29. Go on 3 dates with the same guy

I included this task in my list for a couple reasons.

• I tend be a bit stingy w/my time. It's the one thing I have that, once it's gone, I can never get back, and I absolutely hate when it's wasted and or disrespected. So it takes a lot of time and conversation before a guy can get me out. *Side note: It's funny how few guys are willing to put in the work.*
• I lose interest very easily, and the moment a guy turns me off, I'm already on to the next, so it's not unusual for me to only go out with a guy once or twice.

Well! Over the past...hmmm...10 months or so, I've gone out with this one guy way more than 3 times, too many times to count. He's always the perfect gentleman (I mean I've had doors opened for me before, but never like this. 's something about that man), the conversation is always stimulating, and his company is always fun.

To satisfy your curiosity, no, he and I are not an item, and it's quite possible that we never will be one, at least not according to the societal standards. So yeah, I'm still single, not so willing to mingle, but I'd like to think I'm wise enough to see and acknowledge the Light of the world shining from the man God sends my way. In the meantime, I'm working on perfecting this good thing...in an "upright" (Job) kinda way :)

Task complete.

Pray fast. Fast. Pray

Thinking back on my childhood experiences, I have very vivid memories of saying my grace before meals. You know..."God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for our food." And saying my prayers before bed. "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Most, if not all of us, were taught these "rhymes" when we were just toddlers. Yes, I said rhymes. Why? Because this is a far cry from the model prayer that Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:9-13. As Christians, we should mature beyond this kind of "fast praying" and become accustomed to fasting and praying.

From my experience, the most popular time for fasting is during the Lenten season. Everybody wants to "give something up for Lent." This is not fasting. This is simply dieting, which can be very healthy, and may even be necessary for a number of us, but there will be no spiritual gain.

If you truly desire to subdue your flesh & be sensitive to the Holy Spirit (thus receiving God's direction), try fasting. If you desire to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the heavy burdens,let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke, try fasting. Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily; and your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your reward. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer. You shall cry, and He will say, Here I am ((Isaiah 58:6-9). It is at this point where we draw closer to God and to seek His righteousness and His will in our lives.

Here's what I've learned about fasting:

DON'T fast to receive God's blessing.

DO fast to receive God's direction.

DON'T fast as a substitute to obedience.

DO fast out of obedience (Matthew 6:16 says WHEN you fast...not IF you fast...)

DON'T fast to impress others.

DO fast so that God notices (Matthew 6:16-18)

DON'T be discouraged if you stray from your fast.

DO brush yourself off and get back on track.

DON'T fast from something that's easy (if you know you don't like chit'lins, don't fast from chit'lins)

Do fast from something that will be a challenge.

DON'T pray fast.

DO fast AND pray.

So Glad I'm Saved!

So I was at Pepe's today for dollar tacos. I placed my order and sat down to listen for my number. Just as one woman was walking away from the counter and out the building, my number was called and I stepped up to the counter with my receipt in hand. While I was standing there, the previously mentioned women, walks back in the building talking loud as ever - "Both hard shell" - to the woman behind the counter, and proceeds to stand directly where I'm standing, as though Im not even there. AFTER she'd made contact with me (physically) and realized that I had no intention of moving, she says, "lemme pay ha real quick." Ooooooooo WEE! I'M SO GLAD I'M SAVED!!! Cuz baaaaaaaaby! SMH.

What's your "so glad I'm saved" story?

The Measures of Success

When asked the question, "Who do you admire most?" often times people respond with Moms, and Dads, and Grandparents. However, when asked to identify a person of success, responses are flooded with the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and Tiger Woods. Hmmm...do we not admire those who we consider successful? Are those we admire most not considered successful in our eyes? Or is our definition of success merely misconstrued?

Dictionary.com defines success as:

1. the favorable or prosperous termination of attempts or endeavors.

2. The attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.

Let's take a look at a couple successful people.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., an activist and prominent leader in the American civil rights movement. He was also a Baptist preacher who may or may not have made too much money during his years, but is definately an admirable person, and one of much success.

Vincent Van Gogh a Dutch Post-Impressionist artist whose paintings and drawings include some of the world's best known, most popular, and most expensive pieces, was a drunk. He sold his paintings for liquor money. He died a broke drunk, but is admired by artists of all ages, a success in the eyes of many.

How, then, do we determine success? Is it monetary worth? Is it media publicity? Is it the amount a person contributes to society?

Inevitable Change Occurs. Intentional Growth Recurs.

Greetings to you my faithful readers, fans, stalkers, haters and the like :)

It has been almost a year and a half since my last post, but I think I'm ready to get back at it. Why? Because of change.

In my short time here on earth, I've come to learn that the only constant in life is change. Things will always change - from fashion trends to pop culture, from the economy to education, from societal standards to ecumenical expectations. Change will occur. Pac said it best when he said** “That’s just the way it is, things’ll never be the same” (Changes, 1996). And if you’re fool enough to believe things’ll never change, just keep on living, because “a change gone come” (Sam Cook, 1964).

While change is inevitable, it does not guarantee growth. If you plant a seed, a change will occur. If you water the seed and tend to it, growth will recur. But it is important for us to understand that all growth is not good growth. All growth is not healthy growth. Many of us have seen growth in various areas of life. We’ve seen growth in our weight. We’ve seen growth in our blood sugar levels. We’ve seen growth in our blood pressure. Some of us have seen growth in our egos, growth in our troubles, growth in our debt. And sometimes we mistake swelling for growth - an abnormal enlargement of something beyond normal size, usually causing a distortion in the structure of the effected area. Some growth can be cancerous and can grow uncontrollably, spreading and creating change in other parts of an otherwise healthy organism. Yes, change is inevitable, but growth, healthy growth, is intentional.

The only way to have a steadfast assurance of healthy growth is to lean on that which will never change, that which is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The only way to be certain that your change will lead to a healthy growth is to lean on Jesus Christ.

Inevitable change will occur, but is your intentional growth recurring?

**Music education: Pac’s 1996 hit “Changes” was sampled from the 1986 hit “The Way It Is” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, and E-40 sampled the song before Pac did.

My Inaugural Ramblings

In his address at Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln said:

The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth (Lincoln, 1863).

Just shy of the 200th year anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth, "we the people" will experience "A New Birth of Freedom" as President-elect Barack Obama is sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America, and I will be in attendance. No matter how small of a spec I will make in a crowd of millions, there is no place I'd rather be than in the presence of history. In the place that commerorates the life and works of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, the place where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 100 years after Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, shared his "Dream" with my grandparents and great-grandparents in 1963. Yes, I will be there when Barack Obama looks across the National Mall towards the Lincoln Memorial and addresses the nation for the first time as president, letting freedom ring from the White house to the "snowcapped Rockies of Colorado...the curvaceous slopes of California...the Stone Mountain of Georgia...the Lookout Mountain of Tennessee...every hill and molehill of Mississippi...every mountainside...Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Also check my post Is Racism Dead from Novemeber 5th.

The selfish giver

One would think that being a giver is quite the opposite of being selfish, but I've come to find that I am both. While I've always been a HUGE giver, I'm equally as selfish. I mean if I have the means to do something nice for some one I care about, I'm gonna do it. No questions asked, and not because I expect something in return, but because I just love the gift of giving. I find pleasure in giving all around the board. But just as much, I'm selfish, not to the point where I have a disregard for the well-being of others, just to the point where I'd rather help you get your own than share mine. For instance. I have a friend who, everytime we order food, he's like, "You get this and I'll get that, then we can share." NO! I don't WANT that. If I wanted THAT, I would have gotten THAT. I want THIS, and if you want it too then THIS is what you should get, not THAT. How about I just buy two and you can have your own?