love is an offering

For the longest, whenever I would prepare to share my relationship with God, I would search for the miracle moments that I've experienced. Those moments when God intervened in some supernatural way and either rescued me from eminent danger or dramatically changed the course of my life in an answered prayer.  Those moments I felt needed to be shared to build a person's faith or inspire a person to push through the doubt and despair he or she may be experiencing.  I thank God for the miracle moments, because they were bench marks in my life, reminding me of God's loving faithfulness.  However, as with every long lasting relationship, it's not just about the holidays and special occassions.  Those days are beautiful and bring with them warm memories and exciting times, but it's the daily grind of everyday life that produces the depth of love that we all long for.  We don't marry a person just to share birthdays and holidays with, but our everyday lives.  The days t

Break the Cycle Life is like a process we all gotta grow, this is my test gotta keep my cool like a ice chest but the Black man's living in a crisis I was born into this cycle born to play this game like I'm Micheal never meant to win but we tried to life is kind of short like a haiku man I wanna be a novel, God speaks in first person to involve you pay attention when He calls you when He speaks gotta increase the volume drown out the voices He speaks clear over stadium noises we need to check our sources and stop make ignorant choices The birth of true manhood placed on the shelf like a canned good cause no one could describe or could handle so the truth was blown out like a candle Daddy bring the matches and teachem' bout the One who is matchless if we can get water from a cactus we can teachem that it's gonna take practice enjoy this new life style find peace when the world is going wild even though we suffer for a while in

     When I choose to tolerate you, I have already drawn an imaginary line between us that constantly moves depending on how much I can "put up with" that day.  When I choose  to love you, that line becomes a ruler that's measured against the height, width and depth of the love that God has for me.  The more I appreciate what it took for God's grace to love me, the more I am compelled to share this love with people of whom I have nothing in common.  You don't have to earn my approval to receive my love.  Let's disagree and debate under the umbrella of love and respect.  The kind of love that breaks the chains of slavery, fear and hatred; the kind of love that sent a servant KING to the cross.  I fail at this love everyday, but I will not take the easy road of tolerance.  The only things I wish to tolerate are my milk products.        I understand that this love is supernatural and holy spiritual.  Not everyone has apprehended this kind of love that is empow

We are a "get there" culture of people. "Are we there yet" is not a question, but an expectation that demands an answer. But in midst of getting there and a preoccupation with the destination, we have missed a miracle. The mystical is lost.  We lost the power of the mystery, while grasping at spoilers.  Our wonder is on the milk carton.  I must be intentional about the process, because I too am impatient.  If want to savor life, I must appreciate its every taste and bite.  When I am tired of the drive and making "good time" is more important that "the time" I devalue the lesson my Jesus is teaching me.  If I hope to receive the present, I must first "be present". Because more times than not, the journey is just as important as the destination.

When I discover, I come alive. My soul is awakened from its predictable slumber and a shock runs through my veins! I can hardly breathe, but I can't look away.  I am captivated, taken by surprise by something fearfully beautiful.  When I discover, I am called to worship God. Though I marvel at His handiwork, I am compelled to seek follow His trail, seek His footprint.  All the while I am terrified with wonder and graciously invited.  I want to take in that moment, be present in His presence.  When I discover, I can hear His bare feet crunching over the mountain snow.  I can feel His breath in the cool morning breeze.  I can hear His voice in the strong currents of streams, calling out to me, inviting me to walk with Him and create something that was inspired by what I discovered. 

I didn't know her as one knows a neighbor a relative or a friend she was not in my list of contacts or photographs or yearbooks of a time long ago no, i did not know her but she knew me she definitely knew me she knew my pain, my struggle her words, songs, poetry they checked my pulse gauged my temperature measured my resolve her suffering leveled my consciousness she was quite acquainted with joy, pain silence, sound, standing, dancing stillness and marching on she defied invisibility and found her place centerstage I loved her for it no, I did not know Dr. Maya Angelou but she knew me she definitely knew me.

I want to know the real Jesus. Not the super photogenic, passive aggressive, untouchable Jesus. I want to know the Jesus that had dirt under his finger nails and corns and calluses on his feet from walking every where.  Not the 6ft 2,  reverently sexy looking Jesus who never sweated, never stubbled his toe, never had gas or morning breath, never had a sore throat or a tooth ache. Not some candy coated Jesus, who walked around holding two fingers together for no reason, making crosses in the air and teaching Sunday school.  I want to know the Jesus whose eyes were tired from getting up too early to pray; whose body was sore the next morning from building furniture and lifting sheep in his arms and bringing them back to the fold; whose hands were sweaty from lifting a prostitute off the ground; the Jesus who had tears and saliva stains on all his clothes from hugging the nasty people too tightly, who had body odor from casting out demons and raising folks from the dead.  I want to know t

May God's unmerited favor and his perfect harmony be yours eternally! May you come to know him as "Father" and know Jesus as Lord.      Praise God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who has bestowed great blessing upon you from his glorious kingdom in the heavenly realms.  Father God has given us everything we need in Christ.  He chose us to be in love with him before he spoke life and created the heavens and the earth.  We were created to be his image bearers, holy and blameless, perfected not by our own self righteousness, but by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.      In his great love, we have a destiny, a destiny that is wrapped up in his loving adoption of us.  This adoption comes courtesy of Jesus Christ, because while we were shaking our little balled fists at him, he loved us so, loved us enough to die for our lives.  We are members of the family of God, not because of our goodness or generousity, but because of the loving desire of a Heavenly F