Myth - Suffering = Great(er) Blessing

*a fictitious account*

March 2008 - Tori has waited all day for this.  After getting fired from her job at the end of a long, hard Tuesday, she could hardly hold herself together during the 24 hours following her dismissal.  She cried, prayed, drank, sulked, and cried again when thinking about the anguish of losing another job in a little less than 5 months.  The pain of having to again go through the embarrassing begging with creditors to keep her accounts active and to keep her utilities on seemed to much on Tuesday.  But today is Wednesday.  The great day where her church has a testimony period during the service--and she had hers more that ready.  So when the reverend of the church asked if there were any testimonies from any members, she leaped out of her seat before he could finish talking.

Lessons in the Pen

Growing up as a teacher's son, I can only lend to the experiences of a partial summer vacation from school when it comes to discussing summers as a kid.  Most summers until I was in high school, and even a couple during Henrico High, I was required to be in some sort of educational enrichment program sponsored by either Henrico or Richmond Public schools; along with my mothers' own educational assignments that I had to complete before I did anything else (except chores of course).  This is not to say that I didn't have great times in Chamberlayne as a young boy 'cross county lines during my months off, but Mrs. Jones made it very clear that education was vital; coupled with the theme that the school systems' teaching is only 50% of the game.  Because of this in the forefront of my thoughts, I see some advantages to most of the United States removing yet another traditional education staple.

Believe There Will Be War

Something that has been pretty amusing to me over the last 4 or 5 years is the notion that Brooklyn-based MC Jay-Z is the devil, Illuminati, even the anti-Christ.  The first humorous thing about this is that our people saw Jay-Z as that important.  Another point of chuckle revealed to me is that it's obvious many people who hold this opinion haven't been listening to him over the past 15 years; and might be making these outrageous accusations based on his recent popularity and visual presence.  Actually, Jay Z has been denouncing God and Christ since his first major release in 1996 titled Reasonable Doubt ("and even if Jehovah witness bet He'll never testify" - Da Evils) and every album since.  Yet because he didn't have MTV and later BET fame, few people noticed or cared.  Still with those lyrics and countless others, we can only assume he really feels that way, as there is a possibility that he may be referring to the millions who practice this lifestyle by actively refusing the Lord (those of and not of the church).  But as the cliche's go, MCs are reporters of the affairs of the 'hood.  And with the globalization of hip-hop, they are now reporters of the affairs of the planets' general public.  And I think we have to give it to the New York native that nicknamed himself one of the names of the Lord (Jay Hova) for pointing out once again the spiritual struggles of mankind; black or white, rich or poor--even if he is talking about his own issue.

Sacrifice, seriously

It was not extremely devastating, but it was one of those February days I will probably never forget.  Months away from [foolishly] walking towards financial enhancements for us personally, the organization I work with was on a downward spiral.  There are numerous reasons for the decline that were both internal and external, and I will leave out the specific details.  But the main point of this memory is when I picked up my cell phone on that Friday to check the balance of my bank account; ensuring that my direct deposit cleared.  I was almost speechless when the automated voice told me that my balance was half of what I expected.  Because I have been in 'bank balance shock' before, I didn't panic.  Instead, I attempted to review the reason for the decrease with the human resources department and my superiors; but to no avail.  To this day, I can only assume that this sudden change had to do with an announcement I received a couple weeks earlier that every one's salary was going to be cut 5% and that salaries would not be able to go above a certain dollar amount (my salary was actually cut 50%).  Our ground-level staff received real documentation about this change and the date of the change.  And because I was only told about the change and did not receive the same documentation my employees did I was somewhat confused about the date the salary adjustments were to be implemented.  And even though my questions about this never were answered, I clearly understood why it had to be done.

The Whole Whopper

Convenience has reared it's ugly head again so I will keep this one short as possible (be quiet mom).

Many of you may have gotten an email (or a version of it) titled 'Calling All Prayer Warriors'.  In a nutshell, its theme is suggesting that President Obama is getting verbally pummeled by Republican and Tea Party members and fans on an unprecedented basis because he is African-American.  The email encourages all Christians to lift the President up in prayer to ask God to strengthen him in this matter, so that brother Barak may prevail through this, and that ultimately God's Will may be done.  It lastly charges us to go into a period of fasting and prayer for the President in this extremely difficult period of his life.  I fully agree that now is a good time to collectively intercede for the United States leader.  Frankly, I don't remember when there wasn't a time to do this.  But still, something is being left out.

Evil Empire

All this Elephant vs. Donkey beefin' got me thinking...what exactly is the American way?

If all 300 million-plus residents (and illegal immigrants) were asked this question there would probably be 100 million different answers--but I'm sure one common one would revolve around the system of capitalism.  Ah yes, capitalism.  That great C word that tells bright-eyed bushy-tailed American kids that they can go and get it all (as long as you break Uncle Sam off his piece) and live a limitless life of success and prosperity.  Please note, I don't think it's wise to allow the elementary school history books to mislead and persuade us that European settlers came over here for free religious practice.  The evidence clearly shows that even that freedom is powered by free enterprise.  Since this country's creation capitalism has been the focal point of our economic development.  Along with that, there have been many political and military campaigns on several levels protecting this right; and I use the term 'right' loosely.  Besides, who doesn't want to get paid?

Perception of Reality

For most of this week I've been in 'you can't be serious' mode after reading several posts on Face book.  From the young woman taking half-naked pictures in their (or a hotel) bathroom with the thirsty dudes posting comments that cements their sexual lusts in print; to the 35 and older taking "professional" pictures--seemingly in an attempt to fulfill a lifelong dream to make the Jet Beauty of the Week.  Let's not forget the mothers who post profanity-laden statuses, words of thanks to God, booty-club pics, and photos with their toddler children--all in one day.  It's all is pretty astounding to say the least.  But it also brings about some depressing feelings for me, mostly because a great amount of the foolery I see on this social website is from people I know outside of Face book.  Some of them were former high school or college mates while others I knew in other vocational circles.  A great portion of them I went to church with at some point and time, and I get weighed with so much of the foolishness that I log off and pray.  Through that prayer and meditation one subject has repeatedly surfaced--people are hurting because they don't know who they are.