Month: February 2012

The Biblical Remix – Just Fine

February 27, 2012

The Biblical Remix – Just Fine

Acts 12:20-23 – http://bit.ly/biblicalremixjustfine

Herod the King was pissed off at the people who lived in the land of Tyre and Sidon.  They were so shook they quickly made peace with him.

Just to show off, Herod threw on his kingly best outfit and sat on his blinged-out throne and he spoke to the masses.  He loved the praises and the screams of the people and they made sure they gave it to him.  In the crowds you heard the shouts of “He ain’t no man. He is a god” and “This is the voice of a god”.

While Herod soaked it all in, this Mary J. Blige song was playing in the background:

“You see I wouldn’t change my life, my life’s just fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Oooo…”

Reflection:

Even when people are loving us and giving us mad props it can be very easy for the masses to think we got it going on.  If they only knew the truth.

How many of us are smiling on the outside but have a slow death going on the inside?  We are not fine at all.

Some of us need the glory of other people praising us in order to combat this inner void.  The adulation and adoration empowers us to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to.  In order to make up for the lack inside, we thirst for the praises of mankind (Side note: I can attest to having been at this place.  Even today I still have to pay attention to make sure I don’t revert back.)

This is all too prevalent in our entertainment society. We idolize musicians, athletes and actors.  They grace magazines and awards shows, but are they fine? How many stories have we seen or read regarding their battles with alcohol/drugs/jail/gambling/prostitutes/extra-marital affairs?  These “heroes” rise and fall daily on tabloid television.

I wonder how many of them give glory to God.  I wonder how many of us give glory to God.

I close today by asking: Are you fine?  No, really are you fine?  How is your life?  Are there things you would like to change?  If so, go ahead and do them.  Just make sure you give God the glory for the great things He has done by giving you life and the air that you breathe.  I wouldn’t want you to end up like King Herod…

P.S. – Oh yeah after the song played King Herod was struck with a disease where worms ate him from the inside.  Within five days he died.  Why?  Because he did not correct the people calling him a god.  He did not give the rightful honor to the one, true living God.

Um, yeah.  It’s like that.  Remember pride comes right before a destruction.

85 Days

February 25, 2012 — Standard — 1 Comment

85

One of the adventures I embraced for 2012 was training for a Sprint Distance Triathlon. Today marks 85 days until that ultimate challenge of May 20th.

It seems above all things the greatest challenge is in my mind. In these next 85 days of training if I come to believe in my mind I cannot do this, I will most certainly fail. It is no easy thing to swim 1/4 of a mile then bike for 16 miles and then run for 3.1 miles.

I have to build this in my mind. It will help when I hit any walls in my training.

These past 8 days I have been in Trinidad on vacation so I could not train much. Two big things I did learn though:
1) The running shoes I have work on the treadmill but actually hurt me on the concrete. I walked/ran for about an hour around The Savannah Park. My right foot was hurting for 5 days after. I will be acquiring new running shoes in the next few days.
2) Swimming in an indoor pool is so much easier than swimming in ocean water. No waves and the water is not as heavy. For the contest I will be swimming in a lake so I need to keep this in mind when I am training.

Physically I have never had such a challenge before me as this Sprint Distance Triathlon presents. I need this. It will push me to bring out greatness in me I never knew.

The Biblical Remix – Move

February 20, 2012

The Biblical Remix – Move

John 18:1-11 – http://bit.ly/biblicalremixmove

Of all the disciples Peter was the most gully.  Jesus and eleven of the disciples were chilling in the spot, the Garden of Gethsemane.

That twelfth disciple, Judas, was a snitch. He cut a deal with the chief priests and Pharisees to sell out Jesus. At the Garden Judas rolled up with soldiers and officers carrying torches and weapons.  It was about to go down.

Jesus already knew this.  So he stepped to them and asked them who they were looking for.  They said “Jesus the Nazarene”.  Jesus was like “That’s me”.  Bam, with the power of His words they LITERALLY fell to the ground. (Sidenote: Jesus was so real and so divine.  A true G.)

The soldiers got back up from the ground mad shook.  Jesus asked them again who they were looking for. They said “Jesus the Nazarene”.  Jesus was like “Yo, I told you that is me.  You can take me but let my crew go”.

At that Peter jumped in with his shank.  He cut off the right ear of this dude named Malchus.

While Peter was watching the blood drip from the ear, this Ludacris song was playing in the background:

“Move b****, Get out the way, Get out the way, Get out the way, Move b****…”

Reflection:

In protecting his peoples (especially his rabbi Jesus), Peter stepped into projects mode and pulled out his shank on the coming opposition.  He missed the head of Malchus but managed to cut off his right ear.  Peter was down for the fight.  Unfortunately that was not the kind of fight Jesus wanted Peter to have.  The fight Jesus wanted was earlier that day in prayer.  Jesus knew how the night was going to go down and he knew prayer was the key to the battle.  Unfortunately the disciples kept falling asleep (Matthew 26 – http://bit.ly/A5B2Nn)

This is so us.  Sometimes when ish goes down we revert to our old ways and get real gully.  Cussing.  Cutting.  Coming out of our face.  We say exactly what is on our minds regardless if it hurts people.  How many times have we embarrassed ourselves because we handled a situation in a very untasteful way?  But that is not what Jesus role modeled in the Garden.  He prayed.

How is your prayer life?  Do you even pray?

I am ready to battle in prayer when ish goes down.  But how many times could I have prayed before things popped off?  Too many times.  Honestly I can be real lax with it.  This is a struggle I have had.  In analyzing it, for some reason I wait to be defensive in prayer when I could have been offensive earlier which might have helped me avoid the unnecessary foolishness to begin with.

I know for some people pulling out the shank is so much easier.  It is familiar.  It is what we grew up around.  My encouragement to you are the words of Jesus Himself, “those who use the sword will die by the sword”.  Don’t let your old ways keep you from growing/progressing/living in the new life Jesus offers.

The Biblical Remix – Hit & Run

February 10, 2012

The Biblical Remix – Hit & Run

Proverbs 7:6-21 – http://bit.ly/biblicalremixhitandrun

It was mad dark and my dude was outside walking. This loose chick he never met before rolled up on him ready to jump his bones.  She was OD with the flirtatiousness.

Bust it how she told him her husband was out of town and she just prepared her bedroom for some all night booty knocking.

Dude was so caught up by her seducing words and seeing how her butt cheeks were slightly hanging out her shorts, that he followed her right to the crib.

As they approached the bedroom door this J. Cole song was playing in the background:

“Straight up now tell me are you really gonna love me forever (ooh ooh ooh), Or is it just a hit and run…”

Reflection:

Like the dude above some of us march down the wrong path just looking to walk into traps.  We might not consciously want to do that but our actions find us straddling the line of caution in areas we know are not beneficial to our health.  I don’t know if it is the mystery or the danger that excites us.  Yet we tread on grounds that we know can be highly explosive.

If you have been part of a hit and run, please raise your hand.  Okay so I am not alone here.  If we recount those experiences (if you can remember that far or that many…woooooow…j-k…actually I’m not…), could things have gone the wrong way?  I mean to say did we place ourselves in compromising situations?  I have.

Interestingly enough at the end of the day a hit and run is really about me pleasing me.  The other person really doesn’t matter.  Even if I personally know them.  It is about me satisfying my lusts.  Can we be honest about that?

I know a “jump off” is looked upon favorably in our hip hop culture (Side Note: notice how many artists and athletes be having so many babies by different mamas…).  If I look at the big picture, what have we sowed in our communities?  High rates of HIV.  High rates of single parent homes.  Not enough baby fathers participating in the lives of their children.  A culture of low accountability and responsibility.

Truthfully if I have access to tapping some booty without ever having to commit to it, then who is to say I need to take responsibility for the consequences of my actions.  Am I content with a community that praises women to just “work out for me”?  Some dudes be whining about hitting it “in the morning”.  Others are “young, wild and free” and they don’t care who sees.  These are the lessons we are teaching to our young ones who are coming up.

Perhaps the hit and run is our way of acknowledging our sexuality at the cost of devaluing another human being.

Some people may never fully understand what I just said.  To those my advice is “stop giving it away for free”.  You are worth more than that.

The Biblical Remix – Beautiful

February 2, 2012

The Biblical Remix – Beautiful

Esther 2:3-17 – http://bit.ly/biblicalremixbeautiful

Esther had a banging body and a pretty face.  With no mom and pops alive, she was raised by her uncle in a foreign land.

A time came when King Xerxes was looking for a new queen.  His guards went out into the surrounding towns and scooped up like four hundred virgins (Esther being one of them). For twelve months they all had to chill in the spa and get beauty treatments.

It so happened the head person in charge of the preparations was really feeling Esther.  He hooked her up with special treatments and a really nice crib during those twelve months.

When the spa preparations were done, each of them had to go to the king’s chambers and handle that bedroom business.  If the king wasn’t feeling you, you would have to bounce to the concubine’s chambers and chill there for the rest of your life never being able to marry another man.

On the night Esther had to hook up with the king she must have really put it on him.  Because the next morning he done made her the queen.  As the morning sun was shining on the two of them, the king looked at Esther while this Snoop Dogg song was played in the background:

“Beautiful, I just want you to know (Oh-hooo!), You’re my favorite girl…(Ehh…oh yeah, there’s something about you…)”

Reflection:

Notice how he said “favorite” girl.  Not the “only” girl.

I will pick up from where I left off last week.  There are some guys who are very content in having you as a “favorite”.  Commitment seems to be a word that has less value these days.  Don’t think because the sex is good you should stay and be treated like crap.  Yes, I said it!

Just because he takes you out and spends some money on you does not mean he is interested in you.  He might just be interested in the booty.  Don’t let him use you like a soft-priced hoe.

Let me flip the script.  Ladies you are not exempt from this “favorite” thing either.  Some of y’all play the field mad hard and mad wide. You have some of these men dangling from strings.  It may feel empowering but it is actually not a good look.

Unfortunately most of this has to do with straight up lust, lack of self-worth and lack of self-discipline.  I have been guilty of this foolishness in the past too.  I wanted what I wanted when I wanted it.  It didn’t matter if I had a girl or was married.  Pure selfishness. (Side Note: Actually I was never married…lol)

How many stupid (and dangerous) things have we done in order to appease our appetites? I mean really.  Was it that serious?  Some of those very things could have ruined our lives.  Unfortunately some have ruined the lives of people we know and love.  Marriages, families, friends…gone!  Because we could not get enough.

Just because you see something “looks” beautiful, does not mean it is beautiful.  Just because it “looks” good, does not mean it is actually beneficial to your life.

If you are tired of being just a “favorite”, do something about it and stop settling.  If you want to stay as just the “favorite”, know it has nothing to do with real love.