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?

Reflections: After the Altar Call a year later…

Hello World,

My Delta line sisters with copies of my book at the release party…

A year ago today, a long cherished dream came true…My first book, while officially released on Feb. 14, 2012, was presented to friends, family members and supporters on Feb. 10, 2012 at my book release party…It was the visual culmination of a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work…I worked hard to get a book deal…It took me 7 years…I worked hard to secure interviews with one of my favorite Christian celebrities Sherri Shepherd and Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop of the A.M.E. church and the granddaughter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated founder Vashti Turley Murphy. I worked hard to get women from all walks of life to share intimate details of their lives and about their personal relationships with God so that other women would be encouraged. I labored in prayer to God because I wanted the book to blessed by the Holy Spirit. I planned out my marketing and promotion time line six months in advance of the book release to make sure I could get as much publicity as possible. If you want to know more, read this “I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 7 (And It.Don’t.Stop.).” I.WAS.DRIVEN. And I could go on and on…And I have had some good results regarding best seller lists, various accolades, etc.

But a year later, while the best seller lists, various accolades have meant a lot to me, what matters most is this…And I haven’t shared this story before…On the night of my book release party, I was a little perturbed that the venue where my party was held wasn’t entirely shut down for my party…I guess that’s neither here nor there a year later…But anywho, needless to say, there ended up being a few guests at my party that were not expressly invited…LOL…Remember that happened in the family reunion cookout scene in the movie “Poetic Justice?” Anyway, as I was trying to make sure that all of the various elements of the book release party were coming together from the door prizes, to the food, to the entertainment, etc., a woman came up to me and asked me if could she speak with me. I realized that I hadn’t invited her so I wandered what she had to say so I replied, “Yes.” Apparently, she had gotten a copy of my book and wanted to speak with me about it. She told me that she had just prayed that morning about knowing more about God because of some things she was going through, and she felt that my book was the answer to her prayer…I.WAS.DONE.

I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought about that woman in a while, but it came back to me this week as I was reflecting on my first year as a published author…I’m human…I love praise and accolades and there is no doubt that I want to sell lots of books and all of that…but I’m also a Christian…If this book has only helped one person develop a personal relationship with God, then it was worth all of my hard work…Of course, I want to reach more than just one person…but each and every one of us are precious to God…Read the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin if you don’t believe me

So I have a request today, if my book has helped you to develop a personal relationship with God, e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com and let me know…

Any thoughts?

 

 

Random Ramblings # 3

Hey World,

Whenever I don’t have a specific topic that I want to blog about, I opt to collect my thoughts on various issues that have captured my attention in the last few days or so…hopefully, my randon ramblings are enough to capture your attention…

1. First of all, as the world now knows, Harold Camping was wrong….the world did not end yesterday as he predicted…My question is: So are his followers going to church today? And I guess therein lies the problem, Camping should not have followers unless he is on Twitter. As his followers claim Christianity, the word of God should be their ultimate authority…as I said in my post last week about this topic, the Lord has not given us a specific date of the Rapture…That being said, a lot of people were hosting so-called Rapture parties this weekend and joked about looting the homes of people that would be raptured…I get the joke…but on the other hand, I have a feeling that many (not all) of these people make fun of regular Christians anyway, and Camping’s misguided prediction gave them a justifiable reason to unleash their latent and not-so-latent feelings about Christianity…

2. If you are a black woman in the United States, you have probably heard about the controversial posting that was quickly removed from Psychology Today’s website. The title of the posting was, “Why Are Black Women Rated Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women but Black Men Are Rated Better Looking Than Other Men?” Satoshi Kanazawa, the author of this study, attempted to his explain his findings by stating, “The only thing I can think of that might potentially explain the lower average level of physical attractiveness among black women is testosterone.  Africans on average have higher levels of testosterone than other races.” If you want more info, please go to The Root…I mean his statement brings back lonely memories of being the only black girl in my elementary school class…I felt sooo different and somehow “unpretty” as a result…Yesterday, I happened to be the only black woman running with my training group. There are other black women in the group, but they were absent for whatever reason yesterday…Anyway, as we were running in Sandy Springs, a group of white cyclists whizzed by us…Without warning, one of them said to another one, “Baby got back.” Now, if I had been in a black neighborhood, I would have taken it as a compliment. But it didn’t feel like one yesterday…R told me I should I have kicked his bike spokes…I mean what is Kanazawa thinking…Let me back on that…He could not have been thinking about how mean-spirited his words are…Beauty is in the eye of the beholder…everyone knows that…I did not like my shape as a child, but God gave me what many people try to get through surgery…

3. My line sister never let go of her dream of going to medical school although she has had some obstacles and challenges along the way. And today, she is graduating from medical school!!! I’m so proud of her, and later today, my line sisters and I will be there to cheer her on! Go Desert Rain (her line name)!!! You did that!!!

4. After having a conversation with a friend yesterday, I realized that I have taken the strength of single women for granted. And at the same time, I never realized about how good it can feel it to have that mate in your corner to support you…Without mates, my friends and I have managed to accomplish many things including: buying a home, climbing the corporate ladder, starting a business, etc….But I’m starting to take notice of how nice it is to have someone other than your parents to get feedback from about how your life can unfold as you pursue your purpose and dreams…With all that said, my main supporter and cheerleader is the Lord God Almighty! God is my source, and I thank Him for putting certain people in my life as resources…

5. I’m gonna miss Oprah…And I cannot believe I’ve never been to the show…I should have tried harder…Her show has been a true blessings to countless people…And her life has been a testimony to the strength, brilliance, power and beauty of black women…A true Shero among us…(Aside: It would have been nice to have been featured in her book club…)

6. I’ve always joked on St. Patty’s Day saying, “kiss me I’m black Irish!” … When I visited Stratford-upon-Avon (the birthplace of Shakespeare) years ago, I discovered that my last name is actually Scottish. There was a place there where you could look up your roots and what not…So anyway, since  Scottland and Ireland are so close together, I could have distant Irish cousins as well…I know, I know – it’s a long shot…But as it turns out, President Obama is actually “black Irish” as it has been proven that his mother’s side of the family are from there…He will actually be visiting his ancestral home on Monday, according to the BBC News…

7. The world may not have ended yesterday, but if our weird weather is any indication of when the Lord will return, it may not be that much longer…First of all, several months ago, the A was blanketed in snow, and then last week, we had three back-to-back cold days…So glad it’s going to be hot day…

So that’s all….

Any thoughts?