give thanks to God for every situation because if God allows it to happen, it is what He wants for us, even if we don't understand. So we give thanks, anyway!

1 Thessalonians 5:18 puts it this way, In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Steve Johnson forgot about the 59 catches and 796 yards prior to week 12. He forgot all of the blessings that God has given him. Obviously, God is working a great work for him, even a blind man could see that! Everyone except Steve Johnson.

What he forgot in his rage is that God is still good, even when he throws a perfect pass into our hands and we drop them ball.

Does rising unwed births mean Blacks are less moral?

Of all of America's ethnic groups Blacks have the largest percentage of unwed mothers, does that mean that Blacks are less moral than others? It probably means Blacks are not inclined to have abortions.


It's startling truth that Blacks and Hispanics have more children out of wedlock than other races. It's a problem because as Eurweb.com reports cjildren of unmarried mothers of any race are more likely to perform poorly in school, go to prison, use drugs, be poor as adults, and have their own children out of wedlock.


The black community's 72 percent rate eclipses that of most other groups: 17 percent of Asians, 29 percent of whites, 53 percent of Hispanics and 66 percent of Native Americans were born to unwed mothers in 2008, the most recent year for which government figures are available. The rate for the overall U.S. population was 41 percent.


There is growing rate of unwed motherhood in the Black community as well as an increasingly relaxed view of morality in the entire nation. In 1965 24 percent of Blacks were unwed mothers compared with four percent of whites.


Does that Blacks and Hispanics are less moral than whites? No, it probably means that both of the ethnic groups are less inclined to have abortions either by choice or circumstance.
Whites are probably just as indicted by the social demoralization, but the availability of abortions reduces their states.


Either way, there is a problem.

The sun and the moon are shining today!

The sun and the moon are both and shining at the same time today!

I have only seen it once or twice in my lifetime, but today is one of those strange days when the both the sun and moon can be seen at the same time. That's odd because usually the when sun rises the moon disappears. However, today there is a strange thing happening in the sky (at least in my hometown). They are both shining at the same time.

Scientist tell us that the sun never stops shining. The moon does not really shine at all, it reflects the light from the sun. However, on occasion, when the the earth, the moon and the sun are all lined up just right...the unexpected happens in the heavens.

Think about yourself now. God is our glory and power. We only reflect a bit of his glory every day, but when we line ourselves up with the SON, the unexpected can happen in our horizon!

Many of you probably missed this strange phenomenon because you were so focused on the problems and issues of your life, that you didn't look up today.

You can miss your blessing, if you don't look up.

Psalm 121: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth...the sun shall not smite thee by day or the moon by night. He that keepth Israel neither slumbers or sleeps!"

Your blessing is in the sky today! Look up!

One man demands, the other commands; who is the greater?

One man yelled and no one heard him, another said little and all hung on his every word.

At a recent governmental meeting one official spent a tremendous amount of time railing against an initiative. He pounded his fist, raised his voice and performed a number of antics that were memorable. Sitting opposite of him was another official who sat quietly but never said a single world or showed a single emotion or inclination; he just listened. For thirty minutes the discussion continued with the loud official dominating the issue. The quiet man finally cleared his throat and prepared to speak. The entire room became silent.

He spoke softly and with reason, demonstrating an understanding of both sides of the issue. He then gave his own view in a short brief statement. The majority of the members agreed with his assessment and adopted his position, much to the amazement of the more vocal member.

I have been both of these men. I have been the table ponder, nerve rattler and agenda buster. I've also been the poker faced observer who kept his opinion to himself and rarely showed his hand. When I pounded the table I drew attention, when I weighed the situation carefully before speaking I had greater success and commanded the room.

Wisdom, knowledge and positive experience commands the room. A man who demonstrates wisdom, knowledge and positive experience in his family life commands the respect of his wife and family. The man who is lacking in this respect, demands. There is a difference.

There is a passage in Proverbs 17:27 that says "He that hath knowledge spareth his words:[ and] a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit."

It took a little time for me to understand that there is greater strength in commanding the situation than demanding.

Her phone rang, she reached into her bosom and pulled it out

She reached In her bosom and pulled out the phone

In a recent meeting of the Monroe City Council a woman rose to address the council. She complained that she was being patronized by city officials who seemed to doubt her intelligence. Suddenly her cell phone rang loudly and a little blue light flashed in her chest. She interrupted her speech and said, "Oh my God, mama gon' kill me." She then reached into her bosom, pulled out her phone and started talking to her mother, finished a brief conversation and returned the phone to her bosom.

Obviously, the council members were amused but tried to drop their heads to hide their expressions. The council chamber was filled with chuckles, the cameras were rolling and reporters jotted it all down.

When mama calls, everyone jumps.

Do we do the same when God speaks to us? Would we interrupt our busy schedules to answer His call, no matter how embarrassing it may be? It's something to think about.

A bible passage asks the same question in Job 9:14, "How much less shall I answer him,[ and] choose out my words[ to reason] with him?"

I think it's best to answer when God calls. Like the lady at the council meeting, we all have telephones in our bosoms. He may call at any time.

Paris Hilton received the mercy others deserve

Paris received mercy that most just dream about.

Paris Hilton was back in court again, recently. This time she was sentenced to two consecutive six month sentences in jail on misdemeanor drug possession charges and one obstruction of justice charge in Las Vegas. Then, because of a plea deal, she was placed on probation for one year and allowed to pay a $2, 000 fine. For good measure she was also sentenced to 200 hours of community service.

Hilton, heiress to the Hilton Hotel fortune, has been in court before for alcohol related driving offenses and drugs. She was sentenced to 45 days in jail once but did only 23 of those days. In Las Vegas she pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors to avoid felony possession charges.

Standing before the Las Vegas Justice of the peace, she admitted her guilt and received her sentence. Because of the probation she walked out of the court to a flurry of photo flashes, and photographers.

Whether deserved or not, Hilton received Justice tempered with mercy. Everyone else in the courtroom that day didn't get the same treatment.

One day we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. The righteous will stand to be rewarded. Fortunately, those who believe in Christ will receive what Miss Hilton received; justice tempered with mercy. We will be found guilty but forgiven because of the blood of Jesus. We will walk into heaven by His grace and mercy although we deserve harsh punishment.

There is a bible passage that refers to our day in God's court; it's in 2 Corinthians 5:10: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things[ done] in[ his] body, according to that he hath done, whether[ it be] good or bad.

For some, their day in court won't be a happy day and they won't be sentenced to the Hilton.

The ungodly will be given eternal punishment and condemned to hell. No probation. No flashing cameras. No community service. No mercy, and no plea bargain. Their punishment is forever.

Hoes Everywhere, even in the bible!

I told them to bring their hoes and you wouldn't believe their answer. 

A while back the local anti-poverty program allowed me to use an acre of land to show young men how to till the earth, plant a garden and grow produce. That was something new for a group of city boys accustomed to getting their food in micro-wave packets or from order boards at McDonald's and Burger King. 

On the morning we were to break the ground, my secretary made an early Saturday morning wake up call. The message she gave was, "We are going to till our garden today. Be ready to go at 8 a.m. and bring your hoes with you." To her surprise, after calling about 40 different households, each time she talked to a young man she received responses such as: "She can't come." "She sleep." "She say she can't come with me, but she'll bring me." "I'll tell her, but she ain't coming with me." 

 Not a single boy associated a hoe with a garden tool. Each one associated the word "hoe" with a female. Then it dawned on all of the adults involved that this generation of boys is not agricultural and therefore not familiar with agricultural tools. 

The word "hoe" in their subculture is only associated with women. It doesn't always mean a bad or ungodly woman, but it most definitely refers to a woman in their mind. That's what they hear in their music and see in the music videos. They hear men call women hoes. They even hear some women call themselves hoes. 

 The urban dictionary even has a formal definition for hoe: "1. A skank 2. A woman that is too loose in the booty." Obviously words mean different things in different situations and to different generations. Even the bible uses the word "ho!" 

It's usually a warning about messing with the people of God. Zechariah 2:7-8 says, "Ho, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the LORD of hosts, "After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye." 

 There is another ho in the 6th verse. The gardener has a hoe. The hip hop generation has a hoe, and even God has at least of couple of hoes in the book of Zechariah! 

 My, my, my!

She's having his baby, but he won't be her husband

She's having a baby for him but he won't marry her.

There is a very nice young lady who is living with a man without benefit of marriage. After a few years of shacking, she's now having a baby for him. She wants to marry but he thinks marriage is not necessary for him to be a good father, provider and significant other in her life. She's frustrated that he won't make their arrangement official. She feels that he does not want to make a commitment and is leaving the door open for his exit if times get bad.

Neither of them claim any great faith in God, especially one that would require obedience to His word or public worship. Her faith is greater than his but is not openly practiced because he is so critical of spiritual things, the church and Christians.

She's hopeless unevenly yoked, and now a child is about to be reared in this spiritually challenging situation. She wants a husband but all he wants to be is a Significant Other.

What's the difference between being a Significant Other (SO) and a husband?

• Husbands promise they will protect the woman in their lives, the SO makes no promise at all.
  
• Husbands promise to stand with their wives through sickness and hard times, the SO makes no such claim. If she gets sick or even gains weight he may split.
  
• Husbands promise to love their wives and have no other women on the side, the SO won't even fix his mouth to say that.
  
• Husbands promise to provide for their wives safety, livelihood, and nurture, the SO may do some of that but thinks she can take care of herself.
  
• Husbands promise to love their wives like Christ loved the church, the SO is not willing to go that far; he wants to make whoopee and call it love, but that's about it.

Knowing that the man she loves only sees her as a convenient sperm receptacle, this very intelligent young lady, overwhelmed by passion, chose to have a child for her SO.

The bible makes no provision for the SO. It makes no provision for believers to live as though they are married (shacking) without committing to each other before God.

In fact, the Word teaches that if a couple feels they must "get it on" then they should marry or risk hell's fire. 1 Corinthians 7:9 says, "But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn."

The overriding reason that a man should marry the woman he claims to love is that he honors their relationship before God, cleanses the relationship and does himself a favor at the same time.

Look at what the word says:

Ephesians 5:25-28 Husbands, go all out in your love for your wives, exactly as Christ did for the church—a love marked by giving, not getting. Christ's love makes the church whole. His words evoke her beauty. Everything he does and says is designed to bring the best out of her, dressing her in dazzling white silk, radiant with holiness. And that is how husbands ought to love their wives. They're really doing themselves a favor—since they're already "one" in marriage.

Wouldn't it be great if a woman had a husband rather than just a Significant Other Brother?

Spontaneous creation? Did the world just create itself?

A British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking says the world created itself and needed no one or anything to start the process.

Professor Hawking challenges Isaac Newton's theory that God must have been involved in creation because our solar system couldn't have come out of chaos simply through nature. But Hawking, who is renowned for his work on black holes, said physics can explain things without the need for a "benevolent creator who made the Universe for our benefit."

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing," the professor says. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist. It is not necessary to invoke God to ... set the Universe going."

Those who don't have as much education as Professor Hawking, in our ignorance a question that defies the professor to answer. If Gravity helped the universe to create itself...who created gravity?

Sometimes we can have so much education we can be just down right stupid.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Genesis 1:1

I read that verse and learned it in elementary school. Dr. Hawking still has a lot to learn.

I gave her $100 and expected change back!

A hundred dollar bill doesn't go very far

I haven't shopped in a grocery store in quite some time. Usually, I get one item or two and then I'm out. My wife laughs at my ignorance of what it really costs to live today. Yesterday, I went with her to the grocery store to get a few items. I produced a $100 bill, gave it to her and walked around the store with her. She was amused and I wondered what was so funny.

At the checkout we had: watermelon, Ice cream, lettuce, chips, cheese and a few other items. I watched her give the cashier the $100 bill and expected to get change back. The handful of items cost $100.45. I had culture shock. She rolled with laughter.

A $100 gets lost in a grocery store. She reminded me that we didn't buy washing powder, any meats, or other expensive staples, just a few knick nacks.

And I was expecting change!

We've been married for 36 years and she has been juggling, stretching and making ends meet with the chump change I've been providing for groceries. Her stock value increased tremendously with one trip to the grocery store.

She's been a good wife to make it all happen for a husband and three sons. Most of the time she had a husband who provided too little to cover it all, then expected change back.

She never complained, she saved coupons, watch prices and compared labels to make it happen for her family. We ate well and had what we needed. I didn't know how she pulled it off, but while I provided more than $100 for the regular groceries, I now see that what I did provide would not have covered it all had she not been an excellent manager and family planner.

Proverbs 31:27-28 says, "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness. Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her."

She stretched a $100 and made it do miracles.

Silly me, I expected change back from the miracles.

Dr. Laura used the N-Word, but don't some of us use it too?

Is there a double standard when it comes to the N-word? Is it O.K. for blacks to use it to describe themselves in derogatory ways but not O.K. for whites to use it even in academically?

The N-Word issue popped again this week when Dr. Laura Schlessinger announced on August 18, 2010 that she would end her radio show, a week after she broadcast a five-minute-long rant in which she used the N-word 11 times.

A caller was appalled by Schlessinger's use of the N-word, the radio host said, "Oh, then I guess you don't watch HBO or listen to any black comedians. My dear, the point I am trying to make ... [is that] we've got a black man as president and we've got more complaining about racism than ever. I think that's hilarious."

Their exchange heated up after that. When the caller said she couldn't believe Schlessinger was "on the radio spewing out" the N-word, Schlessinger said she "didn't spew out" the N-word and repeated, "n****r, n****r, n****r is what you hear on HBO."

Is Doctor Laura right? Do we routinely use the N-Word to describe ourselves in conversation, laugh at ourselves in jokes and to belittle ourselves when we are angry. Do we even do it in public? Do our comedians use it HBO and in our music and we laugh?

It was extremely bad taste for Dr. Laura to repeat the N-Word on her broadcast 11 times in five minutes.

It is just as bad for us to repeat it even once among ourselves.

It does not refer to the best in us but to the worst that has been done to us and still remains in us. That's why we should not use it at all.

What should we say, then? Philippians 4:8 gives us a clue: "..whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Will we ever stop using the word?

N-please!

She wanted Pampers not real diapers. What's the difference?

A young lady asked me for a donation to help buy pampers for her small children. She was poor, a single parent, with no income and getting pampers became a problem. I refused to give a donation to buy Pampers, but I offered to take her to the store and buy her several dozen plain white, pre-folded diapers.

She asked me, "What's that?"

"It's a reusable diaper. You use it, wash it, dry it and you use it repeatedly," I said. "You get a couple of dozen of these and your Pamper problem is solved. When you get back on your feet and can afford it, then you buy Pampers," I said.

She looked at me as if I had cursed her. She turned down the offer for the reusable diapers and continued her search for this week's Pamper donor.

If I'm not mistaken, a Pamper is a simulated diaper, in much the same way that a paper napkin is a simulated napkin. The simulated items save time, but neither is reusable, creating a recurring expense.

Most everyone in my generation wore plain diapers. When money was tight a couple of my boys wore Pampers. We saved a lot of money using real diapers. If the young lady's response is typical of her generation, there are many who would prefer no diaper at all, rather than use a reusable diaper.

As I recall, there was a container with a lid in which soiled diapers were kept. Those that had solids were rinsed in the toilet before putting them in the container, which was soaked with bleach and water. Every two days or so the diapers were washed, dried, folded and used again...no Pampers, no cost.

Luke 16:19 says, "Luke 16:9 (MSG) "I want you to be smart in the same way—but for what is right—using every adversity to stimulate you to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials, so you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior."

It appears that often we can get our hands on what it takes for us to live, but too often we lack the will or the creativity to use what we have until we can do better.

So the young lady begs for Pampers when what she really needed was to learn how to use a diaper...along with a little abstinence.

Do you remember your worse whipping?

Do you remember your worse whipping? I'll never forget mine.

As a youth I was spanked, paddled, and whipped on many occasions. I was a very mischievous kid, a criminally deviant child, and a rebellious youth. Obviously, I was a chastised many times. I was spanked with a switch, extension cord, shoe and a razor strap. At seven years old when I became involved with a Oakland street gang, I was incarcerated in the Alameda County reform school for boys. In the reform school I was spanked with a paddle.

Back in Monroe I was whipped once with a barber's razor strap for coming in the house after sunset, I was 14. Teachers spanked me often for failing to turn in home work, talking in class and being a real fool. They used radiator fan belts, paddles and gin belts. They never really hurt any of us, but they got our attention.

I was trying my best to go wrong and the good Lord kept putting people in my life who were determined to make me go straight. They lectured me, prayed for me, helped me, and loved me but they also tore out a sizeable portion of my posterior.

In reflection, the chastisement helped me. Today, all of them would be jailed for child abuse.

The Lord does us that way. He loves us, but he has a way of "tightening us up" when we get off the path. He doesn't use an extension cord or a strap but we can tell when he's messing with us and whipping us. He loves us and is trying to get us back in line.

There is a bible verse that says, Hebrews 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.."
There is another that says the whippings we get will be good for us in the long run.

Hebrews 12:11 "Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."

I didn't like any of my whippings but the bible is true; they yielded a better fruit.

Posession of crack won't get you five years anymore

A new law removes the mandatory five year sentence for possession of crack.

Yesterday, President Obama signed a law that changes the way the courts hand out sentences for crack cocaine; simple possession won't automatically require five years in prison. For 25 years the law slammed crack users of five grams (about two sugar packs) of crack in jail for five years. Judges had no choice. In the resulting time statistics showed 83 percent of those charged with crack were African-American. What was disparate is that it took it took 500 grams of powder cocaine to get the same sentence. Powder cocaine was the drug of choice of whites.

Groups have been trying to change the law for 25 years and in the meantime jails have been filling all over the country, running up costs and using up law enforcement time that could be better spent on major crime syndicates instead of low-level street corner hustlers. The government estimates that it spends $42 million a year locking up crack cocaine offenders.

When there is a 100:1 disparity that parses out along racial lines, there is a problem. The new law addresses the problem but doesn't make it even.
There will still be an 18:1 disparity in the sentences but it's a tremendous improvement. It is a plus for the Obama administration because it was no easy task; no repeal of mandatory drug sentencing laws have passed Congress since the 1970's.

The changes don't endorse crack use or powder cocaine use. It makes the sentencing more in line with reality and fairness.

It's justice coming late, but never-the-less appreciated. "The wheels of justice grind slow, but exceedingly fine."

Thinking of justice, I'm reminded of Amos 5:24 that says, "But let justice run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream."

Now, wouldn't it be great if the law applied retroactively to free those still serve disproportionate sentences?

That would be real justice.

You can't keep silent, unless you speak up

The Supreme court has ruled: You can't keep silent unless you speak up

It's been an understood rule for about 25 years, if you are arrested by the police that you have a right to remain silent and the right to an attorney. All of that has changed just a little bit by the Supreme Court which has now ruled in two cases that you have to ask to be silent to trigger your constitutional right. The court in another case then added that after 14 days the cops can start questioning you again. without reading you your rights or providing you a lawyer. The court also ruled that while suspects have the right to a lawyer, they don't have to be told specifically that they have a right to a lawyer actually in the room when they are questioned.

Critics of the courts rulings will make it easier for police to squeeze confessions out of suspects; many won't know they have to speak up to be silent and the cops will get the information they want, legally.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority's decision "turns Miranda upside down."

"Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent - which counter intuitively requires them to speak," she said. "At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so."

Those who profess a faith in Christ are also asked to speak up. We can't just assume that God knows that we love him, we have speak up to let the world know.

We must invoke His name, speak it and let the world know if we are not ashamed.

Psalm 107:2 "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy."

The Supreme Court's ruling says to get Miranda rights you have to "say so." Those who are redeemed must "say so" as well.

He had life assurance but no insurance

He had no burial insurance but plenty of life assurance.

A prominent churchman will be buried this week, thanks to help from friends who have collected the money necessary to bury him. He spent a lifetime working in the church, helping the poor, and lifting the spirits of others. In fact, he used most of his personal resources in the service of others.

One of the areas of his personal life he left undone was to secure insurance on his life to bury himself and care for his wife in the event of his death. He left her with the bill for his funeral and no means of sustaining herself; she depended solely on him.

He was a dutiful husband in life. He made the ends meet. His heart was big, so big that he gave and gave and gave until there was nothing more.

Like him, there are many today without life insurance, not to mention medical coverage. With all of the other problems they have in life some have decided to roll the dice and risk each day's outcome, hoping they will never need healthcare or death coverage.

There is a bright side, though. My friend may not have had a burial insurance, but his faith bought him a "life assurance" that requires no premiums because it was paid in full on Calvary.

1 Timothy 3:13 "Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus."

I know I have the assurance of life everlasting, but I think I'll check my policies to make sure I have enough insurance to care for those I may leave behind.

I plan to pay premiums for a few more decades.

I saw the movie Invictus, then remembered the last four lines of the poem

I watched Invictus; it was extremely powerful

I'm considerably late, but I watched the movie "Invictus" last night. It was a very powerful, engaging and inspiring account of Nelson Mandela's struggle as the first black president of South Africa, especially after spending 27 years in prison for speaking against Apartheid.

Morgan Freeman as Mandela gave an Academy award level performance as he depicted Mandela trying to tear down the walls of racial hatred including black hatred. It also addressed several other important themes including:

--Forgiveness is a powerful weapon that creates better human relationships.
--True leadership is not a popularity contest
--We must exceed our own expectations

I was clearly awed by the poem "Invictus" which I was required to read in high school. An old English Teacher made us read the poem and memorize the last four lines. Each one of us had to stand in class and recite the last four lines. So today poem's last lines linger:

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Mandela showed the powerless masses of South Africa that they could either accept conditions or change them. He derived his strength and inspiration from the poem "Invictus" by William Henley, but there are thousands of Christians who do the same thing, deriving their strength not from a poem but from the Lord.

Isaiah 40:29 "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."

In High School I was a young idealist who internalized the words of "Invictus." Today, I'm an old idealist who has changed the last lines of Invictus to read:

I am the master of my fate:
Christ is the captain of my soul.

They knew her, but fired her just like that

They knew her, but fired her just like that

It's a bad feeling when the people who know you best, believe the first thing they hear without a thought that what they they heard may have heard may not be true.

That's the case of the black woman who was a former Agriculture Department official who resigned under pressure after a video clip surfaced of her discussing how she considered giving a white farmer less than her best effort because of racial feelings she had 24 years ago.

In a video, Shirley Sherrod seems to tell an audience at an NAACP function in March that she did not do her utmost to help a white farmer avoid foreclosure.

Her bosses didn't ask her anything. They didn't check to see if the video was real or taken out of contact, she was just fired. They didn't even wait for her get back to her office she was required to pull her car over to the side of the road and text in her resignation.

However, Sherrod later said the clip only shows part of her comments, and that she tells the story of her experience -- from nearly a quarter century ago when she was not a federal employee -- to illustrate the importance of moving beyond race.

When the public saw the full video and protested and the White House responded:

"We're not sure what the ultimate result will be, but it's clear that with new information through the full speech, a longer look needed to be taken," a White House official announced the next day after her forced resignation. "The White House contacted the department last night about the case and agreed, based on her evidence, that it should be reviewed."

Sherrod said, "When you spend your life helping others and see people try to turn that around to try to make it look like you're a racist when that's not been what your life has been about -- that doesn't feel good," she said.

Those who worked with her judged her on hearsay and never bother to consider that what they heard may not have been true.

Jesus felt the same way about hid disciples. John 14:9 records this statement he made to his disciples, "Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?"

Harold Melvin and Bluenotes put it this way, "If you don't know me by now, you never, never, know me."

He lived in the pulpit, he died in the pulpit

He lived in the pulpit, he died the way he lived!

Friday night, The Reverend David Brown, Jr. died.

The Reverend Brown was the pastor pastor of nine congregations in Louisiana and Mississippi, died Friday night during a religious service at the Calvary Baptist Church in West Monroe.

He was singing a song preparing for a sermon to be preached by another minister when he suddenly collapsed.

Last year Brown was featured nationally on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) as one of the nations last surviving "circuit pastors." The broadcast, shown around the nation, featured Brown's role as a man who pastored multiple small congregations across Northeast Louisiana and in parts of Mississippi.

Brown was a self described country preacher who had a powerful pulpit delivery, some said that could have expanded his ministry beyond rural Louisiana if he wanted. However, Brown always explained that his mission was to bring the word of God to the area he was assigned by God to cover.

He remained faithful to that calling for over three decades.

He has officiated so many funerals and marriages that he couldn't count them, worn out two dozen cars, and preached thousands of sermons to "God's people in the rural."

"If everybody goes to the big city, who pastors the country folks?" Brown once said about his ministry. He died as he lived... in the pulpit.

This passage from Revelation says it all, Revelation 2:10 "... be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life."

So we live on earth, so we continue to live with Him.

Everybody is praying for everything; does God get spam?

Too much Spam in my inbox; does God get Spam?

I get plenty of email everyday either from business, church or personal connections. I also get nearly 500 spam emails everyday; those are the ones that get through my primary spam filter and end up in my delete box. They are time consuming, nonsensical and frivolous. Some are even insulting. It gets to the point that certain names or addresses are automatically blocked because they are always spam.

Since God hears and answers all prayers, is it possible that we flood our heavenly inbox with spam prayers?

A spam prayer is one in which we ask God to do what we can do ourselves. When we ask God to visit the sick but we don't; help the poor but we won't or to create more love in the world but our hate list hasn't diminished; those are spams prayers.

Then sometimes we can be a nuisance; with frivolous prayers. We pray that the water for our coffee will be hot or that the train won't stay on the track too long. We pray for grades when we have not studied; or that that we are not pregnant when we have not abstained.

Some pray that that their favorite singer wins American Idol.

There are people who sell trick prayers guaranteed to get instant results. There are groups that offer mass prayers for jobs, money, luck, sex, and victory. It all goes up to heaven.

Mixed in there somewhere are our real prayers and concerns.

Wouldn't it be a shame to pray so many frivolous nuisance prayers that heavenly spam checkers tag our prayers as those coming from that person in Louisiana or California or New York that sends up prayers for money, cat food and winning lottery tickets. -Spam box!

I'm sure God gets spam, but He has no spam box. He hears them all and answers.

Spam prayers, though, seem to be a waste of His time.

Here's an interesting thought from Jesus himself in Matthew 6:7-8.(Msg) It says, "The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They're full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need."

I think it best for me to be selective with my prayer requests. I'll prayer about the big things, I won't bother God with the little things, He knows them all anyway.

When a prayer appears before the throne with my name on it, I would hope it is moved to the top of the pile and not shuffled to bottom with all of the spam of the day.

That's my prayer anyway! (Lol)

Why do we take pictures of ourselves with our cellphones?

New trend: Taking a picture of yourself with your cellphone.

Have you paid any attention to the grown number of self portraits appearing on social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook? Increasingly there are photos of individuals taking pictures of themselves with their cell phones. Some even stand in front of mirrors to capture themselves taking a picture of themselves. It could be a very high self esteem that prompts such actions; it could also be just a touch of vanity.

Most of us are happy with ourselves. Occasionally, someone comes along and wants more hair than they inherited or eyes foreign to their DNA. However, generally we are pleased with our appearance.

Some have gone a step further; they are not simply pleased with themselves they have fallen in love with their own appearance. That's when we have an inordinate number of photos of ourselves. We jump on every photo that someone else is taking; and when that is not enough, we take our cellphones and take dozens of pictures of ourselves.

No matter how well I appear to others, I'm often very disappointed with my own self portrait. I see too many flaws in my personality; too many weaknesses, too many insecurities in areas that should be secure.

A true self portrait forces us to look deep into the mirror and observe closely what we see.

When the mirror is God's word. our reflection usually reveals distortions of which we are not proud. We won't post that picture for anyone to see. The one we want to post is the glamor shot that hides our flaws.

Rather than taking a picture of myself with my cell, I'd probably do better taking a long hard look at what I see, then try to correct as many of my obvious imperfections.

James 1:23-25 "Those who hear and don't act are like those who glance in the mirror,
walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.
But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the free life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. That person will find delight and affirmation in the action."

I'm rather pleased with my 61 year old appearance, but I'm not pleased with the man in the mirror; that guy has too many flaws.

She was the bad driver, but he got the ticket

She did wrong, he got the ticket; a case of injustice.

Have you ever been the victim of an unjust decision? Most of us have. It's not a great feeling.

Yesterday our bus driver began negotiating at right turn in a busy Atlanta intersection. As he swung out a woman decided to squeeze pass the bus as it turned. Her move resulted in a fender bender. She apologized to the driver, saying she thought she could make it through the tiny space between the bus and curb. She was very polite, apologetic and humble. When the police arrived, both accounts were told but the officer gave the bus driver the ticket.

The driver was stunned. The lady was surprised because she fully expected to get the ticket. She drove off smiling, leaving our driver frustrated because he felt himself the victim of an injustice.

Injustices may come on a small scale in the case of fender benders or in larger situations such as racial discrimination, intimidations or unfair practices. All injustices, whether large or small, leave victims.

We are surrounded by injustice but we are encouraged to remain just ourselves, remaining firm in our faith.

Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold, ...the just shall live by his faith."

It was an injustice, but our driver is strong. He is a man of faith.

So, Lebron made up his mind, so what about us?

Lebron made up his mind, we must decide things, too!

The nation waited anxiously last night for basketball star Lebron James to announce whether he would stay with the Cleveland Cavaliers or make a move. For seven years he was loyal to Cleveland bringing major dollars to the team but always falling short of his goal to own a championship ring. Since he is a free agent, decision time loomed. He narrowed his choices to six teams then switched back and forth between choices keeping the nation on edge.

Last night he made his choice, he chose to move to Miami and play with the Miami Heat.

Life is about choices. We choose whom we play with; we choose our own team.

There are many who make choices about whether to choose to live a Christian life or one that is contrary to God's will. We choose the high road or the low road. Some of us switch back and forth between the two without really making a choice.

We have to choose a team because all of heaven waits our decision. LeBron James' basketball choice was made in line with his personal goal. He left $30 million on the table to do it.

We have to make choices in line with our goals as well. Some choices are hard and may cause us to leave a lot on the table but they are necessary to get where we are trying to go.

The world has made us an offer.

God has made us an offer, too, backed up by the blood of Christ and confirmation of the Holy Spirit.

1 Kings 18:21 (MSG)Elijah challenged the people: "How long are you going to sit on the fence? If GOD is the real God, follow him; if it's Baal, follow him. Make up your minds!"

Make your move.

They named me the barbecue king? Even I laughed!

They named me King of the Pit. Me, the barbecue king? Ha, Ha!

Sunday, our church celebrated the 4th of July with a worship service followed by a big barbecue. All persons in attendance were treated to plates of barbecue ribs, chicken, baked beans, salads, etc. The men of the church participated in the annual "King of the Pit" contest to determine the congregation's barbecue king. There was also a potato salad contest as well.

I entered the contest for the fellowship. I barbecue once in every blue moon. I don't really consider myself very good, probably passable. I set up my pit the day before and relaxed while I barbecued my portion of ribs and chicken. I read my bible, knocked out half of a watermelon and basically relaxed. Then I mixed my sauce. I like sugar, cat sup and other items added to the off the shelf brand of sauce I use. I bathed my little rib and chicken samples in my sauce.

If a part of the meat didn't appeal to my eye, I added more sauce on it.

After the worship they presented me with a trophy as the "King of the Pit"

Who me?

I wasn't trying to win. I was just having fun. They said it was tasty and neck and neck with the first runner up, but I won.

They said the difference was my sauce.

I thought the honor was suspicious, especially since my wife was named potato salad queen. They insisted that the judges didn't know the names of the contestants and the results were real.

The runnerup's meat was just right, tenderized and perfectly cooked, but it had no sauce. Just a touch of sauce would have made the difference.

I guess life is the same way. We are all a little singhed, tough to swallow at times and not really pleasing to ourselves. However, terrible we see our lives we are often not judged by our overcooked or singhed edges but by the fruit of our spirit and the labor of our hands.

That may make the difference.

There is a bible passage that tells about our "sauce" Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

I don't think I'm the King of the Pit by any means, but I did have a mighty tasty sauce!

She believes in God but not in a personal way.

She believes in God but not in a personal way.

I recently shared with a brilliant young lady who is going places in life. She obeys the law, is climbing in her career and has great prospects. She was exposed to faith training as a girl but has since adopted a different views. She told me that she believes in God but not feel that God is personal.

I told her that she will change that view when life sends her scrambling for the God of her youth for nurture, strength, protection and guidance.

In my 41 years of ministry I have encountered many who share this belief. They believe in an all powerful creator of the universe, but their belief stops there. They feel no need for worship, fellowship with other believers or study of His word. They especially reject any formalities or limitations that may be associated with anything beyond a simple belief in a divine creator.

They believe in God. That's enough for them.

That works fine until we need God to respond to our life situation but our lack of faith keeps Him at a distance.

I believe that God is a person and is personal. As such, God loves: creates, destroys, angers, cares, rewards and punishes, saves, forgives and blesses. Since God is personal, we each have our own unique ID through which he identifies with us, hears us, guides us, correct us and opens doors for us.

Only those who believe in a personal God pray, otherwise prayer is a useless exercise because God does not take calls from mere mortals unless He's personal.

The trick in life is to allow God to be personal with us. In our thoughts we commune with Him and share our aspirations. In return He shares with us through inspiration, spiritual epiphanies, and teachable moments. When we pray we invite God into our business. Once invited God encourages, strengthens, inspires and renews. He also troubles us when we break or bend His rules; He works on our conscience.

It is the personal God who answers our prayers, lifts us when we we down, and gives us that second or third chance to get it right when we have failed.

Believing in God is the first step of faith. The second is to open the door of your heart and invite Him in. He knocks and waits for the invitation.

Revelation 3:20 "I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you."

When call on Him, we open the door and let Him in. That's when our lives change for the better.

Those who know Him personally begin to live fully functional, happy, blessed lives that meet life's challenge with the confidence that the God they believe in knows them personally and will hear their prayers and direct their paths.

Would you pay your enemies to you allow you to fight them? That's what we are doing!

Are we paying our enemies to let us fight them?

A surprising report in the Wall Street Journal this week noted that $3 billion in cash money, shrink wrapped and loaded on pallets, has been shipped to Afghanistan. Much of the money goes to private security firms who pay off U.S. enemies to allow shipments of supplies into the country so that U.S. soldiers can turn around fight the same people we paid off.

Sound crazy?

Maybe so, but there are some in Congress who keep sounding the alarm that young men and women that we know are thinking they are supporting freedom but in actuality are dying so that we can continue lining the pockets of the big guys who run the corrupt government of the country.

Speaking before Congress yesterday, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio raised the specter of the $12 billion shipped in pallets from the United States to Iraq just after the Bush administration's "shock and awe" bombing campaign.

"Vanity Fair reported in 2004 that 'at least $9 billion' of the cash had 'gone missing, unaccounted for,'" he noted. "$9 billion."

Kucinich continued: "

Last week, the BBC reported that 'the US military has been giving tens of millions of dollars to Afghan security firms who are funneling the money to warlords.' Add to that a corrupt Afghan government underwritten by the lives of our troops
 ... And now reports indicate that Congress is preparing to attach $10 billion in state education funding to a $33 billion spending bill to keep the war going.

 Back home, millions of Americans are out of work, losing their homes, losing their savings, their pensions and their retirement security.

"We are losing our nation to lies about the necessity of war. Bring our troops home. End the war. Secure our economy."

The thought of so many have lost lives, suffered maimed bodies and destroyed futures so that the rich can get richer is frustrating.

Our only hope is in God. He doesn't like war and wants to see all war end.

Micah 5:10 says, "The day is coming" —GOD's Decree— "When there will be no more war. None."

Those who profit from war won't like that; but right now they appear to be cleaning up and pocketing billions.

God's word lingers: No more war. None.

A man with three birthdays, really four

I'm a man with three birthdays, really four!

I celebrate three birthdays. My father told me that my birthday is June 22nd. My driver's license and birth certificates list June 28th. My mother told me that my birthday is actually June 29th. She said she knew the birth certificate date was wrong but was in pain and just signed it anyway. When I lived with my father for a short time, I celebrated June 22nd. Of course, when I was with my mother for a short time, I celebrated June 29th.

That me makes a man with three birthdays, only one of which is correct. To get the right one, I celebrate all three.

There is another birthday that is not celebrated with a party, cake or candles. That was the day that I was born into the kingdom of God.

I joined the Tabernacle Baptist church in 1957 and was baptized. I was "born again" into the kingdom of God on Friday, August 12, 1966.

This idea of being born again is addressed John 3:3-5 "Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
So, I have all of these birthdays to celebrate, but only one of them counts.