I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well.Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.”Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad?Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. Isaiah 5 : 1-5

Think of the above story as if it were your life. You have put alot of work into your life and at times it does not seem that your life yields success. But that is no reason to destroy your life. Do not ask, what else could you ahve done with your life. Maybe you should let go of some of the gardening practices that you are using. Let go of some of the chains that we have bound ourselves too. Free your mind and start anew!

The rain is pouring, smacking the streets violently while a track from Isaac Hayes album Hot Buttered Soul plays. Feels like a defining moment in ones life, the rain always seems to signify the end of one and the beginning of something else. I was reading Iyanla Vanzant’s Acts of Faith yesterday and she was talking about letting go. Whether you are letting go of a relationship, or relinquishing the psuedo control that you thought you had on your life, the issue is that we may have to let go. But letting go sounds insane, life’s troubles feel like your hanging from a cliff, your whole life depends on the moment you are in right now or so you think.

Who wants to let go, what ever you’re holding onto may feel to you like the bane of your existence. This is the mental build up that we give things, whether they are material or just things we feel like we can not live without. I read once, in order to receive you must strip yourself of all your possessions mentally and still believe that you have or will have again. This was a book dealing with taoism, it had some extremely great lessons. I have not been on my daily grind of writing this week. Check the blog, it’s updated sparingly. Partially it may be because I have no computer but more importantly it’s because I’m letting go. While letting go we do not know what door God will open but we have to have faith that he is about to show off in our lives. We have to have faith that these new beginnings, these new happenings though they may bare a dark moment, or a rainy day; there will be light in the end, a sun that shines upon our faces as we cry tears of joy. Peace and Grace be unto you!

You know, life is bound to be a roller-coaster if you keep looking back. A life that matters is focused on where you’re headed, not where you’ve already been.

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. Isaiah 40: 1-2

So I’m walking in the mall yesterday strolling along, when V Cape the Legend calls. Ironically, I had missed church that morning but V Cape was calling me to tell me about his experience at church. Now this doesn’t happen too often so he had me all ears because I feel it is a necessity that as men we continue to grow each other. So V Cape was excited about what he had heard in Church; he said the Pastor spoke about the 5 C’s or five types of people who are beneficial to our growth. They are the Challenger, Confronter, Counselor, Comforter and Celebrator. He began to tell me about the sermon and it sounded amazing. I told him I would weave in some way shape or form these 5 C’s into the pardon me this week. I felt good when I got off the phone with him because even though I had failed to go to worship earlier in the day we both gained something from his experience.

Well when I went looking for a scripture this morning I was led to Isaiah chapter 40 which is the chapter that speaks of the comfort for God’s people. So comfort is the theme of today. That person who comforts you in your time of need, or weakness. When I think of comfort, I think of it being synonymous with faith, the person who comforts us holds our trust. We believe in their words because they will not steer us wrong. As God was comforting his people in the above scripture he is letting them know that their struggling is over, there time has come and they will receive the Lord’s grace. Comfort is like the warm blanket that rests upon your shoulders as you look out the window into the storm that is ravaging your neighborhood. The blanket comforts you because it keeps you warm, that warmth lets you know that this storm will be over but until then here is your comfort. You shall not be cold, for you are being protected. We must be thankful for not only the comforting person that is in our lives but we must pay homage to our Almighty Creator who always comforts us. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Unless you call out, who will open the door.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. II Corinthians: 7-10

Today’s scripture couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s a message that I truly believe in; people who are blessed deal with strife and struggles as testament to their faith. Tuesday I’m getting interviewed on CNN, my blog reaches the highest numbers its ever seen. Wednesday I feel like I am in utter darkness; literally. Through it all I smile because I know that i have been blessed time and time again so any troubles that I receive just build my character. Times of hardship also show us our true friends who surround us and the Lord allows them to come to our aid. What a blessing! The experiences that we have in life build the people who we are becoming. If everything in life was easy, we would take the beauty of life for granted. I want to appreciate all of the blessings I am given, and so if that means I have to be in the dark before i can see the light then so be it. For I plan to be relish in the light much longer than I will ever be in the dark and I pray the same for you. Peace and Grace be unto you.

Water always finds a way out.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? Luke 12: 22-26

Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

Food for thought:

Do not believe everything that you read in the newspapers, hear on the radio, or see on television or youtube. I was browsing through a forum and I read the title “Oprah denies Christ, Trouble for Obama”! I quickly clicked the link because I was curious as to where this information could be coming from. Low and behold; the same bible toting soldiers who have been claiming Barack Obama is a Muslim and substituting Jesus’s love message with hate for all those who do not believe as they do, are behind this same message. These same evangelists, as they call themselves must have never read the book of Romans where we are taught not judge for if we judge then we condemn ourselves.

So I watch the clip and Oprah did no such thing, I am not writing this to support Oprah but to ask people to take the lid off of their truck yard minds and allow objective thoughts and reason to seep through. I am a Christian man, I go to church on Sundays when my time permits. I send out daily messages that quote the scripture in the bible. This is all fact; I also listen to the teachings of Brother Malcolm, Louis Farrakhan, Father Pfleger, and a host of other spiritual leaders. I post quotes of the day from spiritual leaders such as the Great Buddha, Dali Lama and other figures who do not represent Christianity. To tell me because I understand that we are all praying to the same God and just calling him different names is the most bigoted, ignorant, non-factual statement that I have ever heard.

Spirituality is about finding the God within; Jesus never taught us to hate or judge anyone! Instead he taught us to love and care for one another, the same principles that other religous groups teach throughout their teachings. The way that media outlets are using these types of edited, chopped up videos to perpetuate a message of evil is rather disgusting. Rather than unify the people of this world under God and create a love language, we would rather use our differences to create further division; only heightening the problems of the world. So the next time you get an email, or a message like the video I am about to show you, think objectively before you react to the propaganda that fear mongers and hate mongers put forth in order to create more chaos in the world as we know it. Peace and Grace be unto you!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA&hl=en]