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The End of Death…The Beginning of Revelation!

Hello World!!!

At long last, my Bible study class has finished studying the book of Revelation. Months earlier, I blogged about my anxiety in reading the Bible’s final and likely most mysterious book. So what are my final thoughts…Revelation is not as scary and cryptic as I once thought…However, I’m not sure if it will ever be the first book that I choose to curl up in bed and read just before nodding off to sleep. But the final words of the book fill me with a strange sense of joy…First of all, death itself will be killed…

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.

 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

 14 And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire.

 15 And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:11:15

And as a result, death will not be a part of reality as it is in Earth…

3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God:

 4 and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.

 5 And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.  Revelation 21:3-5

 It is only these words that give me comfort as I have heard about so many deaths recently…Now if you’ve been living on this Earth for any time at all and are old enough to pay attention, you hear about death every.single.day. There is just no getting around it…people cry and people die…One my favorite poems succinctly and eloquently illustrates this principle…

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay. 

Robert Frost

And speaking of Eden, according to what I’ve heard, Adam’s original sin is what caused death to enter this world at all. I cannot pretend to understand all of this…so I will let the theologians debate about that…but I do know that death is part of Earth’s reality…but I have faith that death will not be allowed to enter Heaven…

But it is with a heavy heart that I tell you about some of the deaths that have happened recently that have got me asking, “Why God? Why God is there so much pain?”

Last summer, I was touched when I heard about the death of Rev. Timothy Wright’s wife and grandson as a result of  a car crash. The gospel singer, his wife and grandson were traveling home from a conference. It struck me because that very same week my father,  mother and nephew were also traveling home from a conference, but nothing happened to them at all. Since then, I’ve been praying for Wright and his family….I cannot imagine such a tragedy. I read on Friday that Rev. Wright has now died. From what I’ve read, he never fully recovered after suffering injuries in the crash. This man was known for singing God’s praises…why was he and his family allowed to die this way…

If you live in the Atlanta area, you’ve heard about the car crash that happened on Easter Sunday in which Delisia Carter and her whole family were killed…Carter was an inspirational speaker who had been abused by her father and first husband but was finally living the life of her dreams. She had recently married her second husband, and she gave birth to their first child in February. Delisia, her husband, her daughter from a previous marriage, their son and another child all died in that crash…What a senseless tragedy…

Merciless bullying led to 11-year-old Jaheem Herrera hanging himself. Apparently, the children at his school here in Atlanta teased him because they thought he was gay and a snitch. His 10-year-old sister discovered his body…Now I know that teasing is a part of childhood…but what makes children continue to tease someone after they realize they are clearly traumatizing a child…I don’t know who raises these type of children, but there must be something going on their home life to create these little monsters…I was mercilessly teased as a child, but even if I hadn’t been a victim, it would have never occurred to me  to treat others that way…just plain mean-spiritedness…

At any rate, why did God allow these deaths to happen…I certainly don’t know, and it saddens me…but I have to hold on to my faith that one day death will be no more, and the answers to my questions will be revealed…

Any thoughts?

P.S. Here is one of Rev. Timothy Wright’s  most popular songs, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” which he wrote about the victims of Hurricane Katrina…

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Use What You Got To Get What You Want…aka Side Hustlers Unite!!!

Hello World!!!

What the bizness? (Okay, that is my attempt at using the current slang…did I use that term right? I am 35 now for goodness sake.) So as of yesterday, I have a financial coach…Before I get into that, let me give you the back story…about a year ago, I started praying for financial prosperity…not the “Oh Lord, Won’t you buy me a Mercedes- Benz” type of prayer, but I realized I needed more ends. Maybe days later, the Lord blessed me with some ends, and I was like “Whoa God, You really workin’ it out fast!” And I started working longer hours at my job, but I still felt like something was missing…

It is a widely accepted stereotype that many journalists are not good with numbers…I cannot vouch for all journalists, but this one right here is not so good with numbers…(Shout out to DKW! You know of which I speak…) And I haven’t learned very much about finances over the years either. My father admitted that he wishes he knew more about finances…I personally know that he did the very best with what he knew, and it was all good…I never knew something could be turned off until I moved out on my own…I won’t tell you how I know, ha,ha…

So over the years, I would buy a finances book here or there, and I have listened to financial guru Clark Howard on the radio and even attended a financial seminar or two, but nothing clicked…I eventually realized that I would have to either work on a one-on-one basis with somebody or take a prolonged class…Both options scared me…I used to have a roommate in college that was diagnosed with “math anxiety.” For whatever reason, the subject of math scared her, and she had to take remedial math classes. My then boyfriend, who majored in statistics, didn’t have any sympathy for her. He said, “That’s just a nice way of saying she’s stupid.” Ain’t that mean? Anyway, back to me, I wasn’t raised to really go after money I guess…But last year, I admitted to myself that I wanted more of it…or at the very least I want to do better with what I have… 

So fast forward to yesterday, I think my new financial coach is the answer to my prayer…I think she will help me to learn to effectively manage my money…and I like her philosophy…She is like it’s not what you make; it’s what you keep…Amen…So I, being the Jamaican that I am or the Jamerican depending on whom you are talking too, do have side hustles…I freelance write, I teach fitness classes, I do market research….But my new coach says I still need to beef up my income so I can build up my savings and fund some much needed, expensive home improvement work.  She said the whole multiple streams of income strategy works for her, and she said she uses all of her God-given talents to bring in those multiple checks…I asked her what can I do to bring in more checks. She told me that I need to ask God, and I will get an answer…But it’s all so scary…And I really don’t want to get a part-time job. I just don’t think I could fit it in my already jam-packed schedule. A friend told me that to supplement her income as a teacher years ago, she delivered papers in the wee hours of the morning before she had to go to work. On another part-time job, she pretty much babysat mentally ill adults on the weekends…

So all of this talk about using your God-given talents reminds me of “The Parable of the Talents” in Matthew 25:14-30.

14The kingdom is also like what happened when a man went away and put his three servants in charge of all he owned. 15The man knew what each servant could do. So he handed five thousand coins to the first servant, two thousand to the second, and one thousand to the third. Then he left the country.

    16As soon as the man had gone, the servant with the five thousand coins used them to earn five thousand more. 17The servant who had two thousand coins did the same with his money and earned two thousand more. 18But the servant with one thousand coins dug a hole and hid his master’s money in the ground.

    19Some time later the master of those servants returned. He called them in and asked what they had done with his money. 20The servant who had been given five thousand coins brought them in with the five thousand that he had earned. He said, “Sir, you gave me five thousand coins, and I have earned five thousand more.”

    21“Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”

    22Next, the servant who had been given two thousand coins came in and said, “Sir, you gave me two thousand coins, and I have earned two thousand more.”

    23“Wonderful!” his master replied. “You are a good and faithful servant. I left you in charge of only a little, but now I will put you in charge of much more. Come and share in my happiness!”

    24The servant who had been given one thousand coins then came in and said, “Sir, I know that you are hard to get along with. You harvest what you don’t plant and gather crops where you haven’t scattered seed. 25I was frightened and went out and hid your money in the ground. Here is every single coin!”

    26The master of the servant told him, “You are lazy and good-for-nothing! You know that I harvest what I don’t plant and gather crops where I haven’t scattered seed. 27You could have at least put my money in the bank, so that I could have earned interest on it.”

    28Then the master said, “Now your money will be taken away and given to the servant with ten thousand coins! 29Everyone who has something will be given more, and they will have more than enough. But everything will be taken from those who don’t have anything. 30You are a worthless servant, and you will be thrown out into the dark where people will cry and grit their teeth in pain.”

I don’t want to be like the third servant…I may only have one talent, but if I work hard, it will multiply…that’s what’s in the Word. And goodness, I think we all could use a little multiplication in these times…So do y’all have any ideas about appropriate side hustles for me? Or should I just walk myself up to my local mall and work at one of the stores…What do you do when you want to supplement your income? Goodness, I hope I’m not tellin’ tooo much of my bizness…

Any thoughts?

P.S. I really want to post Rick Ross’ video for “Hustlin,'” but some of y’all may be offended…wouldn’t want to do that… 🙂

Instead, I took it back to the old school…

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Snapped!

Hello World!!!

On Saturday mornings, after I’ve completed my workout, I enjoy piddling around the house…picking up papers in my office, making myself something to eat, planning the rest of my day. As I’m multi-tasking, I often have one of my favorite shows, “Snapped,” playing in the background. Usually on Saturday morning, several reruns of the show air back to back on Oxygen. It’s my guilty pleasure you could say…From the country preacher’s wife who murdered her husband to the deaf lesbian that killed her ex-girlfriend’s friend, I find it all fascinating. Sometimes I am so mesmerized, I stop what I’m doing and plop my behind down on my living room floor to watch…

I guess part of my fascination is the show’s premise. According to the “Snapped” Web site, each year approximately16,000 murders take place around the country. Only 7 percent of the killers, however, are female.  According to what I have seen on the show, women kill for different reasons than men. Women kill their husbands who have abused them. Women kill their boyfriends, husbands or partners in the heat of a fight. (Shout out to Adrienne Emily Hickson, the promising law student! I found this one particularly disturbing as she could have been a friend of mine…but maybe not.) Women kill because they want out of a boring marriage and the insurance money. A woman may kill her ex-husband if the two are embroiled in a bitter custody battle. It seems that in each case, the woman knew her victim, and the murder had to do with some sort of romantic relationship. That is one of the reasons why the story of Melissa Huckaby, the California Sunday School teacher who was recently accused of killing her daughter’s friend, is sooo disturbing. This story caught my attention for two reasons: the fact that this woman is a Sunday School teacher and the granddaughter of a pastor in other words she is supposed to be a Christian and the gruesomeness of the crime.

Huckaby apparently kidnapped the eight-year-old girl, raped her, stuffed the body in her suitcase and threw it in a pond just miles away from their homes. The child lived a few doors away from Huckaby. What made that woman commit that terrible crime – particularly when it would be safe to assume this woman knew Jesus Christ?  My guess is that she is mentally ill and possibly under the influence of demonic forces….what do you think?

According to Scripture, demons can inhabit human bodies.

24When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.  25And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.  26Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Luke 11:24-26

Demons can masquerade as various ailments according to Scripture.

14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”  17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment.  Matthew 17: 14-18

11 and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, [a] you are set free from your infirmity.” 13 Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.  Luke 13:11-13

I think demons often attempt to make Christians look like fools to the rest of the world. I think that is one of the reasons why so many relish joking about pastors and other Christian leaders who have fallen from grace. This story is no joking matter to me – a former Sunday School teacher. I’ve never been a regular classroom teacher, but I think I understand some of the joy and frustration that regular classroom teachers experience. When I first graduated from college, I began teaching Sunday School at my church for fifth and sixth graders. One of my first students was this young boy named Alex…Goodness gracious, this boy could talk. Any time I opened my mouth to say something, he was already talking – sometimes he made sense and sometimes he didn’t…He was in my class for a while, and I grew to love his incessant chattering…I haven’t seen Alex in a few years now, but his grandmother still attends my church…He recently said to me through her, “Tell Miss Jackie I said, ‘Hello’ and that I am graduating from high school.”  In fact, many of the children I taught are now in high school and college, and I have been blessed to get to know them and watch them grow up.

How could this woman kill a precious child especially when she has a daughter of her own? I’m inclined to believe the adversary and his agents had a hand in this horrific crime…

Any thoughts?

P.S. I don’t plan to post on this, but have y’all heard of Mel Gibson’s divorce from his wife of 28 years. She could get half of his billion. Wowee!!! I imagine that he made lot of money from Christians who saw, “The Passion Of  The Christ,” an excellent film that was co-written, co-produced and directed by Gibson. Any thoughts on that?