Who Are You And Why Should We Care?

Recently, I made some public stances against various behaviors that I believe significantly encourage harmful things to happen to young women and girls.  A 20+ year friend of mine took notice of these changes and asked if they had anything to do with my infant daughter.  I responded to her question with an emphatic "without a doubt!"  And I wasn't ashamed to admit it; how my once chauvinist views have been completely reversed by the birth of my baby girl.  These changes should have happened years earlier as I wasn't raised in a sexist fashion, but I'm not excluded in having self-experience being an honest teacher every now and then.  And as I was expressing my renewed mind, all I could think about is the burning anger I would feel if I ever saw a picture of my teenage daughter in a tank-top and tights...taken in my bathroom...for all of cyberspace to ogle over.  Of course, much of that anger would be from the thoughts that my baby has been convinced that she was raised as a hoodrat.  But the other part would come from me thinking that she thinks she's so important that her virtual friends and their real friends HAVE to see her.

Cheerleaders

Confession time.  I was one of those people who thought voting was useless; and didn't vote until President Obama's first campaign.  And while I still believe that the U.S. democratic process is deliberately flawed to generally benefit the American aristocrat,  I do also think it's important to put a stake (or in this case a toothpick) in the direction of the nation when given the opportunity.  It's not for the classic "people died for the right to vote" argument either.  I mean, people died...and are still dying...for the right to sell drugs.  Doesn't mean I need to go cop a 8-ball and cook-up.  But the right to vote is critically important for this reason:  the crooked United States government, along with the lesser but equally as crooked state, county, and city governments allow for it's [of age] citizens to have a say in who they want to lead them from a political, social, and financial perspective in regards to legislation.  All legal voters should take advantage of this, and anyone who doesn't has made their opinion unquestionably insignificant to not only the powers that be, but the general public.  In the end, all that person does is scream on the sidelines.

Be Adrian, Not Derek

Any athlete can testify to the fact of how horrible a hard fought loss feels.  It's almost nothing worse than pouring it all out during the burning heat of competition, only to be rewarded with an "oh-so-close."  But the one thing that probably does sink a little lower is being hampered by an injury during the battle; then having to leave your teammates to finish the job because your body won't allow you to.  Instead of your will being imposed on the field it's only imposed in your mind...as you watch, and wait, and wait...until you reach the even more challenging road to recovery.  Since your healing began, one of your most repeated prayers was to not just be a remnant of your former self.  You hoped to still be as quick...as strong...as explosive...as dominating.  During rehab the physicians tell you you're ahead of schedule, so you feel great.  Your practices appear to be productive and supportive of your comeback, so you feel better than great.  Yet there's still one more thing to conquer - your mind.  See the thing is, does your brain...with the memory of the painful injury...still trust the ability of your body, or is it hurt like your knee.  You see, that's the difference between being an Adrian Peterson or a Derek Rose.

Job Readiness

Walk with me.

You're a not-so-recent college graduate and have been in the hunt for a dynamic, well paying gig since you strutted across that stage a few years ago.  Tired of working crappy jobs; depressed and totally hopeless, you begin to entertain thoughts of earning money by way of illegal means.  These notions dominate your mind as you take the humbling trip to the Department of Social Services to hop on public assistance.  But on the way, your phone rings with an opportunity to be interviewed for what you think is a customer service position at JP Morgan Case & Co., the nations' largest bank.  Dressed in your best business gear which is...well at least it's clean, you show up only to be interviewed by the president of the company.  All ready in shock, you're offered a position as a marketing executive for the Central Virginia region (which includes four cities and five counties) within 35 seconds of the meeting.  And if that wasn't enough, a personal promise of promotion is spoken to you from the big man.  You have a little trouble getting your head together.  Being considered for this position, one that you're certain you're not qualified for, is putting more questions in your head instead of just accepting the job.  Nearly with tears in your eyes, you say yes; and right after you passionately thank the president he leads you to a training room and says, "be back in 20 minutes so we can start working."

Act Like You Know

Traditionally, Matthew 8:5-10 has been taught from the perspective of blind faith.  We have the centurion of the Roman infantry approaching Jesus with an issue concerning his slave; and being confident that Jesus, as Lord, could heal him just at His speaking.  This is indeed was a brave move; as we know that a man in Caesar Augustus' military (or territory) acknowledging a Jew as royalty is treason and punishable by death.  Then for this man to confirm Jesus' power before he actually saw it for himself is also impressive.  However, I tend to believe that this military man had additional points of verification that lead him to ask Jesus to perform such a task.  Of course with no Bible, mega-church, or televangelist to preach the Christ, for a heathen Roman to recognize Jesus' unchallenged authority and healing ability says a lot about his study of and connection with the Lord God.  Yet when reading verse 9, we get to not only picture the centurions' faith, but we also see his rationale.  In layman's terms he tells the Savior, "I'm also a boss; and I know when bosses speak, things move."