Why I Fall In Love In Fall

Fall is my favorite season of the year for one reason: the weather changes as it starts to get cooler. I thoroughly enjoy the nip in the air because it means I have the ability to integrate sweaters, layers, and jackets into the wardrobe; it just makes life so much more fun. But it can also make life a little more lonely if you don’t have a special *cough* friend *cough* in your life.

Fall also signifies the fact that the year’s end is drawing close. With the holidays looming near, the focus seems to shift from having carefree fun in the summa — summa — summertime onto the few holidays that are more traditionally reserved for the family. So what are the single folks — those who don’t have a typical family per se — to do? It’s time to find you a boo. At least that’s what I tend to do. read more

My Respect For Her: Like a Tire With…

Like a tire with a slow leak, my respect for her had dwindled.

Like A Tire With A Slow Leak

Do you still respect me?

The question seemed easy enough to answer. Yet I knew the answer, rather, the truth, would break her heart. And I knew I didn’t want to do that. So instead of telling her the truth, I did what any decent, self-respecting man with even a shred of common sense, intellect, and love for his own life would do: I lied. Okay, I didn’t really lie; I didn’t tell her something that wasn’t true. In fact, I didn’t tell her anything at all; I just redirected her question by asking another question.

“Have I done anything to show you that I don’t?” I inquired, hoping this “answer” would suffice. She pondered her response for a moment and said with something I, to this day, can’t remember; I just knew that I was off the hook. And that was all I needed to know. read more

God, Where’s My Ram?

"The Sacrifice of Isaac" painted in 1602 by Caravaggio

This post isn’t for everyone. Not right now anyway. Some people need to hear this now, some will need to hear it for later, because chances are that everyone has been, or will be, in one of those “If-God-doesn’t-come-through-I’m-done-because-I-don’t-know-what-to-do” situations. Those situations push our faith and trust in God to the limit. They cause us to wonder, “When is God going to come through for me? Why hasn’t He come through yet?” I’ve recently, and honestly, still am in this situation. What I’m about to tell you is something God shared with me.

God will come through for you. Absolutely. It’s of paramount importance that you understand that He has a “ram in the bush” waiting for you. Don’t ever doubt that. But if he hasn’t shown it to you just yet, perhaps He’s waiting until He sees that you’re ready to do without it. read more

Uh… Your Hair: A Letter to the Ladies

Ladies,

When single people are talking about what they’re attracted to in a mate, there will, inevitably, be talk of hair. Now, some of you may be “looking at me” thinking, “You mean blonde or brunette?” Not quite. Yes, that’s a conversation too, but I’m referring more specifically to weaves, pieces, wigs, short, long, relaxed, locs, twists, natural, etc. I would say that this conversation would be geared more towards the Black women of the world, but as Kim from the Real Housewives of Atlanta, along with countless other White women have shown us, fake hair is no longer worn exclusively Blacks. read more

Secular Songs In A Sermon?

There are a lot of people who believe that you should, under no circumstances, bring secular music into the church. But some would vehemently disagree. Secular music can be used to glorify Christ just as much as the music we label as “praise and worship” or “Christian.” That may sound very opposite of what you’d expect, but what is it that makes music secular? What makes it “Christian” or sacred? Certainly it’s not the music itself; how can certain chords or keys be construed as glorifying God more than others? If it’s not the music, than it has to be the words. Take a love song — one that you might sing to your spouse at your wedding — sung to God, is that not worship? Don’t plenty of “Christian” songs sing about our love of and for Jesus? Where does the difference lie? read more

Thoughts on Tonex

Recently gospel, or secular, or whatever you want to classify him as, artist Tonex gave an interesting interview on “The Lexi Show” about his life and a the controversy surrounding his life and the allegations of homosexuality. I feel like the interview left a lot to be desired, but I’ve included the clips below so you can judge for yourself. It’s about 25 minutes of video, but it’s very intriguing to watch. Take a look.

PART ONE

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=970nMJ_nhIg]

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Just Journaling Tonight

Today I don’t really have anything too deep or insightful or controversial. I just wanted to write a little bit about what I feel like God has been doing in my life. This is more of a journal entry than you’ve seen me do in a while, perhaps. Just as a heads up: I’m going to be intentionally vague about specific names because I don’t think that they necessarily add anything to the story.

I guess I have some uncertainty, as we all do from time to time, or perhaps more often than periodically, about what exactly it is that God’s doing. I feel like He’s behind the scenes, moving things around, getting some stuff ready, but for what, I don’t know yet. I feel like there have been several statement that people have made, several hints that really struck a chord. You ever had a few completely random people mention the same thing to you at completely different times? That’s happened a few times lately. It’s very interesting because what they’re mentioning wasn’t really something I thought I would be doing, but I can see how God could use that as a part of my calling. read more

The Flavor of the Day: OUTRAGE!

Editor’s Note: This post is from a good friend of mine, Marcus. Marcus, like me is definitely not short of opinions, but he rarely writes them down (which I’m trying to get him to do more of.) I thought I’d share this with you for the time being. Enjoy.

I’m outraged! How dare they?!

Why is everybody so upset on the political scene right now? Everyday it seems there’s something new for us to bemoan as a “sad commentary on our society.”

Whatever… Are we really shocked that Republicans don’t like Democrats, and Liberals don’t like Conservatives and nobody on opposite sides of the issues is willing to compromise or agree on anything? Please… read more

Why Are Hate-Filled Christians Everywhere?

Once again I’m sickened by the actions of people calling proclaiming themselves to be Christians. Earlier this week it was a Pastor from Arizona praying for President Obama to contract brain cancer and die like Ted Kennedy. Now it’s a Kansas based organization, Westboro Baptist Church, who is coming to Atlanta to protest and picket the American Jewish Committee and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (I find it interesting, but not necessarily of any importance that both churches were Baptist.)

I’m not angry that they’re protesting; I’m glad they take advantage of their constitutional right. Nor am I angry that they’re coming to Atlanta (where I live) to protest; no, I’m angry at the hateful rhetoric that they spew. When they come to Atlanta on September 9th, they’ll be protesting the American Jewish Committee, saying, “God hates Jews/lawyers.” They’ll also be protested the CDC, because, according to the Westboro Church’s website, the CDC is “fag infested” and because “God hates fags and fag enablers” so accordingly “God hates the CDC.” By the way, the church’s website address — GodHatesFags.com — very appropriate for a church, don’t you think? read more

How Did Slavery Become Entirely Black?

I thought y’all might be interested by an assignment that I had to do for my African American Studies class, so I’ve posted it below. I know there are many more reasons and a lot more depth that could have been gone into, but I was only required to answer the questions via the textbook reading. I’ll have another one for next week too. I’ll also get back to posting some more personal posts this week.

Discuss the major events/steps leaving to slavery becoming entirely Black/African.

While there were several factors that lead to American slavery becoming exclusively Black or African, I believe it was the underlying cultural history and understandings of the English that had the strongest effect. Historically, the English always distinguished between those the culturally and physically different from themselves and subsequently treated them differently. This is evidenced by the English’s actions towards the Irish, which they tried to conquer for centuries, as well as the Native American population. Blacks and Africans, in this case, had both the cultural and physical differences that were strong and noticeable. This, most likely, lead to a more severe departure from the “normal” way the English would treat those different from themselves. This also fathered the thoughts the English held which assumed the Africans or blacks must be inferior to the English. This thinking, however, was dangerous, because it was strictly an assumption. read more