Connie Griffin was my high school counselor and is one of the 5…

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, December 3, 2018.

Connie Griffin was my high school counselor and is one of the 5 most influential people in my life. She sought out every possible opportunity I could take advantage of; extracurricular activities, essay contests, summer camps, college scholarships -the list is virtually inexhaustible.

Aside from that, she gave me something of such tremendous value it only comes second to my faith in Christ. She implemented a student service organization called Natural Helpers that served as counselor's assistants. We were a network of students trained to support and encourage other students. Through that, she taught me how to listen; to suspend my judgement (or at least try) and hear what another is saying. I cannot tell you the positive impact those lessons have had on my life -lessons I'm trying to pass on now to my children.

What's more amazing is that she did not just do that for me. I watched her do that for scores of other students that walked the halls of Bailey Magnet. Today is her birthday, a day that she should be honored with gifts but I wanted her to know what a gift her life has been. God has used you to do so much good and to help people you will never meet or that hasn't even been born yet. You often say how proud of us you are but I'm sure I'm not alone in saying how wonderfully blessed we were to have you in our lives and how proud we are of you. Happy Birthday!

An enduring government requires equal access and protections for…

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, February 25, 2018.

An enduring government requires equal access and protections for all citizens, otherwise it discriminates, which makes it possible for you to someday be discriminated against. Therefore, the best thing any of us can do as citizens is to actively seek a government that works well for every citizen, including those with whom we disagree.

Now, to my family in Christ in particular, we would be much more productive if we understood that our city, state or nation is neither the Church nor the Kingdom of God. What we believe is a matter of faith and it cannot be legislated or imposed -it comes by believing Jesus. But, let's not pretend that many of our reactions over the Starkville Pride Parade have anything to do with a love of God. Because if it did, we would be just as incensed about lying on our taxes as we are about homosexuality. Many of us are simply gripped by a fleshly desire to elevate ourselves above others. That's pride and discrimination and has nothing to do with God. Come out of the fire! Let us repent of our hypocrisy and seek God for wisdom on how to function profitably in and outside the household of faith and for the discernment to know the difference.

Until I Get My Life Right

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What I hear more than anything as I encounter people who consider themselves “unchurched”, is a reluctance to come to worship “until I get my life right.” Surprisingly, there is an element of this that is good theology and demonstrates a knowledge of God that many “churched” folks have lost as a result of their religion: God is holy and I must be holy or in “right standing” to enter into His presence. That’s truth.

But, here’s the good news (the gospel): God loves you so much and is so committed to being with you, that even before the beginning, He architected an ingenious Way for you to be in His presence without compromising His holiness. He provided a Savior able to pay the debt required for our sin and thereby making us able to be in right-standing (righteous). Not only that, but when we believe Christ, we’re given a new heart, HIS heart, a seed that grows unto a new spiritual man and empowers us to put to death our former, godless appetites. And, as we undergo the process of being re-made to look more and more like a Son of the Father (sanctification), we enter the presence of God by the blood (the work and person) of Christ. As a result, when God sees you, He sees His Son in whom He is well pleased so that you can dwell boldly in His presence. Hallelujah! #TheDoorOfTheChurchIsOpen

In loving memory of the greatest teacher of grace I’ve ever known, my mentor and friend, Dr. Gregory Wilson Jones.

Twitter Testimony

Dove Of Peace
#TwitterTestimony
An attempt to share the Gospel through my experience in 140 characters or less.
A complete list of the tweets from this series can be found below:


More Than A Song – Lannie Spann McBride

LannieSpannMcBride.comPhoto Source: Official Website Of Lannie Spann McBride

I woke up this morning singing, “I am a promise. I am a possibility. I am a promise with a capital ‘P’. I am a great big bundle of Po-ten-ti-ality…” It was a song taught to me by my G.N. Smith Elementary music teacher, Lannie Spann McBride. As I hummed the tune, an involuntary smile stretched across my face. I can still see Mrs. McBride in music class. She would often snatch her hands away from the piano between chords and motion with both hands, drawing a big smile across her face, instructing the class to smile as we sung -all without missing a beat. She told us that smiling affected the music. But in truth, as I’m sure she knew, it affected us more. It was her influence that led to my playing piano in elementary, violin in middle school and competing in classical voice as a junior and senior. Though my path would not ultimately lead to music, she forever changed the trajectory of my life. Because, she made me believe that song.

I felt the memory warranted taking a moment to pay tribute and thank God for teachers like Lannie Spann McBride.

Fake Good

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Among Satan’s most powerful deceptions is fake “good”. I suspect it’s why we do mission trips to Africa instead of San Francisco. The poor think anything’s better than what they have and the rich think they’re good and have need of nothing. But both are deceived (Revelation 3:17). Good is not attaining affluence or material possessions (Mark 10:21, Mark 10:25). Good is right relationships -having a right relationship with God which causes us to have a right relationship with everything else (Mark 12:29-31).

And, a right relationship with God is made possible exclusively through Jesus Christ (Matthew 11:27, 1 John 2:23) . Without Christ, any idea or understanding​ that we have of God is askew which causes us to relate improperly to everything else (family, money, ourselves, etc). So, let us pursue real good which begins with feasting on the life and ministry of Jesus Christ (John 6:53-58). Start here.

Dying For An Apology

Couple Disagreement

Has someone ever offended you and it seemed that the relationship was “on hold” until they apologized? Yep, me too. It naturally makes sense to think that the one who broke it should fix it. But, Jesus teaches something very different in Matthew 18:15. There, we’re told when someone hurts us, that we are to take initiative to restore the relationship and go to the offender. You’ll also find in Matthew 5:23-24, that Jesus commands those who realize they’ve hurt someone to take immediate action to restore the relationship. What does this mean? Regardless of who is in the wrong, I am responsible for doing all I can to pursue a healthy relationship.

I think this speaks to the heart of what it means to be Christian, a follower of Christ. Jesus’s entire purpose was to reconcile creation to God (Colossians 1:20). And to be Christian, is to be Christ-like. Therefore, we also have this ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18). What this means to me is that our default disposition should be one of restoral. We should be driven, looking, to restore people to fellowship with God and then with us.

This helps me, especially in marriage. When my wife and I are at odds, I must take responsibility for restoring that fellowship -regardless of whether I hurt her or if she hurt me. Practically speaking, if I truly desire to maintain the relationship, I would remove any obstacles that prevent us from getting there. And among the first obstacles to remove is the idea that because I offended her or I was offended by her, I’ve taken a position that is against her. Instead, I must communicate, even over-communicate, that I am for her, I am not her enemy, and desire to be in fellowship with her again.

I’ve tried to implement this by establishing ongoing gestures that communicate my openness and good-will toward her. One of these gestures is simply to kiss her on the cheek or on her forehead every night before we retire to sleep (Ephesians 4:26). Whether she’s angry or whether I’m angry, I try to do this to communicate there’s hope and I’m open to restoring fellowship.

How is God doing that for you? How has He communicated His openness to you and the hope of fellowship with Him? First, have you received His gesture of goodwill? And secondly, how can you do more of that for others?

The Paralysis Of A Perfect Plan

Planning Whiteboard

I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted waiting to develop the perfect, fail proof plan. I have to constantly remind myself that if God wanted to make me a robot that operates on strict step-by-step instructions, He would have. Instead, He made me creative, resourceful, able to navigate obstacles and has given me discretion over how I represent His interests. So, I must simply be led by a desire to please God, put my hand to the task before me with what I have and work to grow my stewardship. There is no need to agonize over my next move. If I first aim to have His heart and relate to the world as He does, my steps will be guided in the process.

I don’t reach out and stay connected with people like I should…

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, May 7, 2017.

I don't reach out and stay connected with people like I should because Satan's always in my ear convincing me that I have nothing to offer because of my failures, because my life is not perfect or because I haven't attained a certain level of wealth or success. I feel like once I get my life together and do something important then I can be around people because I'll have some value to offer and then it will be worth it for them to have me around.

But if I pay attention, Satan's tactic is always diversion. In this case, he deceives me into placing the focus on myself. Satan cannot overcome the Light so he works to turn us from the Light. As a follower of Christ, I know that the Power to help others is not in me but in the One who uses me.

And so, I must fight to make myself available because my faith is in God who is able to make straight paths with crooked lines. I must trust He is powerful enough, brilliant enough… God enough to use me. Yes, even me. #MakeWar #TurnToTheLight

That 90’s R&B Type Love

Black Couple
So, listening to 90’s R&B yesterday evening has got me in my feelings and thinking about the blissful allure of an intense, all-consuming, never-ending love that characterized our music. And, sometimes I think I want that, but I’ve learned to ask, “Is that really good?” Is the way I want to be loved healthy?

If I can be real for just a second, I will admit that I sometimes struggle with wanting to be the center of my wife’s universe. But I know that isn’t good because I lack the “weight” or kabad to hold everything in her universe together. Being the center of her universe puts me in a position to do something I’m not built for -to sustain someone else’s existence forever. Conversely, it puts my wife in a position to be sustained by something that will surely fail (even if I were perfect, I have to die at some point). Apply even a little Bible and you’ll quickly find that my looking to be central to another: to be exalted and worshiped, isn’t love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil…”

To be blunt the love trumpeted by most music is promoting idolatry -a diversion of attention to someone or something else for what we should be getting from God.

So, what SHOULD we want? Answer: an intense, all-consuming, never-ending love with the only one who can deliver it -God. I believe the first step in really enjoying love is to be completely satisfied with Him -alone. Only then, can we really love or be loved by others, because if God is love (1 John 4:8), to love is to share God. And, for that He has to be central.