MarriedandWhatnot

Last night I was in my office laying down on the floor reading – “I Have A Dream” by MLK (of course). My 1 year old waddled in like Fred Sanford, and threw a juice cup at me. It hit my back enough to sting as it was partially full, and I felt a few drops saturate my t-shirt. ** Now before I say this next line, don’t go calling children protective services on me…lol. He has been getting out of control throwing objects (toys, his brothers homework, food, it don’t matter), so I popped his little thigh. See, it doesn’t sound that bad if I say I popped him .

In any case, he screamed like it was just the worst thing ever (as my son’s feelings get extremely hurt when daddy discipline’s them). My head was aching, so I beckoned for my oldest to come retrieve the yelping lad, and remove him from my kingdom. A few minutes passed, and Fred waddled back in there with his blanket. Like all my boys, after they get in trouble, they usually come lay up under you giving you a hug, etc. I was still laying down, so he came and put his head under my jaw and positioned his ear close to my chest (assuming he heard the thump of my heartbeat). After a few minutes, we both passed out on the floor.

Now my son was added to this story to capture your attention, but I want to go back to the speech. I have heard this speech numerous times before, and even had most of it memorized as a child, however last night one line stood out to me last night when reading it again – One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

To my younger brothers/sisters, this was in 1963 (going on 45 years). I know not much is said about Martin Luther King these days other than seeing his son on CNN, or seeing the occasional commercial on McDonald’s during black history month, but do your research. Slavery was not that long ago. My generation didn’t face as much adversity as our grandparents, but we were raised in the era where we were educated. We knew about our history, and respected it. Almost everyone my age has seen Eyes On The Prize at least 15 times…lol. Seriously though, reverence your past. I admire the way Langston Hughes captured words on paper. How Jackie Robinson fought through oppression to break the color barrier in baseball. How Oliver Brown had the courage to say school segregation is foolish and I am tired of this (Brown vs. Board of Ed). Rosa Parks (now if you don’t know this one, that is just sad). Read about Medgar Evans, Frederick Douglass, Alice Parker, Marcus Garvey, Thurgood Marshall, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, George Washington Carver, Benjamin Banneker, W.E.B. DuBois, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Malcom Little, Sojourner Truth, Booker T. Washington, Dred Scott. Read about the Tuskegee Airman, or the Harlem Renaissance. Pick up a book instead of watching BET all the time!

That statement Martin spoke was so powerful to me. All the sweat, blood and tears our people shed for us…the pain they endured to provide their great-grandkids with equality…we are now taking for granted. Whereas once that statement was mostly based on discrimination, now we have to be accountable for some of our actions, and the choices we made to put us in that position of poverty. Don’t get me wrong, I know situations happen. Trust me, I am not one to judge those. My comment is geared towards my people who have Yukons on DUBS sitting outside low-income housing. Cats who would rather spend $700 on some clothing, versus investing it in a college plan for their children. People with $50k worth of assets inside an apartment (like Coming to America).

My question to you. What are we really in search of? The metaphor of an island in the middle of an ocean means there are opportunities all around us we are not taking advantage of. I am not saying we haven’t made strides, what I am saying is we should be a lot further along. And when I make these comments, I don’t speak it with a judgmental tone. Trust me, I have made frivolous purchases in the past to make me feel better about a bad situation I was in. My goal is to reach out to my younger brothers who have so much life ahead of them. I speak these things based off mistakes I made, and opportunities I didn’t take advantage of. Getting older, you run out of the luxury of time, and start looking back over alternate steps you could have taken.

Could you imagine what Dr. King would say if he were still alive, and saw what we have (and haven’t) done?

I am still a little torn on this blogging thing. How personal do I want to go? Do I want to share photos of my family? In any case, I cut the smallest one’s hair this past weekend. I call him Mikey, or Butter. In any case, it is like a full fledge barbershop up in my house with all those heads. Butter is 1 years old (and some months), and this was his third cut. First time, just took a 1′ guard, and took some of that fluff off. Second time, a little closer (maybe 1/8). This last time? Well, let’s just say lil man fought me with all his might, so I just cropped it all off. I shouldn’t say all…but there are no more curls. My little bald bull (as I dub him). Him so cute. Funny how kids make a grown man talk funny, but that is my homey. I joke that now he has a low cut like his brothers, so he officially one of us now. Blood in, blood out.

The other day I was going through a storm. Frustrated, I was praying asking for guidance. In the midst of me whining and complaining about my situation, how tired I was, yada yada, I asked God to speak to me on how I should handle this situation. Fast forward to later that night. I was sitting there about to fall asleep, and went through some shows we pre-recorded on our DVR. Figured I’d go to sleep listening to a sermon. One of the things in this sermon stood out to me. He told the congregation,”Oftentimes we get so caught up in speaking for Him, that we don’t speak to Him.”

That hit me dead on. I write Christian fiction, so I am always trying to find creative ways to minister to people about Christ. I pray frequently, but as of lately no where near as much as I used to. I have become more methodical in my prayer life, than I was a few months back where I had conversation with God throughout the day. I think sometimes circumstances beat us down to the point we lose our diligence. We fight so much, and have those days when we are weary and our will is broken. Situations come upon us that leave us speechless. Like I told my friend a while ago, the enemy wants to silence us. Just think…has something ever happened in your life where you were so mad and frustrated that you couldn’t even pray? I mean, a situation that just caught you completely off guard. Or better yet, something you thought you defeated that resurfaced. You know in your head you should hand it over to God, but at that exact moment, you are hurting too bad to pray or do anything else.

When someone punches you in the stomach in that one special spot, what usually happens? You lose your breath and are unable to speak (and sometimes your mobility is affected). Well, that is how the enemy is. He throws situations at us that hits us in our stomach and causes us to lose our voice and become immobile in our walk of faith. Why? Because he knows how powerful prayer is. Because he knows how powerful spoken Word is. Because he understands just how powerless he is, and the authority our words have over our situations. Because he understands that God’s word can not return void.

So anyways….the next day, like always, God already worked out a way for my situation. I was stressed about something when the provision was already there. I believe that sometimes God allows certain things to happen to position us to receive a word. If I hadn’t went through that situation, would I have listened to that sermon that night? Would I have written this blog?

Are you speaking for Him, or to Him?

Ok, I will probably get my g-pass revoked for saying this aloud. I have a new sitcom obsession, and I am embarrassed to say aloud but I am addicted to this show. It is called ONE TREE HILL.

Let me explain how it all happened. I was on Wilkipedia one day, and stumbled upon a description of the show. I read it, and it actually sounded interesting so I set my DVR up to record an episode. Well, let’s say that one episode led to me recording all of them…the past 5 seasons, including the new one.

Now I will be real. The acting sucks so bad it is not even funny. Almost every character has an annoying voice, and their body mannerisms are just comical. So why do I like it then? The plot. I really got drawn into the storyline, and it is intriguing to me. If you don’t know, here is the short rundown. There is this small town in Carolina called Tree Hill. This guy there (Dan Scott) was this basketball legend (I guess you could say). So his last year before college, he got his high school sweetheart pregnant. Dan was so focused on playing ball he just left her there to raise the baby (Lucas) on her own, and went on to play bball in college. While in college, Dan met his wife and had another son (Nathan). Now this is where it gets interesting. Something happened (haven’t gotten to that point in the series yet) where he moved back to Tree Hill. Fast forward like 16 or so years. Nathan is like the star basketball player just like his father (Dan). The thing is, Dan doesn’t acknowledge his other son Lucas at all, so there is like all this tension and drama wrapped around it. Not only that, but Nathan is financially well off (because of his father), whereas his half-brother Lucas is not. Long story short, both the brothers ended up playing on the same basketball team, and the father is like a jerk about it because he just hates Lucas’s existence. Dan is also like a serious butt. He pits Nathan against Lucas, and actually causes more tension than there needs to be.

There is a lot more stuff tied into the plot like Lucas’s uncle, other stuff that went down, etc., but it is pretty decent to me. Plus I like watching shows that has a tad bit of action to break the monotony. Some of the basketball games are corny, but overtime I have seen them add more skill players.

All in all, the show is good once you get into it, and get past that horrible acting. The writing is actually pretty good. If you are like me and like shows that have action, yet focus on relationships, then you would like. One Tree is lightweight my stuff right now. That and Friday Night Lights. I could write a blog on FNL all in itself. Love that show!