So the lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand sheassess. Job 42:12

I use today’s verse to illustrate the blessings that the bible teaches us our Creator will bestow upon you if you are faithful to his word. The scripture comes from the story of Job; where Job’s life had been turned upside down while the devil continuously meddled in his life. Despite all of the negativity, hardship, pain and suffering Job endured, he remained faithful to God. For that, he was blessed more in the latter part of his life than he was in the first part of his life. Might I add that the first part of his life was not too shabby either; so he was ballin in the end!

I use this story because today I was given some sad news. A fraternity brother of mine emailed me and asked me to pray for his family, his church family and his pastor for this morning their church had burned down. A year ago, I would have been like “man that’s messed up” and then continued on in my day probably never giving it much thought again. However today I was upset to hear such information. People have lost their spiritual place of worship, and everything that church was doing for the community around it is put on hold for just a second during these trials and tribulations. That’s upsetting when you understand the type of impact a church can have on a community. So I got down to pray and while praying I realized it was just a test. This church and congregation will be even more blessed in the second part of their existence than they were in the first, if they remain faithful to the Lord and his ways. I see a new and improved building in their future, more ministries that reach out to the community around them, and an undeniable faith placed in the people of the congregation when they get through this together. So I pray for this church and congregation but I know that they know they will be blessed ten fold just because of their faith. Might be some hell in the hallway but they will find that other door of opportunity that the Lord has blessed them with and they will overcome these obstacles. Peace and Grace be unto you.

Where there’s a will there’s a way

Someone please tell me how with this country having a struggling economy, thousands of troops dying in an unjust war, and a recent verdict in NY that allows the police to legally kill young black males where these journalists get there moronic questions from?

Please tell me, where are the real journalists?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEJ2ZLkjqQI&hl=en]

Still, you have to appreciate the amount of swag that he answered that question with. YES WE CAN!

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. John 8:32

While watching an old episode of the Arsenio Hall show, Louis Farrakhan quoted Jesus saying “know the truth and the truth will set you free”. Powerful words, which have been spoken so many times from our different leaders that we forget the originator of such wisdom. Truth can be a vague term however, there are no absolute truths, except for the Glory of God. But I always try to look deeper into the God within me, and I ask myself for my own truth. When we live in the truth’s of other people we are essentially living our own lie because we are not being true to ourselves.

We must define ourselves prayerfully through the noble principles that have been set forth by our Creator. We have to really find the truth within this path the Lord has set for us, so that way we are truly giving it our all. Think about when people live for their parents; solely what their parents want of them, or their friends. They live empty lives because they are not chasing their own true passions. I don’t think it’s any different with our belief in God, we must seek out what God means to us and how he resonates within us. I can’t just rely on the fact that my grandmother was a devout Christian and let that guide me. What happens when I am faced against a wall and I am working on borrowed faith; I may abandon it because it was not genuinely within me? So today I am looking to follow the words of Gangstarr and “step back and observe with couth for we all must meet our moment of truth”. I want to be able to look within myself and define my reality for me, define my relationship with God, friends, and family for me. So that I am not chasing a false dream but walking towards the truth that Jesus told us will set us free. Peace and Grace be unto you!

One falsehood spoils a thousand truths

Congratulations to Ms. Crystle Stewart who was recently crowned Miss USA 2008. I honestly normally would not pay this contest any attention but I was impressed by this young lady’s entrepreneurial mindset.

Crystle Stewart, of Missouri City, Texas, runs a party-planning and motivational speaking company, as well as modeling professionally. Ms. Stewart looks to dedicate her life to international philanthropy. In a society that relegates women’s roles in the media to video girls and scantily clad outfits highlighting all of their assets except their minds, I am happy that this young lady is forward thinking. I pray that she takes this opportunity to continue to network and build her professional possibilities. But also stand as a monument for all women in this country, showcasing her intellect rather than her beauty and empowering young girls to reach beyond the restraints of the images the media offers them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzpNUzT8xA&hl=en]

As a member of a Black Greek Lettered Organization, I found the following article “interesting” to say the least. I will allow you the pleasure of reading these words and encourage you to engage in lofty discourse over the tone of this article. Please check back tomorrow where I will then post my response to this article. Enjoy!

My “Fascination” With Greeks By Hananie Albert

By Hananie Albert, on 22-03-2008 20:39

Did they starve the consciousness out of you during hazing?

I have always been wary of those within the black community who pay a superficial homage to black history, only to turn and defecate on the legacies they pretend to uphold. Unfortunately this trait seems inherent to the black Greek system at this university—a cluster of complacent organizations who meander around issues of social justice and command respect because of the actions of their predecessors rather than their own commitments to equality, justice and progress. These groups only seem interested in the performative aspects of black culture and fail to reckon with the significance of their complacency, given their immense influence in the black community.

My time here at UF has been marked by crises that challenged the strength of the black community—from the bitingly ignorant Alligator cartoon, to the lack of funding for the African-American Studies Program to the controversy with the Jena 6. In these instances, individuals from Black Greek Letter Organizations (BGLOs) offered their support—but the Greek community at large stood idly by, seemingly ignorant of their power to galvanize the students and the administration to action. Oddly enough, they put this power to great use when it was time to raise awareness for a party or a step show. I began to wonder if these organizations felt at all ashamed to claim great Civil Rights leaders and political figures as alumnus, given the insignificance of their records of local social activism.

A recent forum titled “What’s your fascination with black Greeks?” promised to facilitate a dialogue between the Greek and non-Greek community, and I attended on my editor’s insistence. I was curious to see how the black Greek community would address the stark hypocrisies in their records—the fact that they had stopped earning the respect they demanded, the fact that “brotherhood” came to be marked by well documented instances of hazing and male on male sexual harassment, and the fact that they seemed to privilege mindless assimilation and social mobility over social justice.

The responses at the forum were as contrived and hollow as I had assumed BGLOs to be. When questioned about their failure to live up to their founding tenets, one Greek panelist responded that the public underestimated the efforts put into step shows; others insisted that Greeks were normal people and were unfairly put on a pedestal. Finally, one Greek responded with what seemed to be the default answer whenever a particularly tough question was posed: there was just so much that the public did not know. This implies that the public does not have the right to judge BGLOs because they are not privy to the same information. I doubt that adequate justification for black Greek complacency is somehow written into the founding principles that are beaten into them– or that one acquires intellectual infallibility by “crossing the burning sands.”

If the BGLOs at the University of Florida want to take the cowardly route favored by organizations such as the Black Student Union and respond to accusations of complacency by claiming that they are a “social” organization rather than a “political” one, they have every right. However, black Greeks must understand that they invoke a higher standard every time they mention alumnus like Huey P. Newton, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other prominent figures in black history who might very well be ashamed to have their names associated with the uninspired, unengaged morass that is black Greekdom at this university.

This is not an assault on individuals within the organization—I know several exceptional individuals that join these organizations and strive towards social equality and consciousness—unfortunately the overall character of these groups is impermeable to the progressive intentions of the individuals. BGLOs, like other university organizations, will be judged as a whole, not just the sum of its more progressive parts.

I must note, however, that if black Greek existence on this campus seems shallow and self-serving, it is because black Greek organizations are composed of and cater to a shallow and unengaged black community who love to point out the evils of discrimination but fail to meet these evils with intellectual resistance and social activism. So, critiquing black Greeks for thinking that uplifting the black community entials nothing more than wearing letters on Wednesdays, the occasional self-gratifying forum on Fridays and a routinized and thus hollow commitment to “community service” on Saturdays, is ultimately a critique of the black community as a whole. Assuming that new members have had the consciousness and social awareness beaten and starved from them during the hazing ignores the fact that that many of these new members may not have cared about these issues to begin with.

As an immigrant to this country, I was ignorant of the significance of black Greeks until I stepped foot onto Turlington Plaza. There, I was ushered out of the way in order to make room for the strolling Greeks; a friend even jokingly suggested that looking them in the eye was disrespectful. I didn’t understand how a group could command this amount of unquestioned respect.

After conducting some research, I began to believe that these students were respected because the letters stitched onto their jackets were a sacred covenant—a reminder of the great contributions of past members and a promise to continue while improving upon their auspicious legacies. I believed that the initiation process was well-reasoned and commendable for its commitment to restoring rites of passage, similar to those in tribal Africa.

After several years on this campus, I am starting to realize just how wrong I was.

http://www.blacklistedmagazine.org/

WHY boastest thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully. Thou lovest evil more than good’ and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah. Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue. Psalm 52: 1-4

This scripture reminds me of being a little boy and my mother popping me in my mouth for saying something smart; I think I sat on her clothes for work and when she complained I said “I didn’t tell you to put them there”. Such a dumb kid to utter those words out of my mouth, but I am reminded of that story as I read today’s scripture. The first line blatantly mocks the man who boasts and considers himself mighty, or one who feels that they are great beyond measure. The line following pays more attention to the fact that it is God who endures, it is God who is ever present and affords us the happiness in our lives. We should never walk with our heads down, we should be proud without being boastful, confident yet humble. Humility is an attractive characteristic because while we know we are blessed with talent, and an abundance of love, the way we wear it speaks volumes to others who look on and how we exemplify the God within.

But back to a man or a woman’s words, how mere words can cut so deep baffles me. But the scripture tells us that words cut deep; the deceitful tongue causes problems and all type of drama in our lives. So how do we escape it; for starters, watch your own mouth, watch what you say, because you may bring trouble into your own house because of the negative things that you say. Furthermore, when you are confronted by people who use their mouths against you for disdain you must remember what these people are doing. Hating, simply put, a hating tongue is a deceitful tongue. We are too good of a people to be bothered by such nonsense, I fall victim to it, and i tell myself ” I don’t care what anyone says about me”. But when people spread falsehoods that attack your character it can be hard to turn the other cheek. I think today’s word makes it easier to turn the other cheek, to turn your whole body away because its not worth your time. The bible clearly ostracizes these people and their hating ways, so you are in the right and have to act accordingly. Focus on yourself and pushing your goals forward and please do not be concerned with the negativity, because when you entertain the negativity you give it life. Remember that goodness of God is everlasting, so you have some pretty good back up and some great company that you can easily turn the cheek and allow others to wallow in their deceitful pity while you Shine in God’s glory. Peace and grace be unto you!

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

February 28, 2008

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40: 28-31

Everything is subject to its own interpretation! I read the first line this morning in the new international version, and then I grabbed my bible which is the King James version and the difference in word usage gave me a different perspective. Neither is right or wrong but I found it interesting how the Word is so often subject to the interpretation of the interpreter. So from today’s word I felt like the page was talking to me, like someone was hipping me to some new information. Hast thou not known — Have we not heard that our God and creator is amazing, that he doesn’t dwell in worldly problems for he fainteth not. He created this world, I felt like it was someone whispering in my ear and enlightening me to the best kept secret. Then it spoke directly to me and how i feel when I’m DOWN AND OUT. He gives us power, the strength to battle whatever obstacles present themselves. Even when we are at our weakest point, it is then that we are truly being strong. Think about a weight set, you see how strong you are when you pile more weight on. When we pile more stress on, it is then when we push ourselves to the max to achieve, that strength that we let out, that power, it is innate within us because at those moments we are channeling the God within us.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary! That is us, that is the young generation. The young shall utterly fall, is that not what is going on in our communities right now? People have fallen, we are filled with despair because we give to much power to objects and things that cause unhappiness rather than the Lord and finding peace and happiness within ourselves. But those who wait upon the Lord, those who channel the God within, he will renew our strength and we will be as fly as fly can be. No pun intended, but we shall mount up with wings as eagles and soar, be at peace, be plentiful because we walk with the Lord. All this walking with the Lord talk, what does it mean. I don’t know, I am not the Judge, thats your mission, thats our mission. My mother always says there is more than one way to the KINGDOM of HEAVEN. Maybe some of the routes we are thinking are correct are in fact not, that’s why its important that we go now and try to build this relationship with the Lord and move forward and prosper. I hope I am articulating my thoughts because I am not speaking of conventional ways, the Lord has blessed in us creativity and innovativeness. If he has given us such talents and gifts, why not use those same talents to understand him and the relationship that we can have with him. Peace and Grace be unto you!

Anticipate the good so that you may enjoy it!