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Wednesday, 27 May 2009

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

  • Spiritual Exercise: Get Your Weight Up

    Spiritual Exercise: Get Your Weight Up
    I’ve been battling with whether or not I should write this note for a while now, because it’s something that I still struggle with. But lately, God’s just been throwing it up in my face everywhere (whether it be at a Bible study, in a book I’m reading, in several people’s facebook statuses, in a song I remember, etc…), so I decided to stop faking, and just put it out there. Simply put, lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of passive Christianity, and a passive sense of living amongst believers. Its sort of like a roll with the punches, if it happens it happens mentality. More specifically, when it comes to areas where we need growth in. Practically, the way it looks is this:

    Reggie: Dag man…I’m blown that I keep coming to church 20 minutes late…
    Dave: So go to sleep earlier, set your alarm, and wake up when it goes off.
    Reggie: Yea young, I know…I do that, and I do wake up on time…I just mosey around with no urgency, and I end up being late.
    Dave: Aight, well, just be there on time on Wednesday.
    Reggie: Aight, I’ll try

    The passivity came in my final statement…”I’ll try.” I’m starting to think of the word “try” as a curse word. Check out Webster’s definition of a “curse.”
    b: to execrate in fervent and often profane terms Something that I’ve learned on my journey to becoming a scholar (because college isn’t just about getting a piece of paper, its also about learning more about yourself, and becoming more academically astute), is that when looking at definitions, you can’t fully do them justice unless you look at the spirit behind the definitions…what are they really saying (which is why I believe that words are SO important). With that being said, the first definition speaks of a curse in the sense that a person is essentially denounced, or rendered un-useful. The following example is powerful, especially when taken in context with the concept of my view of “trying,” because its basically saying that “trying” will curse your FUTURE, unless you act NOW.

    What are people really saying when they say that they will “try” to do something? They are saying that under ideal circumstances, if and when I feel like doing something hard, I’m going to give some undisclosed level of effort, so that I can at least say that I made an attempt; consequently absolving me from any responsibility for the lack of change…because..I “tried”. I’m reminded of Jay-Z’s bar from his song “Izzo” when he stated: “I seen hoop dreams deflate, like a true fiend’s weight/ to try and to fail, that’s two things I hate.” So many times, we let our success at something determine our dreams. That is to say that if we’re doing well at something that we’ve dreamed of doing, we continue to maintain that dream; but if we’re not doing as well as we initially thought we would/should, we modify our dream to match our level of achievement, so that we can still claim success. Self-Impression Management…we can’t stand the thought of ourselves not measuring up to what we think we should be, so we passively defend our sense of self, by lowering our expectations of ourselves. Stop it. lol

    I could go on, building the case against the lie of “trying,” but I’ll focus more on building the case for what we should be doing. I’ll start this portion of the note with an example/question/food for thought type whateveryouwannacallit (looks like a musiq soulchild album title…hahaha). Say for instance, you get invited to play as a contestant on the games show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.” They tell you that they will be taping your episode 4 months from now, so of course, you’re really excited at the prospect of getting some extra bread to cover whatever expenses you may have. My question to you is this…In attempting to win the one millyon dollars (said like Dr. Evil), which strategy would you deem as the most appropriate method to get to that result: a) Going about your regular daily routine until the day of the show, waking up, eating a good meal, going on the show, and trying really hard to win, or b) Making sure you take time out of your normal schedule to study and prepare for the show, playing the free version of the game online, and practicing by playing the board game with your friends instead of playing Mafia or Taboo?

    So basically, this note is about the difference between trying, and training. In I Corinthians 9:24-27, this youngin Paul was like, “Don’t you know that everybody who runs in a race runs, but only one person gets a prize?” Implying that you’re running, not for the sake of saying you ran, but for the sake of obtaining your goal. Then he was like “Everybody who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things.” When you’re in the Olympics (or any sporting event where there is serious competition), you’re not going to eat fried chicken and chocolate popsicles…you’re not going to drink soda and stuff like that…you’re going to drink plenty of water, eat vegetables, pastsa, rice, grilled chicken, broiled fish, and other things that will keep your body running in optimal shape. You’re not just doing this because it makes you sound like you know what you’re doing…you’re doing it because you know what goal you’re shooting for, and you’re making sure you’re doing everything in your power to make that goal a reality. So Paul concludes in saying that he’s “not running without aim…I’m not boxing like I’m swinging at air; I discipline my body and make it my slave…Cuz think about it…how am I gonna look if I get smashed and disqualified, after I spent all this time preaching to you about all this other stuff?”

    My purpose in writing this note is to encourage you to hold yourself accountable by the words you choose. When you say you’ll try to do something, you’re essentially saying that you’ll make just enough effort so that it looks like you did something, but you don’t want to be held accountable for not doing it just in case you don’t “get around to it.” The word “try” automatically bumps things down to the bottom of our priority lists, while words such as “Yes,” “I will,” “I’m going to…,” or “I’ll do it” automatically bump things to the top of our priority lists. Why’s that? Because we told someone that we would, so we are now accountable to someone other than ourselves…someone who won’t let us redefine our goals in a manner that will allow us to back out of what we know we need to do.

    Back to practicality. Let’s move from “trying” to be “better Christians” to “becoming” more loving, less angry, more patient, less selfish, more willing, less reluctant, more trusting, less skeptical, more open, less cliquish, more discerning, less moveable, more purposeful, less passive, more offensive. Let’s move from “trying” to be more loving, less angry, more patient, less selfish, etc… to giving to the homeless, volunteering at neighborhood schools, dying to needing to be right or even heard and listening to the other person instead, staying in one line at wal-mart instead of jumping from line to line in hopes that you’ve found the shortest one (I know its hard if you lack patience…but remember, we’re training, not trying), etc…Let’s get practical with this thing for real yall. Everybody else is hiding behind the non-committal phrase “I’ll try…”…Let’s be PECULIAR yall…Let’s boldly stand in front of the phrase “We will…”

    P.S. Crap…I told yall I struggle with this too…after posting this note in public, clearly I have a lot of people to hold me accountable to this…blown! lol…


Wednesday, 09 April 2008

  • Sibling Rivalry: Friendly Fire at Its Worst

    I thought about starting this entry off with a creative example of sibling rivalry, and the poisonous effects that could ensue as a result of that conflict. However, I decided to stick to my guns, as creative writing doesn't really suit my style. I'm tired, and, consequently, somewhat scatterbrained. Nonetheless, there's a nagging thought that has been going through my mind for some time now. It's something that I've been guilty of, yet highly cognizant of on the same hand. This it that I keep referring to is what I'll refer to as Christian Sibling Rivalry (CSR).

    Have you ever noticed how when groups of free-thinking, idealistic, ministry-minded young Christians get together, a great deal of time is spent bashing the modern church? Have you ever noticed that we call each other more names than "outsiders" call us? Names like hypocrite, and fake, or inauthentic and legalistic. We speak about how people in the church aren't real anymore, and we want to get back to a more Biblical way of living...a community like the one seen at the end of Acts 2. Ironically enough, in our attempt to return to this classic practice of Christianity, we've been distancing ourselves from each other.

    An article found at ( http://www.challies.com/archives/articles/young-restless-reformed.php ) references this phenomenon as it relates to Calvinism, and Reformed theology, but I think the effects are far more reaching than that. The author of the article states the following:

    "In our self-referential excitement over the movement toward [classic Christianity], there are two errors I am afraid we could easily make:

    Although the numbers do represent individuals who are coming to truth, will the local church itself be changed and challenged and loved? We love our Reformed theology, but will the “young and restless” part only serve to bring out the devilish individualism characterizing so much of American Evangelicalism. We grew up in “typical” churches, and have “escaped” the poor theology, but will we now spend the rest of our lives proving that we are “not the like the church we came from”? Will our mantra be- “Give us books, conferences, audio sermons, and blog-buddies, but keep us far from messy relationships with [the members of] our local church.”

    I feel as though that quote speaks volumes about about the mindset that we have as young, radical Christians in today's society. I mean, we try to distance ourselves from the world by refraining from various "acceptable social practices," and we try to distance ourselves from the "fake and inauthentic" Christianity that has been propagated throughout the past several decades. So where do we end up? Alone...stuck in between the world and the church...unflinching, and unable to connect with either group.

    Like I said, I've been guilty of "church bashing" myself, although I have always tried to make sure that I present some type of solution, or at least pose a question that will lead to action at the end of my rants. But lately I've just been getting tired of seeing the church being attacked from all political angles, and then getting wounded by friendly fire. Yes, the church is imperfect, because it is filled with people...regular people, who have been redeemed, and are being transformed and perfected (completed) into the image of Christ.

    **Action Points**
    I think that one of the first steps involves NOT dis-identifying ourselves from Christianity and the church. It's sick...people won't even call themselves Christians anymore, for fear of being identified with some hyper-religious, insanely hypocritical, excessively out of touch religion that has done more harm than good. Consequently, we have "Christ-followers" or some other cute, descriptive, and catchy title that dis-identifies us from the "old version" of Christianity, and groups us in with the new, relevant (or should I say culturally astute), Christians of the Millenial generation. Think about all of the coonery that takes place on stations such as BET or MTV...yet and still, I consider myself black...an African-American. Think about the white supremacists and ignorant individuals who parade under the banner of white superiority...they shouldn't cause white's who don't identify with that mindset to shun their culture just because of some rotten apples. Part of authenticity involves acknowledging the wrong-doings and imperfections in our history, as to display the growth that has come as a result of our sanctification process. In doing the opposite, its almost as if we were saying, "Quick, let's detach ourselves from that group of Christians, and rename/re-brand ourselves before anyone notices that we did something wrong." This is the reason I've used words such as "we" and "us" through this entry...because I am a Christian. Flaws and all.

    Another thing that has been on my mind, is the lack of allegiance to a local church. No, I don't mean that young Christians aren't consistently attending and/or serving in local churches...but a book entitled "Stop Dating the Church" does come to my mind. It's sort of like those people who want all of the benefits of being married, yet they don't feel as though the title of "marriage" will change the status of their relationship, so they opt to settle for being a "live-in couple." You know, the people who have been together for 26 years, have kids, live in the same house, have joint-checking accounts, but still haven't tied the knot. It's almost as if we're saying that we don't feel the need to answer to any earthly authority, because we directly connect with God through Christ. That notion is only partially true...if it weren't, the local church would have never been established. The reason I mentioned the authority thing is because if we simply attend and volunteer, we can get what we want, but we're always looking for something better. It's a fear of commitment. Jerry Seinfeld, on the topic of men and relationships, once said, "Men don't want to see what's on t.v. Men want to see what else is on t.v." Similarly, it seems as though we, as young Christians, don't want to be tied down to one church, because it would hinder us from jumping from spot to spot. Just as easily as we can the channel on t.v., have whatever type of food we want, switch songs on our ipods, or drop classes on blackboard, we want to be able to drop that church once it gets too old...or something like that...lol

    That makes me think of those of us who don't feel the need to belong to a church at all (meaning, people who choose not to attend church). Don't get me wrong, those that know me know that I'm not one for the "law" of going to church every sunday & wednesday night. But I am one for community and service. Think about it like this...People don't just go to college to sit in class and learn about their subjects choice. People go to school to get an education, which includes making connections with people, obtaining experience and building relationships through internships, and experiencing things that you never would have done on your own if it weren't for the people that you met along the way. Similarly, you shouldn't just go to church to sit on the bench if you want to do anything of eternal significance. You go to become a part of the church. This includes making connections with the members (you never know when you need a ride back to school or work, a place to crash for the night, some wise counsel, etc...). It also includes gaining ministry experience through serving in different areas of the church, and building relationships with your co-laborers as you all serve together. You may even get a chance to go on retreats, missions trips, picnics, and other things that you would have never experienced if it weren't for your connection to this specific body of people.

    I know this post is getting long, and I'm sorry for being such a rapper (talker), but these are some things that have been on my mind as of late. I could keep going, but I need to get some rest in order to wake up for convocation in the morning. This entry is DEFINITELY open for comments and up for discussion.

    **Disclaimer**
    I was tired as CRAP when I wrote this, so please excuse any grammar errors or inconsistencies in thought.

    ***Final Thought***
    We Are the Body.

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

  • Currently Reading
    The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life In God
    By Dallas Willard
    see related

    Our World: Fallen

    Wanna know what I just realized? Being a thinker, and a modern-day, young-adult Christian, I often find myself looking for creative wording, and unconventional, yet impactful statements to make about my current spiritual state; whatever it may be at that moment in time. For instance, I may same things that include, but are not limited to, the following statements: “Jesus died for bum joints too. I ride with Him til the end, no Judas. The world is my widow.  Or… I aint come to church just to sit on the bench.” Also, I may wear shirts that say things like “I Die Daily” and start facebook groups, championing a return to a biblical way  of interacting with others. While all of these things are catchy attention grabbers, they are not nearly enough to foster any sense of intimacy, or transparency.
       
        Think about all of those times you’ve been to a small group meeting, and it begins with the facilitator opening up the discussion with a question or a statement, which is immediately followed by awkward silence. After that first few seconds, somebody laboriously blurts out, “Ok, I’ll go…” They begin to share about their week, and talk about how “God’s just been so good to me this week. He’s really been blessing me a lot. He’s been showing me some things. I was struggling with a few issues, but God brought me out. I know He’s just trying to make me stronger.” Or consider the other person, who may say something like, “Yea man…I’ve been struggling with some stuff. I can’t even front…life’s rough. I’ve been…man…just pray for me.” Then the small group leader transitions into the lesson for that night by reading a scripture, to which the members give their generalized responses, using statements like “We as Christians…wait, no…I know for me personally…” The common denominator in all of these different types of responses, and in most of our churches & small groups today is a lack of intimacy which stems from a lack of transparency.

        So, back to my initial sentence. I feel as though many times in Christian circles, the responses that are given are very calculated, and carefully formulated, so as to give the glorified perception that an individual is walking with Christ, yet not perfect. We’ve been spending our time building shallow relationships people! I long for the day when I go to a small group, and hear one of my brothers or sisters make a statement such as the following one made by John Ortberg in his book The Life You’ve Always Wanted: “I am disappointed that I still love God so little and sin so much. I always had the idea as a child that adults were pretty much the people they wanted to be. Yet the truth is, I am embarrassingly sinful.” After listing some specific disappointments in himself, he goes on to say, “These are just some of the disappointments. I have other ones, darker ones, that I’m not ready to commit to paper. The truth is, even to write these words is a little misleading, because it makes me sound more sensitive to my fallenness than I really am. Sometimes, although I am aware of how far I fall short, it doesn’t even bother me very much. And I am disappointed at my lack of disappointment.” How real is that?
       
        Revisiting the notion of catchy slogans that I presented in the first paragraph, Dallas Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, makes the following statements: “…the popular sayings attract only because people are haunted by the idea from the intellectual heights that life is, in reality, absurd. Thus the only acceptable relief is to be cute or clever… ‘Be cute or die.’ The only sincerity bearable is clever insincerity. That is what the clothing and greeting card graffiti really scream out.” He goes on to say that, “Action is forever. We are becoming who we will be – forever. Absurdity and cuteness are fine to chuckle over and perhaps to muse upon. But they are no place to live. They provide no shelter or direction for being human.”
       
        The reason I’m even writing this note is because I feel as though I’m guilty of everything in it, and I’ve been really seeing the consequences. It’s hard for me to trust others for accountability, because I’m not used to building these transparent relationships. I’m so used to calculating my responses, that it’s hard for me to even give a straight answer anymore. A typical Reggie answer would be something like, “Yea man,  I’ve been doing pretty good. I mean, I slipped up a couple times last week, but God’s been showing me some stuff, so I’m back on track now. Sometimes it gets rough, but God’s really showing me how to rely on Him.” No how ambiguous is that? How productive to growth, the growth of my relationships, and my own personal growth, is that? I’ve just really been realizing my fallen state as of lately, and really understanding what Paul meant when he said that nothing good exists in him. Is that to say that I’ve been going through what Paul experienced in Romans 7? Nope…at least not at this point in my life. But it is to say that I haven’t been nearly as transparent with some individuals as I’ve needed to be. I mean, you know your relationships aren’t where they need to be if you can’t even ask a person the hard questions, because you’re afraid that they’ll give you an answer that you’ll actually have to help them do something about…

        I guess this note is just me imploring US to get over the cute quotes…the cute Christianity…the calculated responses…and recognize our fallenness before God. When WE, meaning US as a collective BODY recognize that EACH individual is FALLEN…it gives us less room to look down on each other, and more room to help each other grow. Ya digg?

Friday, 18 January 2008

  • How's Your Walk?

    I was asked that question in an email today...here was my response.

    I've just recently started getting back on track in terms of my daily reading. I haven't really been in the Old Testament since I really started walking with Christ, so I've been reading the book of Joshua. I've been learning a lot about leadership, obedience, and manhood from it, so it's been tight. Also, I''ve been reading a book by Erik Rees called "S.H.A.P.E." with a small group of my friends (via Skype), and God's really been putting it on my heart that I need to devote more time to prayer. On Wednesday, God definitely gave me a lot to pray about in terms of things going on with my educational career. To make a long story short, I was about to be homeless until I could find an apartment down here in Lynchburg, which I would have first had to find a job to pay for, all while starting up this new semester! Thankfully the situation was resolved somewhat, but there are still a couple of things that aren't all there. But that was a test of faith, because I was so ready to just come home for this semester, work, and then come back next fall. Also, the biggest thing that I wanted God to work in me with last semester was procrastination. It's still a struggle, but already this semester, I've gotten ahead on a few things for my classes, which is something that I've never done. One last thing is that over this past winter break, I was reading "Wild At Heart" with a small group of guys that one of my friends started, and it dealt with biblical manhood. That's something that's been really on my mind & on my heart...Can I be a man from a biblical sense. I just see so many marriages ending in divorce, so many men being generally inconsiderate, and so many men just being all around weak and just going which ever way the wind takes them. That's not to say that I don't have excellent examples of godly men around me... It's just to say that even though I see godly men, the majority of the men I see are not that way, especially that are closer to my age. So, sometimes it makes me question if it can really be done. The thing is that I know it can be done, I just really want to do whatever I need to do to make sure that I'm headed in the right direction. So God's been hitting me with some good stuff in that area, even as recently as an hour ago when I was in convocation and the speaker spoke about manhood, and listed Al Mohler's characteristics of biblical manhood. It was on point. So yea...that's where I've been recently.

    So my question to you is, "How's Your Walk?"

Black_Thought2007

  • Visit Black_Thought2007's Xanga Site
    • Name: Reggie
    • Country: United States
    • State: Maryland
    • Metro: Upper Marlboro-Largo
    • Birthday: 1/13/1985
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 9/20/2004

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About Me

  • More down to earth than gravel...I'm a pretty cool guy to get to know. I'm told that I'm really easy to talk to, so I guess that's a plus. Umm...I'm a fun loving guy who's pretty mature for my age. I'm not living my life day to day, I'm living for the future. Oh yea, I'm a second year psychology major at Bowie State University with a 3.5 overall GPA. So um...yea...if there's anything else at all that u wanna know about me then feel free to ask. My AIM name is pepe771 my yahoo messenger name is kobe771 , and my email address is DJ_Ghost03@hotmail.com.

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  • In a few hours, I'm going to my first Jewish Synagogue for pizza & a movie with a group of guys from my class. Can't wait!

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