52 Weeks Of Gratefulness #21 – Delloyd Cannon

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Chris with Delloyd Cannon on a motorcycle
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Ribbon Cutting for Luckett Technology Lutekk Image-Engineering

In Week 21 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for Delloyd Cannon.

Some relationships must be meticulously cultivated in order for them to survive and bear fruit; talking everyday, hanging out, dinners, trips, birthdays, graduations, gifts, bail, etc. Then there are people like wild plum trees in Mississippi that you stumble upon with boughs of full, ripe, delicious fruit that are either an unexpected delight or refreshment in your time of need. These have been watered by God and this is what Delloyd Cannon is to me -a friend I did not earn but one that is a gift to me.

My life was undergoing a slow but significant transformation. I had not too long ago come through a battle with homelessness. The job I have at this point, selling cell phones at Cellular South, was what helped me get back on my feet. At the time, Cellular South had these tiny kiosks in Walmarts throughout the state of Mississippi. They were approximately 5′ x 5′, manned by one person and even with the spartan furnishings of just a chair and register there was barely enough room to turn around. Despite the cramped quarters, the job was enjoyable because of the wonderful people I got to meet and know. One day, this guy comes along with a smile as wide as the store aisle. His name: Delloyd Cannon. Within a few minutes of our first meeting we’re laughing. He asked me a little about my life and shared a little about his. By the time he left, I thought he might be the coolest and friendliest person I had ever met. After that, he’d stop by the kiosk once or twice a week just to speak. In a few months we became good friends. I was surprised to discover he was not long out of high school. I was surprised because he was mature well beyond his years. And, it so happened he was looking to move to an apartment. Within another few months we were roommates, which in itself was a testament of how impressed I was with him. As an introvert, I cannot overstate how much I enjoyed living alone but I enjoyed my friendship with Delloyd even more.

The most important part of the transformation I was undergoing was I had accepted Jesus Christ into my life and was struggling to align my day-to-day living with what I said I believed. My faith had the strength of a newborn baby while my flesh had that of a muscular, full grown man. Exposing myself to the wrong people or things could set me back years. But, as long as I’ve known Delloyd, he has done nothing to entice or encourage my fleshly appetites. While we were roommates, there was no porn, drugs or even a single drop of alcohol (not that alcohol is bad, but rather its abuse). Even with that, I was still battling mightily with fornication. But from those days until now, Delloyd diligently encouraged me in things that were good and praiseworthy; going back to school, starting a business, marriage, my first child, accepting my call to ministry. He has been there for it all. Fun fact: Delloyd and his beautiful wife Diajarta were the first couple I ever officiated a wedding for.

When we were roommates he would often introduce me to others as “big bro” but I’m sure I’ve learned more from him than the other way around. Another fun fact: Delloyd was the one who taught me to drive a manual transmission (stick shift) vehicle using his old blue Mazda B2000 truck. Besides that, he taught me a lot about being a true friend -lessons that I obviously have not perfected and am still growing into.

What I find most remarkable, is that all in the time we were roommates, I don’t think we ever darkened the doorstep of a church together or even cracked open the Bible together. Nevertheless, I say with great confidence that we loved each other. And, I firmly believe that when we love, we share God, and the better we know God, the more perfect our love becomes. This is evidenced by how my and Delloyd’s love for each other has developed as our respective relationships with God have developed. Also, God’s love never fails. Even after not seeing each other for years, when we reconnect, it’s like we had never been apart.

Delloyd Cannon is a precious gift to me -a friend who remains in my life not because of what I’ve done but because it’s simply who he is. He’s more than a friend. He’s my brother and I’m grateful. #52WoG

Originally posted to Facebook on May 22, 2021.

Nothing To Offer

Fish and Bread

Had it been me, I wouldn’t have even bothered to offer.

But when faced with the need to feed thousands of hungry people, a boy offers his small lunch of five barley loaves and two small fish (John 6:1-14).

I would have thought so little of what I had that I wouldn’t have even considered it worth offering. I would have only come forward if I could afford to throw a great feast -a well organized event with every detail meticulously choreographed and rehearsed. And, if I can be honest, I would have done it, not primarily to help, but so that my offering would reflect well on me.

My attitude would have been that the little I have is nothing, so I will do nothing with it at all. I believe this was the attitude of the wicked servant in the Parable Of The Talents in Matthew 25:14-30. When called to give an account by his master for what he had been given, the servant feigns respect and claims that it was for fear of loss that he treated his stewardship like trash. But, I believe the Master saw right through that and recognized the servant’s disdain immediately. The Master saw that his attitude was, “What you gave me was not worth bothering to do anything with”. No wonder why, instead of just loosing his stewardship, the servant was cast into outer darkness! This is an arrogant, lazy and wicked attitude that I find I am also guilty of.

Lord, I am sorry and I repent!

Jesus taught in another account of stewardship that whoever is faithful with a little is faithful with much and how you handle what you have now determines what will be committed to you later. There are a plethora of books and courses aimed at discontent people promising to improve our pitiful lot with titles like “From Zero to Hero” and “From Nothing To Everything”. But, the truth is that none of us have “nothing”. God has granted something to everyone. The question is have we been diligent to take inventory of what we have and are we being faithful with it? Are we aiming to make maximum use of what we’ve been given so to return the best possible profit for the One who gave us our stewardship?

I confess that I could do a lot better. It begins with becoming as a child, like the boy with the five barley loaves and two small fish -having a heart that gives no consideration to how it may make me look but simply making what I have available for Jesus to use.

In the days we live in it seems that many of the issues we’re faced with are insurmountable. But, we were chosen for such a time as this. He has given us everything we need to be salt and light in the earth right now. Therefore, it is my intent from this day forth to remember the example of the boy and his lunch, offer what I have in faith and trust God for the rest.

There are at least two things I believe I can contribute as salt and light and this is where I’ll start:
1. Helping people achieve sufficiency through entrepreneurship to provide for their families and invest into the uplift of their communities.
2. Walking with couples to build successful marriages and families that glorify God and serve as a dependable vehicle to transfer wealth and knowledge for future generations.

It’s a work in progress but here’s a rough draft of the vision and plan.

For more information about the entrepreneurship courses and community, see here: https://bit.ly/3wT8yNE

If you’re interested in joining a fellowship for married couples, join us here: https://bit.ly/3seeXjd

 

The Most Important Word

Brainflurry.com | Sin - The Most Important Word

What word in the Bible do I believe is the most important, even more so than justice, love, truth and even faith?

Sin.

Sin means to miss the mark, to offend. It indicates that there is someone that set the mark. Which further indicates there is someone who claims to have the authority to set the mark.

On what basis can one claim such authority? The very word “authority” suggest the answer: authorship.

Sin demands a Creator who has the authority of ownership and thereby the right to set the mark.

According to the Bible, the Creator set that mark for us to be His representatives in the earth, to be caretakers of it. But we were not satisfied with being His representatives and in ignorance of the knowledge and power it takes to sustain creation, we rejected His rule and made for ourselves gods we could understand and control so that we could be the rulers and sit on the throne instead of God. In our effort to gain and to maintain power we have suppressed what can be known of God even apart from the revelation of Holy Scripture by creating false and distracting narratives. In our ignorance, we were also unaware of the immutable spiritual law that to whosever’s idea you yield or to command you obey, you become that person’s slave. Furthermore, we did not understand that ideas do not originate with us: they either stem from Truth or Lies, Good or Evil. As such, by obeying a command stemming from lies we did not become rulers as we thought but subjects, trading the rule of a loving God for the rule of the Father of Lies. We thereby entered in league with Satan and acting as his subjects, we threw the world into disorder, injustice and evil.

We missed the mark.

We used what has been given to us for purposes other than what the Giver intended, thereby opposing and offending God which is sin. There was yet another immutable law, the penalty of sin is death. Sin is opposed to God and whatever opposes God will be destroyed. We are all guilty under this law, leaving corruption and death in our wake and becoming enemies of the Creator, appointed to destruction.

But, God.

But, God was not caught unaware. In fact it was part of His design. Before time, He purposed to grow His beloved family, accounted for our weakness and prepared a Way out for those who were born into corruption but would accept His Love.

In His tender mercy and His loving kindness, God humbled Himself to plea His case with the creatures He made! He spoke through messengers and even established an entire nation to demonstrate the impossible task of humans bridging the gap between themselves and God, even if we were given the instructions!

These were tutors to humble us and bring us back to square one that upholding and governing the universe –achieving good, requires that God does it. But even more than that, it was to prepare us for His greatest act of Love yet, making His appeal to us flesh and walk among us. Such was God’s desire to be with us that He came and made His case to us directly in the person of Jesus Christ!

But not only that, Jesus was sent to take back the creation we lost by being a human that presents Himself obedient to God, being a caretaker of creation, advancing the kingdom of God by taking dominion of the earth, submitting everything that enters His domain to the Father, translating it from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

Not only that, He sent Jesus to satisfy the penalty of sin -death, by dying Himself, so that there would no longer be any separation between us and God. Being a perfect man in whom the fullness of God dwells, Jesus is a sacrifice who’s worth can cover all the sin of all mankind; past, present and future. So great is His worth that His sacrifice forever tips the scale so that grace continually abounds toward us.

Not only that, when we believe that God sent the Son, we agree with God about our sin, that the penalty is just, that we are incapable of setting things right, that He alone is good and fit to rule and we, having now no reason to boast, are at His mercy to restore us and all creation.

Not only that, for those that humble themselves, acknowledge their error and place all their hope in Christ, so great is God’s love towards us that rather than leave them subjects, He gives us robes and crowns and makes us sons and daughters! Hallelujah!!!

In this age, by the tutelage Christ’s example provides but moreover by the power God provides and that we receive through faith, we are transformed and given a new heart -a new center of our being with new desires. We want what God wants and walk as Christ walked -living obedient to God, submitting everything in our domain to Christ as he continually translates everything from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light until that day when all things have been put under His feet -where all evil, darkness and even death have been abolished. Our ultimate hope is the resurrection that begins the age where we reign with Christ and live with our loving Father and all those that love Him forever.

To many, this is utter foolishness but if any of this resonates with you, you are being saved.

You need only need to confess a belief at the center of your being (in your heart) that the Father sent the Son and raised Him from the dead to be saved -saved from the death your sin is contributing to the world now and the second death later; the wrath of God to come.

If you want to learn more, start here: https://bit.ly/39ipuDP

I love you.

Consider The Lilies Of The Field

Brainflurry.com | Lilies Of The Field

Worry is more than a momentary thought about an issue of concern.

Worry is an emotional state that is a response to a perceived existential threat.

We typically do not worry about our car breaking down. What we do worry about is how the car breaking down may affect our ability to get to work, to earn a livelihood so that we can secure food, clothing or shelter. So in this example, the real worry is not about the car but the underlying perceived threat to our physical well-being.

There are a number of aspects to our well-being besides physical, such as emotional and social. As such, there are a seemingly limitless combination of things we can worry about. But, whatever aspect of our well-being is giving rise to unrest and anxiety in our lives, Jesus has a prescription.

I, for one, have been wrestling with my sense of self worth. We live under a constant barrage of messages that aim to assess and ascribe our value. The use of terms such as “net worth” and the practice of placing value on human lives based on how much stuff they’ve been able to amass or how many people the are able to control is the cornerstone of our culture. I therefore find myself assessing my own value based on such trivial things as how much money I make, how may followers I have or how much engagement I have on a social media post.

Sure it would feel good to shed ourselves of these measures of value, but we live in the real word and value is a real thing, so can something have worth if others do not value it?

Absolutely. We know that even apart from the wisdom of scripture. How many songs do we have about things and people we didn’t appreciate until they’re gone?

But, Jesus reveals a higher truth. He says, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin…” (Matthew 6:28). God’s creation blooms and blossoms, they give their fruit in season without the slightest care about your acknowledgment or approval.

Now imagine how duplicitous a thing would be if its characteristics were to change based on who’s watching or how many approve. What if that thing were basing its actions on how much applause it would get? This is the way of the world and is fertile soil for double-mindedness and hypocrisy.

As for the lilies of the field -God’s creation, it matters not whether you appreciate them or enjoy their fruit. It simply does what it is in obedience to its creator.

Therefore, my prayer is,

“Lord, help me to be like the lilies of Your field, a tree in Your garden, a branch of Your Vine -Your creation. Help me to bear fruit according to the incorruptible seed, the image of Your Son -the implanted Word. Help me to do the good I was created to do regardless if anyone notices.
Amen.”

Jesus concluded His exhortation about how we should handle worry with an affirmation: if God shows such care for the grass of the field and the birds of the air, what does that mean about you? You are beautiful, even more so than a lily arrayed finer than the richest man in the world. You are valuable, even more so than many birds.  You are of great value to God. (Luke 12:7)

The key to overcoming worry and securing our peace is opting out of the world’s value system and taking up God’s (seeking His approach and government i.e. ‘the kingdom of God’ Matthew 6:33). Rather than “net worth”, Jesus must be the chief cornerstone in our lives upon which all value and truth are built.

The truth is: you and I are valuable whether anyone sees us or not. In fact, you are most you when you believe no one sees. So, I say to my soul and yours: Whether seen or unseen let us be what God created: blessings; loving caretakers of creation and our fellow man (Ephesians 2:10). Our life and value in Christ are secure. There is no need to worry.

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The White Girl Who Gave Me Hope

Female RunnersPhoto Courtesy of Women’s Running

I’m a black man.

It pains me to write it perhaps more than the pain of another potential article or news story making everything about race. I don’t look to make my race the subject of conversation, but I constantly find myself thrust into situations that force the subject. It’s the burden of that constant coerced vigilance that made a seemingly ordinary interaction with a high school-aged white girl today so extraordinary. It happened as I was dropping my son off for cross country practice, but it may help to first contrast it against another encounter that happened with my son a few years earlier.

Boys At A College Football Game

I was taking my boys to a college football game. My youngest son was a Cub Scout and our Boy Scout troop was hosting a tailgate on campus. As is often the case with tailgating, it was hard to know what the exact location of our tent would be on the day of the event. When we were in the proximity of where we were told it would be, I decided I’d ask some people tailgating in the area if they had seen a bunch of midget misfit soldiers running around (all the Boy Scouts were supposed to be in uniform). Because I was in a public and very crowded space, I was already hyper-aware of my blackness. So, as I approached the tailgate tent, I did everything I could think of to be non-threatening: I intentionally walked slower than usual and spoke softer than usual, “Excuse me, ma’am…” Before the words had been completely spoken, the college-aged white girl I had spoken to, with other white people to her right and her left, screamed to the top of her lungs, turned away suddenly while putting her face in her hands as though I had startled her -her screech having now turned into nervous laughter, her friends around her are laughing and I walked away having died a little in that moment. I was terrified, humiliated, confused and angry all at the same time. She reacted to me the way one might react to being unexpectedly confronted by their greatest fear -some dangerous animal: a snake, a spider or a black man -with an eight year old Cub Scout in tow. I spent the remainder of that afternoon wrestling with the tacit implications of that encounter and the racist narratives it reinforced: I am bad. I am dangerous. I am a criminal. I am a super predator.

Now, fast forward to today. I’m dropping my son off at cross country practice. I’m standing apart from everyone else, not because we’re practicing social distancing to limit the spread of COVID-19, but because mostly everyone else is white and standing with their own circles to which I do not belong. Practice is about to begin and I watch the coach give athletes instructions of how they’re going to modify workouts for everyone’s protection and then they file in line to have their temperatures taken. Another athlete, a high school-aged white girl, arrives a few minutes later. She walks casually across the parking lot, past other students and several groups of people and walks up to me. “What are we doing?”, she asks. I reply, “Coach has just given instructions about safety practices for the workout -about staying six feet apart. Now he’s taking everyone’s temperature. You can go up those stairs to get in line.” As casually as she walked up, she walked off not knowing that she had single-highhandedly restored some of my faith in humanity. Our interaction was sublimely innocuous. She was not measured in her words or cautious in her approach. She did not indicate the slightest hesitation. The entire encounter was fluid. I was pleasantly taken aback. Since that moment, I’ve reflected on it’s implications. She treated me like a normal person. I felt like a human being.

If everyone would look at black people the way this white girl looked at me today; not as a threat, or invisible, or someone to be pitied or even as someone who should be given special treatment, but simply as another person -like everyone else, there might be hope for us all.

Love Lifted Me

Starkville Cloudy Sky

“I’ve messed up,” I say to myself looking up at a grey winter sky. It was true, I had really made a mess of things. I had gotten kicked out of school, lost a full scholarship, stolen my Dad’s credit card and racked up $30,000 dollars in charges taking multiple women out at a time, I abandoned my mother, was totally not there for my little brother, I had been fired from J.C. Penney’s for stealing and had been evicted from my apartment in College Station just a little more than a month earlier. I was a wretch. Now, I’m on campus, out in the cold, staring down at a bright yellow boot on the place I called home -my car.

I’m angry but not angry. I’m sad but not sad. Those things are there but I’ve tipped beyond feeling. I’m resigned. “I’m done. There’s no point,” I think. But before I end it all, I felt the overwhelming need to apologize. I wanted absolution. I remembered back when I interned at Entergy in Jackson, MS, there was a man who knew I was going to Mississippi State that told me to visit his friend, Dr. Gregory Jones. And, at that time, Dr. Jones had an office at the Baptist Student Union. So, I trek across campus, walk into the BSU and am met by a large, bald-headed man with silver aviator style glasses sitting atop round, rosy cheeks that seemed to be permanently fixed in a grin. Wasting no time, I ask, “May I talk to you?” He ushers me into his office. With tears, I immediately began to share everything I had done wrong or even thought I had done wrong since leaving home.

Dr. Jones sat all the way back in his chair, his face now more stern, squared his body to mine, leaned forward slowly, resting his elbows on his desk with his large hands clasped and said out of nowhere, “God does not hate you.” As though he could see me mentally recoiling from the notion, he continued, “How do I know? Because, He sent Help just for people who makes mistakes.” Dr. Jones talked for several more minutes but I don’t remember what he said. I could not hear him. His voice became muffled as though he were speaking from another room. I was shell-shocked. My hardened heart was being eviscerated by the blast of those words,

“God does not hate you.”

It felt like there was Something in that room besides Dr. Jones and I. I was convicted but no longer felt condemned. I could see the gravity of my error but was somehow no longer under the weight of them. There was a compassion and a hopeful, alternative view of my future. Something shifted in me. Though nothing had changed about my circumstances, there was suddenly power to go on. It was that day that I looked upon Christ and was saved. And, this is not hyperbole, on a dreary, cold winter day, the clouds parted and the sun shone in the office at that very moment.

Pastor Gregory Jones was an agent of grace. He depended on it and shared it freely. As a result, I am here to share this testimony. Dr. Jones would often say, “You don’t have to be perfect, just available.” I thank God that He made Dr. Gregory Jones available to me.

I love you Rev. Jones.

Originally posted to Facebook on January 24, 2017. It is being posted here again in loving memory of my friend and Pastor, Dr. Gregory Wilson Jones.

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.