Quote & Question of the day

"Love is friendship that has caught fire."

Ann Landers

Why is it important to incorporate friendship with romance?

We grow and learn allot from each other. What can you share concerning today's topic on love and friendship?

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Another U.S. Tragedy

There are many eyes that are filled with tears once again in our country. Hate that was released through violent expression has too many families locked up by sorrow. Daily violence along with these high profile intense outbursts are tearing us apart. This has to be a time for all of us to take a look at the kind of land we have become. There appears to be no tolerance for anything, or anyone that's different. Can't we find common ground around anything any more? I believe one thing that all of us have in common is the sting and pain we feel when death and destruction hit us. Let's not forget the families that are struggling with that right now. We spend so much time evaluating situations and explaining our various positions on issues that we are forgetting how to be human beings. I don't even want to think about "the right to bear arms" verses "gun control" right now. I don't even want to examine Muslim extremism compared to Christian extremism in this moment. My heart just goes out to all of the broken lives that are left to deal with the consequences of another senseless act. May the God of all comfort begin to heal their broken hearts now by His grace and power.
In closing, let me leave a verse to my fellow Christians. Before we jump up on any kind of judgmental high horse please remember we were won by God's goodness, not our own. We have no right to posture ourselves with moral superiority because the perpetrator connected with ISIS. Anyone, including us, that thinks their God calls them to kill and destroy has terribly misunderstood His nature. His loving kindness drew us to Himself. It's His loving kindness that will draw others as well. Selah!
Romans 2:4 (NLT) Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?

Theology Must Become Life

I absolutely believe in the power of God to bring about healing. I have seen and been a part of too many miracles not to believe that God can and does heal miraculously. I also believe it to be a tremendous blessing to live in a land that has the technological advances that we have medically in this country. On top of that there are a bunch of things that are under our control and that we must take personal responsibility for. The balancing act for us human beings is to apply our core beliefs to the real, present tense situations that occur in our day to day lives.

If we need to have a bad tooth extracted, as I had to have done lately, then prayer and faith declarations may not get the results we need. If blood pressure is elevated and staying there, as I have seen in recent weeks, poor diet and neglecting to exercise must be owned and corrected. Faith can overcome fatigue, but overcoming weariness is not the same as health. Sometimes the answer is rest not a pill or an elixir. When the doctors come in scratching their heads and saying we cannot diagnose the problem, we had better know something about prayer and faith then.

I suppose the real test is knowing what to apply to the thing that is in our faces. It's a bit hypocritical to pray for healing and continue to abuse ourselves by eating what we know we shouldn't and never getting off the couch to move around. It's not logical for us to take pill after pill when we know what we really need is to find some relief from the stress we are continuously exposed to. When a spiritual attack is levied at us we can empty the pharmacy and we won't see results until we pray with authority and move the evil spiritual influence out of our lives.

God is good and God works through a variety of resources. We are meant to experience abundant life. Physical, mental, emotional, financial and relational health are all a part of that blessing. Let's trust God for divine blessing. Let's thank Him for the gift of medical care that's available when we need it. Let's make good lifestyle decisions. Let's be good to those we are in relationship with. Let's enjoy our material blessings within the range of our own means. Let's not ignore our need for mental and emotional restoration. We can overcome a bunch of things by faith, but living in a way that is healthy and whole is better. WORK IT OUT!

Violence Again

Our society is swallowing itself up with violent behavior. Whether or not we restrict access to guns it is clear that something needs to be done. Can we catch up with the out of control environment that we are in by trying to help people deal with their issues one by one? Do we even have a firm grasp on what it is that has so many people so angry?  I don't know the answers to these questions but if we don't do something we will certainly self destruct. America seems to be at a boiling point. I believe this explosive atmosphere we have created is fueled by selfishness. We don't see ourselves as one entity in a symbiotic relationship to everyone else. We only care about the things that impact ourselves and our own little groups. I feel heartbroken for the families of the reporter and camera man that were senselessly killed in Virginia. I feel sick that we continue to bury our heads in the sand while unborn babies are aborted. I feel grieved that everyday young black men are killing each other. I am deeply troubled that police violence against black citizens involved with the most minor crimes are brutalized like animals. It's just as bad when officers are trying to perform basic functions in line with their duty and are killed without cause. Military men slaughtered on American soil. School shootings, movie shootings and our words are even violent when we disagree about the slightest things. We are sick. We are sin sick. What's worse is so many are hardened and stone cold to the will and ways of God. He has the answers and we treat Him like He is too old fashioned to fix our modern lives. It's like having a dreaded disease and refusing the only Dr. that has the antidote to cure us. I love the Lord Jesus Christ so it's easy for me to say salvation is the answer for the mess we are in. We need a soul saving revival to sweep across this land from coast to coast and from Canada to Mexico. We know things are bad but I believe we are in far more trouble than we realize. We can change if we are willing to repent and receive the only solution that changes human hearts. 2 Corinthians 5:17 declares "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" If our hearts are made new we will see the evil trends in our land begin to reverse themselves. If our hearts are not made new, symptoms temporarily get repressed for a time only to get squeezed out again when the right pressure hits. Jesus Christ changes lives and we desperately need change.   

The Other Side of #Blacklivesmatter

While we are protesting, marching and declaring #blacklivesmatter we are still seeing self destrruction in every major city in this country. It is tragic that lives have been lost to over agressive policing, but it is inexcusable the way we continue to exterminate ourselves with gun violence. How can we believe anybody else should be outraged by loss of life in our community when we prove on a regular basis we don't rightly value our own lives? In a sleepy little town like Summerville, South Carolina we are experiencing death by gun slayings much too often. It was personally heart breaking to sit in the home of another mother that has lost her son to gun violence. This boy attended the church I serve from the time he was a baby and he is now dead. His mother tried so hard to rescue her son but she was not successful. He sat in our Sunday school, children's church and regularly attended our youth SHARE service. I know we can't save them all, but how did we miss it so badly? What didn't we do that we should have done? Why couldn't I get through to this young man? How is it that with so many churches in so many of our black neighborhoods our boys are choosing gangs over Christian fellowship? We have to find a way to change these hard realities. We have got to errect a plan that gets our youth to see their value and the opportunities they have to be great. Our great God has put greatness in every life and we must teach our kids how to tap into it. Our kids have got to know what it is to dream big again. There is obviously too much despair overtaking them. Too many of them don't believe they can make it without getting involved with crime. Crime leads to death. The strange quality of being young is the thought that death will always and only touch somebody else. They don't seem to believe that death can catch up to them. Well it is and way too often. Why is it so difficult for them to see life as a positive possibility? Apparently we are not representing life well when so many are by defalt choosing death. As frustrating and overwhelming as it may be something has to be done. We have got to have a step by step, long range, systematic strategy to address this crisis.  Instead of getting lost in the problem we have to start thinking from the middle of the solution. There is an answer. The answer is love. Jesus is love and we have to lift Him up in ways that they can truly see Him. After all, "love never fails."This is our challenge. We have to rise and fix this in His name. Let's work it out!

A Few Personal Thoughts on Our Community

I’m sure this is not going to be a popular entry. I’m not the leader of anything but a small church. I don’t hold a PHD in anything. What I’m saying doesn’t represent anyone, but me. This is strictly my point of view.  I believe that we do have a serious issue in our country concerning justice with minorities. The most public and recent examples are only visible signs of things that have been happening in minority communities for a very long time. The response to this crisis has been strong and outside of a few exceptions peaceful. The cry for change has picked up considerable momentum all across the country and that’s a wonderful thing. We should continue to push for equality in our justice system.

I believe we also need to take a long look at our community and strategically plan where we are going to go from here. This is where some corrective action needs to take place among ourselves and probably where some will begin to tune me out. I don’t know why we fight so hard against constructive criticism. Everyone needs to hear hard truth once in a while.  I think there are three things we can do to see positive change and increased health in our community.

One thing we need to do is solve our identity crisis. Do we really want to keep promoting the image of gangsters and half naked women as role models for success?  Do we want to continue to be portrayed as a people that are almost always angry? Why do we continue to allow these negative stereotypes to be blasted all over television? Why do we promote fights, cursing contests and lewd dancing all over our timelines via social media? Are we really happy that the world sees us like that? Is that the way we really see ourselves? Do we really believe that a group of our women can’t go to a restaurant without fussing at each other in full volume? Do we think there are no couples amongst us that can be faithful to their wedding vowels? Why is it that a family with class and dignity, like the 1^st Family of our nation, are viewed as sell outs by so many of us? Is our idea of success so twisted that a suit, an education, monogamy and functional behavior means being ethnically untrue?  One of the things we need to boycott is this genre of filthy shows that perpetuate such a negative image of who we are. Then we need to challenge each other on social media to clean up negative, stereotypical image entries on our timelines. It’s not cute. It’s not funny. It’s damaging us more than we realize.

The next thing we need to do is obey the law. Law and order does not just apply when our civil rights are being violated. The laws of the land are in place so that we can live in peace. I’m aware that allot of things that happen to us are a result of laws being disproportionately applied. I know that other people groups commit crimes and get away with it at a higher rate than us, but we place ourselves in bad positions when we engage in criminal behavior. We should stand up and protest for due process and fair and equal treatment. We should also be law abiding citizens. We should also teach our children to do the right things in and out of our presence. The violence that we have allowed to spiral out of control in many of our neighborhoods is unacceptable. Turning blind eyes to continuous criminal behavior and refusing to report those that commit crimes right in front of us because of some upside down honor code is not helping us fix our problems at all. We have to clean up our own act. Nobody else can do that for us.

Lastly and most importantly we need a restored spiritual dependence on Almighty God. We talk a great spiritual talk but we are lacking the living evidence of a true connection with God. Our churches have very little influence. Our preachers and I am a preacher, have become essentially ineffective. Our view of God is "He’s only for emergencies" while we live however we choose. These things are a formula for long term disaster in any community. Deserting God can never bring good results. When we decide we will firm up our relationship with God in a way that is real and serious we will see change. Individuals must repent and return to God through Christ. Preachers must forsake personal agendas and live and lead as The Lord directs. Churches must reconnect with communities in meaningful ways so these complex issues can begin to be reversed. Any meaningful progress must begin with God. He is Lord and therefore He must be first.

I realize I have just poured out my personal feelings here. I’m not even sure I have an audience that can do much about what I’m trying to say. I do declare that I’m willing to be part of the solution. I’m willing to join in with those that want to do more than just make some noise. If you feel that way, talk to me.

#FERGUSON

I am disappointed with the grand jury decision but not surprised. The anger that is being destructively released in some cases is not a surprise either. I suppose there are a couple of questions we need to ask and answer. How do we respond to this situation in a way that is constructive? What can we do that will bring change to these types of injustices? It seems that the only language people in power understand is money. Pressure is what brings social change. Civil rights laws were passed due to unified pressure. A great deal of that pressure came through economic boycotts. Even the recent emphasis of domestic violence and child abuse issues via the NFL is driven by money. If we really want to see these situations begin to turn we have to use our collective economic influence. Stevie Wonder and others had it right when they talked about boycotting Florida after the horrible verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. We just didn't have the collective will to follow through. We have a trememndous opportunity to make a national statement this Friday. We need to hold every "Black Dollar" on this "Black Friday." One day of discipline refusing to spend money anywhere for any reason will have an impact. This has been suggested by others and in my view it is the best place to start. We can only do something about this together. How long are we going to be willing to go backwards before we use our collective strength?

#BLACKFRIDAYBOYCOTT