Fear of Missing Out

 Fear

Preparedness... Mookie Betts of the LA Dodgers is facing former Astros and current Rays pitcher Charles Alfred Morton IV in the 2020, COVID shortened season ending, World Series. Mookie is prepared to swing at a good pitch. He has no fear of missing out. He gets his turn to bat, and he makes the most of it. He’s not concerned with what happened the at bat before him, or his last at bat for that matter. He’s only interested in doing what he can do with Charlie Morton’s next pitch. 

I had taken some time away from social media. It was much needed time away, and I have no regrets. It made me realize just how much of the real me, and the real world I was missing out on. I had a special day with special people, some great surprises, and much needed alone time with d.o.g, and G.O.D. Fear of missing out, transformed to faithfully overcoming my opposition. You’re in the batters box, what are you prepared to do with the next pitch? Beware of the intentional pass. The enemy may give you a base, but what will you do to get home? What will you do with the next pitch? 

Peace, blessings, and joy...

Stop Playing

Stop Playing

Andy Stanley wrote from his devotional; Better Decisions, Fewer Regrets, “People yielded to God don’t attempt to play God. They don’t predict outcomes. Instead, they surrender. They obey. They follow. As much as they want anything they want to be able to lie in bed at night knowing that things are good between them and their Heavenly Father.” 

I know that we live in a world full of different people. I also know that some of our differences are all that some of those people are going to see. Some are going to embrace and appreciate the differences, and unfortunately, some of those people are going to reject and hate you just because of those differences. 

How you love or treat someone should not be dependent on how they treat you or other people, it should be based upon how God treats you and has instructed you. 

People may abandon you, exclude you from their lives, and become very cold towards you, but God will never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6 KJV). Forsake... what’s does that mean? It means that He will give you the space that you ask for, but promised not to leave you, and then give up on, reject, turn His back on, or disown you. Even when we turn our backs on Him He has never stopped being their for us, especially when we call on Him wholeheartedly. 

So stop playing God, stop playing the victim. Stop playing like you can see things clearly when you aren’t even looking. Be true to Him, be true to yourself, and turn it all over to Him. The picture is much clearer when we look at it in Supernatural faith, rather than with natural sight. 

Peace, blessings, and joy... 

NBCU Who?!

When your spirit recognizes a special calling...

“What time is it?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Why are you interrupting me?”
“Cause I want to see you!”
“Who are you?”
“You know it’s me again.” (And the conversation carried on after the door was opened)...

Yes Lord I’m listening. #Thankful #MoBetter

That Same Sky, Same Moon, Same Stars...

Celebrity Lights

Celestial Lights

I remember watching Tom Hanks in his role as Chuck Noland in Castaway, and thinking, "how brilliant is this man?!" He was in survival mode the entire time of his tragedy, he didn't panic, he was well educated, he took control and responsibility of the situation the whole time he was stranded. As an actor Mr. Hanks was brilliant, and to perfection, portrayed the role of a brilliant businessman that simply refused to give up. We should all be so inspired in our daily lives to live and love in the same manner. Never give up! 

Love fueled his desire to live. He looked for every resource that he could find that was natural, and he looked through the resources he had from the wreckage that would help him survive, and enable him to return to his love. 

Mr. Noland was a desperate man towards he end, he was in an all or nothing frame of mind. I won't spoil the ending for you in case you haven't seen the movie, but I'll introduce you to a scene that helped change my outlook on life. 

Mr Noland decided that it was do or die time. So rather than wait to be rescued, he built a raft, one that he felt would endure the breakers, and see him afloat off in the deep blue sea. He again utilized his resources, and began navigation by calculating his direction based on the tools provided by God in our solar system, the sun, and the stars. He was an extraordinary mind. This scene in the movie led me to do some critical thinking of my own while on a missions trip. What if my plane were to have gone down in the vast deep? What if I were just told by the people on the island that I couldn't return home? Even though I now swim like a fish, would I be brave enough to overcome my atavistic fear of sharks and water? Would I be intelligent enough to utilize my resources and find my way home if I were? Or would I be like Djimon Hounsou in his role as the captured slave "Cinque" in another powerful performance and movie, "Amistad?" Cinque wanted to get home as well. However, even as great as his love for his home and family were he did not have the privilege in his camp to obtain the knowledge of the skies like Mr. Noland had. Cinque would need help. Love is a powerful drug. 

Have you ever sat underneath the midnight sky and wandered in your minds eye to ask the question, "I wonder if my loved one is thinking of me right now?" "I wonder if he/she is looking at that same big, full moon that I am right now?" "I wonder if he/she is wishing on that star, like I am, praying that soon, very soon, I'll be reunited with the one(s), I love?" 

What would you do, what have you done, or endured for love? If credit cards could buy love, my company's slogan would be, "What's in your heartbeat?!" Tell the people you love that you love them. Now... yes, right now! This blog is over, go tell that love what they mean to you... go on, get ta gettin'! 

Peace, blessings, and joy... that real PB&J

The Ghost of Missus Past

Just Like A Woman

Her father told her story first. Her love tells it most. Her Heavenly Father, and First love tells it truest, and has the last say. She loves her earthly father, but she was never good enough in her own eyes based on what her father told her growing up. She was never good enough and could have done things differently according to her recollection of daddy. What she failed to understand was that he only wanted to be her harshest critic because he loved her enough not to settle for mediocrity. Great fathers don't want great things for their daughters, they want what's best for them. That's the best dad anyone could ever have. Unfortunately, she learned to do just that, to settle for mediocrity because she didn't see what daddy saw, she saw what her pain led her to see. Her pain led her to see that it was most fitting to settle. Settling helps find an ease in the pain, a quick remedy to the pain. Which led her to settle all her life, to avoid the pain at all costs, to settle for allowing the ghost of her past to haunt her. 

If she's not good enough for daddy, perhaps she can find a father figure that will make her forget she's not good enough by having him tell her that nothing outside of him (the father figure) is good enough? He's smart enough to temporarily tickle her ears, so he has to be the smartest man she knows. How will she handle the lies? When will she see the truth? The lies of... the money is not good enough, the affection is not good enough, the physical relationship is not good enough. He needs more from more, more money (more theft), more affection (more women), more for the flesh (more substances/addictions). She is so used to the lies that she feels as though she has to stay trapped inside that tiny earthly body, and still figure out a way to hold the weight of the world on her shoulders. Then when she tries to take on the weight of the world, she experiences the weight of the universe, and it is there that she has an encounter with God. A feminine, Job, why me moment.

"Lord, I've been telling You ("telling" is often confused as prayer), I want one of these play things, (a man that she can manipulate like an older sibling blackmailing the younger sibling to get out of more choice situations, or get into situations they really don't want to be a part of), so I'm gonna rub Your bottle (Bible or imaginary subconscious bottle), You play genie, give me what I want, and I promise to be a good girl," she demands! 

He replies, "Two questions for you little woman, dear little sweet child of mine, Why start now, what are you really praying for? You've continually taken matters into your own hands, why stop now?" Why do we start prayer, and why should we end disobedience, and making vain request? To receive our blessings, to do the right thing, to get out of His way, and let Him be life, love, and the joy in us, through us, and for us.

Even though He doesn't have to, God still hears, so when will we? I've been praying for someone just like you!!! Did you hear you, or did you hear God? Did God say, "I've heard your prayers, and now the answer is in you. Seek Me in him, and you will get closer to him as you get closer to Me. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all this things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33 KJV). Yes all these things, the man, the diamond on the finger, the nice home (not just a house), and all! You were almost a wife, don't let satan still anymore of your joy. Don't seek the desire you want in a man, it's temporal, don't stay focused on the pain of a past man, this too should, and shall pass as you let it!!! Instead seek the God in him that was created for you, and find the love of a lifetime.

Peace, Blessings, and Joy... that real PB&J

White Lives Matter, Where Are You Now?

Where are they now? 

Photo courtesy of USA TODAY (Trevor Hughes) 

A picture is worth a thousand words, so goes the old adage. However, silence is oft times louder than the words screamed by an angry protestor, or is it possible that silence is so loud it screams what the anti-protestor has been saying all along? "We are who we say we aren't!" Is it possible that some just don't know how truly racist they are? Possibility vs. Probability, where's your money?

So where are they now? The fine folks that were so tore up over the Black Lives Matter (#BLM) movement. Again, to clarify the #BLM wasn't an acronym for forget the White, Red, Orange, or other. As one participant of the movement has been quoted by many now, "Save the whales doesn't mean screw the shrimp!" So, where are you now, anti-protestor? Now that there are "White Lives Matter," movements taking place, why haven't you comeback with the cry of "All Lives Matter," while they're gaining national attention? Christians first. Jesus proved 2,ooo years ago that all lives matter, but He also proved that not everyone felt that way, it would seem that ONLY He felt that way. I think He's proving it again in 2017.

For months no one could watch an NFL football game comfortably due to the bickering of certain players kneeling during the anthem. First it was the Colin Kaepernick show, then it blossomed into "the ones kneeling," and finally the harvest of protest yielded the fruit of NFL players being given the permission to begin the "My Cleats, My Cause," campaign, and there was in the end somewhat of a hush. I will go on record to say that I was not in favor of kneeling during the anthem. I have uncles that were Marines, my grandfather was a Ranger in the US Army, and I have a host of other family and friends considered my extended family that served during times of war, and in times of non war, in various branches of service, not to mention the fact that I am a proud American that has overcome the adversity of racism in every form, due to men and women who have fought in various forms so that I have the privileges that I enjoy to this day. So I am not a fan of kneeling during the anthem, I am however, a fan of taking a stand, #even_if it means taking a controversial one. It was controversial that Rosa Parks was accused of civil disobedience, and arrested for sitting in the front a transit bus. It was more shocking than controversial that the arrest and conviction were overturned by the highest court in the land after coming to the conclusion that her being arrested for sitting where she chose was unconstitutional. Her "civil resistance" exploited an uncivilized portion of our population that woke up the rest of this great nation. A nation that is not looking to be "great again," but to be even greater as one. A nation where all lives are seen as lives that matter, and that life is to be treasured among all as one. God bless America, and all who make her great.

#BlackLivesMatter vs #AllLivesMatter Part III

What are your intentions? 

Social media, and its betrayal of society. How does social media and most news reports project a matter? 

How is discrimination delivered? Is it merely in fleshy tones and hues?
"Your son is an excellent soccer player," says a parent to the coach who is not Caucasian! 

"Thanks, but that's not my son," replies coach, then points to his daughter who's features and skin tone do not fit the "Black stereotype."

The stereotype (even in a positive light) may be based on skin tone.

Is it merely flesh tones, and hues?

"She just jumped in and locked her kid out of her Mercedes when my husband walked by their condo," says the Caucasian wife, concerning her brown skinned husband with Latino and African ancestry, walking past their Caucasian neighbors condo!

"Mommy, why'd you lock me out," asks the child of approximately 5 years?
"Just be quiet and get in the house," the embarrassed mother replies!
"Rude, sad, and contradictorily enough, hilarious all in the same breath," says the wife's aunt!

Sometimes it's all about the skin.

Sometimes it's the origin you're in, and not the skin you're in that matters...

"He may steal from us!"

"Not all kids (even Black/Brown), are thieves Mary Helen!"

A fair skinned girl in an school with the culture stemming predominately from African ancestry is referred to as "the pretty one." How Black does she look? She doesn't. She has full lips, but very fair skin, and without being prompted to see her parents, most would not know that her parents were American with African heritage. 

Trayvon wasn't shot by an officer. He was no saint, but did he deserve to die because of that?

The Johnson's introduced Black Entertainment Television (BET), and the "Black," Brown, or American's with African heritage embraced it. Does that mean that they tried to do away with all other networks, or channels? Ask a Brotha if he only wants BET when the Super Bowl is on, or the NCAA Mens National Basketball Championship is on. But for a second focus on the more affluent, and more ignorant community that was also introduced to BET. Even though BET was not designed to take away from ANY other shows, or networks there are those that treat it as if it were. "Why don't we have a station, or network (Michael Eric Dyson, Tears We Cannot Stop, 2016)? Maybe because WET just doesn't fit? Or... why make yourself inferior when you have everything anyway?

I am not saying that I agree with ignorance, that I promote it, or that this viewpoint is law, and that all have to agree with it. However, you have to admit, it'll get the juices flowing, and make you think. What if it is true, or what if there's more? How bout this:

"To a Christian," #AllSoulsMatter! ~ Wiseman Woods

To Jesus, #AllLivesMatter #AllSoulsMatter

His going to the Cross evidenced how much they matter to Him, and unfortunately, it also proves how that's the farthest thing from the truth for others.