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Where is Your Relationship With God? A checklist…

Hello World, 

I could discuss a million hot topics this morning from the royal baby watch to the “Justice for Trayvon” rallies in 100 cities across the U.S. But as a Christian blogger, sometimes I just have to get back to the basics…None of what happens in this world is more important than a personal relationship with God….In fact, it was so important to me, I wrote “After the “Altar Call: The Sisters’ Guide to Developing a Personal Relationship With God” because without a personal relationship with God, this life is meaningless…So I decided to compile a checklist to that will help me and you determine if our personal relationship with God is getting stronger and stronger or slowly dying or nonexistent….First of all, I have to assume that you have decided to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior…If you haven’t, the rest of this post doesn’t apply until you have made that crucial decision…and now, on to my list…

  1. How many times this week have you set aside time to spend with God in prayer and devotion without interruption? I must admit that as I have not spent as much time with God lately as I have been planning my wedding…I have rationalized it to myself saying God understands…But the truth is, God is a jealous God and He insists on coming first no matter what the circumstance…
  2. How often do you pause to ask God’s opinion on various matters before declaring your own? As a person with an opinion on just about anything, I often have to remind myself that my opinion is not necessarily God’s opinion…Spending time with God (as I stated above) brings my opinion in line with God’s opinion…
  3. How often do you hear God’s guidance from the smallest of issues to the biggest of issues? I am so comfortable in my relationship with God that I feel free to ask Him about even the smallest issues in my life…It is commonplace to seek God’s guidance when facing significant issues, but most relationships are defined by the little things that happen everyday… For example, I am a discount diva but sometimes I can take it too far…I bought a $10 wedding veil online and when I received it, it looked every bit of $10 so I knew I had to get another veil…Through my relationship with God, I felt led to travel to a specific store across town where I found the perfect veil for nearly the exact amount that I designated to spend on it…In fact, I designated $65 for it, and I spent $64.19…And because I have dreadlocks, I cannot put a comb in my hair which becomes an issue when shopping for wedding veils which are typically attached to combs…A lady at the store had a wire cutter in the back and was able to remove the comb and sell it to me…No this is not world peace, but in my relationship with God, I can seek His guidance on anything…
  4. When the last time you praised God for just being God and not asked Him about anything or for anything? As you know, there is a time for everything…While God encourages us to come to Him with all sorts of requests, there is a time when we have set ourselves aside and just praise Him for being Him…There is nothing greater than feeling the presence of God…When I praise Him, I feel His presence…It often moves me to tears and don’t let me be in my bedroom, sometimes I have to leap in the air…As the song says, there is nobody greater…
  5. When was the last time you sacrificed for God? As Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price of sacrificing His life so that we can a right relationship with God, we are called to sacrifice from time to time…Sometimes God may have lead you to sacrifice money that you designated for one cause and give it to something else…Sometimes God may lead you to sacrifice time in His service…Since I will be getting married soon, I know there will be some sacrifice involved…On a side note, I’m grateful for the armed forces of this country that so sacrifice so much from time with their families to their very lives for our freedom…
  6. When was the last time you did something for the “least of these?” God said in Matthew 25:40 that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” On the face of this verse, it seems like God is instructing us to care for the poor because they have the least monetary resources…But what about the “least of these” when it comes to other resources? I’m going to tell you a secret…Sometimes, I can be a bit of a snob…Growing up, I was in the “B” or “C” crowd, but I aspired to be in the “A” crowd…As an adult, none of that foolishness really matters anymore except I still often find myself wanting to gravitate to the “cool kids” whether they are the people who are the most well known in my profession to the more affluent people in my social groups…But God wants me to treat everyone the same…So I have to make an effort sometimes to be kind to the people I find socially awkward or people that aren’t upwardly mobile…
  7. How often do you step out on faith? In Hebrew 11:6, we are told that “without faith it is impossible to please God?” How often do you make decisions that may not make sense to those around you but make sense to you according to your relationship with God? Some years back, I wanted to know more about money and have more money, I decided to give more than my tithe on faith that God would bless me…About a year or so later, I met a financial coach who taught me how to manage the money I already had AND more money came my way…that is just one example…holla at me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com if you need more examples..

So where is relationship with God? This song is my on my heart this morning…”Nobody Greater” by Vashawn Mitchell?

Any thoughts?

 

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Why the Trayvon Martin Murder Case Matters…Peace Be Still…

Hello World…

I woke up this morning with that hollow, sinking feeling that overwhelms you when you have someone has broken up with you and you realize that you have to go through the routines of a regular day although your heart has been punctured…I was stupefied and saddened by the news late last night that George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Benjamin Martin on Feb. 26, 2012.

It seems that most of my attorney friends on FB expected this travesty to happen based on the progression of the court case. I, on the other hand, hoped that despite how the defense seemed to wield a stronger case, justice would prevail because at the end of all of the legal gymnastics these two facts were all that mattered: George Zimmerman pulled the trigger and he pursued an unarmed teenager…But I guess my naivete has forever been shattered…It doesn’t matter what happened…It only matters what you can prove…at least in court…

I’m a die-hard history buff…I love analyzing how events that transpired years and years ago shape current events…Although I am glad God chose my life to be a part of this time in human history, I must admit that to some degree I have been jealous of those that came of age in the ’60s…They were able to craft and execute the masterful civil disobedience that makes it possible for me to enjoy the many freedoms that I and other black people enjoy today in this country…I would guess that in spite of how life threatening their actions were, they were enthralled and emboldened knowing that they were doing God’s work and that in having something to die for, they had found a reason to live as had been said before one way or another…Why do mention history this morning? I will forever be changed by the election of President Barack Obama twice!!! Finally, I have been a witness to a miracle that I know will forever affect the history of this country…And in a mysterious way, I feel like that has happened again…I firmly believe this case will be written about years from now as it is the case that demonstrates for all the world to see that somehow black life – particularly the life of black boys – doesn’t matter as much as the lives of others…It’s ugly…but it’s the truth…

I’m not saying that everyone is racist, and black people don’t have positions of wealth and power as never before in the history of this country…But what I am saying that in the totem pole of justice, black people, black boys and men, in particular are on the lower end…no matter what happened…Here are some facts that I pulled from the Center for American Progress website…

1. While people of color make up about 30 percent of the United States’ population, they account for 60 percent of those imprisoned. The prison population grew by 700 percent from 1970 to 2005, a rate that is outpacing crime and population rates. The incarceration rates disproportionately impact men of color: 1 in every 15 African American men and 1 in every 36 Hispanic men are incarcerated in comparison to 1 in every 106 white men.

2. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, one in three black men can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Individuals of color have a disproportionate number of encounters with law enforcement, indicating that racial profiling continues to be a problem. A report by the Department of Justice found that blacks and Hispanics were approximately three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop than white motorists. African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.

3. Students of color face harsher punishments in school than their white peers, leading to a higher number of youth of color incarcerated. Black and Hispanic students represent more than 70 percent of those involved in school-related arrests or referrals to law enforcement. Currently, African Americans make up two-fifths and Hispanics one-fifth of confined youth today.

4. According to recent data by the Department of Education, African American students are arrested far more often than their white classmates. The data showed that 96,000 students were arrested and 242,000 referred to law enforcement by schools during the 2009-10 school year. Of those students, black and Hispanic students made up more than 70 percent of arrested or referred students. Harsh school punishments, from suspensions to arrests, have led to high numbers of youth of color coming into contact with the juvenile-justice system and at an earlier age.

5. African American youth have higher rates of juvenile incarceration and are more likely to be sentenced to adult prison. According to the Sentencing Project, even though African American juvenile youth are about 16 percent of the youth population, 37 percent of their cases are moved to criminal court and 58 percent of African American youth are sent to adult prisons.

6. As the number of women incarcerated has increased by 800 percent over the last three decades, women of color have been disproportionately represented. While the number of women incarcerated is relatively low, the racial and ethnic disparities are startling. African American women are three times more likely than white women to be incarcerated, while Hispanic women are 69 percent more likely than white women to be incarcerated.

7. The war on drugs has been waged primarily in communities of color where people of color are more likely to receive higher offenses. According to the Human Rights Watch, people of color are no more likely to use or sell illegal drugs than whites, but they have higher rate of arrests. African Americans comprise 14 percent of regular drug users but are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses. From 1980 to 2007 about one in three of the 25.4 million adults arrested for drugs was African American.

8. Once convicted, black offenders receive longer sentences compared to white offenders. The U.S. Sentencing Commission stated that in the federal system black offenders receive sentences that are 10 percent longer than white offenders for the same crimes. The Sentencing Project reports that African Americans are 21 percent more likely to receive mandatory-minimum sentences than white defendants and are 20 percent more like to be sentenced to prison.

9. Voter laws that prohibit people with felony convictions to vote disproportionately impact men of color. An estimated 5.3 million Americans are denied the right to vote based on a past felony conviction. Felony disenfranchisement is exaggerated by racial disparities in the criminal-justice system, ultimately denying 13 percent of African American men the right to vote. Felony-disenfranchisement policies have led to 11 states denying the right to vote to more than 10 percent of their African American population.

10. Studies have shown that people of color face disparities in wage trajectory following release from prison. Evidence shows that spending time in prison affects wage trajectories with a disproportionate impact on black men and women. The results show no evidence of racial divergence in wages prior to incarceration; however, following release from prison, wages grow at a 21 percent slower rate for black former inmates compared to white ex-convicts. A number of states have bans on people with certain convictions working in domestic health-service industries such as nursing, child care, and home health care—areas in which many poor women and women of color are disproportionately concentrated.

I don’t have the energy or desire to rehash the the particulars of this case…And frankly, unless you have chosen to not stay abreast of the news, you know what went down…A dark night. A unarmed black teenager in a hoodie. Skittles and ice tea. A neighborhood watchman armed with a gun. Fill in the blanks…

I’ve been praying for God’s will to happen as far as the result of this case, and I trust God’s will has been done…And this morning and in the days to come, I hope no one sees fit to riot…In fact, this morning, in spite of my sadness, I feel peace (easy for me to say I know as I’m not a part of the Trayvon Martin family). It is the type of resolved peace that comes when you know that you can no longer ignore truth and you must take deliberate action…what that action is this morning, I don’t know…But God allowed this verdict to happen and God will show us the way to go from here…

Why the Trayvon Martin murder case matters is because the collective veil has been lifted as someone said on FB last night…And now we must be armed with peace not a piece…

Peace Be Still…This song is on my heart this morning…Let’s lift up the Trayvon Martin family in prayer…

Any thoughts?

 

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How Sexy Can a Christian Wife Be?

Hello World,

I’m chin deep in wedding planning and sometimes I must admit it feels like I’m drowning in it (Pray for me :)) …But every now and then I’ve managed to keep up with the hot topics of the day…So last Sunday (yes, a bit late for this post I know) as I watched the BET Awards, I saw THE DRESS…It was the dress that Actress Meagan Good wore to the star-studded music celebration. For a Hollywood starlet, the dress was sexy, but no more daring than the green Versace dress that J.Lo wore to the GRAMMY Awards in 2000 or even more daring, barely there dress that Toni Braxton wore to the 2001 GRAMMY Awards….But for Ms. Good, who can be known as Mrs. Franklin, wife of Columbia Pictures Executive DeVon Franklin, who is also a minister, the dress was scandalous…And the fact that she wore the dress as she presented the gospel music artist award got many Christians worked up to a lather…

While I’m in interested in what you think about her dress, I thought the discussion about her dress brings to light another more important discussion… How sexy can a Christian wife be? Can a Christian wife even be sexy? It seems that once women (Christian or otherwise) get married, they are expected to wear mom jeans, cut their hair short and wear more mature clothing…And what about those wives and moms on talk shows that are always getting makeovers? As my wedding date gets closer, I am wondering what is appropriate clothing for a Christian wife?

Any thoughts?