What's Going On?

What’s Going On?

“The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.  He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.”

Religious people.  That’s who the Pharisees and Sadducees were in Jesus’ day.  They were the religious leaders who were always concerned about people following the law to the point of oppression.  They taxed people heavily, dealt underhandedly with the Romans to further oppress the Jews, they ostracized people and felt threatened by Jesus’ ministry, because Jesus preached to the people they used to control.  He was giving them words of life that could open their eyes to the freedom and choice they actually had in this life, without feeling so oppressed by those in charge.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were educated, powerful and scared of what might happen if the people actually listened to Jesus as he gained more and more popularity. 

Last night I watched the election results with a group of people, most of whom I didn’t know until last night.  In the house were blacks and whites, old and young people, all hoping for an Obama victory.  When I looked on some of the news programs I saw the people at the Mitt Romney gathering and the people at the Barack Obama gathering, all hoping for a victory for their candidate.  I couldn’t help but notice that the Romney camp looked like they were majority white, whereas the Obama camp was shockingly diverse.  I kept thinking that the Republicans don’t get it yet. I’m not sure they even want to get it yet.  But something is happening and it’s happening now.  You can no longer see the world from one perspective.  There are other people here around you and they have a voice too.  And in those voices is an incredible power.  And in this country, we have the right to speak and to let our voice be heard, and I think that those who have been ignored for a long time are starting to see that. 

Barack Obama is not Jesus.  Let’s be clear.  He is not the Messiah, not the Savior.  Nor is he the Anti-Christ as many claim him to be.  He is Barack Obama, the son of interracial parents, raised by a single mother, reared in a home with his grandparents, educated in American Universities, organizer of low income communities, friend to some of the wealthiest people on the planet, husband of an educated, African-American woman and father to two African American young women.  He plays basketball, smokes Newport’s, walks with a stroll, inspires a crowd with his charisma, is politically savvy and has a way to make you feel like somehow you are related to him.  (He’s my uncle in my head).  But what he represents is important.  What he represents is something that was prayed for a loooooooooong time ago by people who are no longer alive to see it come to pass.  He represents a sign of our times.  And if we are not careful, we will miss what God is saying and revealing in this season. 

The voice of the minority is important.  Regardless of what you think about Obama’s politics, do not miss what God is doing.  It would be easy to get caught up in the negative aspects of what has happened in this campaign or to focus on the loss of Mitt Romney.  But don’t miss God.  If you miss God here, you are going to end up like the Pharisees and Sadducees, persecuting the one God is using to further reveal His kingdom.  Which coincidentally, is not with the voice of the majority, but is found amongst the minority (See Matthew 5).  The kingdom of God is with those that society at large oppresses.  The kingdom of God is with those who are dealt a bad hand in this life.  The kingdom of God is with those who have been downtrodden.  And those people exist in the United States.  They are not just in other “poor” countries. The ones who don’t have access to healthcare; the ones who need a helping hand in order to get a decent education; the ones who live in danger everyday because there are no jobs in their community; the ones who even with education cannot get hired; the ones who struggle to feed their families everyday.  You know, the 47%.  Technically 47% is a minority. Seemingly unimportant.  But collectively they matter. Apparently, an additional 3% of the "other" folk decided to go along with the Obama program this time based on the popular vote numbers.  Somebody has to listen to their voices.  Most of them didn’t feel like Mitt was that guy.  He couldn’t connect to that voice.  He didn’t make those voices feel like they mattered.  And they do.  And it is about time that the people with those voices realize it.

Things happened last night that may slip right by people who are focused on what didn’t happen.  Even if you don’t agree with what happened, look for God in it.  NBC News said this: “Finally, it was an historic-making election. With Obama’s re-election, we now have the first time since Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe that Americans have elected three two-term presidents in a row… Tammy Baldwin will become the Senate’s first openly gay member… The Senate will have at least 19 female members -- the most ever -- and there’s a chance that number could increase to 20 if Heitkamp wins… Maryland and Maine became the first states to approve of gay marriage at the ballot box… And initiatives to legalize marijuana passed in Colorado and Washington state.”  The minorities mattered last night.  They have always mattered, but now maybe more people will pay attention.  And unless the minorities somehow stop speaking, they will continue to make sure you know they matter.  Somebody better start listening. 

You can let religious law blind you: Abortion, gay marriage, marijuana legalization, etc.  Or you can take a step back and see the bigger kingdom picture. There is always a battle in the spiritual realm.  But you cannot see it with natural eyes (John 3:3).  The more people who participate in the bigger battle, the closer we come to Jesus’ earthly reign.  All over the world, people are starting to learn that the empowerment of the minority is a worthy fight.  And the minorities are learning that we are a stronger force together than we are apart.  Can we keep it going? Time will tell.  But I will tell you this:  Don’t pride yourself in only looking at the signs of what you may think may be the world going to pot.  Because then you will miss seeing how heaven is also coming to earth at the same time.  God is always bigger than politics.  And yet, speaks in politics too. We need to learn how to listen and stop talking so much. 

**Bible Study Tip:  Read Matthew 15 and 16 in light of what I wrote here for more perspective and if you want to discuss I’ll be happy to have that conversation. 

To God Be The Glory

To God Be The Glory

“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36

America we have a problem.  We keep confusing the cultural ways of our existence with the kingdom of God.  It’s hard to know the difference at times because even from our pulpits, we declare the American way instead of the kingdom of God.  Americans are a consumer culture.  That is a harsh reality.  Our economy is based primarily on our spending habits.  When we spend money and buy things, then the leaders of our country say that we are doing well economically.  We almost went into a huge crisis when people started actually saving money after the 2008 stock market crash.  And the savings rate was only up to 8% then!  Normally it hovers at less than 3% because we spend all we get and then some (hence our debt crisis).  But the reality of our economy is that we are always being conditioned to spend more money.  But not on worthwhile things.  We are conditioned to spend money on things to consume.  Clothes, jewelry, electronics, food, you name it, we are always being shown an advertisement to increase our desire to consume.  Not to invest or save or donate it, but to blow it on stuff.  This presents a problem in our prayer lives if we do not become aware of it up front.  Because we are likely bringing into our prayer lives, our desire to consume things.   

When we pray and ask God for something, we may assume that when he gives it to us, it will be for our consumption.  Maybe we are praying for a new job or for a relationship or a house, or anything.  We petition God to give these things to us.  We are going to the creator of the universe and making our requests known.  But who in Scripture ever got something from God to use exclusively on themselves and God found it pleasing?  Not Abraham, Joseph, David, Hannah, Mary, Jesus, Paul, Peter, or anyone I can think of off hand.  Sometimes, God just gave them “stuff” out of His goodness, but those things that they had a deep desire for and prayed over and over about were not for them, but for God’s glory.  And that means they couldn’t do whatever they wanted with it.  They had to use it for eternal purposes.  God gave them an answer to their prayer for His purpose, not theirs.  But that also means that when we pray for something and do not get it, we trust that even that answer is for God’s glory.  Either way God will glorify himself. 

Now for a human being, we would say that someone who only does things for their own glory is egotistical.  Everything is about them and how great they are.  And that would be true of God if God wasn’t the Creator of all things and deserved to be worshipped and adored.  We might accuse God of making everything about Him, but if God created everything, then it really is all about HIm.  There is nothing that cannot glorify God.  No circumstance is without opportunity to glorify Him in some way.  No object on the planet is immune to being used for the glory of God. And nothing you receive from God in prayer is for you alone.  Good, bad or indifferent. Even if you enjoy it, remember that it is for God’s glory and not your consumption.  Don’t confuse the American way with the kingdom of God.  If God affirmatively answers your prayer for something, then be assured that the plan you have for it must be open to being changed. 

If you have been praying for a house, then if God gives it to you, be prepared to listen to God’s plan for it.  Even if that means giving it up.  If you have been praying for a spouse, then be prepared for that relationship to be used for God’s glory.  And that might mean that things get rough before they get better. If you have been praying for a new job, then be prepared to trust that God will bring glory to Himself out of that situation.  This does not always mean that things turn out the way you want them to.  It does mean that God will be glorified.  How much peace you have in the process will depend on how you see the situation.  And it will take work to see and trust that God will bring glory to Himself out of some of these things.  We just have to remember that it is not about us.  It never is.  Don’t take it so personal ( if that’s possible).  God is not punishing you.  God is not mad at you.  God is not just being mean for no reason. God is not feeding your consumption habits.  God is bringing glory to Himself so that people will see Him for who He is in the midst of your situation.  He is worthy.  Abraham had been praying for a son, whom God promised him he wold have by his wife Sarah.  When he finally had the son (at 100 years old) he was then asked to sacrifice him on the altar.  Abraham had to be willing to give up the very thing that he had been praying for and desiring  for so many years in order to accomplish a greater spiritual task.  Centuries later, we are still using this example to demonstrate the type of faith that God is pleased with.  Hannah prayed and prayed for a child and finally she was blessed with Samuel.  But she promised God that she would give him over to God’s service if she was given the child  And she did.  She sent her son away to live with Eli the priest to be used in the temple as a priest of God.  She was willing to give up the very thing that she had been praying for in order to fulfill a higher spiritual purpose.  Can you say the same? Can you give up the thing that you most desire to be used for God’s purposes and not your own?  Whatever plans you have for that job, that money, that man or woman, that child, or that house are subject to change.  Are you open to that? Do you understand the glory of God enough to know that it will happen anyway?  Even if the story does not go according to your plan.  God will get His glory.  And it is not through our consumption of the things we have been praying for.  But their eternal purpose, which we may not always understand or even like.  In the end, the glory belongs to God and God alone.  

A LIfe We Don't Deserve

A Life We Don’t Deserve

“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.” Philippians 3:7-11 NIV

I think Malcolm X said it best. “You’ve been bamboozled! Hoodwinked! Run amuck! We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!”  Except the rock that landed on me was the Rock of Ages, Jesus Christ.  We have been sold a bill of goods by the prosperity teaching, “God wants you to be wealthy”, “become a Christian and everything will be great”, kind of preachers.  They must have forgotten about this book in the bible, and a host of other books that speak to the contrary.  The prosperity gospel works great if you are not a true follower of Christ, but maybe just a church goer.  It works fine if you ignore the actual call to participate in the sufferings of Christ so that you can participate in His resurrection power.  It works fine if you want to still be under the law.  Because then you get what you deserve.  You get what you work for.  What you put in is what you get out.  That’s a perfect gospel for American churches.  Land of the free.  Home of the brave.  It makes for a wonderful campaign to tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and make something of themselves.  But that argument does not hold water in the kingdom of God.  Why?  Because none of that stuff matters.  What you have done is irrelevant if you live a life of grace. 

Now I know that we want things both ways.  We want to be forgiven of our sins, even though we deserved death and when we are forgiven, we want to be able to proceed to only have good things happen in our life because we are “good people” who deserve it.  I get it.  I want that too.  But the problem is, following Christ, that is not what happens.  We can’t always get what we think we “deserve” because what we deserve from God is actually death.  If God flipped that around so that we don’t have to take that eternal punishment, then why do we want things to flip back the other way so that we can always get what we think we deserve when we think it’s good for us.  So to be clear, we don’t want what we deserve when it’s bad, and we do want what we think we deserve when it’s a good thing.  Right. Let me know how that works out for you.

The truth is, when we accept to live our lives under grace instead of the Law, we will always be living a life we don’t deserve. And sometimes that means incredible favor with God and man, while other times it means suffering when we don’t deserve to do so.  And to make it worse, sometimes we have to choose to suffer as an expression of our faith in the God we know.  Just like Jesus.  He didn’t do anything that deserved death, but chose to do it anyway for our sakes.  And if we live a life where we accept this as our salvation, then sometimes we will have to do the same.  God will put us into some “unfair” situations that we don’t deserve to be in but choose to stay in for the sake of God’s glory.  We are partakers of Christ’s suffering, on purpose.  But the promise from God is that if we participate in His suffering, then we will also participate in His resurrection.  That is our hope.  That by choosing to “die” we will live forever.  We will know the power of never being able to be die again.  We will be raised up if we choose to continue to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.  It’s a hard thing.  Don’t be fooled.  It is HARD.  But God gives you what you need to go through it.  You have the grace for it, and to many you will look foolish.  You probably look foolish to yourself.  I look foolish to myself for choosing to suffer for something I didn’t do or don’t deserve to suffer for.  For feeling the pain of someone else’s sin. But love demands that we do this.  It is in seeing the unjust suffering that we get the revelation of God.  Many people followed Jesus when he was doing miracles in the towns and preaching about the kingdom.  But those stories of what he did may have become just stories centuries later of a nice man who had special power.  But the story of a man who suffered while he was innocent in order to ensure that we all would have an opportunity to come to know God intimately has lasted for centuries and the power of it still works today. 

If we are followers of Christ, just know that it won’t always be easy.  The love that you have received from God will have to be given to someone else in order for them to have a chance at also getting into relationship with God, and for you to remain in close relationship. You will always live a life you don’t deserve, good or bad.  But you will also have more power than any human being could ever have.  That is resurrection.  To see life come out of dead situations.  To see life rise again when everyone thought the final nail was driven into the coffin.  When you even thought, that it was all over.  But soon, life will come again.  We have to continue to have faith.  And if we want to be mature Christians, we have to do these things.  We are not children who want what they want, when they want it and throw a tantrum when they don’t get it.  Like Paul said, “All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” Philippians 3:15 NIV.    

Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and MIrrors

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.”  Matthew 23:23 NIV

          The internet has been a buzz with the whole Chick-Fil-A issue.  Dan Cathy articulated his view on gay marriage and those views cause a protest around the country that sent supporters of his view to his stores and haters of his view to demand that his stores be boycotted.  I don’t particularly care for either side of this argument as I think they are both flawed.  I’m still going to eat Chick-Fil-A, not because I support his view, but because I like their food and their commitment to allow their employees off on Sunday.  I liked them so much I considered franchise ownership. Out of all of the businesses I support with my dollars, I do not know the political viewpoint of the owners.  What I do know is how they treat me when I walk through the door and how their business supports or hurts the community. 

          On their appreciation day last week, Chick-Fil-A posted unprecedented sales nationwide as thousands of supporters stood in long lines and demonstrated their solidarity with the fast food chain.  Good for them.  People ate good chicken and a Christian values based company received valuable financial support for taking a stance on a political issue.  We all know that money talks, so putting your money where your mouth is (pun intended) goes a long way. Which brings me to another issue that this highlights for me.

          There is no question that we have morality issues in this country and in the whole world as a matter of fact.  But let’s start with the immorality of our laws and policies that govern our country purposefully marginalizing other people for the benefit and profit of a few.  Justice, mercy and faithfulness are the more important issues of the law (according to Jesus).  Is it right for a man to be persecuted and threatened with boycott for expressing his political stance on a morality issue? No.  He has the right to express that opinion and people have the right to agree.  And the gay rights activists also have a right to express themselves as well.  That is the beauty of the 1^st amendment.  Both sides can express themselves without fear of government persecution.  Dan Cathy has “Christian Values”.  Well, I would say that he has a certain set of Christian values.  I personally am a follower of Christ with kingdom values. Sets of rules and moral regulations do not take precedent over what I believe to be the weightier matters of the law.  Rules about this and that do not do a whole lot to advance the kingdom agenda, because if you use the kingdom agenda, you will find that the rules also get followed because the more weightier matters were handled. When you lead with rules, you get more condemnation, not more justice. 

           But what about really putting our money where our mouth is.  So if we believe what the bible says, then shouldn’t we be putting more money into those organizations that support issues of justice, mercy and faithfulness?  How about going out to DONATE the cost of a meal at Chick-Fil-A to an organization that fights to bring equality to our educational system and get rid of these laws that put less money into inner city schools and more into suburban schools?  Or how about protesting the payday lenders that are looking to keep people in a debt trap by charging 369% interest rates and are trying to enter into Pennsylvania as we speak? Or what about unequal lending practices that have been going on in minority communities, charging higher interest rates to people of color which several large banks have just been sued over?  Or what about boycotting those companies who have been presented with data that tells them that the work they are doing is directly affecting the health and well being of the communities they are working in, but who continue to work in these areas anyway.  They are blatantly ignoring the warnings that their drilling, construction, etc, is causing cancer and other diseases, but they figure that the money they would pay out in lawsuits is less than the money they make by continuing, so they ignore it? 

          Do we get up in arms about these issues of justice and mercy and faithfulness the way we do about gay marriage?  Here is another question. . .if the issue is truly about gay marriage, would the same people who went out and supported Chick-Fil-A have done the same if the owner was Muslim?  Selah.

I’m not saying Dan Cathy should not be given support for expressing his Christian beliefs.  I think that the appreciation day showed that people do care about the financial health of an organization that has not been silent on their faith. And I will continue to support Chick-Fil-A.  But seriously, Christians, can we start looking at the weightier matters of the law and stop voting on these morality issues for our government?  We are playing right into the hands of those who hold the majority positions.  Distract them with “morality” and they will miss the bigger picture and things can stay exactly as they are. 

In Not Of

In and Not Of . . .?

“He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."- Matthew 13:33 NIV

Ok.  I have been wrestling with this scripture for the past few weeks.  God keeps bringing this up to me in random spaces throughout my day.  Maybe I’m getting dressed or eating or even in the middle of having a conversation, I keep hearing this.  I think that after a few weeks now I am starting to understand what it means.  At least what is might mean for me and where I am at this point in my life.  The kingdom of heaven is like yeast. . .

What is yeast?  Most people nowadays probably don’t know what yeast is or what it does.  Who makes bread from scratch anymore?  Who has time?  I can remember a few times as a kid when my mom made bread or at least dough and I got to see yeast at work.  I keep saying that when I get some more time (yeah right) I’m going to make bread from scratch.  That’s right up there on my list with gardening, yoga and all of the other things I constantly say I’m going to learn.  But I like to try to connect better with biblical references if I can.  If I am going to use this book as an integral part of my faith and my life then I should be able to connect with some of the things that are possible.  Yeast is one of those things.  It’s still available and still does the same thing. It makes dough rise.  But it only works if you work it into the dough.  Having yeast apart from the dough leaves the dough flat. 

Jesus is saying that the kingdom of heaven is like yeast.  It’s like that thing that is mixed in with the rest of the dough to make it rise.  It’s like the stuff you cannot see but has a huge impact on where it is mixed in.  It’s like the invisible force in the middle of the dough that causes the dough to go higher than it would without the yeast. 

I’ve been struggling with this scripture because I have been trying to become more concrete on my own calling and purpose in this world.  I know that I am called as a believer to represent the kingdom of heaven here on earth.  But it’s hard to know exactly what that always means when there are always so many people who think they have it right.  I go back to scripture and prayer and see something that makes me thing that the way I was going about it in the past was all wrong.  This leads me to think that the kingdom of heaven is about a kind of integration without losing your power or purpose.  I think most Christians think about separation from society. 

I work in one of the most corrupt industries possible: Money.  And being a Christian and working in this industry will test your faith on many occasions.  I have often wondered if I was to come out of it in order to demonstrate my commitment to my God and the kingdom of heaven.  Can I be a Christian and be in a corrupt industry like this?  But recently I have begun to see that the entire world is corrupt.  There is no such thing as a pure industry.  Not even the church!  So where would I go?  I would have to probably be like the Amish and completely separate from society if I wanted to even come close, and even they cannot completely separate.  I can recall going out to Amish country for a client meeting and staying at a hotel where I met a man who was preparing for a sales meeting with a group of Amish farmers who sell tobacco to his company.  So they make a living selling tobacco to big corporations.  Nobody is completely separate.  And we are not called to be completely separate.  We are called to be in the mix and cause things to rise.  But in order to do that, we have to maintain our properties as leavening agents and not forget why we are here. 

I’m not in the financial industry to make money for my own consumption purposes.  There is a bigger purpose.  Sometimes it’s hard to be here and watch so much corruption and see the systemic evil that exists in this world manifested in the world markets.  But after 12 years in this industry, I can honestly say that I do not feel called to leave.  There is something that I am called to do in it, but not become a victim of its seduction.  They lure you in early with flexible schedules, high incomes and a lifestyle that most people envy. And if you are not grounded in who you are and whose you are, it is easy to become just another financial professional, selling the lies of the industry.  But in order to remain as yeast, I have to stay connected to my source.  And if I do, I cause everything around me to rise.  So even in the midst of corruption, the kingdom of heaven is still at work.

Maybe the answer is not to live your life trying to separate yourself, but maybe the answer is to live your life for God and allow God to separate you for His purposes. People will notice the difference and you will bring an aroma that is the sweet smell that is so desperately needed in this world of all of what the kingdom of heaven is on earth.  Jesus called himself the bread of life. He is what we are able to feed people if we would allow ourselves to be used in the midst of a dying and corrupt world.  But if we always choose to try to separate ourselves, we miss the opportunity to influence in the way that the kingdom is supposed to work.  It’s not about you.  It’s not about me.  It’s about God and His kingdom.  We bring the kingdom with us wherever we go.  We bring the yeast because God gave it to us to spread around. We are called to be in the world and not of the world.  As hard as it is, I think I will continue to do just that. 

Getting Out of the Way

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Matthew 19:24

            Every Saturday I play basketball with a group of women who live out on affluent suburbs of Philadelphia.  We get together every week and spend about an hour together.  I am the only one who lives in Philadelphia proper.  We play at a Catholic church where one of the women attends.  They are all such nice women and several of them are juggling both careers as well as family obligations.  I’ve gotten to know a few of them over the course of the last few months since I have started playing.  They are pretty successful but rarely ever talk about their professional lives while we are on the court.  During that hour it is just about basketball.  Then afterwards, we occasionally share more information about our personal lives.  Most of the women already knew each other, and I was the newbie.  This past Saturday as we ended our game, one of the women was extremely stressed out and needed to talk about it for a while.  A few of us stuck around afterwards to hear her get some things off of her chest and a couple of the women gave her some advice.  As I listened to her source of stress, I realized that what she is struggling with was not the circumstances that she was dealing with, but the mindset of having to do it all on her own. 

            She was a successful research doctor and was recently given another position in a different state.  Both she and her husband are in the medical field and they were preparing to move them and their two small kids to a new world.  The stress of having to pack up and move was one thing, but the constant thoughts she was having about things not going her way and messing up her children’s lives and losing her job and nothing going as planned was another.  And the latter is what caused her the most stress.  Her friends around her consoled her by saying that the worry and stress that she puts herself under is the main reason why she is so successful.  Because she will work hard, success will come, even if she never learns to rest.  I listened to the advice being given and realized that her issue was actually not related to her move or her job.  Her issue was that she thought she did it on her own.  If she did it on her own, then she has to maintain it on her own and as a result, there is a chance that she won’t know how or might mess it all up.  As I walked out of the gym that day, I wondered to myself, where is God in her life?  Does she give God any credit at all for where she is in her life?  Maybe if she did, she wouldn’t be so stressed. 

            I thought about the above scripture as I drove home that day. Jesus told his disciples that it was easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than it was to get a rich person into the kingdom of God.  And I think this woman is a perfect example of why.  The amount of pressure we can put ourselves under in order to position our lives exactly the way we want it can drive us nuts! We do not possibly have the level of control we want over our lives because there are too many outside factors to consider.  But what if we are under the illusion that we got to where we are on our own and God was just some background entity in our lives doing what we want Him to do? Well, then that is a lot of pressure to put yourself under and what happens when you fail? But living as a citizen in the kingdom of God does not have that level of pressure because you recognize that all things belong to God anyway.  Our success, our failure and everything in between is a part of our journey, and it is a journey that God knows the beginning, middle and ending of.  We are actually pretty clueless until God clues us in.  But, amassing so much success on our “own” without acknowledging God can lead us down a road that ends in stress and sometimes even death.  Think of all of the people who commit suicide because of their inability to maintain control over their lives. I know a few of them. Or how about the strokes and heart attacks people get when they stress themselves out about a lack of control?  If you let go of having to control every aspect of your life and allow God to have His way, then maybe the pressure can come off of you for a while.  But you cannot see the kingdom of God if you are standing in your own way. If you want to play God in your life, then you have to be in control of everything.  However, if you want to let God be God, then you have an opportunity to let go of the need for control and you will actually see the truth:  God has always been with you.  It was not just you doing it on your own.  He didn’t start being God when you acknowledged Him.  He has always been and will always be.  The illusion is that you alone have been responsible for your own success or even failure.  But God is always there.  The moment we recognize that, then we receive the grace that He promised to give to handle whatever comes our way.  We learn to rest in Him and not to have to control everything.  We can truly let go.

            I wish I would have been able to say something to the woman on Saturday about her faith. Her other friends continued to talk to her about practical suggestions for getting things done.  But I wanted to tell her to stop and acknowledge the One who has made her life possible.  The One who gave her the mind to be a doctor.  The One who blessed her with two beautiful children.  The One who gave her a wonderful husband. The One who gives her life everyday. I pray for another chance to see her again before she moves.  She doesn’t even know how much God loves her and has already taken care of things, even when she is working to make them happen.  She can trust God with her job, her house, her marriage and even her children.  But she has to see the kingdom of God first.  And to do that, she has to give God the glory for her life instead of taking it for herself.  Only then, can she be free from the pressure of being her own God.      

Deafness and Discouragement

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor. Exodus 6:9 NIV

Have you ever had a bad day?  One of those days when nothing goes right, or when you feel totally unappreciated for the work you do.  And then somebody comes along and has some news that was supposed to make you happy, but you don’t respond well to that news.  You just felt out of it.  Yeah, me too.  I don’t know what it is about discouragement that keeps you in that place, but it can be powerful.  Discouragement can prevent you from hearing.  Even if you needed to hear what was spoken.

In the above passage, Moses was sent by God to the Israelites to give them some good news.  God was going to do something about their harsh treatment in Egypt and bring them out of slavery and take them to a land of promise.  He promised them that He would be their God and they would be His people. That meant that he was establishing a very special and intimate relationship with them. The creator of all the universe was talking specifically to them and making them a wonderful promise.  But the passage says that the Israelites could not hear the message because of their discouragement and harsh labor.  They were so used to being in a frustrating and discouraging place in life and working for no results that they couldn’t even appreciate the good news that they were about to be delivered. 

There are so many people in the world who are in this place.  If we transfer this passage to the new testament, then we can also say that Jesus came to announce some good news as well, but so many people didn’t hear him. He said that he came to set the captives free and to heal people’s wounds and to announce that the kingdom of God has come.  But only a few heard him.  And today, there are a lot of people who preach good news that freedom has already arrived but the people can’t hear.  They are working in jobs they hate, for money that is never enough, for people who don’t care.  They have been denied opportunities and have been overlooked for promotions and have been disappointed by people they thought cared about them.  They are discouraged and cannot hear good news.  The people that God calls to preach this good news are often just as discouraged because they don’t understand why people just can’t hear!  “Why won’t they do something?”, they might ask. “How can they just sit here in this miserable life and be ok with it?”  They are discouraged.  And even if God, Himself, sends them a message, they cannot hear it. 

This might sound like a hopeless blog posting, and certainly if I left it there at the hopeless part, it would be.  But since I don’t want anybody to only feel like gouging out their eyeballs after reading a post from me, I’m going to leave you with some hope.  God didn’t leave Israel there.  He sent Moses to Pharaoh, to tell him to let Israel go.  And eventually, he did.  But not before God demonstrated His power in many miracles so that the people would begin to come out of their discouragement.  Because, if they cannot hear, then they probably won’t leave.  Discouraged people need to see something different in order for them to even begin to receive good news. They need a demonstration of God’s power.  Not because they are bad people, but because they have had nothing but disappointment for a long time. And God is faithful enough to send someone to help demonstrate His power to bring you out.

I don’t know if you are a person who is discouraged or if you are the messenger sent to proclaim good news, but in either case, God is able to bring us all out of bondage.  Moses didn’t want to go, and throughout his journey was discouraged himself because of the mindset of the people. But discouragement is often a sign that we need to see something different in order for us to begin to move into what God has already promised us.  Maybe you need to see God’s hand moving in someone else’s life before you can even begin to believe that He can move in yours. But you can’t stay here.  God has promised to deliver His people from bondage and if you are enslaved by anything, you have to leave.  Maybe you need a Moses to guide you, but the Holy Spirit has also been sent to be your guide.  There may not be another person around to help you, but that is not an excuse.  God has probably already demonstrated His power in your life in the past. It is up to you to use that to pull you out of a discouraging place so that you can hear more. 

This is probably one of the reasons why scripture encourages us to encourage one another.  So let me encourage you.  You don’t have to stay here.  And your here can be anywhere: a job you hate; a relationship that is toxic; a financial condition; a mindset; wherever.  God has already promised to deliver you and the time is now.  But you have to get to a place where you can hear the good news. Watch for God to demonstrate His power around you. Maybe not in your life, but in the life of someone else.  Maybe you need to remember how God already brought you through something before and that can encourage you to the place where you can begin to hear what God is saying to you now.  But staying in a discouraged place will only lead to deafness. Don’t think that by wallowing in self-pity you will magically come out of it somehow. God knows you.  And God knows what you need.  And God is faithful to send what you need, even when you cannot hear. 

For all of the Moses‘ out there, remember that God will most likely use you to demonstrate His power to a discouraged people in order for them to get enough strength to begin to move themselves.  But you will not do these things in your own power.  It is the hand of God that will do it.  You may be the vessel, but God is steering the ship.  Don’t forget that. And it is up to all the Moses‘ out there to continue to move in faith so that people are constantly encouraged by what God is doing through you.  You have no idea how many people need to know that God is still in the business of deliverance.  And if we stop moving because the people don’t respond, then we make it about us and not about God.  If you need to, encourage yourself.  That makes it a lot easier to hear what good news God has for you. And God does have good news for you.       

Remember The Poor

“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Ezekiel 16:49-50 NIV

Governor Tom Corbett decided that families who are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits should be subject to an asset test in order to continue to receive those benefits. They would have to have less than $5,500 in assets (a little higher for seniors) in order to continue to receive those benefits. The SNAP benefits gives what we most commonly know as food stamps to people who need help buying their basic grocery needs. 1.8 Million people in Pennsylvania are receiving these benefits. Their argument for imposing this asset test is that it will eliminate fraud and give the benefits to people who really need it. There are a number of problems with that logic. First, Pennsylvania has less than 1% fraud rate when it comes to these benefits. Second, 36 other states have eliminated or have significantly higher asset limits for their tests because it hurts more than it helps. Third, for every $1 in SNAP benefits spent, $1.73 is generated in economic activity. So a reduction in the number of people who are actually receiving benefits would hurt more than just those people. It would hurt our state economy. Grocery stores, who allow purchase with SNAP benefits would lose revenue. The argument of the governor’s office is that out of the 1.8 million people who receive benefits, only 4,000 will lose based on the new asset testing. That’s still 4,000 families who will suffer. The average benefit is only $5 per day. So to put it in language they may better understand, that’s $8.65 in economic activity per day per person who loses their benefits, or $34,600 per day lost to the Pennsylvania economy. Is that really worth it? Or is there some other reason they wish to do this? I think it is a matter of revealing what their priorities really are for the direction of the state. I decided to try to eat on $5 per day for a whole week to see if I could do it and to see if I could also eat healthy. T was pretty tough, but I did it. I have the luxury of a few things, however. I am single with no children, so only I had to suffer. I already had some things in the house that I could use to help me out. I have an understanding of money that aids me when I spend it to get the most for my money. So it wasn’t a true experiment. If I wanted to do this as a pure ethnographic study I would have only eaten what I purchased, made it a monthly benefit and had to purchase toiletries and personal items with the same money, and I would have taken the bus to the store, as many individuals do not have cars. But this was just a test. In that week, my biggest problem was that I was constantly on the go, so if I had to eat while I was out, I needed to remember to bring food with me or wait until I got home. This made for a few hungry days, but there was provision around. Someone at school brought out a tray of oranges and grapes on one of the days I needed sustenance. I was grateful. I know that what I experienced isn’t what half of those who receive benefits experience on a daily basis. For me, it was an experiment, for them it is a lifestyle. There is no real comparison. I always hear people talk about Sodom and Gomorrah and them being destroyed because of homosexuality. Then everybody makes a big deal about why homosexuality is such a great sin and God hates gays and all of that stuff. But that just tells me that people don’t read the bible carefully enough. Or don’t read all of it. Because buried in another book of the bible is a verse that tells you why God destroyed Sodom. It was because they got fat, rich, proud and happy and forgot to take care of the poor. That is always God’s biggest beef with humanity. Throughout scripture, God condemns Israel and everyone else when they forget about the most vulnerable of society. We forget about those who don’t have as much as we might and continue on our merry way as if they don’t exist. They forgot about the poor. And so does our government. Think about how much money is spent to keep the wealthy, wealthy and how much is spent on the poor. No comparison. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest tax expenditures for the government is not a lower-class benefit, it is a middle and upper class benefit: Mortgage deductions. It doesn’t directly cost anything, but it keeps the government from receiving income. If anyone ever THOUGHT about cutting that, you would have a riot on the congressional steps. But people don’t seem to care as much about 4,000 people who may go hungry in Pennsylvania in an effort to do basically nothing. It doesn’t cost us more money to have no asset test. It actually costs us money to do it because it requires more paperwork to verify. It also costs people their peace and it ignores the needs of the poor. With so much if this forgetting about the poor going on, I can help to wonder what God is thinking now. While the politicians are over fed and unconcerned, the people in their jurisdictions are concerned and hungry. It sounds a bit too familiar. We better watch out.

The Power of Illusion

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV


I went to the vigil at LOVE park for Trayvon Martin today. There were a lot of people out there of all races, all outraged by the tragic story of a young man killed by a man who is known but not arrested. I’ve been down to other protests and marches over my lifetime for various reasons. Some when I was younger, I didn’t actually understand, I just knew that something was wrong and followed the crowd who seemed to be marching towards justice. And if it was a racial issues, I was all about it. Being a black female, I can easily look to play the race card if it seems appropriate although I rarely do these days.

Last year I watched a documentary entitled, “Race and the Power of an Illusion”. It was a pretty compelling history of racial relations in America. And it basically gets you to conclude that race is, in fact, an illusion, at least in terms of scientific fact and, I would argue spiritual truth. Yet often in America, we get so hung up on race that we miss some of the power it has over us to disillusion us to other things that may be going on. Focusing exclusively on race will mask more important matters, like law, politics and economics. Because in truth, those are the things that drive everything else in this country. And if I can get you to focus on race, then the people who are in power stay in power. Those who have money, keep it. And those who make the laws, never change it to help more people.

Someone once told me that if you look at many periods of racial tension in American, there is always an economic scandal waiting in the wings that has not yet been given the media’s full attention. I haven’t done the research to find out if that is true in history or not, but I checked a few things out today. The stock market had a great run today with the DOW up over 160 points on the news from Bernanke that the Fed will keep interest rates low. “Wooohooo!”, we might say. Certainly my client’s accounts appreciate this run. And so do I. What recession, right? Certainly there is no reason to be majorly concerned about economic issues when the real trouble seems to be the racial injustices going on in our country right now.

Well, the truth is, the Trayvon Martin issue is actually a legal issue, not a racial issue. The media can easily make it about race because that has more emotional buy-in than legal statistics. Like the fact that in Florida, since the controversial law known as, “Stand Your Ground” was passed in 2005, over 130 people have been shot and 70 percent of them killed (that’s 91 people if you don’t feel like doing the math). Only 19 of them have led to convictions. Most of the people had some type of criminal record, so I guess people didn’t care to fight on their behalf. Maybe they didn’t think a criminal’s life was worth enough to fight for. But innocent 17 year old Trayvon, holding an iced tea and a bag of Skittles, seemed worthy to fight for. So people are fighting. And of course, the tactic is to make it about race because racism sells.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch there is a Wall Street scandal that has not gotten a whole lot of press yet. It has to do with banks manipulating a lending rate called LIBOR. Several major banks have already been investigated and it appears more are to come. The estimated economic scale of this issue is around $90 Trillion, with tentacles that reach other financial issues to the tune of $350 Trillion. Sounds pretty major to me, but I don’t know much about that stuff. What happens when financial investment products that have been sold under false pretenses on a large scale get discovered? Oh yeah, stock market crash! Remember real estate in 2008? We have short memories. What racial issue was prevalent in the days leading up to the stock market crash of 2008? Jena Six. Remember them? We were all up in arms about the events in Louisiana and running on an emotional high. And rightfully so. Meanwhile, the stock market is going up, and the real estate whistle blowers are being ignored. And then the crash.

Please don’t think that I am predicting a crash and take my information as advice. It’s not. It’s an observation. And an observation that when the media is playing up a racial issue, maybe you want to look behind the curtain a bit and find out what legal or economic forces we are up against here. Race is the perfect scapegoat to get people not to think and only to act. We have a terrible history regarding race relations in this country. And we have been conditioned to fear anyone that does not look like us. Foreigners, other races, other cultures, whatever. The prevailing thought process is that if you are not like me then I’m afraid of you, to the point of maybe even needing to defend myself against you.

But as believers, we hold on to the fact that what we are truly wrestling with is not flesh and blood, and our weapons against these forces are not either. We should not simply take in everything the media says as truth. There is an agenda. But God also has an agenda. There is kingdom work going on behind the scenes too. God loves all 130 of those victims of the “Stand Your Ground Law” and they too deserve justice. God knows all about the “free market” and the muck it runs when it is allowed to function without the right oversight. And that, too will be exposed. The question is, how many of us will get so focused on race that we miss the behind the scenes issues. We are still not wrestling against flesh and blood. But if we stay focused on the color of our flesh, we are conceding to the real enemy. And we don’t fight that enemy with the same weapons that we would use to fight a war here. We need to pray, fast, worship and keep our spiritual eyes and ears open to what is going on. There are strongholds that need to be taken down. And we keep falling for the smokescreens. Shame on us. But thank God for revelation, and I hope that we all do better than to simply allow this issue to be one of race. There is more at stake. Maybe there is a spirit of hate that permeates our country at just the right time. But maybe if we stay spiritually connected and focused, we can not let this spirit have its way.

Link to the LIBOR scandal:
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/03/23/the-wall-street-multibillion-scandal-no-one-is-talking-about/

Hoodies & Hatred

Hoodies & Hatred

The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground. Genesis 4:10 NIV

I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I have a million excuses; school, trip overseas, new book, blah, blah, blah. Truthfully, I just didn’t make time to do it. And for whatever reason, I wanted to try to avoid the whole Trayvon Martin thing because frankly, its depressing. In 2012, we still have disillusioned, hateful people who could look at another human being and end their life for no real reason at all. And then we have the racial issue. So as if black males don’t have enough to worry about in this life, they now have to be concerned about looking “suspicious” while walking home and probably should alter their attire to not wear hoodies anymore. I used to think that I was lucky. I hear stories from the older generation of black Americans who talk about having to always be on the lookout for the KKK or some other overtly hateful group who wanted to kill or hurt them for no other reason that their skin color. I used to think, “Man. I’m glad I didn’t live back then.” But truthfully I’m not sure things are actually getting better. Sure I can hang out with a few white friends without worrying about getting lynched. Maybe I can even go to their house or have them over mine and converse in a way that makes it seem like race doesn’t matter. And then we hear about stuff like this. At least back in the day when people hated you based on your skin color, they admitted it publicly, even if they did hide behind hoods. Now it’s your friendly neighborhood watch guy who might be the one to snuff you out based on sterotypes and perceived danger. Because of course, potential burglary warrants death of the possible assailant (sarcasm in case you didn’t get it). And don’t get me started on the political ones who claim to not be racist as they print bumper stickers that are clearly racist. I wish they would just admit it. At least I could respect them for it.

So I find it ironic that as white men in hoods used to hunt black people without them, now it’s any person without a hood hunting black people with hoods. How about that? The identities of an enemy used to be overt yet concealed but still it is the victims that seem to remain the invisible ones. How many other Trayvon’s do we not hear about? How many other Trayvon’s have been killed and their killers not brought to justice? How many other parents don’t have the strength to fight the way Trayvon’s parents do? Trayvon’s case is not just about one family’s grief. It’s about not letting the perpetrators of hate go unpunished, black, white or whatever. Zimmerman is reported to be Hispanic. So I guess, technically, this is a minority on minority crime. But I’m glad that Trayvon’s family didn’t let this get swept under the rug and forgotten. Had it not been for media coverage, I would never have heard about Trayvon. His death would have come and gone and most of America none the wiser. I don’t really care if Zimmerman is white, Hispanic or black. He killed an unarmed teenage boy and he is still walking free.

Here’s one reason this is important. Our legal system works on a common law basis. That means that our laws are based on previous cases where the courts have ruled. If your case is similar to enough to the other cases where the court already ruled, then the outcome will be most likely the same. That’s why we hear about attorneys doing their research to find the cases where the courts have already set the law in place. If George Zimmerman does not go to court and face trial for this murder, then there is no legal precedent for or against a killing like this. So that means that at any time where someone sees a “suspicious” looking black male in their neighborhood, they can shoot to kill with no worry about being charged with the crime because there may not be any precedent in place to convict them. So if Zimmerman goes free, who else will be able to go free for shooting a young black male? Especially if they make a 911 call before they do it. But a trial and conviction will get a precedent in place on which to base future cases. But without it, I think we may have declared open season on young black males.

The oldest recorded murder in history is the story of Cain and Able. If you recall, Cain killed Able out of hate and jealousy. When confronted by God about Able’s whereabouts, Cain said that he was not responsible for his brother. Cain knew what he did, and so did God. The earth cried out to God when Cain killed Able. The earth is crying out now for the Trayvon’s of the world. And all of this attention and media coverage and “Million Hoodie March” stuff I believe is God saying, “Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.” It lets the family know that God hears. It can’t bring Trayvon back, but it can help them heal. I pray that this part of the fight comes to an end so that they can continue to grieve for their son. That will be a lifetime process. But this battle has an end. Zimmerman didn’t think he was Trayvon’s keeper. But if we at all believe that we are, then we have to keep posting, signing petitions and not allow Trayvon or anyone else become an invisible victim when their killer is known. I’m not sure how much I can do, but I’m willing to do something. Even my small part may identify me as my brother’s keeper. My apathy identifies me with Cain. Some will join because they love the bandwagon. Others because they know this pain personally. Others because they love justice. And some because their conscience won’t allow them not to. As much as I would like to focus on other things, I can’t ignore this forever. It could happen to anyone. And if Zimmerman remains free, it just might.

Reflections of Whitney Houston's Life

Reflections on Whitney Houston’s Life

“And when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.” Luke 23:47

I hesitated to write about Whitney Houston’s death. Everybody has an opinion. I’m no different. I watched the home going service on TV like millions of others across the world. I remembered riding my bike in the basement as a little girl listening to her music. I was in her fan club. I tried to sing like her (to no avail). Her songs were the songs of choice for every fifth grade graduation class in 1989. While watching the funeral, I was moved by the words spoken about the life of one of the most gifted singers I have ever heard. I had my own opinions about some of he tributes. I felt compassion for Bobbi Kristina and Cissi Houston. I could see the hurt and pain of her close friends and family. I wondered about Bobby Brown and if anyone cares about how he is grieving. I wondered if Whitney was watching from where she is and what she thought about it all. And I wondered how God felt about it all. Was God pleased? Can’t say I have any answers to any of it. I wish I did. But death always makes us reflect on life. How ironic right? Sometimes it takes he loss of life to think about the life we live.
The morning of Whitney Houston’s funeral prayed for the family and friends and the fans who would be watching and grieving. I prayed longer than I expected to because things just kept coming up in my prayer. The death of a celebrity has a lot of implications. I prayed for those who wold attempt to demonize her in the media and focus exclusively on her demise and drug use. I prayed for those even who would elevate her to a status that forgets about her humanity and makes her out to be only a saint. Both are a part of her story, but neither is the whole story. All of who she was, including her drug use, contributed to the life that we celebrated on Saturday. And I think that is the hardest part to take.
We watch people we know and love make poor decisions and we judge it by saying that’s wrong or that’s right. We usually say it’s wrong because we can see that it will lead down some unfortunate path. We usually say it’s right because we believe that it will end favorably. But we do not know the whole story. And at the end of someone’s life, we often still don’t know the whole story. Because all of our stories are so interwoven that the end of my journey might be the beginning of someone else’s and vice versa. Time is not eternity. Time is only time. Time has a beginning a middle and an end, but the end of time is not the end of all. There is life outside of time, and that life is something we are all a part of in some way. And in that life is the presence and the will of God. And that life often helps to bridge the gap between the confusion we live in while we exist in time. Knowing that time is not the end of all gives us a hope for something greater and a peace when things are confusing in time.
When Jesus died on the cross, many people were confused. How could he be the savior of the world and die like this? Why didn’t he just destroy his enemies? Why did he have to die such a horrible death? Those who sentenced him to death ask other questions. How could he say that he was equal to God? Who did he think he was? Why doesn’t he respect us the way everyone else does? But the centurion who may or may not have watched Jesus live, had a chance to watch him die. And while watching Jesus die, he made a bold statement. He declared that Jesus was righteous. He watched him be murdered in silence while people spoke openly against him. He watched him bless those who persecuted him. He watched him take the beatings of those who had so much hate in their hearts. And then he watched him hang his head and die. And in watching all of that, he came to a conclusion. This man was righteous.
I am not saying that Whitney Houston is on the same lines of Jesus, God forbid. She did not live a life sin free and lay it down to pay the price for my sins. But what I can say about Whitney Houston, in spite of all the other things, I can confidently say, that surely she was a righteous woman. In the bigger picture of eternity, God used her life to speak to many people and give them hope, joy, peace, encouragement and happiness and looking to him. To hear the sentiments of some many of those who knew her personally, you could hear that their lives were touched by Whitney in a way that even pointed them to God. If not during her lifetime, then in her death. The name of Jesus was probably said in a meaningful way more times on TV yesterday than in the last few months. People who have not stepped foot into a church in years, went to church yesterday. And I wonder if that makes them want to go today? I wonder if that makes them pick up a bible? I wonder if that makes them curious about their own life and what value they bring to others in this world? I wonder if they started talking to God again?
We can explain away death sometimes by simply saying that God has a plan that we can’t understand and leave people in a state of anger and confusion. We can over spiritualize death and only talk about heaven or hell. We can try to make life about this linear journey we are all on called time. But the truth is, our lives are all a part of a bigger picture that we will never be able to understand until we get to the next part, and maybe not even then. Even our mistakes are a part of this bigger picture that God is using to point people towards Himself. God will get glory out of our lives no matter what. There will be life that comes from Whitney’s death. We may never know about the person who decided to live because she died, but I know that there will be at least one. Someone tuned into the voice of God yesterday for he first time. Someone asked a question about God for the first time in a long time. And everything that is a part of our lives plays a role in this bigger picture of eternity. How much we choose to suffer in it is where our choices lie. God will use our good and our bad, but in the end, God will get the glory because God dwells outside of time. Our end is not the end. But at the end of our lives, can people look at us and say, surely this was a man/woman of God? Is there something in our lives that points people to truth, no matter how many mistakes we have made? Do we love others in spite of our mistakes?
I think that is what I learned from Whitney Houston’s life. No matter how many mistakes she made, how many bad decisions we believe she made, no matter how far we think she has fallen, I still believe that she was a righteous woman. Because in truth, our righteousness has nothing to do with us anyway. If we are believers in Christ, we attribute our righteousness to Jesus alone. Not ourselves. And the Spirit of God will use us anyway. And I pray for her daughter and mother and all of those she left behind and maybe even disappointed during her lifetime. I pray that they take comfort in knowing that she was made righteous not by her works but by the work of Christ. And I pray for those who continue to look towards other people to give them their sense of righteousness. I pray that we all learn to look to God first and the work that He did to make us righteous while loving those who dwell in time. I pray that the lives of people like Whitney Houston remind us that we are all human beings whose lives are interwoven into the tapestry of eternity in ways that we will never understand in time. And I hope this helps us to judge less and love more. To criticize less and pray more. We cannot control what other people do. We can only love them to the point of making better choices and even then, they may not. But above it all is the Spirit of God going through it all with us and helping us to see more than just this linear world. I pray that her family and friends saw eternity yesterday and don’t get stuck in time. Because I don’t think time will ever explain the bigger picture or be able to give them the comfort the need. And I pray that the rest of us don’t get stuck in either time or eternity, but recognize the value of both. The lessons from time and the glory of eternity. May we all trust in the righteousness of God and love one another enough not to bring each other pain.

The Dowry Revival Part III

The Dowry Revival Part III - This Time I Will Praise The Lord

“She conceived again, and when she gave birth to a son she said, "This time I will praise the LORD." So she named him Judah. Then she stopped having children.” Genesis 29:35 NIV

Ok. So the last two posts I dealt with Leah and her knowing that God had blessed her with something valuable to give to her husband, then also seeing that what God gave her was not enough to force him to love her. This time, I will look at how Leah changed her mind through that whole process.

Leah had seven children by Jacob in total, six sons and one daughter. She was extremely fruitful. In that day, being fertile was a sign of blessing from God. Except Jacob still loved and favored Rachel over his first wife Leah. After giving birth to her youngest son, Judah, Leah stopped having children and came to a powerful revelation. She decided to change her tune. Instead of seeking to gain approval from a man who was not loving her back, she decided to simply praise the Lord. This implies that all of the other births she was seeking to do something else, namely, praise herself for being fertile or gain the attention of Jacob, or something other than shifting her focus to God. But it was after she gave birth to Judah that she decided to do something different. And then she finally stopped having children. It was as if there was a revelation that God was trying to give her, that took seven births for her to get. And when she got it, the lesson was over.

Imagine all of the pain that she had to endure to get to a point where she finally looked to praise the Lord. All of the times where her body was being used to incubate another human being, who she hoped would be the answer to her prayer to have Jacob love her. All of the hours of labor she had to endure for each child. All of the pain she had to go through to watch the man she wanted to love her spend his time in the arms of her sister. All of the nights she probably spent crying her eyes out, wishing for someone to love her. And time and time again being disappointed. But once she turned her attention away from Jacob and turned it towards God, it all stopped.

And we know Judah for being the lineage through whom Jesus was born. Judah means “praise”. It was in Judah that the world would later be blessed with King David. It was in Judah that our Savior was born. Judah is known for turning things around. Or in other words, praise is known to turn things around. Not so much that your situation, itself, will be different. But in the sense that you will no longer seek the approval of men, and will be satisfied knowing that God is enough. Praise helps you to see things differently. Praise gives you new eyes. Praise helps you to bring a halt to the pain of seeking after things that are not God. Praise can change the world. Praise did change the world.

I don’t know what Leah’s praise looked like. She just said that this time she would do it. What does your praise look like? For some, it’s a shout of thanks to God. For some it’s a dance. Some it’s a quiet spoken word of gratitude. For others its a poem or a song. For some it will be laughter. Whatever it means for you to praise God, then when you get to a place where you are able to do it with a pure heart, I will submit to you that the pain of trying to give birth to something that will manipulate the heart of another will cease. Everything you were trying to do to win someone else’s affection will seem pointless. You can’t change people. You can’t make them love you no matter how fruitful you are. Only God can change the heart of a person. It’s not your money, your children, your status, your body, or anything else that will force someone to give you the love that you greatly desire. Once we finally understand that, we will be free. And the fruit of that revelation will change the world, forever.

The Dowry Revival Part II

The Dowry Revival Part II

“And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons. . . “ Genesis 30:20 KJV

So now that you know what you are working with and what you bring to the table, what do you do with that information? There are a lot of us out there who have finally gotten to the point in our lives where we know that God has made us for a purpose. God has given us gifts and talents and all of these wonderful things that we use to make ourselves fruitful in this life. We even start to use those things, and maybe get a few accolades on occasion. Maybe we start to know what we are working with, and we work it. But this can also sometimes be deceiving.

Leah was the first wife of Jacob, given to him by her father, Laban as a con. Jacob was intent on marrying Rachel, Leah’s younger sister, whom he was in love with. But Laban tricked Jacob by giving him Leah as a wife instead, and since he was drunk and she was veiled on his wedding night, he couldn’t tell. He woke in the morning to find out that the switch was made, and he would have to work another seven years for Laban in order to get Rachel as a wife. Leah was not Jacob’s first choice. He was still in love with Rachel when he was with Leah. And Leah felt rejected because of it.

I would, too. But in those days, women didn’t really have much say in their lives the way we do now. They were chosen as a wife for a man and given away by their fathers. They didn’t get to date the way we do (which by the way is a fairly new practice). They didn’t get to go out an build careers and then have their pick of men. They had to deal with their circumstances differently than we do today. Having a good dowry was another way that she found value in her life. And part of what Leah used to find value in herself was her ability to produce children for Jacob. She thought that because she bore him six sons, Jacob would suddenly change his mind towards her. She was working with something great . . . fertility. In those days, a woman’s ability to have children was how she found value. But Leah was using the wrong measurement to determine her worth.

Although the circumstances might not be the same as we have today, the mentality that Leah had is not foreign to us. There are still many of us who believe that because we are gifted or wealthy or fertile, we can use that as a way to get other people to love us. We flaunt ourselves before those who really don’t want anything to do with us. And then we think that is we possess the fruit of what society values as important, we can use that to build relationships. That’s just not true. There are plenty of women out there who still believe that by having a man’s child, you can get him to love you. Not going to happen. There are women out there who believe that by being wealthy, they can get a man to love them. Not going to happen. There are women out there who believe that by being the best homemaker in the world and serving his every need, they can get a man to love them. Not going to happen. The only way for someone to love you is for them to love you. It’s their choice. You influence that by just being yourself and being confident in who you are. Nothing external that you do will ever cause someone to love you and if that is the only reason for them loving you, then when those things go away, so does the person.

Knowing your worth does not mean that you have to use those things to force people into relationship with you. Love yourself. And anyone who loves you will love you for you. Relationships don’t last long term if they are built on superficial reasons. If you are not comfortable with you, then no one else will be either. Know what you are bringing to the table, but don’t use that to try to control another person. If that is the only reason they are with you, then you never had them in the first place. Love yourself enough to engage in genuine relationships instead of superficial ones. Leah didn’t really have a choice. We do. Choose wisely.

Stay tuned for part III. . .

The Dowry Revival Part I

The Dowry Revival Part I

And Leah said, “God hath endued me with a good dowry . . .” Genesis 30:20 KJV

The practice of dowries is ancient, but in some cultures is still practiced, today. America is just not one of them. Our marriage traditions seem to revolve around the wedding and not preparation for marriage itself. People spend all this time dreaming about what gown they will wear; how many bridesmaids or groomsmen they will have; what the reception will be like; what their pictures are going to look like; their hair; the honeymoon or whatever. All of that for one day. The marriage itself, is going to last a lifetime (supposedly). And rarely does that level of planning and dreaming go into what it will take to sustain the marriage.

Dowries used to be given to the bride to take with her into the marriage. It was a sum of money or property that would be given to the bride as economic protection for her and possibly the children in case something happened to the husband or they were to be treated badly by the husband’s family. It was also something to help establish the new household and give the husband something to work with to build their own wealth as a new family. Usually, the dowry came from what the woman earned prior to the marriage or was given to her by her father.

The dowry system, like I mentioned, is not practiced in the USA to my knowledge. We have some similar practices of things like bridal showers, or bridal trunks, but that has seemed to turn more into an excuse to give lingerie or floating candles and massage oil to the bride. And while those things represent the fun side of a wedding and even a marriage, they do not do the same thing as a dowry. The dowry was to help establish and protect the household economically. The bridal shower gifts are often for fun. There are also the people who give money to the couple when they get married to help establish the household economically. I guess that is the closest we have to that assistance. But usually, couples spend more on their wedding than they get in financial gifts and often begin their lives together in debt.

Since money is one of the major causes of divorce, wouldn’t it make sense to do some level of preparation for the economics of a marriage before the wedding? And that means that both parties have a role in making preparations. So although we do not practice the customs of dowries in our country, I think the principles are worth discussing. What are you bringing to the table?

By this question, I am not only referring to your financial means. The scripture above, was not actually referring to money, but is speaking about what Leah thought she was bringing to her marriage to Jacob. And she acknowledged that that dowry came from God. Today, we have a lot of women who assume that their knight in shining armor is going to come and take care of everything economically for the household. And some men, also, think that it is their responsibility alone to do so. However, a wise woman builds her house, according to Proverbs 14:1. If you are not bringing something, then you are putting a lot of pressure on your man to do it all. But you also have to know what you are working with.

In dowry situations, a man was going to work with the dowry to help ease the burden of setting up the new household. The more he had to work with, the better they may be in the long run. There are two things working here: First, the woman had to have something to work with. Second, the man had to know how to work it. If you already know what you are working with, not every man is worthy of working it. But you (ladies) have to know the difference. There is nothing worse than giving somebody something of yours that they just jack up later. It’s like inviting someone into your house who comes in and puts holes in the wall all over the place. Or takes your car and goes joyriding and brings it back with dents and pieces missing. You don’t entrust your possessions to everybody, because not everybody can handle them properly.
Maybe you didn’t get a lot from your natural father for whatever reason, but your Heavenly Father has certainly given you plenty to work with. Regardless of your financial position in life, for those of us who want to be married, we have to know the value of what we are bringing to the table. And for those who do not yet know their value, perhaps you should not yet get married. If you are still willing to accept anybody into your life who clearly has no idea what to do with your dowry, then maybe you are not ready. You are bringing something to the table, and the man you say yes to, must know what to do with that. In your dowry is security for the family. In your dowry is protection for the family.

So what is in your dowry? God has given you plenty. You have gifts and talents that you need to be using. You have a brain that is useful and a way of thinking that can be of value to another person. You have dreams and goals that are important to the future of the family. Your man has to know how to work your dowry. All of it. If he cannot give you the space you need to be you and contribute what you have to the household, then he is actually holding himself back. God gave those things to you, but he will benefit as you share them with your man. And the better he is at knowing what to do with your dowry, the more fruitful your household could be. But if he is attempting to waste what you have been given, then he, too will suffer.

But I encourage all of us ladies to examine what we have been given to work with and use it to be of value, first to ourselves, then to a spouse. If you don’t know what you are working with, you cannot expect anyone else to either. You are worth a lot more than you think. You bring more to the table than you know. Just make sure he knows how to work with you. Stay tuned for part II. . .