God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah Psalm 46: 1-3

Good afternoon, pardon the delay, I had a presentation to give so I was unable to sit at the computer. But I already knew what I wanted to write, I just needed to find the bible verse to go along with it. Low and behold I found it in the Great book of Psalms. God is our refuge, our strength, an ever present help in trouble. I could not agree more and i am thankful that I can find such truths within the bible. So where does all this come from you ask? Well yesterday while traveling home I reflected on my day. I decided to write a message and the contents I will share with you:

Today was just another day where the Lord showed me that I am blessed. Blessed to have such a father, blessed to have such a savior. A God who looks past my many flaws and even looks past the fact that at times I doubt that he hears me. No today the Lord managed to cement more in my head how much he loves me. He never ceases to amaze me, I think its time that I begin to pray for that unyielding faith, that faith where nothing affects me because if something does I know it is the Lord who is channeling his energy through me. I know it is him preparing me to be  the greatest good that I can be. Thank you Lord for your blessings, you are forever loved, appreciated. I pray that we only get closer, I think back to a year ago and where we were then and where we are now. How far you have brought me, what a noble, amazing God we serve. Simply amazing!

Shortly after I wrote this I lost my wallet on the train. My wallet only included my license, credit cards, school id, and my expensive LIRR monthly train pass. It may not sound like much but for like 5 minutes I was devastated. There lay my wallet under the seat and the conductors would not open the door for me and the train just coasted off. So here i am stranded at the train station 40 minutes away from my house with no money, no id no nothing. Well I did have my computer, if I didn’t have that i may have had to jump! But seriously in such a moment of trouble God reached down to help the Ced Meister out. The conductor of a different train went above and beyond to help me. Took me into the conductor’s booth and I literally watched him call any and everybody that could possibly help me. At that moment I knew God was helping me, that god was moving through this man and guiding me out of the situation. Right then I said even if I don’t find the wallet, I don’t care. I am just thankful that even when I am in a bad situation I know I can depend on the Lord. Peace and Grace be unto you!

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3: 17-19

Ok, Im coming to you live from the Fordham Law Atrium, there are a lot of boring conversations going on around me so bare with me. I’ll be in court all day so I am writing this message at 9:14am but I am sure it will not get to you until after 12pm. Maybe even 1, they are actually calling me now boooo! Ok I’m back, had to find a starbucks while on this quick break. But I am glad I was interrupted because shortly after I stopped writing I got a text from a close friend who is in the hospital. He is dealing with high blood pressure and kidney failure. A young man might I add and at that moment this scripture made a little bit more sense to me. I ask that we all keep him in our prayers.

I told him that by allowing Jesus to dwell in our hearts though our faith we are strengthening our belief, we are strengthening the legacy which he has shown us. I am not sure if I am even wording my thoughts clearly but what I was trying to convey is that by us believing in our hearts through our faith that Christ will pull him through we are strengthening the legacy of Christ, strengthening our belief in the spirit and allowing the Lord to know that we know that he will prevail. The scripture say that our love for Christ, for our Savior surpasses knowledge and allows us to be filled to the measure of all of the fullness of God. I just took it like through my belief and my faith, that God has better days for me and loves me as I love him, I will peak! I will reach my destiny, our dreams and prayers will be granted because of our faithfulness. No matter what a person is dealing with, we can find comfort in two things. One is that we have God and he will never leave us and secondly we have friends and family who engulf us with love even when we reject it. And it is through these two types of love that we conquer our fears, accept our dreams and prosper. I gotta go back to court. Peace and Grace be unto you!

If the glove does not fit, you must acquit!

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5: 9-11

First I want to send a special happy bornday shout out to my brother from another Darian Mark Joel Roopnarine, may God bless your day brother and I thank him for keeping us meshed like two trains that collide and the metal melts into each other. (Pause) That was vivid, lol, but the month of June is the birth month to my closest brothers so I just want to acknowledge the iron that sharpens me, shout out to to Mo Freezy. Now that I am done with my intro (lol), I chose this particular scripture today because the last line spoke to me. It says we should encourage one another and build each other up. How real is that, I mean how genuine of a word to tell us that we need not be so worried about ourselves but look to encourage our brothers and sisters and build them up.

This morning while building with Darian we spoke about how there is a saying that the sun don’t shine forever but that is simply not true. The sun shines while we are asleep, while we are awake and it wasn’t until right now that I realize that our son is our Lord and Savior. When it seems that times are dark, the sun still exists, it is just preparing us. Preparing us for more battles that we have to fight, more greatness that we have yet to achieve. So I put the scripture together and it is clear that God has lit us with his light not only to light our dark paths but to light those around us. You might hear a good word, some words of wisdom and selfishly think that it does not apply to you. Does it not apply to your friend who is struggling, the man on the corner asking for change. Many have given their lives so that we can be where we are today, Jesus was crucified so that we could put forth good works in the name of God and our sins would be cleansed. Let us continue to build each other up, for without you there is no me. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7: 7-8

Some mornings when I wake up thoughts run through my head. Often these thoughts inspire the Pardon me messages. So yesterday I had a talk with a friend, then before I went to sleep I had a talk with God. When I awoke, I was still asking him the same questions; so it makes sense that today’s scripture would be about prayer. Someone told me once, that Christians pray “specifically”, no need to persuade God because he already knows. Just come right out and ask him. So the scripture tells us the same thing, ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find. So what do you when you are asking, seeking, knocking but you feel your knocks and prayers go unanswered.

Of course you continue to believe, you lean on the spiritual people in your life but I have this conversation with myself (yea I talk to myself, been doing it since I was a kid) everyday. So what do I do when my knocks go unanswered, I stop knocking for fear that I’ll continue to be disappointed. The Pastor of a church I go to would now say in his sermon “oh look how yall looking at me” LOL. I continue to pray for others in their time of need, I truly believe in the Lord and I have watched him bless people and myself in such a way it’s amazing. So when I say I stop knocking, I just stop asking for myself, maybe I don’t know what I really need, maybe he sees that things aren’t good for me and is protecting me from it. Only God knows! Prayer, something some of us only use in our time of need, I pray everyday, I ask for guidance. I stopped asking for strength because then God would do things to test my strength, I already felt weak, I wasn’t trying to lift no more. But I pray for guidance, and hopefully through that guidance, through me acknowledging my struggles with the Lord I will be blessed with the wisdom to travel through whatever I need to and find true happiness where he wants me to. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.

Hmmm, have you ever been in a situation and you are unsure of which way to turn? We all have, but it is during this time that we must seek help. Help from our Lord and Savior, help from our family and friends, just help in any form that help can come in. Well if we need help, why is it that we reject it? Many of us close up when times get hard and attempt to hold everything together on our own. While watching The Passion the other night there was a scene where the devil says no man can hold this burden alone. Never thought I would be quoting the devil but he was wrong because Jesus did hold that burden, in fact he carried the burden of all our sins so that we would not have to carry such a heavy load. How noble of a man to do such a thing, its like saying “here fam, give me all your bricks and I will carry them for you, all I ask is that now that you have a lighter load you act in a more noble way towards other people and you respect our Creator”.

That’s an amazing gift, a gift that has been bestowed upon all of us. So I look to this scripture and it says that we should not look to our own interests, rather the interests of others. You know what it feels like when you are struggling with something, so when you see your fellow human struggling do them a favor and take a brick or two. Don’t do it hoping that you will gain something worldly from it, if anything do it because it has and will continue to be done for you. So do not only ask for help, give help, give help wherever you can. A friend of mine will read this and say, “well Cedric, you don’t ask for help”. My reply is, I know and I am trying, we are all trying to become more perfect beings in our imperfect state. We are a community of brothers and sisters, united under many different shades, let us continue to Help one another for it has already been done for us. Peace and Grace be unto you.

An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. John 13:34-35

Love, deep term but what does it mean? This scripture teaches us to love one another as our Lord and Savior has loved us. That’s a very serious statement, what makes someone not worthy of love. If all of the skeletons in our closet were exposed then plenty of people would pass judgment on us and not show us the love that we feel we deserve. So the word is asking us to love, to stop the petty bickering and fussing. To stop judging other people for their wrongs because our wrongs are just as bad if not worse. But most of all by loving one another we show the world the faith that we so gloriously walk in.

How can we be viewed as walking with god when we are filled with hate and jealousy? How can we say that we represent the words that we read in the bible, the shouts we hear on Sunday morning and yet still walk around with venomous tongues? This is a walking contradiction, this is the same contradiction that has so many people going away from the church because these actions are inconsistent with the gospel.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. By loving each other, smiling, speaking kind words to each other and lending a helping hand when we can. These are all ways that we can honor what our Creator has asked us to do. A friend of mine told me when you are thinking something negative, when you are about to show a side of you that is a little ugly just say AMEN and keep it pushing. I said it like 10 times the other day but the most important thing is that it worked. Lets love one another and support one another. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Man is like palm wine; when young sweet but without strength; in old age, strong but harsh.