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BRING BACK OUR GIRLS…

Hello World,

In the United States, we can get so lulled into complacency by our relative wealth and ease of life in comparison to the rest of the world…But every now and then, something so egregious happens, that while it is outside the scope of our comfortable reality, we rally together and band against the injustice…

On April 14, more than 200 Christian and Muslim Nigerian girls were stolen in the middle of the night from their boarding school in Chibok town by Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, according to various reports. The girls were allegedly stolen to be sold as brides to Islamist militants for $12 a piece…According to an article in The New York Times, the name “Boko Haram” in the Hausa language is translated “Western education is a sin.” Reportedly, the Nigerian government is doing very little to rescue the captured girls of which about 50 have thankfully escaped…

Due to a worldwide outcry, the Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls emerged to bring awareness to this crime, and demonstrators in Washington D.C., New York City and Los Angeles have taken the protest offline in vigorous rallies to hopefully get those in positions of authority to do what they can to bring these girls back to their devastated families…

According to the Daily Kos, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chris Coons (D-DE) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have responded to the outcry by crafting a resolution condemning the abduction of the girls, and Secretary of State John Kerry has pledged to do “‘everything possible’ to support the Nigerian government in returning the young women to their homes.”

Below is a video which explains more about the campaign to “bring back our girls.”

As a Christian, I also urge all God-fearing people to pray for the release of the Nigerian girls, that their parents will be strengthened as they continue to petition the government to act on behalf of these girls and that hearts of the captors of these girls will be softened so that they will be let go because  “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” according to Ephesians 6:12. And we know that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” as noted in James 5:16.

Any thoughts?

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“Where’s The Love” Premieres THIS Saturday on UP!!!

Hello World,

Lanman Rucker & Denise Boutte

Lanman Rucker & Denise Boutte…still working on my red carpet photo skills…

Happy Friday 🙂

As I’m still a newlywed (almost 9 months to be exact 🙂 ), all things love and marriage are very much on my radar…That’s why I was blessed last night to be able to attend a preview event at Aurum Lounge for “Where’s The Love,”  a romantic drama featuring two popular, married TV talk show hosts, played by Lamman Rucker (UP’s Sugar Mommas, “Meet the Browns”) and Denise Boutte (“Meet the Browns,” “Days of Our Lives”), who dispense relationship advice even as their marriage starts to crumble…

It is the one-year anniversary of the talk show Where’s The Love?, hosted by married relationship experts and doctors Sebastian (Lamman Rucker) and Ryan Reid (Denise Boutte). They are in their mid-30s, great looking and have a successful counseling practice complete with best-selling books and an Emmy®-nominated TV show. Ryan and Sebastian seem to have it all, but secretly their relationship is falling apart. They’ve been keeping up appearances to Sebastian’s sister Kai (Terri J. Vaughn) and her husband Rod (Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan), Ryan’s best friend Sidney (David Banner), their producer Paige (Nicole Eggert), Ryan’s editor Dale (Karon Joseph Riley), their patients, their fans and the public to save their lucrative careers – until one day when it all comes out. Now, Ryan and Sebastian have to decide whether their own marriage can be saved…

The ensemble cast includes Terri J. Vaughn (UP’s In the Meantime, “Meet the Browns”), Karon Joseph Riley (UP’s Marry Me For Christmas, “Necessary Roughness”), David Banner (Lee Daniel’s The Butler, Ride Along), V103 host Darian “Big Tigger” Morgan (“106 & Park,” “Rap City”), Ahmed Lucan (Khazana, “Homeland”), Shirley Strawberry (co-host of “The Steve Harvey Show,” Madea Goes to Jail), Nicole Eggert (“Baywatch,” Charles in Charge”), and LeToya Luckett (“Single Ladies,” “Treme”). Kandi Burruss (“The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” “Let’s Stay Together”), Tommy Ford (“Martin,” “Basketball Wife”) and singer-songwriter/record producer/actress Angie Stone (Ride Along, Scary Movie 5) guest star.

Trey Haley (The Man in 3B, Note To Self) directs the film from a script by Cas Sigers-Beedles (UP’s Sugar Mommas, Love Will Keep Us Together). Filmed in Atlanta, “Where’s The Love?” will premiere exclusively on UP on Saturday, May 3 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Below are a few pics and impromptu interview snippets from the preview event…

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 Terri J. Vaughn gets my Cutest Red Carpet Appearance Award…At four months pregnant with her third child with hubby Karon Riley, she looked fabulous…In addition to acting, she and her business partner Cas Sigers-Beedles continue to make moves with their production company Nina Holiday Entertainment, she is an acting coach and mother…AND she is about about to shoot a new movie with her business partner in Trinidad while pregnant…Her secret to balancing it all: “I have an amazing husband, and he’s in the movie too!”

002Some may know David Banner primarily from his rapping career, but he’s becoming a well-versed actor as well. “This is my 15th movie. I took a break from music. Sometimes you do stuff for so long, you have to recalibrate and remember why you are doing it in the first place.”

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Shirley Strawberry, who is probably best known as the co-host of the “The Steve Harvey Morning Show” is also featured in the movie…She revealed that she was recruited to be on the show to help “balance” Steve…”He’s crazy but a lot of fun. It’s been fun and a blessing to work with him.”

018Everyone remembers Tommy Ford from “Martin!” But since then, he has moved into directing and producing…Currently, he is directing a new film “Switching Lanes,” a story about race relations between two high schools students, one who is white and one who is black, running track…The movie is in post-production…

013Ahmed Lucan portrays Ryan’s agent in the film….”It’s a blessing that Terri Vaughn gave me an opportunity to be in this film. She is my acting coach actually.”

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David Banner’s selfie with the cast and others affiliated in the movie 🙂

 

Below is a snippet of the film….

Any thoughts?

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The Praise That Got a Kidnapped Boy Released…AKA THE POWER OF PRAISE!!!

Hello World,

I first heard of this story a couple of weeks ago, but as I was preparing to go out of town, I didn’t have the time to break this story down like I wanted to on this blog so I thought I would wait so I can get all up in it…

Some weeks ago, a wicked man snatched then nine-year-old Willie Myrick from his southwest Atlanta driveway into his car, according to police. The man drove the boy, who was in the back seat, around throughout Atlanta’s streets for several hours. Instead of panicking, the boy sang “Every Praise” the whole time until the man finally released him in East Point! Yes, the boy lived to tell his story and to help him celebrate his 10th birthday, gospel artist Hezekiah Walker, who wrote the song, flew from New York to Atlanta to meet the boy who used his song to help him get released from the kidnapper! They met at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church (just down the street from my church) where Willie told the crowd his testimony! As we love to say now, won’t He do it?!!!

There are some who would chalk this story up to happenstance or a mere case of luck, but I know that Willie’s praise got him released!!! In fact, we can see several examples of the power of praise in God’s word! The most awesome example that I know is when Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown in prison. Instead of tending to their wounds or falling into despair, they praised God right there in their cells! What happened next should make all prisoners, either figuratively or literally, start clearing their throats and brushing up on Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti, Do  to belt out a praise song…

Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. Acts 16:26

I have a story about the power of praise in my own life…While my story is not as dramatic as the stories of Willie and Paul & Silas, I can testify too…Right after I graduated from college, I was unable to get a full-time job in my field so I got a job at a law firm. I figured that having a paycheck was better than incessantly job hunting for the perfect job…But every day on my lunch break, I did go to the nearby Kinko’s to use the computer and fax résumés. This was back in ’97 y’all…

Working at that law firm made me feel like I was in prison. I enjoyed working with the people, but the job itself was as boring as sitting in the class of the driest college professor you’ve ever had. Except going to college wasn’t even necessary for this job and every second I spent there made me feel like all like all of the brain cells that I had strengthened by four years at University of Georgia evaporated each time I showed up. In fact, one morning, after just being at work for a few minutes, my boss sent me home because I couldn’t stop crying. I don’t even remember when I started crying. I was just sitting at my desk and all of a sudden, it seemed, I was heaving and my nose was red. I just couldn’t fathom that a scoring a reasonably high score on the English portion of the SAT, skipping freshman English, cultivating a high GPA and completing four internships prepared me to be a file clerk…Yes, my entire job was to keep track of files. Manilla folders and paper cuts became like second nature to me…

Within a few months of working there, I started to meet or meat with a bucket of KFC original recipe chicken and biscuits on a weekly basis to express my feelings. And I told everyone who asked me how I was doing that I hated my job! And I saw no way out of my prison because no other employer wanted to hire me..Finally, my uncle, who is a pastor, threw a life preserver to me to keep me from drowning…He said to simply stop bad-mouthing the job and speak positively about the job no matter what…He told me this verse…

The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

So because of that conversation, I began speaking positively about my job even though I still felt like I was showing up to have my nails plucked from one fingers one by one or have cold water dripped on my head a drop at a time…Within two months of that conversation, I got a job at gospel record company where I worked with Larry Tinsley, radio host of “Sunday Morning Praise” on V-103 and just a nice man…In fact, Tinsley, who seems to know everybody gospel singer, interviewed Hezekiah Walker about God using him to write that powerful song…

What we need to realize is that God is in everything and nothing happens to us without His permission! And once we demonstrate that we know that God is sovereign and working it out by our praise, I believe that God will release His power in our lives…

Thank you Willie for your testimony…It is a real-life example of Psalm 8:2…

Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.

So what is your favorite praise song? My favorite praise song is Yolanda Adam’s song “The Battle is Not Yours.” God used this song to help me go through….

Any thoughts?

Below is a video in which Willie Myrick and Hezekiah Walker are interviewed by my Soror Blayne Alexander of 11AliveNews…