Celebrating UGA, DST, Kim & Lola…Blest Be the Tie That Binds…

Hello World, 001

I love that familiar hymn “Blest Be the Tie that Binds.” While a tie may seem restrictive, a tie can actually be wonderful thing that keeps us together when the rigors of life can easily separate…

One of the ties that binds me is the tie that I have to the University of Georgia, my blessed alma mater…Although the University of Georgia wasn’t my first choice when I was applying to colleges, going to and graduating from the University of Georgia has proven to be a blessing to me over and over again…

One of the ways that I reconnect to my beloved alma mater is attending homecoming…I don’t always get to attend but when I do, I am reminded of the four years it took to make a Georgia Bulldawg (I said, ‘It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog!)

At the University of Georgia, I was blessed to pledge the best and most illustrious sorority in the world Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. What makes a sorority is the sisters that you meet and bond with hopefully for the rest of your life…I am forever tied to Delta Sigma Theta, and it was wonderful to reconnect with them yesterday on the campus where we started as girls, became sisters and left as women..Unfortunately, two of beloved sorority sisters, my line sisters to be specific, are no longer with us due to breast cancer (Please remember that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.), and we celebrated our ties to them…our dear Kim & Lola…Take a look at some of the memories I made yesterday at the University of Georgia…Go Dogs!!!

001

Celebrating Kim & Lola & Honoring Breast Cancer Awareness Month…

005A better view with my line sister and me…

008More line sisters…

016Explaining about breast cancer awareness…

025Still spreading the word…

008One thing about Zeta Psi Deltas…we love to take line pics 🙂

014 Exhibit B…

023One of my favorite Delta “Big Sisters”

twoDeuces!!!

026Many of us met our future husbands at Georgia and created more Georgia Bulldogs 🙂

002Perhaps future Georgia bulldogs?

021Doesn’t she look like a future Georgia bulldog?

020If you didn’t meet your future spouse at UGA, you definitely met great friends…

017Everyone, including my hubby, loves the Georgia bulldogs!

032Red and Black in Technicolor…

034Of course, I had to get a pic of me too…

031At the end of the day, we collected hundreds on behalf of breast cancer research…Please consider doing the same…

Any thoughts?

Making Your Divine Appointment…

Hello World,

Delta Authors on Tour...

Delta Authors on Tour…

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day…I had gotten up around 5:30 a.m. to pray and write and then I mapped out the rest of day…I had planned to go the Delta Authors on Tour event for a couple of hours and then get on with my Saturday washing clothes, grocery shopping, etc. – basically the mundane stuff…

In my mind, I was grumbling about the various things I needed to get done – the fun stuff and not-so-fun stuff…I LOVE to write, but writing this first novel has been a challenging feat for me for several reasons…For the sake of brevity, I will only name two…Reason #1…Up until the last year or so, I haven’t read a novel in some years…I’m a non-fiction afficionado…In fact, even though I’ve been a part of a book club that has read novels for roughly 16 years, I have read very few of them (I’m grateful they allow me to come back to meetings 🙂 ) Reason #2…Since I’m trained as a journalist, I can whip up a competent article or two or three if threatened in a few hours…But writing chapters and for hundreds of pages is a marathon I’ve never run before…

The not-so-fun stuff was obviously my household chores…Sometimes my week is so hectic, I have to relegate mundane chores to the weekend…and the last thing I want to do on a weekend is wash clothes, plan meals, clean, etc. When I was single, I could ignore all of the not-so-fun stuff and let things pile up including dishes, clothes, dust bunnies, etc. But now that someone is living with me, I no longer have that luxury…(although my husband would probably argue that I still allow myself that luxury…)

Sorors Dr. Fran Breakfield & L.D. Wells...

Sorors Dr. Francene Breakfield & L.D. Wells…

So yesterday, I had all of that planned as I charged into Greenbriar Mall where the Delta Authors on Tour event was held. My plan was to stay there for two hours tops…I was there to support two of my collegiate chapter sorors L.D. Wells and Dr. Francene Breakfield and then meet newly minted Soror Suzan Johnson Cook, who is not only a former pastor and current author, she also served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom…But when I was told Soror Johnson Cook wouldn’t be there until 3 p.m., I realized that my day would unfold as planned…

Me & Soror, Dr., Ambassador & More Suzan Johnson Cook...

Me & Soror, Dr., Ambassador & More Suzan Johnson Cook…

How many of you know that “in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps?” (Proverbs 16:9)

What I understand now is that I had a divine appointment to be there and not just for two hours but for the WHOLE day…I got there early about 11 ish in the morning and didn’t make it home until roughly the same time last night…

Me & Soror Victoria Christopher Murray...

Me & Soror Victoria Christopher Murray…

While I was there I met Soror Suzan Johnson Cook whose book “A New Dating Attitude” made me know that I know that I know that I truly know my husband was and is God’s best for me…But that wasn’t the only reason I was there…I reconnected with authors I’ve met before such as Victoria Christopher Murray and met authors I’ve never met before such as Angela Ray, Dr.

From left to right, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, L.D. Wells, Brenda Jackson, Dr. Fran Breakfield

From left to right, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, L.D. Wells, Brenda Jackson, Dr. Fran Breakfield

Majorie L. Kimbrough, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, Ruth P. Watson, Stephanie Perry Moore and Brenda Jackson…In fact, I hobnobbed with the Delta Authors on Tour so much I was invited to go to dinner with them that evening at The Pecan restaurant in downtown College Park…New York Times Best-Selling Author Brenda Jackson, who I’m ashamed I’ve never heard of before yesterday, has written over 100 books!!! (Y’all know she has been blessed by God, all gifts do come from Him…)

Stephanie Perry Moore and one of her adorable young fans...

Stephanie Perry Moore and one of her adorable young fans…

The conversation at dinner encouraged me to continue in my divine appointment of being a wife (maybe mother someday…I know I’m 41 and the countdown has started…Mind yo business 🙂 ) and an author with dreams so big only God can accomplish them through me…

As I and some of the author Delta Authors on Tour made our way back to our cars, little did we know that we had another divine appointment…We met a dynamic downtown College Park business owner that regaled us with story after story after story of her “mustard seed” faith and how she encourages people to not only dream but to WAKE UP!

Don't we look hungry? LOL...Me & Angela Ray...

Don’t we look hungry? LOL…Me & Angela Ray…

And I’m only giving you the “public personal” version of the divine appointments that I experienced yesterday because I’m still pondering everything and this is the Internet…lol…

So this morning, I’m awake and ready to continue to writing this novel that I hope to have “spit shined” and ready for perusal next month…Y’all keep me in prayer…

Won’t He Do It! Guess What? He Already Did!

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pastor Praises Till The Cops Come Knockin’…

Hello World,

Pastor Johnnie Clark and First Lady Harriet Clark...

Pastor Johnnie Clark and First Lady Harriet Clark…

This morning when you go to church, I want you to lift up Pastor Johnnie Clark of Rehoboth United Assemblies Church in Columbia, South Carolina in prayer as he finds himself in jail this Sunday morning…What did the PASTOR do to find himself in jail you are probably asking? Did he steal something? No. Did he have a bunch of traffic tickets? No. Was he a public menace? You’re getting closer…

Pastor Clark is in jail this morning because the church’s praise and worship has violated the city’s noise ordinance as reported by the church’s neighbors…According to the article “Pastor Gets Jail Time for Noisy Church” by Steven Dial, wltx.com, Columbia police officers have been dispatched more than 50 times to the church for violating the ordinance and now Pastor Clark is in jail for TWO WEEKS!!! He was found guilty in a jury trial…

Pastor Clark and his wife, First Lady Harriet Clark, were quoted as saying, “I can’t believe it, jail time, for serving God, what’s next.”

To read the entire story, go to wltx.com.

So quite honestly, a part of me wants to laugh because it so outrageous that a pastor has been put in jail for his church’s praise and worship, another part of me admires that their praise and worship was so on fire that the church’s neighbors had no choice but to listen, and another part of me wonders if Christians have become unfair targets…What say you?

I don’t know where this question originated or who initially asked the question, but this question is an awesome question to ask ourselves every once in a while…

If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?

Obviously there would be enough evidence for Pastor Clark and his church…at least as far as praise and worship is concerned…

Any thoughts?