Making It Plain

 It’s been a few years since I’ve heard that sermon ("I'll Never Be Broke Another Day In My Life") across the pulpit and the congregation gets all emotional thinking about those meager days when food wasn’t plentiful and laboring more than your share of hours at work seemed like the answer. Exhausted with sore feet, we still believed that we were going to come out of it smelling like a rose by giving our family the best life they could have. It all seemed worth it when there was something to give for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas, and affording a new Easter outfit for the children allows sighs of relief and satisfaction. Thank you Jesus. So, why did you have to go through that? God saw you struggling. God saw you when you were frustrated and about to give up ( Philippians 4:6-8 AMP ). What were the words that came out of your mouth when you didn’t think anyone cared and it felt like you were doing this all by yourself? Did you stay positive believing there is a ram ...

Social media continually evolves to where it is today. This comes from what people migrate to and based upon the current trends that influences the masses. There was a thread posted on a popular website where the question of marital vows are sanctioned by God. Truth be told, I asked the question. The focus was if the ambiguity of the vows were concentrated on fear. If not, then why won't a man include loving her as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25 KJV)? The group where the question was asked was full of outspoken members. It wasn't surprising, seeing that the group is made up of mostly men, there were some hours that passed before answered. I specifically asked for scripture references seeing that an opinion would not be of any interest to me. Why that request, at first was disregarded, was also not surprising. However, I was surprised for a pastor to state that the love of both people was obvious and unnecessary to mention in the vows. Sigh. A young, single man interest...

Have you ever said a word so much that it lost all meaning? Have you ever thought you knew what a word meant until you saw someone else do it better then you ever could? While the first question might seem childish, try it. Say the word, devotion about 20 times. It should start to sound funny. Now think of any circumstance where this word describes your action or reaction. I liked to think that I was devoted to the ministry I attended for so many years. I volunteered in various areas of the ministry. I taught classes. I attended classes and I was beginning to look forward to being a part of the staff. Even when other ministers were leaving the parish for whatever the reason, it had nothing to do with me. I enjoyed the place I was in. I kept myself away from those that liked to gossip and focused on whatever task I was assigned to. My purpose was doing the will of God, not man. Then, without me knowing it, some of the stink that caused certain ministers to leave was coming for me. M...

...... to do a man's job! Now, I am not going to pretend to know what a man's job is. I do know what a woman would like to see in her man. Is it what you think or expect? Do you think you can do what is expected? Is it too much for you or any man as far as you are concerned? Just keep reading and compare what you would do with the scripture references. There are too many grown adult men that don't do what is expected of them and have plenty of excuses for their behavior. A woman will only tolerate so much then the reverence that she is supposed to have for her husband becomes a challenge. What do you do then? Do you start blaming her for the short comings in the marriage or do you start making some re-evaluations of your own life and what you have put your family through ( Haggai 1:7 AMP)? I wrote an entry in this blog entitled, The Position of a Woman . In it I describe how everyone seems to have an opinion of what a woman is supposed to do and if we liste...

There is this sentence I have heard parents describing their sons, girlfriends describing their exes or baby's daddy, or current wives describing their husbands, not realizing that the moment they use the word but , it completely diminishes whatever good thing that was said previously. Was that intentional? First, it is a topic that has been taught before. Its been discussed and in some cases completely disregarded because of the state of the individual interested in getting into a relationship for the purposes of marriage. There are steps necessary to find if the guy is really good or just pretending to be ( Luke 6:45 AMP ). I just thought of another reason for the disregard to instruction ( Proverbs 10:17 AMP ). It is the definition I use for good. It would seem the meeting of the standard would be an extreme and therefore doesn't wish to try. The standard being...God. It is written, God is good. Because He created man in His image, He expects for man to return to the basi...