THE SOURCE

My Father loves to brag about his generator that he has hooked up at his home. Whenever there is a big storm and there is a power outage on his street, he stand on his porch and looks at all the other homes with no lights and talks for about 20 minutes about his generator.

I recently took my 3 boys to a self-service carwash to teach them how to wash a car (and to get them to help me wash it), and they wanted to wash the car with the CD player and music playing in the car (like we use to do it). I let them play the music, and we had a good time. We had been washing it, and vaccuming the car for about an hour. When we had finished, I went to go start the car to move it, and suddenly it was revealed to me that the CD player had drained all of the power from the battery. Here we are in a Mercedes Benz, shined up looking like fresh hundred dollar bills with no power.

What I realized is that just like that pretty car, with the shiny wheels, and the loud speakers, there are many people who look like they are all together, saying the right things, and everyone is impressed with them but the sad thing is that they have no power source. Instead we need to be tapped into the power source like the generator at my dad's house. God is that power source! When winds blow, rain falls, when storms may seem unbearable for everyone else, you life sill not change because of your source!

YOU ONLY GET ONE CHANCE AT RIGHT NOW!

Today I was blessed with the opportunity lead a youth and young people's choir in Washington D.C's City Wide Revival. This was a great experience and is much appreciated. ALthough I appreciated this opportunity, and the choir was excellent, I am sitting thinking about things I would have or should have done differently. The problem is that its done and I can do nothing about it. Although things went well, people were satisfied, I know that it even could have been better.

And that is how life is. We only have one opportunity to make the best decision for our life at each moment. We have to make sure that when we reflect over decisions, and opportunities that we can say that we would not have changed hardly anything. We must remember that although everybody else looks at us and think we have it all together, we must be honest and understand that we need to slow down, make good decisions, and perform for the Lord with the best of our ability because WE ONLY HAVE ONE CHANCE AT RIGHT NOW!

BUT YOU ARE A PREACHER!

It is funny how people say things like, "you are a preacher so it's different" or "you call yourself a preacher." People think that because God has given me a special calling that life's struggles, pain's and dilemmas don't relate to me. They think that I am suppose to be perfect, handle everything the right way, and not have the urges to sin. Realistically, life might even be harder because satan would love to destroy my witness.

Although, folks may not see me at the club, with women, having a drink, or beaten somebody down that does not mean that I don't want to do those things. I have just learned to discipline myself, and pray hard because I realize that none of those things are worth me loosing my relationship and blessings that God has in store for me.

The Movement of God

While we are in a big spiritual/political battle (if there is a difference) against the gay community and Same sex marriage, it is quite mind boggling to wonder how God will respond to the needs of His people, and His land. I don't know how God will work all this out, but I do have faith that He will. So here is my struggle with the movement of God:

1. The movement of God can not be predicted.
2. The movement of God can not be stopped.
3. The movement of God can not be contradictory.

ALSO

1. The movement of God is confusing.
2. The movement of God is problematic/confrontational.
3. The movement of God is providential.

How Soon They Forget!

On Saturday I helped to put together the rally in remembrance of the 55th Anniversary of the Brown vs. Board of Education. As you may can imagine, this was a very high profile event with big name people being a part of the program. Therefore I needed help from friends and fellow brothers in Christ. I needed about 20 brothers to come and to simply hold signs that read messages to the our government/schools systems that we deserve better. I was willing to give each person $25 for their time - 8:30am to 1:00pm. What was amazing to me is that I asked a brother who I recently helped get off drugs, spent a whole day and night to get out of jail, and has mentored him through his walk with Jesus, he said that $25 was not enough. Of course I was heated. I wanted to bring those things up but I didn't. I basically told him that I could not afford anything else and he shouldn't look at this as a job but more as a favor. Reluctantly he consented.

This reminded me not to look for man's rewards, but work ministry unto the Lord, and He will repay as he sees fit. It reminded me not to be surpised at folks responses when you need them. But truthfully it caught me by surprise and made me say, HOW SOON THEY FORGET!

The Spirit Of Cooperation

Church members believe that the Preacher is to carry the weight for the church. They believe that the Preacher is suppose to grow the church. They believe that the Preacher is suppose to make sure everything is perfect, while they just come to get their blessings. While there is a great responsibilty on the Preacher, the church only can be great if their is a "spirit of cooperation" and folks move from being a member to a disciple. At Holy Trinity we stopped counting our membership and started to weigh our membership because we realized that there are some there who we have to pull along the way, and there are some who are pulling their own weight. These are they who have decided to partner with the preacher in order to get the job done for the Lord.

MY DAY IN DA HOOD

On yesterday I spent the entire day in S.E. Washington talking with some of the guys I grew up with. It was interesting because before I felt they saw me as just their "boy," but today it seemed as if they saw me as their mentor, or even their discipler. I was able to discuss what the purpose of giving to the church and the pastor is for (because you know its hard for men to give their money to anybody), I talked to them about creating income/business, their bodies being a temple for God, how Jesus gave his life so we could live, and the humility involved with changing for the Lord.

It was crazy because in about one hour of talking, someone pulled out the grill, hamburgers and hotdogs came from out of nowhere, and there was a cookout with 5 brothers sitting and chillin with me (except now there was no weed, no beer, and no women). It was a great time. Then satan attempted to break up the party. Now we were posted up in one of the brother's backyard, but we heard a noise, and while we were there another guy attempted to break into the house through the window on the side of the house. Of course they jacked him up but I think my presence allowed things to end peacefully, without the brother being sent to the hospital or the morgue (back in the day he would have probably been seriously injured). Then as everything begin to calm down, two of the brothers begin to argue over a pair of $10.00 shades. They almost came to blows. I sat there and listened and then I told both of them how stupid they sound and that I just talked to them about humility. I told them how satan wanted to ruin this day. You should have seen their expression. They looked like embarrassed children.

They both immediately calmed down and then neither one of them wanted to claim the glasses. I said boy the hood hasn't changed much, but I'm glad that my "hood-credibility" is still in tack and I see that just like I was a leader out of the will of God, I am a leader in the will of God

Although I don't think that my presence with them will cause a great change in their life, I think seeds were planted and I believe that God can do anything.

The Fight is Outside Your Training Camp

I am a fan of boxing, and I love watching the pre-match training camps of fighters before going into a big fight. I notice that sometimes they seemingly work harder in their camp than they do during the match. I notice that they might go through 4 or 5 sparring partners prior to their match. I notice that they simulate the fight and go through all the emotions prior to the fihgt, but they realize that the fight is not in their training camp but the fight is in the arena.

Too many of our churches come together Sunday after Sunday and simulate all the actions of a fight, we talk and give good directions for a fight, we go through all of the emotions for the fight but when the time comes for the fight in the arena, there are too many Saints nowhere to be found. Just this past election we had a fight against gambling in Maryland. Sadly to say, we fail short of having enough saints to stop legalized gambling in the state. We are now fighting our legislators not to pass same sex marriage in the District of Columbia. Although we have strong Pastors who have decided to stand up, we have too many folks who are not showing up to do what they have been training to do. It is sad that we have books, commentaries, and notes of sermons, doctrinal beliefs, principles etc. but when the date of urgency for fighting sin, some preachers, lay leaders, and members have decided not to show up for the fight. This is not a fight for the pastors, this is a fight for the Body of Christ. Now is the time for the Saints of God to stand up and speak out against sin and satan!

Minister Or Juggler?

I have come to realize that being serious about the art of preaching, and doing real ministry is very taxing. It pulls from you in all aspects. It takes you away from your wife, your children, exercise, rest, and friends. It is almost impossible to attempt to spread yourself thin to all these necessities while also trying to be great for the Lord, but it is imperative.

As we must maintain a special relationship with God and our craft, it is essential that my wife is given attention, the children is given attention, my friends are given attention, my health is given attention and the church is given attention. Am I a preacher or a juggler.

Just today, my son had a basketball game. This whole ordeal lasted 3 hours. After the game he wanted to eat, so we went to Golden Choral. After eating had to be at church for a choir rehearsal. That lasted 2 hours. While at the church the air condition wasn't working so we had to get on the phone to make sure that it was working before Sunday School in the morning. Oh, and I promised my wife I would take her shopping for a Mother's Day outfit and dinner (don't forget that I just eat at Golden Chorale).

I would not change my life for the world but time management is of great importance. If we don't do so, we will regret it, and our love ones will hate our ministry.

The Pain of Mother's Day

My mother died when I was 17 years old while we were on vacation in Jamaica. I feel pain when I think of her and Mother's Day for m can't be over soon enough. I feel like she was here today and gone tomorrow. So while I am in church Sunday celebrating mothers, as I try to show appreciation to my wife on this special day, I hurt and can't wait for it to be over!

Do we loose?

This month we have been in a enormous fight with our legislative representatives concerning gay marriage. It was amazing that this has become such a hot topic because those politicians who ran for office the last term, we asked them would they support same-sex marriage and they all said no. But now they all supported it. As preachers we believed that the Bible prohibits such a lifestyle and we urged them not to make such a big mistake, but the did not take heed.

Many thought that we as preachers lost the fight, so the question was raised in my thoughts did we truly loose? Although this fight is not over, for the sake of this blog, did we loose, can we loose. I dare say that when on e stand on and with the Word of God, we never loose!