My niece and her friend at church…May God keep them safe as they grow up…
Hello World,
With Christmas less than a week away and the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut fresh in my heart, mind and soul, I awoke this morning with this song playing in my head…
As the nation and the powers-that-be commence to have this long overdue discussion on gun control, I must invoke the words of 1 Corinthians 13 also known as the love chapter…I hope love for humanity and humans guides this conversation…Although this chapter is a bit long, I hope you take a minute or so to read the words and let their meaning awaken you to what really is important whether it’s Christmas or any day of the year…love is the answer…
1 Corinthians 13 (The Message Version)
The Way of Love
13 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11 When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12 We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13 But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.
Amen, amen and amen…
Any thoughts?
1. “A New Dating Attitude: Getting Ready for the Mate God Has for You” by the Rev. Dr. Susan Johnson Cook. My quick review: This book will revolutionize your dating life from a Christian perspective. The official description: Use the Beatitudes to change your own attitudes as you wait for the mate God is preparing for you. The number of people who wish they were married is myriad. Dating clubs, newspaper columns, and books on how to find a mate are everywhere. But no one has addressed this deep desire like Johnson Cook. She approaches this aching need and difficult situation from both a spiritual and practical perspective, applying the Beatitudes to the number one preoccupation of most single, divorced, and widowed Christian women–how to find a husband. You can find 
2. “Alice Walker: A Life” by Evelyn C. White. My quick review: Did you know “The Color Purple” was inspired by Walker’s own family members? The official description: Alice Walker’s life is remarkable not only because she was the first black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in fiction (the book that won her that award, The Color Purple, has been translated into nearly thirty languages and made into an Academy Award–nominated film), but also because these accomplishments are merely highlights of a luminous and varied career made from inauspicious beginnings in rural Georgia. Drawing on extensive interviews and exhaustive research, Evelyn C. White brings this life to light. 16 pages of illustrations. You can find 
by Isabel Wilkerson. My quick review: This book should be required reading for all of the history it provides about black people in America. The official description: In this epic, beautifully written masterwork, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Isabel Wilkerson chronicles one of the great untold stories of American history: the decades-long migration of black citizens who fled the South for northern and western cities, in search of a better life. From 1915 to 1970, this exodus of almost six million people changed the face of America. Wilkerson compares this epic migration to the migrations of other peoples in history. She interviewed more than a thousand people, and gained access to new data and official records, to write this definitive and vividly dramatic account of how these American journeys unfolded, altering our cities, our country, and ourselves. You can find 
4. “American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama” by Rachel L. Swarns. My quick review: If you loved “Roots” by Alex Haley, you will adore this book about our first lady’s roots. The official description: Michelle Obama’s family saga is a remarkable, quintessentially American story—a journey from slavery to the White House in five generations. Yet, until now, little has been reported on the First Lady’s roots. Prodigiously researched, American Tapestry traces the complex and fascinating tale of Michelle Obama’s ancestors, a history that the First Lady did not even know herself. Rachel L. Swarns, a correspondent for the New York Times, brings into focus the First Lady’s black, white, and multiracial forebears, and reveals for the first time the identity of Mrs. Obama’s white great-great-great-grandfather—a man who remained hidden in her lineage for more than a century. You can find 
5. “Produced by Faith: Enjoy Real Success without Losing Your True Self” by DeVon Franklin. My quick review: This book gives you a great behind-the-scenes look at how Hollywood movies are made from a Christian Hollywood executive. The official description: STRAIGHT FROM HOLLYWOOD comes a dynamic business model for building a thriving career without compromising your faith. DeVon Franklin, vice president of production for Columbia Pictures, shares how being bold about his Christian faith while being driven and ambitious has actually worked in his favor to help him excel in a high-profile, fast-paced, competitive industry. You can find 
6. “Permission Slips: Every Woman’s Guide to Giving Herself a Break” by Sherri Shepherd. My quick review: You will laugh out loud at Sherri’s dating adventures! The official description: Covering topics such as “It’s Jesus or Jail,” “Marriage, the Hard Way,” “Children: The Gift You Can’t Give Back,” and “All the Things I Don’t Know…And All the Things I Definitely Do,” stand-up comedienne, actress, and ABC’s The View co-host Sherri Shepherd comically chronicles her struggles to keep up with the many roles-professional, wife, mother, daughter, and friend-that women must play in today’s world. Sherri urges women to pursue their most important dreams and to never give up, but also let’s readers know that it’s okay to give themselves “permission slips” when things don’t always work out the way they want them to. You can find 
