Talking Loud and Saying Something

We are all creatures of comfort and routine, and whenever that comfort is interrupted there usually is a problem. Maybe you are the guy that is used to getting his 7:30 coffee but the machines were out of order today so now your day is altered because you didn’t get your special brew. Or maybe you are the type to go to work a specific way, and one day there is construction and now you have no clue how to navigate there with the detours given. I think God does even the simple things like those previous examples to break the familiarity of life. Too often people get so used to doing things a particular way they become common/mundane to them and it isn’t until they can’t carry out their habitual ways, that they recognize it.

Unfortunately many in the body of Christ treat God and the things He does for us in the same manner. We get so used to the habit of going to church every Sunday or saying the same prayer at night that we begin to look at God with a common eye and it’s not until He shakes things up in our lives that we begin to do things differently. I was recently reading a chapter in the book “Enemies from Within” by Norman Willis and I began to really internalize and understand some things; even I had begun to make God common. I had gotten used to thanking God for the same things but expecting a greater work from Him. I would go to Sunday service and sometimes lose focus in the message being spoken because it seemed as if I had heard what was being said before (not realizing that it may have been the same scripture but possibly a different perspective for a particular season of life I was in)

We all need to refocus and realize that God is an awesome God and everything He does should have that high level of reverence; from something as simple as waking up this morning to being able to worship in a 20 million dollar building within six years of existence; they ALL are great blessings within His work, and definitely need to be treated as so. He doesn’t have to bless us, but because of His mercy and grace; all of His works are purpose driven and we receive these “gifts” to promote His glory.

I was having a conversation with a friend from my church and she was saying how the traffic/parking situation was very discouraging and it made me think back to conversations that I had with other members of how with the new building we are will be transitioning to a phase in which there will be a lot of people who fall to the side when it came to serving and really being active in the church. I just never knew what would be the cause, but now it’s clear. God is testing the citizenship of New Birth Charlotte with a small inconvenience of distance/traffic/parking to see who truly has their heart turned to Him. We all had had gotten familiar with the ease of the drive to the Oasis temple and the ability to use Sam’s Club as the overflow parking lot, to the point where we treated the blessings of them as common. (Going back to North Meck High for our leadership meeting gave me a better understanding of how truly blessed we were to have been able to transition from the high school to Oasis) So God recognized that and felt it was time to once again make things uncomfortable for the masses. I realize that the speed in which the current “shaking period” has come to pass, shows how truly anointed the house is. There are people/churches/entities that have been in a particular “discomfort phase” for years due to their inability to recognize and mature in the moment in order for God to transition them into the next one.

Trust me, the drive on I-77 is not enjoyable but I recognize a purpose, not only in what’s happening to the citizenship of the church, but also within my own life. One of the greatest lessons I learned in my walk is that God works in glory to glory and just as quickly as He bestows one blessing upon you, He is quickly moving on to prepare you for the next. His first work of glory was the blessing of the Cathedral, the next blessing rests in the citizenship taking a more hands-on role in the carrying out the desires of His word and not necessarily depending on the pastor/ministers of the church to do it all. In being more mature we become living/walking epistles of the Word which is more powerful than anything that could have come out of a sermon at the pulpit on a given Sunday.

God needs an army who won’t be easily moved by obstacles and tribulations of the flesh. So He shook up the congregation with this inconvenience to see who truly was down for the cause. Don’t get me wrong there are still other alternatives to showing thyself approved, and maybe if you cant make it to service as often as you once did, it may be time to be dedicated to obtaining the sermon CD’s, or you may have to study/read the Word more, and once you acquire the knowledge be more proactive in taking what you have learned to the streets. So in actuality the assignment for those who choose not to attend may be even greater because you have a higher level of accountability.

Wherever you fit into this, realize its time out for being comfortable or complacent and understand that when your life is being shaken, it just means there is a greater blessing and a greater assignment once it subsides. God would not “mess” with you unless He felt you were worthy of so much more.

Let Him use you and always remember; “Its all for His Glory and His Honor”

I am at my wits ends there is a supreme lack of moral tact and professionalism in society and it was perpetuated on the highest level last night with the BET awards. I have gotten to the point where I am so frustrated where I am compelled to write the executives at BET and voice my concerns and issues. Yes I know there may be a slight chance of them even being impacted by my letter but I feel I must do it. As bad as the show was, what was worse were the comments made by so many via twitter and facebook during the show, and for all of us to feel some kind of way about the show and the programming that takes place on BET and not do anything is a far greater injustice. Just imagine if our parents/grand parents who were part of the civil rights movement felt the same way as many of my friends "my voice wont matter." Yes the task seems daunting and overwhelming for one person but if enough of us decide to take a stance that single yell can turn into a deafening roar, the question is do we really want to be heard, or are we comfortable complaining.

Below is the copy of the letter i plan on sending to BET feel free to copy it or send your own version to the executives at BET; we can not take this lightly and from looking at the upcoming programing its obvious BET could care less about what the intelligent educated members of the viewing community feel.



BET you never cease to amaze me and last night during the BET awards was another case. First of all I would like to say thank you for your feeble, terrible, futile attempt to honor the King of Pop. Honestly you would have been better off not even promoting that part and let the viewers be surprised or disappointed by what they saw when they tuned in. I say that because there wasn't much of a tribute outside of Ciara's poor rendition of heal the world, an obviously unprepared New Edition, and the saviors of the night Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx. I will say thank you for having Janet Jackson speak, as well as the mini PSAs about positive blacks, but considering the rest of the hot mess on the show it was like placing a band-aid over a gun shot wound. It seemed as if that without the "tribute" the show would have been even more horrible, and I'm not even talking about the performances. The horrible editing that was done for unacceptable language, the inability to keep the stage crew out of view, and the horrible cuing of Jamie Foxx during the show were embarrassments and showed a supreme lack of professionalism for the award show.
I'm honestly not going to go into the performances because that isn't your fault as much as it is the fans because we force your hands by listening/buying/dancing to this hot mess and you are doing your job by providing us what we want, even though many complained during and after.

BET had the world eyes on them and had an opportunity to be the first to honor a man that made it possible to exist, but once again you dropped the ball and allowed Black entertainment to be publicly embarrassed. Where is your professionalism, the desire to take a stand against BS entertainment, your love for Michael Jackson to properly honor him. As the saying goes if you aren't going to do it the right way don't do it at all.

Once again BET I, my colleagues, and this world need you to do better!!!