Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, October 18, 2021.
I struggle with tunnel vision. I will set my sights on an outcome at the expense of everything else.
I can be so focused on what I'm trying to do for the future that I lose what I have now: precious, irreplaceable time with loved ones and friends, enjoyment of the moment -life.
I must be careful not to make an idol out of my plans, putting all my hope and trust in them but instead "trust God who gives us richly all things to enjoy". (1 Timothy 6:17)
I repent.
So, here's some questions I've decided to ask myself daily to make sure that my stewardship of this wonderful gift called life includes enjoying it every day.
In Week 42 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for the youngest person I know, Jannie Thompson.
Miss Jannie (as she’s affectionately known around my house) was one of the first people to welcome me when I visited Greater Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church as a college student. If Ebenezer had a mascot, it would be Jannie Thompson. She is the personification of the down-home kindness and warmth that characterizes that fellowship.
I got to know Ms. Jannie mostly by serving with her in the youth ministry. Among the many things I’ve come to love about Ms. Jannie is her enthusiasm for life. Whatever the youth were doing, she was doing. It didn’t matter if it was kickball, jumping rope or racing, she was in it to win it.
She kept us grounded because she is unapologetically real. She is one of the kindest people I’ve met but she will slip off those shoes and earrings on you, if she has to. Because she was so real, our time together as a youth group was real. We didn’t pretend or play church. We wrestled with real problems, discussed what was happening today and talked about how to apply our faith to real life.
But perhaps what I appreciate most about Ms. Jannie was her openness and big heart. There were kids that came to our church hurt, confused and alone but always found a safe place with Jannie Thompson. I personally saw her be understanding, forgiving and take in scores of people into her life where she would love on them and where they would find healing. I was one them. I’m grateful. #52WoG
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, October 12, 2021.
I don't know about #BelieveWomen, but I do listen and it makes me both sad and angry that women walk around in fear of being attacked or sexually assaulted. When I consider that women I love are subjected to this; my wife, mom, my sweet nieces, friends and sisters in Christ, my anger is multiplied by orders of magnitude. It's become something I am constantly aware of.
Just this morning, I arrived at the gym when it was still dark. As I pulled into a parking space, there was a young woman sitting in her car with the door ajar and her foot on the ground. It appeared as though she was still getting things together to carry them inside. When I drove up and she noticed that I was a man, she put both feet back inside the car and closed her door.
I understood the gesture right away. It was so brief and fluid that you would have missed it if you weren't paying attention or if you didn't care. I purposefully avoided any sudden movement that could be interpreted as aggression. I left my truck running with the interior lights on and the brake lights depressed to indicate that I wasn't getting out immediately. Shortly thereafter, she got out of her car and I was careful to stay put until she hurriedly made it all the way into the gym.
It is heartbreaking that this is the world she and other women live in, one where THEY KNOW THEY ARE NOT SAFE. A world that I, as a man, have contributed to by participating in a system of value that reduces people, women especially, to things to be used for our personal satisfaction and pleasure. I participate in this system whenever I look upon a woman and by reducing her existence to whatever physical attribute has caught my attention at the moment, taking the liberty to give myself visual access to her body with complete disregard for her as a person and lewdly imagining how I want to consume, use and discard her for my momentary enjoyment as though she were some worthless, disposable toy. All of this happens in a mere moment and with just a look. And every time it happens, it adds to the great swell of violence, lewdness and insecurity that women live in.
I repent!
"Lord, I deeply regret my contribution to the danger and insecurity that women suffer, the harm I have done and the separation I have caused between women and the truth of what You created them to be. Please give me Your heart that I may believe about them what You say. Help me, Lord, to see women as You see them: as co-rulers of the earth, co-creators, co-heirs, the other half of the same whole, fellow vessels through whom precious gifts from God flows. I ask these things to further the work of my elder brother, your Son, Jesus Christ to reconcile all creation, including women, to You. Amen."
The real solution to the problem of violence against women will take much more than tactics, it requires a change of heart and a whole new system of belief and value.
In Week 41 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for my childhood neighborhood.
I find the sound of lawn mowers strangely satisfying.
It elicits feelings of safety and security. When I was growing up as a kid in Jackson, Mississippi, lawn mowers were part of a cacophony of sounds that announced the arrival of a new Saturday morning. It meant it was sunny, the day was underway, the neighborhood was awake and that it was time to go out and play.
As I reflect back on this as an adult, it has another meaning that I didn’t consider consciously as a child but nonetheless planted the sentiments I find myself reflecting on today. And that is, I had neighbors who cared.
They cared enough to be up at the crack of dawn to weed flowerbeds, trim hedges and mow lawns. They cared enough to organize neighborhood watches and neighborhood events.
I remember during Christmas, the neighbors would come together to select a theme for the entire neighborhood. Each yard had common decoration elements such as a frosty white Christmas tree behind a spotlight and matching signage with different phrases like “Joy to the world”.
There was a deep sense of pride in *our* neighborhood characterized by doing things with each other and for each other. We were together and it made me as a child feel secure. I pray we can get back to that. I’m grateful. #52WoG
I reject God believing “I am fine without God”. At the heart of that thinking is a belief that the light I’m walking in is my own.
Whatever your proximity to God, all light you enjoy -any semblance of love, justice or truth comes from Him. These are not concepts of human invention or products of our effort. They are characteristics of God that emanate from Him and shine through His vessels.
But there is coming a terrible day, after God’s offer of Himself and plea to choose life has gone out to every creature under heaven, that God will withdraw Himself completely from those who reject Him,
“For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light; The sun will be darkened in its going forth, And the moon will not cause its light to shine.” Isaiah 13:10, Mark 13:24
God will allow them their desire -utter darkness because “they loved darkness rather than light” John 3:19. In His withdrawal, He will also take His people. Not one who bares His Light will remain. Mankind will be completely left to languish in their own corruption and cruelty, being devoid of understanding, with no hope of any good. There will be no love, truth, justice nor anything of the sort -no light.
This is why Jesus proclaims, “I must work while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” John 9:4
I remember my ignorance of the harm I was doing and how I was being harmed, until finally I was forced to acknowledge my sin because it was piled up to heaven and I was being crushed under the weight of it. I was not fine without God. And, neither are you.
Be not deceived, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17
I am so thankful that while I was in darkness, hope remained for me and there shone a great light. Isaiah 9:2, Matthew 4:16
And, there remains hope for you! The love of God compels me, “Believe Jesus, be freed from darkness and receive the Light of the world!” John 8:12
How can you test what I’m saying? How can you know it is true? The closer you walk with God through faith in Christ, the greater your light will shine.
Originally posted on Facebook on Tuesday, October 5, 2021.
Belief is to place your trust in something.
Faith is the certainty of an outcome based on a belief that results in action.
I believe:
– God is Love,
– that the Bible is divinely inspired and accurately represents God,
– that Jesus is God's manifestation, His Son, the Christ who has come to deliver us from the oppression of our corruption, from harming and being harmed and to give us true life through the knowledge of the Father
– and that there is nothing more pure, wonderful, powerful and true.
Therefore:
To the extent that I am able, I give up my life: my way of living, my pursuits, my value system, and put all my trust in Jesus, submitting myself as a servant to His Kingship, with the expectation that He will establish an eternal Kingdom of peace and righteousness for His people, and that He would provide a microcosm of that now through me by changing my nature, giving me His heart, instructing me in The Way of the Father, so that I live in such a way that glorifies and represents Him, that produces life and not death, that loves people and draws them into His peace, inexpressible joy and life everlasting which neither fail nor can be taken away.
Originally posted on Facebook on Friday, October 1, 2021.
Hell is intended for the demonic, not the lost.
I don't want to spread hurt or harm, do you? If not, hell is not intended for you.
Hell is reserved for enemies -those who promote darkness.
But, in the day of wrath, everything entangled with the demonic will be destroyed so to forever put away death and suffering and to establish righteousness and peace.
God reaches out to us for this very reason: so that we are not unconsciously allied with the enemy and fall victim to wrath that is not intended for us.
In His love, God provides instruction and the means to not only extricate us from darkness but to usher us into His marvelous light and life that truly satisfies through Jesus, His Son, the Christ.
What wonderful news!
This turns Satan's claim on it's head that God wants to keep you from something good. When in truth, God wants to give you the best (Himself) and keep you from harm! #gospel
