God Bless You, Mrs. Small

Another mother has moved on to her heavenly reward. Mrs. Louise Small, 85 years of age, left yesterday morning, November 16, 2009. One year later after Mrs Anna Sabb left, eighteen months after my mother and aunts, twenty months after Mrs Corine Burke. I'm not going to dwell on this. To my friends and me, these were wonderful, caring mothers who gave up so much for us. I don't need to tell you how much they are loved. The holidays are tough without them but we'll get through with the grace and mercy of God. I just want to take this time to recognize them and all the mothers that I have not mentioned and never knew. I'm not talking about the fathers this time, no disrespect. Some of them have played a very important part in our lives. But the mothers , they are on a different level. What more can I say?

1 Corinthians 13 (It's About Love) click here

True love doesn’t steal your joy, it enhances it! Real love fertilizes, it gives life. God gives us joy because of the unconditional love He has for us. It is amazing how much we don’t seem to appreciate it. Being taken for granted doesn’t make anybody feel good. So you can imagine what betrayal can do to a relationship. Christ had his last supper with Judas. How can person tell you how much they love you when they are able to betray you? Has the relationship gone that bad or have they grown so tired of you that they didn’t bother to even try to tell you. Even strong men and women get tired. Love can be unappreciated and we tend to neglect its real meaning. Agape love doesn’t take you to bed. It doesn’t have to sleep with you. It is the genuine acceptance of the person that you want in your life. Agape love goes deeper than face value. It looks deep inside and finds the good and appreciates that good which goes beyond the physical needs. It is God’s love. The physical sharing is only a part of the expression of giving that genuine joy. It is an unselfish way of giving that joy. We should be ourselves and not worry about changing to impress someone or fit their requirements. I don’t mean act a fool or be stupid. Try to make something positive of yourself. If you feel like singing or dancing around them, do it. If you feel like laughing, go ahead. They should enjoy the way you are. Looks and the perfect body will not last forever. We lose our joy because the love we think we have for someone is not returned or rejected. Don’t deny yourself because they deny you. The problem is not with you but with them! While they are trying to keep you down they can't see that no one is rising to the top. We think that our lives are over because that special someone doesn’t show us the love we expected. Yes, we have a pity party and bring old baggage so that when we meet someone else, we have new baggage with us in a space already crowded. It’s like bringing two people to meet one person. Shameful, but true, it’s not unusual. It happens to all of us. It is hard to grow up, but we have to.

The Wizard Revisited

Recently, I blogged about the Wizard of Oz & its symbolisms. I also said that whatever God has to tell me, I’ll be listening. Well, it was advertised on TV that the Wizard of Oz is playing on TBS this weekend! I don’t know what this is supposed to mean but it is coincidental. Maybe it’s a confirmation, or maybe it was meant for me to look at the show in a different perspective. Whatever, it is, I will be paying attention!

Dishonorable Mention

I couldn’t mention these veterans on Veterans’ Day with those that hold a place of honor. They have taken the lives of fellow vets and civilians and have paid the consequences with their own lives. John Allen Muhammad/John Williams, The DC Killer, was recently executed the day before Veterans’ Day by lethal injection. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is still in the hospital after murdering fellow soldiers and civilians. He committed this horrific crime at Ft. Hood, Texas. He was a psychiatrist! Both of these men are Muslims. I’m not stereotyping or giving an opinion, just facts. I’m sure that Muslims in the military are concerned how their fellow soldiers will wonder if they have their back in battle. Howard Unruh, a WWII veteran, died at 88 in a prison hospital. He committed his crime in Camden, NJ, in 1949. Let’s not forget Timothy McVeigh, a decorated Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, who bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, in 1995. He, too, was executed in 2001. I had the opportunity to visit that hallowed site this year in 2009. It is so surreal. Just walking on that battlefield and scanning the area, created in my mind scenes that are too intense to describe. No different than the ones that the innocents went through. There are many other veterans that have gone a dishonorable way. Whatever happened to these men and others that caused them to take the low road, we will never know. Many of these people have gone through some type of pressure, whether in childhood, battle or whatever, that they couldn’t handle it. Whatever it was, I could not mention them on the same day as being honorable with those that sincerely deserves it. I’m not a prophet so I don’t know what will happen the next minute. I do know that I can’t spend my time worrying about it.

Veterans' Day

I’ll keep this simple. Today is Veterans’ Day, a day set aside to remember the heroic efforts of our men and women in the military whom have given their own lives and freedoms in defense of our country. We honor all veterans; some of them have lost parts of their bodies, mental capabilities, and loved ones. These soldiers and sailors have risked their all for freedom. Whether they were in combat or not, they took the oath to defend this country from its enemies. Let’s never forget the sacrifices they have made. Say a prayer for our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and sons and daughters that wherever they are and wherever they go the prayers and support of the people of the United States are forever with them. We want them all to return safely home. We shall never forget you! Happy Veterans’ Day!

Stay On That Yellow Brick Road

How much do you know about the Wizard of Oz movie? Other than it was enjoyable and fun to watch. You could tell me the cast of characters and the Hollywood stars that played them. You could probably tell me something about the cowardly lion, the “no heart” tin man, the “no brain” scarecrow, the Munchkins, the good witch, the wicked witch, Auntie Em, her uncle, the farmhands, the flying monkeys, Toto, and the principal star Dorothy. I might have missed someone but let’s not forget the Theme Song, “Somewhere over the Rainbow!” Of course, Stephanie Mills really took it to another level in later years. The aluminum dust had some serious bad effects on the tin man actors. It hospitalized Buddy Ebsen and the aluminum paste, later used, caused his replacement Jack Haley to have an eye infection. Even young Michael Jackson and Diana Ross did their thing with The Wiz in 1978! All in all, do you remember now? Let’s go for a walk on the yellow brick road. A minister was telling me how his youth group dissected the Wizard of Oz. They concluded that The Wizard gave them the right directions but they had to stay on the road. The traveling companions might be going in the same direction but they might have a different reason to get to their destination. Simple, huh? Let’s dig a little. Dorothy first ran away from home, because the mean townswoman wanted to take Toto away after he bit her. She meets a traveling fortune teller who tricks her into thinking Aunt Em is sick and needs Dorothy at home. Dorothy gets back just in time for a tornado and takes refuge in the house which is supposedly taken away to another land. Dot got knocked out! When she wakes up after Dorothy’s house falls on an evil witch. An angel, the good witch, appears and rewards Dorothy with “magical” slippers. Red showed up better on color TV but it didn’t matter what color the shoes were. It could have been a scarf. She got a gift and didn’t know what to do with it. (Don’t we all?) She was not to remove those slippers. Noticed how they all met. The scarecrow was pointing in two directions not sure where to go, the tin man rusted embracing his axe locked in a job that he didn’t love, and a lion that ran away from them once he found out that the companions were not afraid. All bark but no bite. They finally get to a place called Emerald City but it is not home. This is where they will get a chance for the Wizard to give them directions on how to return home. Return to our heavenly home, now don’t we all want to do that? In the process of going home, they meet people to help them on their way and reminding them to stay on the yellow brick road. Note that whenever they got off the road, they encountered major problems. The evil, wicked witch even sent her flying monkeys to stop them. Satan will send his forces to stop us from getting to God. How symbolic was it that water destroyed the evil witch? Water, baptism, cleansing of the soul to prepare for the good are major elements in staying on the yellow brick road. In the end, the traveling companions found in Dorothy all the qualities they needed, wisdom, compassion, and courage to get back home. Dorothy realized that she had the power within her all along and that the ruby slippers were just a tool to give her confidence. But if she had found her faith in the beginning, she might have been able to avoid many of those pitfalls. It is never too late to get back on that road. It’s also never too late to find God. Looking back, the road was just wide enough for all four of them to travel. We all have the Bible as our guide and our pastors, friends, and loved ones to help guide us, but we decide if we want to stay on the right road. We get trapped sometime with the company we keep and trying to find shortcuts. Still, there are angels along the way to help us. Sometimes, you get picked on staying on that road even by the people that you think that love you. Well, do they really love you? If they did, they would love what is best for you!

Dreams

Do you think that our dreams are really trying to tell us something? I’m not talking about the occult or anything of that nature. I’m just wondering what they symbolize, sometimes. Here’s a glimpse of mine. I dreamed that I was driving on a very wet interstate in a bad storm. The road was very wet and slippery. Down the road, I saw a blue light, a patrolman directing traffic away from a collision. There was a detour that went left and I took it. I did not follow the other cars; instead, I took a shortcut through someone’s yard. Going through this yard, was a lot of mud and big rocks, both of them I tried to avoid. I thought that I was getting out of that when the road I turned right onto was being upgraded and bumpy. The rain had stopped then and the sun was starting to come out, but the road was still a mess. I regretted not following the rest of the cars from the detour. But, just then, I came out into an open field where it was clean and level. It wasn’t many houses and I saw one vehicle on a hill coming down. I mean this field was clean and it had only a dirt road but was very smooth. By then, the sun was completely out and I woke up. I don’t expect any dream translators to answer but deep inside I already know the answer. It’s just remarkable to me that after I had this dream, a minister several days later discusses the teens’ take on the Yellow Brick Road. God is trying to tell me something and I’m listening!