Category Archives: MUSINGS

Demand Justice

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Today marks one month and the killer of 17-year-old unarmed Trayvon Martin still has not been arrested. His killer, George Zimmerman, admitted to shooting Martin, but his cry of self-defense seems to have more weight than the death of an innocent boy who seemed like he “was up to no good.” Today folks are gathering across the nation in solidarity to demand justice for the death of a boy whose crime appears to be walking while black in a hoodie. One writer wants to know why hasn’t the public been as outraged over the deaths of other young black people before Martin. To him I say my outrage over Trayvon’s death is more demonstrative because of the utter disbelief that this case has a host of witnesses and an admitted killer who is still roaming free; my demand is that law enforcement agents do what is basic. There’s no need to search for the killer or the weapon. The police know where he lives and what gun he owns. With a case so cut and dry, I cannot understand the wavering except to say the delay seems to be a statement of the devaluation of Martin’s life, of black life, and that needs to change for all. Martin’s case has made people stand to say enough is enough and we won’t take it anymore. All of us, including Christians, have to demand justice and do so in whatever way the Lord leads us. I thank God that His word is chock full of scriptures that require us to fight for those who’ve been done wrong. We have our blueprint. Let us implement the plans. Read my latest EEW article that begins below that gives us ways to fight and to teach our children to fight injustice.



The sweet-faced boy popped up on my computer screen, well at least his picture, the only vision I have of Trayvon Martin, the 17-year-old shot in cold blood by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman in Florida last month. My son was there, sitting by my side, wanting to know who this boy was and why he was on the computer. How do you explain to a 9-year-old that a boy that looks like him, plays like him, is carefree like him, was just walking down the street with some candy and iced tea, got killed just for being him? How do you explain to your boy that a likely fate for him could be the same as that for Trayvon while we live in this crazy mixed up world? How do you tell your black son that to some being a black boy is a threat that many want to get rid of?

I told him straight, no chaser because nothing can chase the lack of respect for other humans, for black boys in particular, out of this situation and he needed to know that. Joshua needed to know that some people think being a black boy is a crime and law enforcement agents seem to do what they can to put away those who commit that crime. While sharing these harsh realities of living while black, I reminded him that he was beautiful, fearfully and wonderfully made black boy, and that God committed no crimes with His creation. The great crime in George Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin is the lack of respect for authority that has been revealed. While we teach our children about injustices and how to seek justice, I believe they need to understand God’s purpose for authority and how the Bible teaches us to engage those in authority, including when they are wrong. When we violate God’s law of authority, as George Zimmerman did, situations go horribly wrong, even criminal, like with Trayvon Martin. Read the rest here.

My One Thousand Gifts List

#501-510
A leisure day of rest
Charyse bringing me birthday gifts of a card, nail polishes, earrings and hair grooming
Being able to visit a friend to show our love and support as he grieves the death of his mom
Flynn snuggling with me and saying how he’s still smitten after 14 years
Watching episode three of Wives and Daughters
Making it to see another birthday
A gift of an iPad cover and keyboard from Flynn
Thoughtful birthday cards
A revelation about feeding my spirit when I literally want to feed my flesh (eat)
An overwhelming amount of birthday wishes and gifts (including nail polishes I like but would never have ventured to buy for myself)

Friday Feature: Change for Your Health

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My mom has always thought I was different. Of course we know that to be true; we are all different; God made us that way, but for my mama I just seemed to stand out from my siblings and her with my food choices. She would (and sometimes still does) say “Where did you come from?” She knows. I wasn’t adopted, but it’s just hard for her to understand why I like garlic and eastern spices when we never used them in my childhood home. She doesn’t understand why my favorite foods are Ethiopian, Indian and Mediterranean. She doesn’t understand why I dine at these restaurants and even cook some of my favorite dishes at home and serve them to my family. She can’t understand why I don’t serve a white dinner roll or cornbread with every meal. And how can something be sweet without white sugar? And how can you manage or cure pain without a prescription drug? And how can anything taste good not made the old-fashioned way? Though she may have wanted to say “Blah, blah, blah” when I would tell her of certain benefits to my health regime, she has begun to listen after listening to the experts.

Her occupational therapist, Manoj, has a doctorate in occupational therapy, has a best friend who is a naturopathic doctor and himself has studied natural remedies for gout, a form of arthritis. This week he told her to cut out of her diet pork, seafood (except salmon), and beef, to include vegetables like celery and those from the sea and drink plenty of water and tart cherry juice. Manoj, a native of India, and I talked about our favorite Indian dishes and our mutual love for Ethiopian food. Everything Manoj said my mom had heard from me and heeded some, but from the surprise in her eyes that her “different” daughter had told her the same things, I believe she will begin to incorporate more of these remedies.

Her nurse, Kate, made sure to emphasize the importance of dental hygiene for a healthy heart, saying she has to brush her teeth before going to bed so the mouth bacteria won’t travel to her heart and possibly set up an infection there. This is particularly important for my mom who has stents in her heart arteries to push away the blockages there. Earlier that week I had just told my mom how poor dental hygiene could cause a host of health problems, like diabetes and abscesses, and she gave me the side eye. After Kate, who has been a nurse for 30 years, spoke to her she gave me wide eyes and admitted that I had just told her something similar. Now my mom may fall asleep before taking care of her teeth, but she has popped up in the middle of the night to handle her business.

So if you have a granola-loving friend who is picky about the way she eats and is always trying to get you to try something you have never done, let alone heard of, be open. She might just be telling you what the experts have uncovered and are now sharing with their patients. Remember, God told us what we needed to know before the emergence of any “experts.” In Genesis He told us that He gave us plants and seeds for meat and He later added meat for food (1:29-30, 9:3). His ordering seems to speak to the primacy of food grown from the ground. Regardless, we can’t deny the proliferation of reports on the benefits of fruits and vegetables. Just this week I heard a news report on the benefit of blueberries and apples: preventing and ridding the body of disease, giving energy and providing mental clarity.

If you are that health kick person, keep doing what you’re doing, including sharing your benefits with friends. They may talk about and shun your advice, but, like my mom, they may eventually take heed. You have God, experts, your changes for the better and the food itself on your side. Your words to them are not in vain.

How to Do Better

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What Do You Think? Wednesday

“I know, LORD, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.”—Jeremiah 10:23

When you know better you do better, at least that what my mama says and that’s what should happen. But sometimes we know better and just don’t do better for a number of reasons:

  • We may know better but not how to do better.
  • We may know better but are afraid of the result of doing better.
  • We may know better but like the result of not doing better.
  • We may know better but don’t want the inconvenience that we think comes with doing better.

Or we may avoid doing better because we just want to remain in control, any change throwing off our well-working system. Sometimes avoidance is about control. Regardless of our reason, we are guilty of not doing better when we know better; there’s no way around that: “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). But how do we get over the obstacles we let stand in our way of doing what we know is right? How do we follow after righteousness and forsake sin?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

Pray for wisdom and then follow it. That teaches us how to do better.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).

God is always with us and won’t ever fail us. We can know that our outcomes will be divine because we have God’s power and provision. That should freeze our fear of doing better.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us…” (Ephesians 3:20).

We think we like best what we see but God can do far better than that. That shows us we’re likely to care more for the results of doing better.

“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me” (Psalm 119:33). When we ask God to order our steps according to His word, God’s ways and not our ways will be the order of the day. “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).

That puts the convenience in our doing better.

Our way to doing better is a constant press. When we stop pressing, we stay the same or get worse. When we stop pressing we give Satan room to press into our path and wreak our lives. We have our place. We have our plan. We must press. We can press when we

listen to God;
let Him guide us; and
love God enough to follow and love others through Him.

Doing better when we know better is the Christian obligation. What are some other reasons we don’t do better even if we know better? How are you handling doing better because you know better? Please, let me know what you think.

Heaviness Lifted

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Ever lose something and have to call out a search crew to find it? That was the case Saturday when I couldn’t find my water bottle. Anyone who knows me knows that you rarely see me without my 32 ounce bottle. I refill it throughout the day to make sure I get more than half my body weight in ounces of water. To no avail, three of us couldn’t find my bottle and I had to leave the house without it or chance being late to an event. I felt lost without it. I didn’t know what to do with my hands. I kept reaching in the car cup holder and it wasn’t there. I just kept feeling that something was missing. When I returned home I looked again and, thank God, I found my water bottle. After recovering it I felt secure; I felt myself again. The same way I felt without my water bottle—that something essential for my life—is the same way I feel when I lose anything I need, including God’s favor.

Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death (Proverbs 8:33-36).

On July 7, 2010 I lost God’s favor—his pleasure in or delight with me—in one area. This was the day God shared with me three points I needed to share with a friend in an area of her struggle. On that day, or soon after, I shared with her two of the three points. I rationalized that she got the message with the two that I shared and giving her the third would have been overkill, killing her spirit and possibly ending my ability to share with her on that level again. I felt good with what I shared but wondered if she needed to know that last point. On Friday in prayer God made clear that I had to share that point with her, that I “punked out” before and I couldn’t do so this time. Though I was nervous and though she was taken aback that I kept something from her for almost two years, I got out what I failed to share as she shook her head in agreement and said “un, un, un. I receive that.” She then scolded me for holding back something that “I could have been working on for two years.”

After apologizing and committing to never again hold back, I felt free, a great burden lifted that I didn’t even know was weighing me down. Almost immediately I had a great urgency to throw myself into the work of the Lord, something I hadn’t experienced in a while, perhaps two years, perhaps since July 7, 2010 when I received instruction but was unwise by choosing to neglect what I had been instructed to do. That July I lost my blessing for ignoring wisdom, lost favor from God, bringing to myself harm—a lack of joyful motivation to fulfill God’s call on my life, a death of my soul. I had lost God’s favor and didn’t even know I had. But God, who is rich in mercy, doesn’t want to withhold any good thing from me and wants me to choose life, sent out a search party of one—Himself—to dig into my heart to show me that His favor was missing (Ephesians 2:4, Psalm 84:11, Deuteronomy 30:19, Psalm 139:23-24). He wanted to show me that He was not pleased that I was disobedient when He told me clearly what He wanted me to tell my friend. Even in His displeasure God told me what I needed to do to please Him in this area again and He hasn’t stopped blessing me in other areas over the last 20 months. For His great love for me, being mindful of me even in my shortcomings and showing me my version of control was out of control, I am eternally grateful.

My One Thousand Gifts List

491-500
Witnessing a loving family
Cleaning my house without feeling stressed
A rich discipleship meeting full of aha moments
A surprise visit from Sharon (my minister sister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and her adding to the richness of my discipleship meeting
One disciple’s comment when learning Sharon was dropping by the meeting: “I looked forward to discipleship. Now I get a double portion.”
A normally reserved discipleship group member opening up during the meeting
My discipleship group celebrating my birthday with food, cake and a Blue Nile gift certificate
Having a rich meeting even while having to manage the children
How Flynn and I support each other in such an easy fashion
Sleeping in

Friday Feature: The Cleansing Power of Water

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The other day a great correlation between water and the Holy Spirit came to me. I had been drinking what I thought was a lot of water but my skin still looked horrible. I decided to drink more than usual and for the last few days my skin has been almost flawless. The more water I drink the better my insides are cleansed and the result of the internal cleaning shows up externally. The same thing goes with the Holy Ghost. The more we allow Him to fill us up our insides become clean and the internal cleansing of our spirit then reflects externally on our face, in our attitude, in our speech, in our overall demeanor. We see in Scripture how water is equated to the Holy Spirit, with references to the Spirit being a fountain, well, spring of water, poured and poured out, among others (Proverbs 1:23, Isaiah 12:3, 32:15, Joel 2:28, John 7:37-39). Fountains, wells, springs of water and whatever is poured upon are all consumed with water. The water completely takes over whatever it fills, even to overflowing. The water now dominates. But fountains, wells and springs are meant to have water, be dominated by water. If they don’t have water—if water doesn’t dominate them—we know that something is wrong with them. The same is true for us. We were meant to have water, physical and spiritual, but so many of us don’t like water and do whatever we can to avoid drinking it.

We dress water with lemon or some other flavor to make it palatable. We do the same with the Holy Spirit. We sometimes only accept His ministry by adding to His word to us, maybe rationalizing what we think He meant so that we can receive a portion of what He actually said. But, just like water, the Holy Spirit doesn’t need any additions. God gave us the Holy Spirit, who is perfect and perfect to cleanse us from all unrighteousness if we allow Him to fill us. Pure water has no taste; it’s simply refreshing. We have polluted it, though, by dumping trash and chemical waste in it. As a result, we have had to strip the water of the toxins and then add nutrients to it so we can simulate what God intended for us to have. We do the same with the Holy Spirit. We strip Him of his majesty by fashioning Him in our own image, realize how inadequate our Holy Spirit version is then try to add some super-spiritual sounding ideas to whatever we’re doing and call that the Holy Spirit’s doing. But we can’t “water down” water or the Holy Spirit. They are complete in and of themselves. We need to consume these great resources God has given us to flourish.

So as we drink water I want us to think of it as the Holy Spirit filling us. Each glass we drink is like an infusion of the Holy Ghost traveling through our insides, covering, filling and taking over every part until He is fully seen. We want the Holy Spirit to be seen in us. We must make room for Him by allowing Him the space to operate in us fully so He can be fully seen in us. May the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit do a perfect work in us as we allow Him to consume us (1 Thessalonians 5:19).