Memorial Day

This holiday has a special meaning to me. It was 4 years ago when I spent this holiday with an M-16 in 120 degree weather, with 35 lbs of gear on guarding our area. I often think back about 2004. Believe it or not, those times were not all bad. I grew close with guys whom I consider my brothers to this day. You see, when I come to you, I come from the perspective of a redeemed man of GOD, with an experience unlike most that we come into contact with. I have been in the heat of battle, I have been under attack in more ways than most of you could imagine, I have been involved in things that I am almost ashamed of, however I know I went through the experiences to edify my brothers and to educate young men who might be in need of guidance. 

The reason that I am reaching out is that we must be careful in how we address and use words like "into battle" and we "went to war." Now I know we as saints of GOD are in a spiritual battle, the Bible says that. However, when we are living our day to day lives, we are to be witnesses by our actions more so than our words. I tend to have issue with those who talk about being at war, and they have never even thought about enlisting in any military service. We do not choose our battles, we do not get to interject our opinion into what we are doing when we are in the desert, sweating like slaves shoveling lime into a hole that we use as a latrine. There is a lot of glamour that is portrayed concerning war and wartime situations, truth of the matter is this: IT IS NOT A GAME.  

I have been reading stories about my comrades who have given their mortal lives to help people who could not help themselves, a marine who saw two youngsters in the atlantic ocean and swam out to save them, only to surrender his life, when his daughter came out to help and had to choose between saving the teenagers or saving her father. Others who have made sacrifices: guys like Pat. Pat is a man who fought of a mugger who was attacking an elderly couple. Pat subdued the offender and held the guy, who was twice his size, until the police came and arrested him, he did this with no help from bystanders who chose to watch and not take action. Jarodd is another person, who awoke in his apartment smelling smoke coming from the hallway could have just easily got his wife out of the building, but he went above and beyond, he not only evacuated his wife, he got most of the tenants out of the building. These are things that most will not hear about. 

So as we turn in this Memorial Day let us not be so "super spiritual" that we cannot appreciate those who risk and have laid down their lives for their fellow man for Jesus said, 

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends"- John 15:13

Be Blessed!

Idolatry

After a brief hiatus, I have gotten somewhat of a revelation. This is not so much Biblical as it is something that just bothers me. Earlier this evening, the finals of American Idol were held and over 100 million people took the time to vote for someone. This leads me to question our country as a whole. In case you did not know, I recently was involved in the school board election in my neighborhood. I actually came in second with 166 votes. This is absolutely ridiculous! I am going to be effecting the decisions that help or possibly hinder the children in my community yet people feel that the Idol is more important than what is going on in their own community. Another example, the Mayoral election in Detroit. Only 15% of the registered voters showed up to vote. What further distrubs me are people who say that they don't vote. That is the DUMBEST thing that a person can say to me. People have DIED so that this skinny kid from Inkster could go to the polls and cast a simple little vote. I guess this is simply ignoracne overtaking the masses. Here is the Biblical relation, "My people perrish for a lack of knowledge..." How much do we value this simple life that we lead? It is just a vapor, yet, someone decided to lay down their own existence to allow both women and minorities to vote. The very same reason that we worship Jesus for laying down HIS life for us so that we may have life everlasting, Christians flock by the millions, yet we cannot get 1000 people to vote. What is up with this? The spirit of idolatry is alive within the world that we live in. There is nothing new under the sun, what the enemy tends to do is to rename and repackage sin and it becomes okay with the masses. For example idol worship. In ancient times one of the false gods were worshipped via the impregnating of women, inducing them to give birth to the child (alive or dead) and sacrificing the child, in a jar, by fire. How does this relate to anything? Check out how abortion is actually completed and you tell me. People please wake up. Like the old song says, "Time is winding up."

Be Blessed!