Last November, I got my first smart phone! (I know, I’m a very slow adopter of new technology plus I’m very frugal…) Although that was a few months ago, I’m still learning how to use all of its functions…One function that still puzzles me is the voice recognition function…I guess I could read the manual to figure this all out, but for some reason, I don’t particularly care to read manuals unless I need to refer to them to trouble shoot…
So on Thursday as I was on the road trying to get to various locations for my job as a reporter, I was feeling very stressed out…I was running behind schedule and I have to make a daily deadline so time is very important. I was grappling with traffic which can be horrendous in the metro Atlanta area. I mistakenly sent an e-mail to the wrong person, and it was a very important e-mail. I also needed to answer a lot of other important e-mail messages but couldn’t get to them because I was driving…None of this was a life or death matter, but I have found that sometimes the daily accumulation of a lot of little things can have you feeling more anxious than the huge things that can happen…When something really bad happens, it is almost easier to cope with that because there is nothing else to do…But when a whole lot of minor to somewhat important things are vying for our attention, it’s hard to know what to tackle first…
So I decided to confess Scriptures to get my right…I said out loud as I was driving…
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
But I couldn’t remember exact verse numbers…I knew it was Philippians Chapter 4 but that was all I could remember…So while I was driving I picked up my cell phone and spoke the first few words of the verse into my cell phone…I waited until I got to the next traffic light to look down and see what happened…My cell phone told me the verse numbers of the verses I said…Verses 6-7…I was then able to quote the verses and where they came from and confess that I was going to go through the rest of the day without anxiety…And it worked…And I got everything done in the time frame I had, the e-mail mishap worked out and I returned all of the other e-mail messages that I need to answer as well…
FYI: A cell phone is a also good prop when you’re driving and you want to pray out loud, but you don’t want folk in the other cars to think you’re crazy…Pull that cell phone out and act like you have God on speaker phone…LOL…
Jesus is on the mainline…Call Him up and tell him what you want!!!
I’m proud to say that I have never watched a complete episode of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” as I cannot stand to watch a family whose family values seem to essentially amount to opulent opportunism. And Kim’s New Age Valley Girl spin of the English language is also grating…And her current hubby Kanye ain’t been right since his mother passed away…At first it was understandable because grief can make you do some crazy things…But since then, he has deemed himself a “creative genius” and a “god” and most annoyingly Beyoncé’s award show fairy godmother…whenever Bey doesn’t win an award he feels she should have won, he magically appears on stage and wreaks havoc…Obviously, he was at her beck and call when he most recently jumped on stage when Beck rather than Bey won the “Album of the Year” Award at this year’s GRAMMYs.
Kimye arrives as the entrance of the beautiful Armenian church. Kim purses her lips ever just so and poses in hopes that the paparazzi will take flattering shots of her. Kanye affixes his I’m-too-cool-to-smile-but-I-hope-you’re-looking look as he walks behind her. After a few minutes of this, flanked and guided by big ole bodyguards and haughty handlers, Kimye and Northwest enter the church.
Kim: (stroking her beautiful raven hair like she is a modern-day Morticia Adams) Oh My Gaaawd (taking the Lord’s name in vain with a New Age Valley Girl Twist. Sacrilegious & Annoying… )Like I’m so annoyed…Kaaanye, we’ve got to stop the paps and those other people from coming in behind us…I only want the cameras for the show in here…I mean when we walk back out, I want them to be there of course, but not right nooow…
Kanye: Baby, your man is a God and this is my domain…As it is in my head, so it shall be done on earth…
Enter Bishop Mikayel Adjapagian who walks up to them and shakes their hands while greeting them…
Bishop Mikayel Adjapagian: Welcome Mr. & Mrs. West, we are honored that you are visiting today –
Kanye: (interrupting the bishop) I’mma let you finish, but we need to have the church doors closed immediately to keep the paps and those other people out of my house…Because I’m a god..
Bishop Mikayel Adjapagian: Your house? This is the house of God. You, sir, are a not a god, and I will not allow worshippers to be prevented from entering His house even for you, Mr. West…Furthermore, who told you you were a God?
Kanye: I just told who I thought I was. A god.
Bishop Mikayel Adjapagian: Excuse me? (At this point, baby Northwest, who has been whimpering all along, begins to wail!)
Kanye: I guess you don’t think Beyonce is the mother of God, either?
And it all falls down from here with Syleena Johnson singing faintly in the background…
Later in an Armenian hotel, Kim recounts what happened with Khloé in her Khloé’s hotel room…
Khloé: Aren’t you used that? With Kanye?
Kim: I guess I should let go, and let God…the real God…
Kanye: (who is able to see what is happening in the next door hotel room because he is a god, shrugs)
Any thoughts? (Note: This is all a figment of my imagination…)
If you are a Christian, today, Easter Sunday, is the most triumphant and glorious day of the year…The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the bedrock of our faith…It is how we know that we know that we know God.loves.us…
If, by chance, you are a unfamiliar with the story – I pray that those who have never heard of the story somehow find their way to my humble space on the Internet – let me tell it to you in simple terms…
Holy God, creator of this universe, wants to have a personal relationship with us, the sinful human beings that He created…But because of our sin, which is essentially our willfulness or inclination to doing things our own way without God’s guidance, He cannot tolerate what we have done to ourselves and how we have desecrated our beings…However, he allowed his Son, Jesus Christ, a perfect being to die, to sacrifice himself on the cross and bridge the gap between us and our Holy Father…And Jesus Christ was resurrected three days later proving that God conquers death!!! If you would like to read the official story, please see Luke 24 in the Bible…
While the Easter story is confined to a few chapters, the Easter message is scattered throughout the entire Bible from the beginning to the end…
1. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Genesis 50:20…This verse comes from the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers because they were jealous of him and his close relationship with their father. Years later, however, Joseph, who had been given a position in the government in the country where he had been enslaved, was reunited with his brothers…
Despite what had been done to him, Joseph assured his brothers that God used their evil deed to allow Him to be in a position of authority. And that position of authority enabled him to do good for many under him…
Again, what may be negative, God can and will change it to a positive for us and many others if we would give Him the opportunity…This is what happened with Jesus on the cross…
2. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;I will surely defend my ways to His face.” Job 13:15…Job was a man who had been blessed spiritually and materially, but God allowed all of his materials blessings to be taken away to prove to the devil if Job would still serve God.
This verse was Job’s declaration that in spite of His feelings that God had deserted him, he would still trust Him…Jesus, God’s son, felt that way as well…Although He chose to die for our sins, there was a point that He felt God was not with Him because He was dying…
And yet, He went through it because His ultimate hope was in God…And we can claim the same when we are going through tough situations…In spite of whatever seemingly hopeless situation we find ourselves in, God can turn it around…He did it for Job, Jesus and He can and will do it for us…
3. “Trust in the Lord with all your heartand lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6…Sometimes there are things that happen to us that no matter how long we think about them or who we talk to about them, we cannot make sense of what happened…But we don’t always have to understand because God can straighten it all out…Those who lived with and loved Jesus didn’t understand why Jesus had die although He tried to explain it, but three days later, they understood…and were blessed..
4. “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer,and though the Lord makesHis life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days,and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,he will see the light of life and be satisfied…” Isaiah 53: 10-11 With God, suffering can have a purpose…Jesus’ suffering enables us to have life with the Father…
5. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28…This verse is a testament of how God operates…God can and does take anything and bring good out of it…Death is vile…But Jesus’ death is how we are able to be reconciled to God…That is good…
6. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:12-13…As Christians or followers of Christ, we will be tested…But even as we are tested, we can have inexplicable joy knowing that we are being tested because we do believe in Christ….
7. “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:3-5 The ultimate message of Easter is that death is not the end of the story…And one day death as know it will be done and over with…
I wrote this Easter post because God has a track record of bringing the biggest blessing out of tragedies…I wrote this post for me, but I hope it blesses you…
Happy Easter! Jesus is Risen! Blessed be the name of Jesus!
One of my favorite gospel songs of all times…Wonderful Easter Message…
Hello World,
