Okay, I admit it,

I was wrong too!

Next time though, I promise that I'll choose the reality of it all, over the depth of the relationship. The message, over the messenger, the truth, over any one mans lack of integrity.

And please, sometimes even I need to be reminded that a healthy sheep isn't just good for the sacrifice, for like the body @ large, we all need love and honest shepherding as well..

Augh!!

Tuesday reminds me that there is so much more deception than we're able to consume and deflect, and yet, even in knowing that, we still hide(from) the truth.

Why is that? Are we more afraid of loosing our place in line, than our piece of mind?

Or are we just so beyond caring about reality, that we're willingly leaving a world of inequality and injustice to our children, as if it's a gift they'll cherish?

Not that I'm perfect, far from it.

Nor am I even seeking perfection.

Today, I'll settle for a hug and a little honesty.

For now I know how it feels to be a woman. 
And I don't mean that as anything other than the obvious clue(!).

My Sisters, I apologize!

My brothers, be glad I'm not young enough to come over there..

A new Reality exist:

"Until now, fury at the plutocracy and the political class had found no channel to run in but the antigovernment fantasies of the Tea Party. Now though, it has dug a new channel. Anger does not move countries, but it moves movements — and movements, in turn, can move countries.

To do that, movements need leverage.

Even Archimedes needed a lever and a place to stand to move the world. When Zuccotti Park meets an aroused liberalism, the odd couple may not live happily ever after.

But they can make a serious run at American dreams of “liberty and justice for all.”

Say it loud!

‎

In all that I do, and in most that I think, I'm always attempting to demonstrate that in the absence of unity, there really isn't any true salvation!

Whether its in unity with our Lord, or unity with other believers, and yes, unity with all the Brown Skinned among us!

Imagine the power of the Lord, channeled through the pulpits, and undergirded with the same faith and power we expend on the Super Bowl.

What a wonder that would be! Enough separation, enough selfishness, enough!

Saying it LOUD; I am Black(Brown, Red, Yellow, or Human), and I am Proud...

Awake;

Living then is more than breathing, or acquiring, or protecting even. For living is contained in being present in your own life, and the lives of others, even those that you do not love fully!

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.

Without them, humanity cannot survive.”

Right here, right now, is our life.

Let's embrace it while we live...

Ooh...

Friday dawned like a promise unspoken, and even in the shroud of fog and the day ahead, it feels better somehow today! The troubles are just beginning of course, and with a healthy dose of honesty and introspection, this season will pass, just as the last, and yet, will we be better this time?

Have we learned the lesson(s) from the last fall?

Or are we still too afraid to just seek good and wise counsel?

Questions for sure still too be answered.

But I'm missing my son again, and that can only mean that this hardening for the battle no longer is upon me, for He has now revealed His purposes in all this. All we need do now is act with the courage His Word has revealed! Me, I'm happier today, and I like that more than enough...

‎"Your time is limited,

So don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.

Most important have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. I have always wished that for myself.

And now, I wish that for you." - Steven P. Jobs

What work are you doing?

In the absence of a clear reality, we not only hurt ourselves, but we can devastate those who are counting on us, to lead them through! In this, I think I hear that verse:

2 Tim 2:20 "In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work."

"In a sky full of people, only some want to fly, isn't that crazy?"

www.youtube.com

With an honorable nod to TD Jakes:

Try not to confuse people who love What you do, with the people who love Who you are!

Being a one whom others respect and enjoy being around is a different position, than to just be the one whom your sycophant(s) and others, have grown to fear and venerate.

Performance based love always evaporates eerily when the facts are no longer being ignored, and the truth is once again enjoyed!

Saturday finds me smiling.

Must be the Lords doing..

Here along the Rogue,

I am often reminded of the steep trails, and deep water gorges. Horses in the canyon, and white water whirl pools! Funny how even with all that, the calm of a cool valley morning is still very refreshing.

Which, when I thought about you this morning, thought about how life's full of surprises and oh so predictable, as we move across this plain, isn't it easier to be alone, than to be subject to the whims of another. And have we chosen that path of least resistance, as a road our own growth, or our own complacency?

Me, I like thinking, it's just another way to keep it fresh...

Anthony Nannetti 9-11

"How easy to capture the sound of the wind when the city was sleeping; to share these borrowed row houses with phantoms, pious and imperceptible, on streets where nothing can thrive in spite of us now.

Now our dreams, lacking sequence, are reassembled and layered to mirror the logic of our waking lives. We look to them for permanence, a way to sleep with doubt and to doubt the single certainty."

Difference(s);

In my experience(s) some are really gifted with directness when they can self edit, and others, well, they are so direct that the force of their words are overwhelming! In the soft middle, there are those that are forward to shield a reserve that they’ve chosen out of(fill in the blank) to keep between themselves, & those that want to come closer.

Not knowing you, & keeping my mistakes to tripping, or over cooking the rice, I just thought it was best to ask what the difference was within you!

Endure, not procure!

I know, it's the last weekend of the summer, & your mind says to let it all out! But please, I(and others) love and will continue to need you as this life winds down, so when I read this, I was moved to share:

"1 Corinthians 10:13(ESV) No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, & he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

A one posted:

"Why don't pennies really fall from heaven?"

Being myself, I submitted that the reasonable answer is: It's too long a descent? Yet, the somewhat overlooked, & thus, awkward response is; If we were really looking Up enough, then we wouldn't need no pennies!

But hey, it's Saturday, so don't let me distract you from yourself. Love though, like what Irene is doing back home, sometimes requires a freshening. Sure, some want less, other need more, me, well, I just want my portion..

Happiness is a feeling(not);

Being in Redding CA. with the Senior Pastors yesterday, I learned a few things, & somethings were confirmed as well. Men, especially men with the power to change lives, often dislike change the most, & yet in some Men, the Love of & for the Lord is so pronounced, growth, change & stability are in abundance!

How strange is that?

As for me, and my house, we will seek to not just hold the line in the sand, or the salary in hand, but be witnesses in all the world, engaged in the promise(s)..

Quote of the day;

“It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens, but we, the whole people, who formed the Union … Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.” – Susan B. Anthony.

This day(August 18th.) marks the 91st anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote.

Can't God use you

Cussing & Killing aside: "If Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer,

Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossip, Mary was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Zaccheus was short, Abraham was old and Lazarus was dead?

What's your excuse?

Yes Universe, this is upsetting,

but not for the obvious reason(s).

Crime(s) like this are common enough in the country because of the hate filled rhetoric people use so loosely about how they feel about the President, to Immigration, to Education, to this unwillingness to tax the rich, and give health care to those who need it most. Yes, the images are brutal, but so was the intent!

Video: Hate crime? Killing caught on video

cnn.com

Demons do exist;

To choose the Bohemian lifestyle, or for that matter, to adopt the nonconformist banner, as a way to express your(own) individualistic, loner, lone wolf status, isn’t the same as attacking, or attempting to belittle the spiritual beliefs and/or institutions that others immerse themselves within.

Actually, to be a true enfant terrible (a usually young and successful(?) person who is strikingly unorthodox, innovative, or avant-garde), would require taking off the mask of whatever sub set, or counter cultural persona we wear, and strike out as ourselves, walking amongst those that we seek to dispossess, with our character as the counter balance, not the outrageousness of our dress, or our obvious lack of respect, being the only thing that’s readily apparent in our protest.

But it’s (1st.) Friday, and those are my personal thoughts on the idea of how best to make a loud noise, without scaring the small children amongst us(and she will sleep(again) through the night eventually)..

Obama is just a man.

Thursdays come, & let me say that yes, please have a Happy B/Day Mr. President, you're a nice man, a swell dad, and an able husband.

The country though, is run by (white)men, who, when they see you, are reminded that all that came before, is now in the past, & in all honesty, they're not happy! The recession though, it started before I voted for you, & I'm not holding just you responsible for fixing it.