STORYBOOK CORNER
No it's not time for nappytime, it's time for some Holy Ghost fire up in here!!!! This is the storybook corner. This is a site that is dedicated to the hardcore writers who really love to put their thoughts in narratives, experiences, or any type of descriptive literature to show the power of God in their lives or in somebody elses. This is the place where you can show Toni Morrison and Alice Walker up by writing about something that can surpass all culture and time, the power of God. So please if you got something in your spirit, let's see it allright?
As always,each week I try to put my own little blend of literature on the web as well as the work of others just to show you that you aren't the only one who has skills through Jesus. I hope and pray as always that you don't steal nothing from this page. If you do you will be prosecuted. Not by me, and not by the courts, but by GOD!! So Check youself on that, because there will be no thieves in this temple. Hope you like this week's Holy Ghost bomb.
THE REBIRTH OF KHARI.
If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear.
Job 11:14,15
"There he goes, straight ballin!!!!" "Ah yeah, that's the man!!!!", "Say man, we gotta hook up!!!" The comments came flying right to left about the one and only Khari Stone. Most popular kid in high school. Most likely to have the good smoke and fine girls. He could not be touched. He held his head higher than the azure sky. Came to school every day rockin clothes tailored and shipped to him from New York and suits tailored made in Italy. There was nothing that Khari couldn't accomplish. His self-esteem was as high as the weed he smoked.
He loved people who loved him, and loved to watch the attitudes of the playa haters who hated him. His home life was relatively middle class suburbia, but that did'nt stop him from being the flyest kid in school. What gave Khari his funk, his style, his essance? It was that Khari believed he was all that. However Khari was about to find out that life was more than just being pretty.
While at lunch one day, he was talking with some of his friends and he got a glimpse of someone looking at him with a very serious and almost upset look as if this person was mad at Khari for some reason or another. "What's that's dude problem?" he questioned himself. "Must be one of those jealous crabs." Khari reasoned. But each time he went somewhere he saw this dude, staring him down with this very upset look on his fac. Finally Khari got tired of this and approached the dude." Hey yo man, what's up?? You like my threads or somethin? Khari questioned him, "Y'know, the dude stated, "If stupidity was a venereal disease, we would all be dead because of you." the dude calmly stated as he walked off. Khari was bewildered as he put the incident out of his mind.
Next day at school while going to his biology class, he saw the dude and said "Look man, I ain't got no beef with you, so why don't we just call this even." Khari said extending his hand. But the dude slapped his hand out of the way, and walked away. Khari was totally upset at this point and at this particular point and time it really didn't come out of his mind so easily. That day when Khari came out of school, he saw the dude and the dude confronted him. "I don't see how on God's green earth you can hold your head up in the air. Look at you with your Italian straightjacked and pants to match on. You got more gold on than the National Reserve. I mean look at you. If your brain was any more washed, your thoughts on how you are all that would fade. You are the biggest sellout that I have ever seen in my life!!!!" The dude shouted in his face. "Man who are you?" Khari upset questioned. But before he could even get an answer, the dude disappeared.
The next day at school, he saw the dude and ran over to him. "Yo man I didn't catch your name." Khari said. "All you need to know about me is Im just a brother that thinks you should change because right now you slippin and most definitely trippin dig???" The dude said. "How am I slippin or trippin, I got it all." Khari explained "Y'see that suit you're wearing? Moths within days will have a fieldday on that very same suit. And what about all that gold? That gold is either going to be stolen from you or if it's fake, and I know bet it is, its gonna turn your hand and neck green and everyone will think you got a hicky from an alien or something. You may have it all brother, but will it last?"
Khari all the way home pondered on this very question. Then out of nowhere in front of him he appeared. "Man you have a way with enterances. Yo man what did you mean about my gold not lasting?" Khari questioned him. "Look around you. Do you see that tree over there" The dude questioned as Khari nodded his head in agreement. "Do you see that car over there?" Khari nodded his head again. "Do you see that Word over there?" The dude said, and instantly Khari responded and said "What word?" Khari questioned curiously, "That's just it, you can't see it but yet it's there. Look what I have said to you is this. The suit, the girls, nothing that you see will last. But I will show you a way where you can get a suit that never goes out of style, gold that never tarnishes, and a way to cut down ten girls to just one." The dude explained. "How?" Khari said stunned. "I told you what you see will not last, but there is a force that will last....and that my friend is the force of God." The dude said. "Man..." Khari started, "You ain't no Jehovah's witness are you?" The dude then said, "I don't even think their Jehovah can witness to what I'm telling you." The dude said. Khari was stunned, he never heard anybody talk to him before in such a manner as this. "Oh...incidently...by the way....my name is Jason. Let's talk." Jason said as Khari started to walk down the street conversing with Khari.
Over the past few weeks, Khari hung out with Jason more and started to change. His wardrobe changed, he dropped some of his gold, and the friends, and the girls he used to see he really didn't hang with anymore. It was almost if Khari was going through a rebirth. Whether Khari went he had a smile on his face, and a Bible in his hand, always reading it. Finally the end of school rolled around and Khari was looking for Jason to spend the summer with him. He searched the whole school and thought that he had left early. So he to the office to see if Jason came to school that day. "Jason........" the secretary confusedly said, as she checked the school's roster, "there's not one child in this school by the name of Jason baby." She told Khari. Khari was baffled. The last bell for class rang, and about a hundred screaming kids ran out the door along with Khari who was still bewildered. "How could Jason just up and leave like that? Where did he go?" Khari pondered, and just then a small voice called out his name and told him to look up into the heavens. At that moment, Khari looked up, then understood who and what Khari was about and what he was showing him. Then Khari just smiled, and proceeded to walk home.
Have you gone through a rebirth? Have you gone through your renaissance? I'm telling you right here and now, God will not look at your outside appearance, he will not look at what you ate, what type of music you listened to, or what you did with your life. On judgment day, one question will be asked in relation to all of that. "What kind of relationship did you have with my son Jesus Christ of Nazareth?" You will have to answer to that. Nobody else but you. What is covered up will be revealed, remember that on the real.
So I ask you, in fact I beg of you, if you have not been born again, pray that Jesus will come into your heart. Just like Jason did with Khari.
May God grant you every single solitary type of peace you deserve through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen.
D-Warrior
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WHERE'S DADDY??
Inspired by the book (More stories Hershel tells)
And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them in the nuture and the admonition of the Lord.
Kyle was walking down the street on day, when four or five boys jumped out from behind some bushes.
"Yo man, that's a nice coat, but I tell you one thing maine, it would look much nicer on me, y'know what I'm sayin??" The head of the group, or gang if you will, said. "I don't get it." Kyle said calmly. "Well get this fool!!!!" Said the head of the gang pulling out a Smif and Wesson handgun. "I want that coat!!!"
Kyle looked him dead in the eyes and stated, "If you don't get out of here....I'll....I'll....I'll do what my father did!!!!" Kyle strongly warned him. "Man, I don't care what yo ol man did!!!!" The dude said. "I'm warning you!!! If you don't leave me alone and get out of here, I'm gonna go off like my father did!!!!" Kyle warned him. The dude then cocked his gun at Kyle temple block. "And I'm warnin you, if you don't give me that coat, sparks gonna fly, and you gonna catch one of these right here!!!!!"
Kyle angered shouted, "I will mess you up just like my father did!!!" The other dudes in the gang said, "Yo man,c'mon, this dude's dad probably killed twenty people man! Let's go yo!!!" The head of the gang thought for a moment, then pondered on what was said by his boys. "Hey yo man, I was just kiddin right?" He explained to Kyle who had less than an understanding look on his face. They then all started to run in the opposite direction.
"Yessir..." Kyle started. "Just like my father, but maybe I did go to the extreme with those guys. I mean when you look at it....I don't think getting whipped with a switch is all that bad." Kyle said as he turned the other way and proceded home.
You can act as hard as you want. But within us all there is a spirit that fears a father. Even if it is a human father, fear is put into their very hearts. You can't escape it, nor can you shake it. If you know that a human father cause this much fear, think of what the father in heaven can do!
Get your act together if you haven't already. Turn, repent and give your life over to Jesus.
May the almighty and living God give you much grace and peace. In Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen
D-Warrior
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GRAMMAR GREMLINS
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Romans 8:1
"Yo kid, what's up with those duckets you owe me son??" Carl asked his friend Poo. "Yo man on the real I'm on some stuff, but I'll get you your ends playa." Said Poo. "Cool kid, peace out." Said Carl as he walked away.
Carl was the normal, average, no cavity having teenager. Around his community he loved everybody and everybody loved Carl. However on this very day Carl would recieve some news that would change his whole life.
"We're Audi?" Carl questioned his mother. "Yes Carl" His mother said "We are movin. Your father got a top paying position in California and he wants us there with him." His mother explained. "Man, how's dad gonna go off like that? Dad's really working on his PHD fo real on this one." Carl said.
Um.........ok........unless you are from another country or planet, you would have noticed that Carl's speech patterns are a little.......esoteric? Fueled by rap videos and his friends, it's no wonder why. Just in case you're wondering, yes he does get straight A's in English class, his dialect has always just been a pet peeve of his he has never been afraid of hiding.
So Carl and his family moved all his stuff to sunny California to a neigborhood that did'nt have any people of dark skinned features, however everybody was friendly and homely.
Monday was the first day of High School for Carl in his new town. He walked in his homeroom and saw about thirty kids ranting and raving in the room. Carl found a seat and sat down. The teacher came in and the class quieted down. "Class," she started, "we have a new student today. Stand up Carl." Said the teacher. "Class this is Carl Mc'Knight." The teacher said as she introduced Carl. "Yo what goes on peoples?" Carl said. The whole class burst out laughing. Carl embarassed sat down and began to figure out where the joke came in at.
If this was a joke, then Carl was cracking people up the whole day. Everytime he opened his mouth, he would get a laugh out of someone. To make it worse yet, the teachers could not understand one word that came out of Carl's mouth. Over the past few weeks things got worse, he was chased home, bullied and even called names like "junk jaw" or from Fat Albert fame "Mush Mouth," all due to the fact that he spoke his own dialect.
Carl went up on a hill one day to sulk, Just then a boy heard him crying and came over "Hey yo kid, if you come to dis, don't waste your time!" Carl told him "Hey yo man, you can chill wit that, ya dig?" The boy told Carl. Carl was astounded. For the first time while going to that school, this is the first person he has ever heard talk like this. "Yo, what's up with the Niagara?" The boy asked. "Man nobody can dig where I'm comin or goin." Said Carl. "Is that it? Man, I got stories that will pull you under like the Titanic, yo. Don't sweat it, yo. It's the price of a baller around here." The boy explained. "Who you?" Carl asked "Danny." The boy replied. They both shook hands and right then and there they became instant friends.
Carl and Danny stuck together tighter than glue. Wherever they went they spoke to each other and understood each other. Amazingly enough, Danny's teachers could understand where Danny was coming from because he learned the lingo of every teacher in the school, and passed that information off to Carl. Because of this, it did'nt take long for Carl's grades to skyrocket. The best part was Carl found was introduced to other friends of Danny's that spoke the same language he did. He finally fit in where he was supposed to belong and he did'nt have to change one word of his extra special vocabulary.
Alright listen, what is the difference between an Arab saying the Lord's prayer, and a person from Switzerland saying the same prayer? None!!!!!!! God understands everything you say even if it is to the world utter garbage. Besides cursing, and saying obsenities, there is no worldly language. God will not look at what you said when you get to heaven. He will look at your heart which will determine if the word you said was good or bad. Your heart is the deciding factor. "Out of a good man's heart comes good treasure, but out of a bad man's heart comes evil treasures" (Matthew 12:35).
So don't be trippin on a brother man, repent give yo life to Jesus playa, don't be a playa hata daddy!!
May the Almighty God give you much grace and peace, in Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen playa!!!!
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STRAIGHT BALLIN
That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mysteries of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
Colossians 2:2
Once upon a time on a very small, small island off the South Pacific, there was a land known as Pimpsacola where everybody on the island were pimps and playas. They wore clothes that were straight from the 70's and only drank Don Pereon. They lived the life of pimps, studied the great books of pimpology, and taught everyone in their family to be pimps.
Since it was a small island, there were just two families or tribes that existed on that small island. The Big Timers, and the Ballers. They talked pimp, they smelled like pimps, they walked like pimps, and even bathe like pimps. But there was one difference that kept them at odds with one another. Y'see a pimp is supposed by tradition to wear a fine hat. According to the Gospel of Magic in the 23:17 "Those who doth not stray from the path sight of the Almighty playa, will be recognized by a feather in his hat." For years, and years, this is the one thing that kept the two families at each other's throats because the ballers felt to wear a feather was to overaccesorize. So they from the start dropped the feather idea.
A boy by the age of 16 was to become a man in the family of the Ballers. Kevin was his name and so far he had passed each test given to him by the elders. All there was left was the true test of a pimp....the test of strength, in which Kevin had to wear and sleep in a suit of total polyester for two days. So Kevin slept in the suit complete with polyester hat, polyester shirt, polyester tie, polyester jacket, polyester slacks, polyester socks, polyester underwear, and of course, polyester shoes. Kevin passed the test will flying colors.
"Today you brothers and sistas, we have a new member in our family. Brothers and sisters, Kevin has passed all the rites of passage, now all that is left is that he dons his very first suit." The Grand Chief of the Ballers explained. "Brother Kevin," The Grand Chief said as he looked at Kevin, "Take off the polyester suit and put on your first satin suit." The Grand Chief instructed Kevin. Suits were of hiearchy between the families. The lowest was satin and the highest was silk. Suits changed with age. So Kevin put his suit on and looked to the Chief for more instructions. "Now Kevin, there is one last thing to complete the process. You are not to be known as Kevin any more, your name is to be known as Big Money." The chief then gave Kevin-um-I mean Big Money his hat. "Do you have any questions my son?" Asked the chief. "Well-um-er-yes." Big Money answered. "Where's the feather in this thing?" The whole village gasped. "B-B-B-Big Money, how dare you ask such a question knowing that to have a feather would be to break our code!!!" Yelled the Prime Minister at Big Money. "I just think it looks kind of plain without a feather don't you think, I mean look at this thing! Hold up...." Big Money said as he plucked a feather from a tail of a pigeon that was near by "Now that's fly!!!" Big Money said as he put the feater in his hat and cocked his hat. The village was enraged. "GET THAT PLAYA HATA OUT OF HERE!!!!!!!" A crowd yelled. With the quickness, they literally threw Big Money out of the village and showed him no love at all.
Big Money was was without a family,crew,or whatever you want to call it. Big Money went by the river and began to think, then he had a terrific but insane inspiration, that could end this feud forever.
Magic ran as fast as he could to his village and explained that the Book of Magic said that they had to use a feather but it did'nt specify the size length of the feather. So instead of using a big feather, they used a small feather and ended the feud that had been going on for years. Everything worked out and a new fashion craze was invented among the Ballers and even the Big Timers which made them one family unit. All thanks to the efforts of Big Money who was now known as the uniter of the clans.
I'm black, I'm white, I'm Christian, I'm Muslim, I'm Heterosexual, I'm Homosexual, I read the Word, I don't read the Word. STOP IT!!!! LOOK!!!! God did not put you on this earth to fight over stupid issues. Whether you like to know it or not, the unsaved are saved. Let me repeat that again, the unsaved are saved, they just don't know that they are saved. No difference between you and a homosexual. You may not have intercourse with the same sex, but you do lust carnally for another person from time to time which is as equally wrong as a homosexual making love to a person of his/her same sex. Why bring up the the differences, look at the comparisons. What color is the sky in your world pal?
When God looks at a person, he looks at the inside, and what potential they can produce to do his will. Repent brothers and sisters, and give your life over to Jesus and take that log out of your eye!!!!
In Jesus Christ name I pray that you have nothing but peace, Amen.
D-Warrior
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BACON IS A PLAYER
For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy.....
Ecclesiastes 2:26
Check this out...there was a dude by the name of Bacon Dupri, now Bacon was a player, but not the kind of player that you would normally see.
For you see to play you have to have a game, and to have a game is to play. Bacon's charisma and charm played on every woman in the school, including the teachers. Why was this?
Well as I have said to play you must have a game, and his game was the Word of God. He quoted scripture as smooth as that guy who is always in the club trying to run some type of game on any fine girl in a tight leather dress. He was just that slick. Dressed in the latest fashions by Fubu, Shabazz brothers, and a few others.
The guys in the school were sort of double sided on Bacon. Some did'nt like him, and some stuck to him like flypaper, because he had every girl in the school mesmerized. Get this though, half of the ones who did'nt care for him looked around and found out he had all the fine girls in school, so they tried to take some notes on his game. Some publicly and some privately.
He spoke to his ladies in parables, and to his closest friends he explained his parables. He kept the same laws that he preached, and did'nt let one word come out of his mouth without practicing it.
But the best part was this. The Word that he taught his ladies, they taught to other people. Because of this, other people started to get saved because of the witness of Bacon.
The point in all of this is to simply say that the Holy Spirit really dosen't like a lot of flashy methods to win somebody to Jesus. If the method is suttle enough to just to say that Jesus loves you, then it's worthwhile, and that's a good witness.
So stop doing outlandish things to win somebody to Christ. Just be yourself and use what God gave you as a talent to win others to Jesus.
May the almighty God give you much grace and peace, In Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen.
D-Warrior
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THE POETICS OF MYRON
A soft answer turneth away wrath, but grevious words stir up anger.
Proverbs 15:1
"Brothers be wary, and sister's be on your toes. For around the corner is the neighborhood "Po, Po's."
Yes, Yes. That's the poetic flow of Myron Shannon warning his friends about the impending dangers that the police around the corner can bring if they are caught doing what they are doing, which is nothing more than playing hooky from school.
Myron never uttered a word without it being in some kind of prose or poetry. Even to his parents especially around the dinnertable he would say things like "This bread is like no other, but mom could you please pass the butter?"
But how did Myron's dialect drift off into this? Well, they say all education of anything takes root in the home. Myron's father was a poet, and every Saturday afternoon, they would read poetry and prose from around the world. As a matter of fact, Myron got an allowance for his chores like any other kid, but to get it, he would have to recite a passage of poetry or prose, and name the poet who wrote the piece. Because of this poetic teaching and his faith filled background, he started to speak in a poetic dialect, leaning on the Word of God, and trying to influence people and warn people of things that were happening.
Everybody had much respect for Myron, especially the ladies because of his poetry, he had five to six girls calling him a night to hear some of his.....um......style in Espanol.
Myron was the peacemaker among his friends, the comforter of the hurt and the kind of person that had a kind word to say to people in poetic form.
He was the one who always win numerous poetry contests at school, and even on street level, there could be no rapper within a 200 mile radius that could touch his style. He was all that and then some special sauce, lettuce and cheese.
One day Myron was walking down a street that he really wasn't too familiar with. Two boys suddenly jumped out of a car with black ski masks on. They demanded for Myron's money. Myron confidently looked at them and uttered this. "I have nothing to give as you might have percieved, I don't want any trouble, so I just better leave." As he began to leave, one the men took out a gun and shot Myron in the side, then ran off laughing.
His parents were told of Myron's diagnosis which was the bullet severed a nerve that paralyzed Myron from the waist down and that Myron was permanently paralyzed.
However this did not stop Myron from getting people to love one another. He now goes around to any place that would be considered as a "low income" environment and gives poetry to any institution he can find. Myron recieved many awards citations from police for his bravery. Myron started his own after school program that encourages channeling aggression into poetry. Has it worked?
Well Myron one day was cleaning up in the facility where the program is usually held, and he picked up a work by a student attending the class. The work done by the student was untitiled, however it hit Myron's heart like a brick. "To the ones who say you never will achieve, or to the ones who shoot their anger off like cannons, these people really need to have to have a little talk, with a man known as Myron Shannon."
As you see Myron had an impact on a lot of people's lives. He wasn't critical, nor was he hateful. He solved problems and curbed his anger at the same time through his words that was always pleasant to hear, and not dressed up.
Point being that, learn to put Jesus in a way that will make God more appealing, but at the same time, not losing any of the anointing that the gospel speaks about having. Make them say "Hey, that brother or sister is real!" So if you haven't already, pray that Jesus will come into your heart, read the Word, and all will be revealed my son/daughter.
Much blessings and nothing but peace, in Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen.
D-Warrior
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I'M GONNA JUMP!!!!!
O, death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
1 Corinthians 15:55
"What a life I lead!!!" Taylor cried out in pain as he laid face down on the bed in his bedroom.
"My days are always horrible. Why do I even live? I'm flunking every subject at school, I get dissed by everybody, and to make it worse, the only girl that I ever had in my whole entire life left me for this jerk who works in some corporation downtown and drives a Ferrari. My life isn't worth two cents!!" Taylor screamed. "I think the world would be better off without me." Taylor silently reasoned.
Taylor then went into the bathroom to get the bottle of Liquid Plumr, Pine Sol, Clorox, and Scope (For a minty fresh breath) He then mixed this all together, and for an added flavor, he went out in the shed to get a cup of gasoline to blend it with. "It's been nice knowing ya world! Gotta go, gotta go!" Taylor said as he guzzled down the concoction. He started coughing hard, and weezing, then his head swelled and his eyes started to run, then he collapsed on the floor. A few seconds after.......he woke up!!! "Hey!!! I'm not dead!! What's going on?? Hold up!!!" Taylor screamed as he started to breathe hard. "Oh isn't this great!!! I blend the most toxic and lethal cleansing solvents on planet earth, and what do I get? I get my 11 year old sinus problem cleared up by this mess! I can't do nothing right!" Yes it turns out that the only thing that the solvent did kill was a sinus problem that had troubled him from his youth.
Taylor looked around his room and saw his old jump rope. "Anybody for a self-lynching?" Taylor said. He grabbed the jumprope then went into the backyard and fastened the rope to the tree, and the other end to his neck as he stood on a ladder he had got out of the garage. "See ya world!" Taylor said as he jumped off the ladder. Taylor started to gasp for air as his body hung lifeless. But just then, the branch of the tree that the rope was tied to broke and Taylor fell to the ground "What's goin on here? Can't a man just die peacefully?" Taylor screamed.
Taylor went into his room to get the marijuana joint that he had stashed in a shoebox under his bed. He then went into the kitchen, and turned on the gas stove. He then laced up his joint then sat in the middle of the floor with his blunt and lighter in hand. He then flicked the lighter but for some strange reason the lighter wouldn't start. Soon the gaseous fumes engulfed the room, and Taylor passed out. Surprisingly he woke up a few seconds later completely refreshed "Geez! What am I death prone or something?" Taylor screamed.
Taylor the went out into the middle of the street and layed down in the middle of the street which was connected to an intersection. Taylor patiently waited with his eyes closed to die. There was one problem. Every car that came went down the intersection instead of going straight through where Taylor was lying down. As a matter of fact, only five cars went on the street that Taylor was on, and completely missed him. After five hours of this, Taylor got up and asked himself "Am I missing something?"
Taylor then went into the most gang infested neighborhood where everybody and their mama on their block was a Crip. He saw a bunch of boys on a porch and yelled "What's up?" then threw up a blood hand gesture. The boys approached him and said "What's up?" Then went back on the porch to continue their discussion, that Taylor broke up hoping for some type of conflict to happen.
Taylor with a crazed look on his face left the scene and went to the bridge outside his town. Without saying one word, he planted one foot in the air, and started to lean forward. As he began to descend, a piece of wood that was connected to the bridge caught his shirt and caught him just before his body slammed into the rocks. "Why don't I just die? What in the world do I have to live for? WHAT??" Taylor screamed.
Taylor's question can be answered with only one name, Jesus. Remember something, when nobody wants you, Jesus wants you, God wants you when nobody cares, God cares. Next time you think of trying to end the life that God gave you, think of two things, One how God has brought you this far, and two who is really gonna care that you killed yourself? As quoted in Psalms 6:5 "For in death, there is no rememberance of thee." If you are going to kill yourself for attention, just remember, nobody will actually care, not even your parents. Oh they may mourn for a while, but that's only for a while, but they are not going to stop their lives just because you stopped yours.
If you feel this inadequate in your life, ask Jesus into your heart, and he will show you that you have victory and much to live for than what the world has to offer.
In Jesus Christ name I pray that you have nothing but much blessings and peace peoples, Amen.
D-Warrior
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ID Please......
The last thing that I remember was this terrific crash. You know, the kind that shatters your eardrums and reverberates all through your bones. Ever heard a crash like that?
Anyway, one minute I was driving along Interstate 95, headed to an appointment on the other side of Richmond, and the next minute I was standing in this light. It was a totally awesome light, like nothing I've ever seen before. It shimmered and glimmered and came out of nowhere and everywhere. This man walked past me so I followed him. You know how when it's dark and foggy and you can't see anything more than ten feet in front of the car and you see someone's taillights and follow them no matter where they are going? That's what I was doing....following this man who wore this really funky white robe. Must be a throwback to the sixties.
I stayed about five feet behind him and suddenly, we were at this weird sort of tollbooth. There was a gate with an arm that came down just like in the movies when the hero is trying to get past the borderguards and through the gate so that he is safe in a democratic country. Beyond the gate's arm was a path that looked like gold. Really. I'm not making this up. And then path led to these really high gates that looked like they were made out of pearls. Man, I knew that I shouldn't have eaten that cold pizza for breakfast.
Anyway the man in the radical robe went into the tollbooth and opened a window. He stuck his head out and yelled "Next!" Was he talking to me? I looked around but didn't see anyone else. There was no line of people so he must have been talking to me.
"You, yeah, you!" He pointed at me. "Come on, I don't have all day! There's a ship going down off the coast of Newfoundland and there's going to be a lot of people here soon!"
So I stepped up to the funky robed man in the tollbooth. He leaned back on his stool and said "ID, please!"
"Pardon?" I asked, completely confused. Where was I and where did he think that I was wanting to go?
"ID! We can't let just anyone in here!"
"Where is here?" I asked as I began to search my pockets for my wallet.
"Heaven, the Kingdom of God, Paradise, take your pick." He reached out his hand. "You got that ID yet?"
Ah-ha! There it was! I pulled out my wallet from the pocket of my jacket. Hmmm... where did all that blood come from?
"Here's my driver's license," I said and helpfully pulled it out of the plastic sheath that it was tucked into.
"Driver's license?" the man asked in disbelief. "I ask for ID and you hand me a driver's license?" He rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Come on! That ship just went totally under. Those people are going to start piling in here any minute!"
"Well.....what about a credit card or my voter's registration card?" I began to pull them out when I caught the negative shake of his head. "Library card? Movie rental membership card?"
His head shaking became more pronounced.
"Okay, man! What kind of ID are you looking for?"
"The kind that proves that you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, what else?" the man was getting very exasperated.
"Kingdom of God ID?" I asked with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. "I've never heard of that. Where do I get that from?"
"Have you repented of your sins?"
"Yes....a long time ago."
"Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for you, that He redeemed you if you believe upon Him, that He rose from the grave and ascended into heaven?"
"Yeah, I don't have a problem with that. Sounds good to me."
"Did you ask Jesus to be your Savior and to come and live in your heart?"
Uh-oh. Wait a minute....yeah, I did. Back when I was a kid.
"Yes, sir. A long time ago."
"And you don't know where you're ID is?" The man was growing frantic. We could hear a growing murmur of people approaching.
"Here, let me look and see if your name is in the Book of Life."
He pulled out this really old book. It was all cracked and there was gold leaf on the ends of the pages. And I could almost swear that there was blood on the outside of that book. The man began to thumb through the pages, quickly and then slowing down.
"Ah, here you are. Yes, you did repent and accept Jesus about thirty years ago. But you haven't ever done anything with it. There is no fruit, no ministry, nothing. No wonder you don't know where your ID is, you poor sod." He looked up at me with really sad eyes and closed the book.
"Look through your pockets one more time," he sympathetically suggested. "See if you can find it."
Hurriedly, I began plowing my hands through all my pockets. I could hear a multitude of people approaching and time was running out. Then, in the little watch pocket of my jeans, there was something. Something hard and sharp. I dug my fingers into that little pocket and pulled out a nail. What was a nail doing in my pocket?
"Ah, there it is," the man sighed in relief. "I would have hated to turn you away."
He reached out and took the nail out of my hand, and then a strange thing began to happen. My hand began to bleed.
"For we are crucified with Christ" the man intoned and struck the nail into a cross that was suddenly mounted on the side of the tollbooth.
"For we are crucified with Christ" I repeated in a daze.
The man smiled a holy smile at me and stretched out a nail-scarred hand to lift the arm of the gate that separated me from God's Kingdom.
"Welcome home!" He sang out and the pearly gates began to open. "Welcome home, child, welcome home."
Denise Hood
________________________________________________________________________________________________
POWER OF THE WORD
Many things continue to amaze me, even well into the sixth decade of my life. I'm startled or taken aback when people walk up to me and tell me they are Christians. My first response is the question "Already?" It seems to me a lifelong endeavor to try to live the life of a Christian. I believe that is also true for the Buddhist, for the Muslim, for the Jainist, for the Jewm and for the Taoist who try to live for their beliefs. The idyllic condition cannot be arrived at and held on to eternally. It is in the search itself that one finds ectasy.
One of my earliest memories of Mamma, of my grandmother, is a glimpse of a tall cinnamon colored woman with a deep, soft voice, standing thousands of feet up in the air on nothing visible. That incredible vision was a result of what my imagination would do each time Mamma drew herself up to her full six feet, clapsed her hands behind her back, looked up in the distant sky, and said, "I will step out on the word of God."
The depression, which was difficult for everyone, especially so for a single black woman in the South tending her crippled son and two grandchildren, caused her to make the statement of faith often.
She would look up as if she could will herself into the heavens, and tell he family in particular and the world in general, "I will step out on the Word of God. I will step out on the word of God." Immediately I could see her flung into space, moons at her feet and stars at her head, comets swirling around her. Naturally, since Mamma was over six feet tall, it wasn't difficult for me to have faith. I grew up knowing that the word of God had power.
In my twenties in San Francisco I became a sophisticate and an acting agnostic. It wasn't that I had stopped believing in God; it's just that God didn't seem to be around the neighborhoods I frequented. And then a voice teacher introduced me to Lessons of Truth, published by the Unity School of Christianity.
One day the teacher, Frederick Wilkerson asked me to read to him. I was twenty-four, very erudite, very worldly. He asked that I read from Lessons in Truth, a section which ended with these words: "God loves me." I read the piece and closed the book, and the teacher said, "Read it again." I pointedly opened the book, and I sarcastically read, "God loves me." He said "Again." After the seventh repetition I began to sense that there might be truth in the statement, that there was a possibility the God really did love me. Me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the grandness of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve anything. For what could stand against me with God since one person, any person with God constitutes the majority.
That knowledge humbles me, melts my bones, closes my ears, and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates me. I am a big bird winging over high mountains down into serene valleys. I am ripples of waves on silver seas. I'm a spring leaf trembling in anticipation.
Maya Angelou
"Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now"
IS ANYBODY HOME?
In the deep south around the 1950's there was an African American by the name of Tuck. Tuck desperately tried to get membership in this church that only let whites in at the time. He pleaded each time to the pastor for him to let him in the sanctuary. Finally Tuck gave up and stop trying to get into this church.
While in the grocery store, the pastor of the church that Tuck tried desperately to get into saw him and inquired "Why have you stopped applying for membership at my church?"
Tuck looked him in the eye and said "Well suh, I tried to get into you church for fifty years now and I had a talk with the Lawd about the mattuh and he said 'Don't worry about it, I've been trying to get into the same church for fifty years my own self.'"
Author Unknown
Mr Big
One day there was a big corporation downtown that was called "Big Corporation downtown." It was the biggest supplier
of stationary supplies in the cities. All businesses relied on this company for all their stationary needs. And not only was it
well known in the city but in other countries too.
In that company worked a meager, humble janitor by the name of Charles. He was very sweet and always considerate
to people and from time to time gave his two cents in when it came to advice and what not. He knew everybody and
everybody knew Charles. He was well liked in the company.
One day there was a big meeting between the advertisers and the promoters of the company on how to promote their
new stationary product. Ideas were tossed around from here to there but all the ideas had been done before or were just an
reinvention of the last idea.
Charles was cleaning the floor one day and overheard them having a spat over the issue. Charles stepped in and said "I
don't mean to disturb you gentlemen but I think I have a solution to your problem" They listened attentively to Charles but
really didn't give his idea much though because of the fact that he was just a janitor and not an advertiser. So they dropped
Charles idea, but Charles didn't just tell them, he told other members of the corporation and they had the same attitude that
the advertisers had. So Charles stopped talking about the idea and just put the matter in the back of his mind.
One day while on the bus coming to work, Charles started a conversation with a man who started a small business
downtown by the name of "Small Business" he talked about the idea that no one seemed to accept at his job to the man,
and the man was very interested. He told Charles to meet him for lunch to discuss the idea further.
So Charles went to his boss the next day and told him that after fifteen years of working there, he was resigning to take
on a business venture. His boss could not understand, but Charles left that job and headed out the door to his new job with
his friend that had the small business.
A few years past and there was a new business in the city that was marketing a product that was selling like flapjacks.
The advertisers at the Big Corporation was told to see who was this new business that just opened up, and who was the
owner. Well the president of this corporation turned out to be the man that Charles was talking to and the Vice President
was none other than Charles himself. They were astonished to see Charles with this organization. Charles was very humble
and explained that the idea that they rejected was the idea that was the foundation of why this new business was doing so
well. They were now ashamed because they didn't accept Charles idea. But Charles was humble and worked out something
with the Big Corporation and the Small Business, and soon they created a merger between the two companies and became
one of the best known companies in the world. And what was the name of the company? What else, "Big Business Inc."
Point being, do not look at the position of the person because of his title, look at the wisdom he or she is sharing because
as Proverbs states, wisdom will make you rich.
If you need Christ to give you this type of wisdom, just pray that he will come in you heart and save you.
Brothers and Sisters, I love you and keep it real through Jesus.
D-Warrior
Got a story that will even make Terry McMillan "exhale?" Email it to me, and I will post it.