Love a la Carte

I’ve had some questions about why this blog is titled Revealing Ruth. Whenever we do something new and exciting, people tend to think that if we don’t do it the way that it’s always been done, then it won’t work. Along that line of thinking, most people would expect a single woman’s relationship blog to be named and/or modeled after Proverbs 31, but did you know that The Book of Ruth is heralded as the Bible’s Greatest Love Story?

Our problem is that when we think about love stories, we immediately hop to fairy tale romances and we sensationalize everything, even the bible. Every woman out here wants to market herself as the Proverbs 31 woman. She wants the world to view her as an unstoppable, incomparable force. Someone to be both desired and highly revered, but not many women can truly bear the weight of holding such a post.

The chronically misquoted and misinterpreted 31^st chapter of the Book of Proverbs reads, “she wakes with eager hands…bringing food from afar. She gets up while it is still night; provides food for her family and portions for her female servants. Out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She sets about her work vigorously… her lamp does not go out at night. She speaks with wisdom and faithful instruction is on her tongue.  [She] does not eat the bread of idleness. MANY WOMEN DO NOBLE THINGS BUT [SHE] SURPASS[ES] THEM ALL.”

There is nothing haphazard or mediocre about this woman. She, like Ruth, is understanding of life and loves' shortcomings. When Naomi said to flee, “for God has dealt bitterly with [her]”, Ruth stood firm. She was committed to the family that she’d built, despite the death of her husband.  That is why this blog is named in her honor, because it is her love and commitment that cemented her place in biblical record, and it is her love and commitment through which we can find ourselves in Godly relationship.

People often joke about strife between spouses and their in-laws, but you knew who and what you were marrying.  Before you take a leap that was intended to be permanent and end up divorced, consider Ruth. When you are married, understand that what she said to Naomi is true of every husband and wife - “where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried.”

There are so many people with so many reasons for divorce, but the underlying reason is the same – commitment.  

You either rushed in, not knowing what you were committing to, or you simply weren’t committed enough to stay.

Before you go out and repeat your mistakes, ask yourself, what are you committed to, understanding that marriage isn’t your next plate at Applebee’s. You can’t substitute your spouse’s faults for your desires the way that you can substitute mashed potatoes for french fries.

Like Ruth, you have to commit to enjoying what you have because there is no such thing as love a la carte.

The Sunday Notion

I CANNOT STAND a liar!! 😡 I just can’t. I don’t see the point in offering lies that no one has asked for. I don’t get “little white lies”. I don’t understand lying when the truth will do just fine.

I have been referred to as exhibiting “bottomless grace” and understanding for people. I don’t drink. I don’t fornicate. No one has died by my hands; I don’t steal; never committed adultery, or a million other sins that I could or couldn’t name. But I know what I can name. I have absolutely looked upon a man lustfully, and believe it or not, just like you, secretly.... I judge...mostly Donald Trump. 🤷🏽‍ Either way, in the same fashion that a lie is a lie, sin is sin.

I was once accused of being a bad Christian by a friend for missing an evening choir engagement on the same day as attending Sunday worship service - she was judging me. I once had a friend tell me that she refused not to fornicate because “her body needs sex”.  I beat her over the head with science and scripture - I was judging her.

I, like the rest of the world, have often quoted Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that ye be not judged … but that passage is more than just a line, it’s a challenge, and ultimately, a call to righteousness.  The part that we don’t quote is, “why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? ... Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.”

A few years ago when everyone was toiling over the Mayan Calendar, end of the world fiasco, the same fornicating friend mentioned above, a professed Christian, made mention to me that she would not be willing to engage in fornication on the last day of that Mayan Calendar because where she did not believe that the world would truly end, she didn’t want to ‘be caught sinning’ if it did. 

I was mystified by the notion of “being caught sinning”.  Had the Lord come back as “expected” … and totally against scripture, she would have absolutely been “caught sinning”. Fornicating or not, sin sits right next to unavoidable.  It is a smorgasbord of the eyes, and no matter what you pick from that salad bar, it’s weighed the same way.

Where sins may be judged separately on whatever level the Lord see fit, they WILL ALL BE JUDGED, and we will all be held accountable for that which we know.   We know that as Christians, our job is to be Christ-like. I Thessalonians 4:7 states, “for God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life”.  Our instructions are to live holy as Christ was holy.  That doesn’t mean that we get to pick and choose our sins. It means that we have to actively fight the sins that surface within us in constant pursuit of holiness. 

Missing the choir engagement was wrong not because it was something expected of me as a singer, but because it was something expected of me in the building of God’s Kingdom. Lying is wrong. Stealing, Fornicating, and a million other things are wrong.  Just as a million other things are sins. No, missing a choir engagement is not a sin, but Christianity goes beyond sin to focus on purpose and alignment.  We don’t get to just pick the Christian elements that we enjoy and tend to those items alone. As believers we have to stop practicing a la carte Christianity – I don’t eat pork, but I get drunk on the weekends.  I’m not fornicating, but I can cuss like a sailor. It’s all sin!

There is no Christianity a la Carte menu.  If we’re going to regard ourselves as followers of Christ then we must work to live as Christ lived, facing the same temptations that he faced, despite our inherently sinful nature.  If we’re going to call ourselves Christian, then we have to eat what’s on our plates, because whether we could foresee the presentation or not…it’s what we asked for.

Babe or Beast?

Recently, a Facebook friend posted, “Loving God doesn’t mean that you’ll never have issues”.  I commented in response, “Neither does Him loving you.”

Days later, I learned that I was being severely demonized by a colleague…….

The Word says in II Timothy 2:3-4, “you therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Verse 10 reads, “Therefore, I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”

When I heard some of the things that this person was saying about me, I was livid, but thanks to God, my anger passed quickly.  When you're placed in these types of situations, flesh tells you to immediately confront your accuser, but for what?

That’s how the devil gets the glory that we owe God.

There is no truth that has remained forever hidden. It doesn't matter how much you argue with a person or how angry you get, their perspective will always be their perspective, and IN GOD'S TIMING you will be exalted in truth. You can't approach someone in anger and expect Godly results.

Everyone tells you that you have to pick your battles, but before you can do that, YOU HAVE TO PICK A TEAM. You must know who you are in Christ, and in this fight. Thereafter, you must walk so that the world knows what team you’re on.

This colleague never expressed an issue with me. For years, things seemed fine. Then one day, something shifted.  When I addressed it, she brushed it off.  Immediately thereafter, the colleague who'd posted that Facebook post, expressed misgivings on her behalf and asked if the three of us could talk. No ma'am!  That’s not how it works. 

The Bible says that, “if your brother hath ought with thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone.” If someone has a problem with me or feels me to have a problem with them, they owe me that communication.  You don’t get to CHOOSE flesh with me.  The spirit says to go directly to my brother and sort out our issues between us alone.  The flesh says that we can involve anyone in any way that we desire.  This is where we run into trouble - talking to other people when we should be talking to God and the person with whom we have a problem.

Paul said in I Corinthians, “I buffet my flesh daily and bring it under subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified”. He also said, “I beseech you therefore brethren that there be no divisions among you”.

How am I going to preach the conquering of the flesh, but then draw into that flesh over unexplained foolishness?  Whatever portion of yourself that you breathe life into - whichever beast you feed, that’s the one that lives.

That’s the one that will survive.

My flesh doesn’t get to survive, because the Glory that is due God can only come from my life in the Spirit.

I, therefore, took my questions to the offending colleague directly, only to find that her shift in perspective was being perpetuated by the third party, however unintentionally.  The problem is that human communication will do that, that’s why we need to take our thoughts and oughts to God directly!

Not every time that someone engages in gossip, did they INTEND to gossip, and not every word uttered is well thought out. Sometimes we can say things with good intention that make matters much worse.

Flesh’s first thought is to approach the third party, but you have a choice…. Do you want to sip the milk on this thing, or are you ready to feast on the meat?”

We live in a time when everybody wants to "beast up" for show. Whenever somebody claps, there’s someone to clap back, all the while running around whispering Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. We talk about loving God but how many of us are TRULY ready to feast!

Babes in Christ are unable to buffet their flesh because they haven’t grown enough to bring it under subjection. But see, I know who I am and I know WHOSE I am.

I know that people are as frail as breath and am therefore free from their opinions of me.

That’s the milk sip characteristic of Babes in Christ. Beasts are deep in The Word, feasting on the meat whenever the hunger strikes. We, as believers, can’t be bothered with what people think of us. We’re supposed to be set apart - a sanctified, peculiar people.

So, what are you….

Babe or Beast?

I Cry - 8/2/13

Today my Instagram page holds only one photo, and it's caption - four simple words...'You Made Me Cry'.

I have always been the 'logical one'.  I've never been that crying, emotional being that many people have come to attribute to womanhood, but today, I cried.  I cried as a black woman, raising a black woman, understanding that as a mother we often take the cruelties of this world upon our shoulders and count as our mistakes elements that are beyond our control.

I cried as aunt and godmother to four future black men who, right now have no knowledge of the fact that even the innocence of their smile can be deemed menacing, based solely on the color of their skin.  Young men who have no idea that they inhabit a space where their happiness is a threat and the mere fact that they exist on this earth enrages thousands of people daily.

I cried because Fruitvale Station is a sad story whose ending I knew before it was ever made into a film. Yet most of all, I cried for Oscar Grant, knowing that his story is the story of thousands just like him who go unnoticed and without regard every single day.

Where I wept softly while watching Oscar play with his daughter, not knowing it would be his last day of life, I cried at his response to being shot.  There was no regard for himself.  No anger or rage.  Only humility in the words, "I got a daughter".  As a parent you want the best for your children, but moreover, it's about your needs.  As a mother you need to know that your children are safe when they enter into spaces where you are not present to care for them.  Because of this, I cry.  I cry because I was in a car accident just a few weeks ago with my own 4 year old daughter in the car. I grieve even now for the days when this world will seek to do her harm and she will be without the only person on this earth having vowed to protect her.

I cry because although I have no sons, I too am Wanda Johnson.

New Scene from #IP2015

Too much of the time, we are blinded by our own pursuits…while…the people who do love us have to stand on the sidewalk and watch us beg in the streets!

- C. JoyBell C.

With no response to her knocking, the nurse entered slowly and with extreme caution.  She wasn’t particularly afraid but she knew well the dangers of waking new mothers.  When she cleared the entry space, she found herself surprised at the image before her.  There was no tired, sleeping new mother, or any evidence of a newborn.

     Katherine Ellis sat, staring blankly in the direction of the hospital TV.  Upright in her bed, she flipped aimlessly through the cable channels.  It was strange to find a young girl in the room alone.  She couldn’t have been any more than what, sixteen or seventeen years old.  Carlotta could see the chip on her shoulder from the entryway, and had absolutely no idea what to say to her.

     She decided to just keep it light and follow the girl’s lead.  Carrying a pile of fresh linens, she wondered how she would get the girl out of the hospital bed.  Laying the linens atop Katherine’s food tray, she noticed that the girl kept glancing up at the wall clock.

     It was just after 2:00 in the afternoon and she was sitting in the dark.  Carlotta rounded the bed in a sneak attack on the hospital curtains.  She found herself off put by the fact that her presence hadn’t yet been acknowledged.  She definitely wasn’t about to be ignored and wandering around in the dark!

     “Good morning sunshine”, she called out, snatching the curtains open and assaulting Katherine’s pupils with sunlight.  She expected to get some type of rise out of the girl, but instead she turned to find that Katherine had moved from the bed to the visitor’s chair furthest from the window and closest to the phone.  She lifted the receiver and punched in some digits.  Carlotta got to work changing the bed linens.

     She was soon startled to hear the girl slam the phone down and throw herself back into the visitor’s chair.  She lifted her chin ever so slightly and was able to get a glimpse of the girl.  A pretty, young lady, she looked to be picking her fingernails in disgust and frustration.  “Is everything okay?”  Carlotta asked the question in utter nonchalance as she continued freshening the linens.  She wasn’t sure that she expected the girl to respond.

     Katherine never once looked up, but she did crack a little bit.  “Don’t they hire housekeeping people to do that stuff?”  It may not have been the ideal opening, but at least she was talking now.

     “They do”, Carlotta said airily, placing a fresh blanket on the bed, “but I like to consider myself a sort of full service nurse.”  She smiled at her bed making talents.

     “Okay full service, whatever that means.”  Katherine glanced at the wall clock again and moved toward the phone.  It was now clear to Carlotta who she was trying to contact, so she unplugged it before the girl could capture it in her grasp.  “Excuse me”, Katherine chimed.

     “Need to disinfect this”, Carlotta tossed dismissively over her shoulder as she turned toward the restroom.  Katherine wasn’t buying it.

     “You trying to be funny now?”  She moved in Carlotta’s direction and Carlotta continued on toward the bathroom.

     “Absolutely not”, she said removing some paper towels from the dispenser and disinfectant spray from a high shelf.  “I told you that I’m a full service nurse.  I try to think of everything a new mom and baby should have.  That includes a clean phone”, she said with a spray.

     “This is a maternity ward.  You guys have special needs.  Babies need for everything to be as clean as possible and moms”, she paused a moment, then chuckled.  “Honey hush!  I could let housekeeping clean your room, but the way I see it, you just pushed a small person out of a significantly smaller hole.  You don’t want all these strange people moving in and out of your space while you’re sitting in here with your hoo-ha all open!”

     “Well, I wish you would tell them that”, Katherine fanned her hand toward the door.  “It seems to me like a different one of the ‘strange people’ comes through that door every time I blink!”  She rolled her eyes and plopped down on the clean bed.  Carlotta noticed how she rubbed her hand over the warm blanket, and smiled.

     “Well”, Carlotta wrapped the phone in its cord instead of plugging it back into the wall.  “I may not have the power to do all that, but I think I can work out at least a temporary ‘do not disturb’.”  She smiled over her shoulder as she made her way toward the door.

     Katherine jumped up and took off after her.  “Hold on a second now.”  Katherine dove to retrieve the phone.  “I didn’t ask you to take that.”

     Carlotta pivoted slightly, just enough to keep the phone out of the young girl’s reach.  “We said ‘do not disturb’”, she said coyly.  “So, I figured this was included.  If any calls come in for you, they’ll be routed in through us at the nurses’ station.  I assure you, you won’t miss a thing”.  She smiled again.

     “But”, Katherine tried to interject, but Carlotta was still speaking.

     “And, I saw your mother”, she said as somewhat of a question, “holding that beautifully delicious little boy of yours down in the nursery as I came in this afternoon, so I'm sure they'll be here with you before you know it.” 

     “That's fine, but that doesn't mean that –” Carlotta cut her off again and it was starting to annoy Katherine.

The nurse put a finger to her lips and reached to gently rub Katherine’s shoulder.  “Because I've seen this before, and I know how it ends, let me give you a little bit of advice.  Just because there is someone missing from this moment, does not mean that there’s anything missing from your life.”  Katherine looked confused.  "Sweetie, if it were God's will for him to be here, he would be here.  You've done enough.  You've tried calling, you've tried watching that clock,” she motioned toward the wall.  “If he's meant to be here, he’ll walk in that door before you walk out, and if he doesn't, know that you are still whole.  You don't need anything from him that it's not in his heart to give freely and without prompting.  God will work it out His way and in His time.  While that happens you just focus on the love that you can see.”

     Before Katherine could offer a rebuttal, the door crept open.   It was her mother and son.  Carlotta smiled, but Katherine didn't seem to share in the emotion.  Finding herself strangely disappointed, Carlotta moved toward the exit.  Greeting the woman and child, with a warm smile, she turned back to Katherine only briefly.  “I'll get this back to you before I leave”, she said dryly, and then she was gone.

Searching for the Mote

Don’t Judge Me!!  Cause see…the way my faith works is…

Over the last few days, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about what I think of Oxygen Networks new “reality show” Preachers of LA.  I previously hadn’t offered an opinion because I hadn’t seen the show and I don’t like commenting on what I’ve heard.  However, what I saw today was a natural human mess!

Allow me a moment of clarity for any newcomers.  Please understand that this is not your internet trash blog, this is a platform for the voicing of opinion based on Biblical truths.  I’m only here to voice what the bible says, not to judge Deitrick Haddon or anyone else present on the show.  I would like to make some things clear though. 

An episode was previewed, but has not yet aired, in which Deitrick’s fiancé Dominique, (who he began seeing while still married), has a conversation with her mother about shacking up with Minister Haddon before they get married.  The basis of her argument is her belief that “if he wasn’t Deitrick Haddon, nobody would care!”  This is both true and ridiculous!   

To start, (#1) you should never base your moral or immoral decisions on the thoughts, feelings or perceptions of another human.  Romans 3:23 states clearly that ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  It is our job as Christians to live up to our title and strive to be more Christ-LIKE.  It is not like Christ to impregnate a woman while married to another and then seek to move that woman into your home so you don’t have to suffer the separations tied to being a baby daddy!  To ask that anyone feel bad for you because you cannot wake up to you daughter every morning can in no way be separated from the fact that you impregnated her mother out of wedlock, but while standing in the pulpit.

#2.  Ending up a baby daddy while you’re still someone else’s husband, all the while maintaining your position as a gospel musician, minister, and shepherd is both cause for correction and condemnation.  As a minister, Haddon knows well the idea of repentance and cannot profess to be confused about its meaning, though some laymen are often unsure.   

By definition, repent means, “to feel such sorrow for sin or fault as to be disposed to change one’s life”. God said that if you repent of your sin and turn from it that He is faithful and just to forgive you thereof.  As referenced in Acts 3:19, “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord”.  The problem is that people are so quick to profess that they’ve repented and been forgiven when they never really repented!

Haddon offers a soliloquy about how he had filed for divorce and how he was shunned by believers even though he’d repented and been forgiven by God.  What part of repentance is looking to move in with your fiancé while still actively shepherding a flock?  The Lord said let the marital bed be undefiled – how can your marital bed remain pure when you’re not married?!?!  You’re in no better position than the souls you seek to save, so WHY SHOULD THEY LISTEN TO YOU? That would be like me counseling young women about Christian behaviors/relationships, and then going home to lie with an abusive Muslim who shares my bed when he’s not sharing a bed with other women!

Some months ago, I wrote a piece titled Christianity a la Carte – a piece that reminds me to always do a “Me Check” to ensure that I myself am clear of motes before seeking to point out the motes of others.  Deitrick should’ve checked his motes!  In 1 Corinthians 9:27 the Apostle Paul warns against the loss of self in the leadership of others, stating that he beat his flesh daily, as not to lose his way.

“But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be cast away.”

How damning and painful it would have to be to lose your way so much that you would lose your soul while in the business of saving the souls of others.  How painful to rip the spear from another’s eye while having no regard for the harpoon in your own eye.  Though no sin is greater than another, neither also is one man better than any other.  However, the Lord holds us responsible for that which we know.  As a minister, you are expected to know the Word of God and to follow that word.  How then can you lose your way while preaching the truth?  The whole thing reminded me of Kevin Hart’s standup about not hanging out with athletes…”you see, the way my account works is…I got a savings and I got a checking…but all my money is in savings”.

I felt like Deitrick Haddon is/was setting himself up to live his life as a comedy act or some type of gospel circus. Performing ungodly acts under the excuse of being human, sprouting off foolishness like “Yeah I’m a preacher, but I’m also a man!”  He may as well have said, “you see…the way my faith works is…I got the gospel I preach…and this other one I live by!”

His girlfriend was right, if he weren’t Deitrick Haddon, a lot of people wouldn’t care.  The problem is…HE’S DEITRICK HADDON!!  He is a professed man of faith, active in ministry, singing forth the psalms of God, present in the public eye.  If the bible states clearly (and I’m sure his says the same thing as mine) that the Father will hold you accountable for that which you know, and as a minister, you know well the Word of God, why would you then expect for people not to hold you up to that barometer of faith and right living?

You see the problem with motes is that the right people never seek them out.  Christians have to be reminded to search ourselves and check our motes, but the people of the world search for them daily!  They can’t wait to find something wrong with a Man of God or Woman of God, so they can jump big about how we’re all hypocrites and our faith is for naught.  Why go to church if the Bishop is living just like the homies…”fa shizzle my nizzle and that ain’t no doggy fizzle”…uhhhhhhhhhhhh English please!

I am not here to judge Deitrick Haddon, the Bentley Bishop from Compton or anyone else on the show, but we must all consider one very valid question – in a world where our faith is constantly being made a mockery of by the unjust followers of satan, why then would we seek to add fuel to the fire?

Dear Deitrick,

When you accepted leadership over thousands of human souls you stopped being a man, and started being a Man of God!  You are the person that your parishioners look to as an example of right living.  So if you turn from that right living and put it on display for anyone with a cablebox to view…don’t be confused when it’s brought to your attention for correction.  We all have to be mindful not to make ourselves a spectacle worthy of damnation and the dysfunctional enjoyment of the world.  And it’s not just him Dominque, it’s you too!  Any young lady who sees you singing and then finds out you got pregnant by a married man is going to have questions.

It DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU’D FILED FOR DIVORCE AND IT WASN’T FINALIZED!

SEPARATED IS NOT SINGLE       AND   ENGAGED IS NOT MARRIED!

Both the laws of God and man are clear that way.

Follow Me as I Follow God

- @RevealingRuth

It's Safe to Murder Negroes

“They hate him that upholds justice…they detest him who speaks the truth.  Though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them.  For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins.”

-          Amos 5:10-12

Just 1 day after the release of Fruitvale Station; hours after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin, I come to you with my heart heavy - extremely disgusted and disappointed, but not altogether surprised.  Whenever I counsel a woman or young lady regarding a dysfunctional relationship, I start with one solid truth – you train people how to treat you.  The Black community is in a dysfunctional relationship with a bastard country that took us hostage centuries ago and is continually forcing us to endure the forfeiture of rights that they never intended to give us. 

We can say that the Martin-Zimmerman case wasn’t about race, and in some ways, it wasn’t.  It was about race simply because the murdered party was a black child, but the Martin-Zimmerman case is about far more than that.  It’s about the truth.  Actor David Banner is quoted as saying, “the message is clear, if young black men make me feel uncomfortable, I’ll kill ‘em”.   

It is no secret that I have long admired Mr. Banner.  I have also never kept secret my deep admiration for Dr. Vernon Johns.  Tonight the parallels between those two, and many others, became dramatically clear.  The quote of Mr. Banner’s mentioned above [at least for me] directly mimics a sentiment addressed by Dr. Johns 64 years ago – “It’s Safe to Murder Negroes”!

While reverend of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church (immediately preceding Dr. King), Rev. Johns was incessantly vocal about the plight of blacks in America and his belief that America was not all to blame for the second-class status of African Americans.  Tonight I express my agreement with that belief.  It does not matter what level of dysfunction your relationship has reached, you train people how to treat you, and America continues to treat Blacks in the fashion in which we have trained them to do so.

Beginning in the summer of 1949, Dr. Johns' biography reports a number of deaths to which we have witnessed disturbing parallels in recent years.  "There was a period of particularly harsh repression, with almost every week the police were killing blacks, particularly on Saturday nights.  A poor black man was shot down in the street just below Vernon Johns' church one Saturday evening. Everyone in Montgomery knew that he had been killed by a white man, but there was no serious investigation by local authorities, and it was clear that the killing was to be swept under the rug like so many other such killings over the years. The black leadership in the community grumbled behind closed doors. . . no public protest was voiced . . . with one exception. The following week Vernon posted on the bulletin board outside his church this sermon topic: It’s Safe to Murder Negroes."

How many times has a woman been beaten by a man only to find that when she garners the strength to fight back, the abuse ends?  How long will it take Black America to stand up to the country that is abusing us?

In 1952 in Montgomery, a white bus driver and a black man named Brooks, exchanged words over the driver accusing Brooks of not having paid his fare.  The driver called the police, and when the police came, they shot and killed Brooks as he got off the bus. Some blacks argued that Brooks had gotten "out of his place" with the white bus driver.

That was in 1952.  On New Year’s Day 2009, Oscar Grant III was shot in the back by a police officer while being restrained; face down on an Oakland subway platform after police were called to the scene in response to a fight.  He would die the next morning. 

In May 1949, during what some refer to as “The Bloody Spring”, a white man on his porch saw a black man running down the street. The white man went in to get his double-barreled shotgun and shot the black man dead in the street. The killer's explanation: "If he was running, he must have done something."

That was the second week of May in 1949.  On February 26, 2012, Sanford, Florida 911 receives a call from George Zimmerman regarding “a real suspicious guy, [who] looks like he's up to no good or he's on drugs or something.  It's raining, and he's just walking around."  The “suspicious guy”, 17-year old Trayvon Martin would also be approached, pursued, and murdered.

Somehow, when I was young and my grandmother told me that history repeats itself…I don’t think this is what she meant!  In the biographical film, The Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story, Rev. Johns speaks of a friend – “Brother Hill found a cause worth dying for…I envy him.  God never said, thou shalt not kill unless you are a police officer.  He most certainly didn’t say thou shalt not kill unless you are white!  Last week, a white man was fined for shooting a rabbit out of season,” but more than 60 years after Dr. Johns gave this sermon, it is still “Safe to Murder Negroes”, and just like back then, it’s safe to murder negroes, because negroes stand by and let it happen.  The only way to end an abusive relationship is to stand up to your abuser.  Just as silence is recognized as a form of communication, NO action is recognized as a form of reaction.  When will Black America decide that we’re tired of taking this lying down?

For footage of the Oscar Grant III Shooting or Dr. Johns’ Sermon “It’s Safe to Murder Negroes”, please see below.  My next 2 posts will be on “Stand Your Ground” states and the instances that have trained America to mistreat Black Americans.

Follow Me as I Follow God.

-          @RevealingRuth

Safe to Murder Negroes    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p65GE9Lure4

Oscar Grant Shooting     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmJukcFzEX4

Sneak Peek

When I posted my vision for this year I promised updates on how I'm doing in accomplishing the items on my list.  Since my manuscript is a lot of the reason I haven't had a chance to provide such an update, I thought I would provide a small sample.  Sooooooooo...buy it or burn it??  Please leave comments below.

                                                                                                                                                                 

 “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”  Despite the silence filling the airwaves, the dispatcher was certain there was someone on the line.  Though arguably the imminent danger had passed, she was still terrified and fearing for her life.  She would have to find her words if she wanted someone to find her – to help her.

“9-1-1, what’s your emergency”, the dispatcher tried once more.  There was an inaudible female response.  “Hello? Caller?”  The dispatcher could hear breathing, but she couldn’t seem to make out the words.  “Caller are you there?  Do you need police, fire or a medic?  Caller?”

“I need a doctor!”  The response was both sudden and frantic, catching both women off guard.  “I need a doctor!”  The request was quickly turning into a scream.  “I need a doctor! I need a doctor!”  She began to rock back and forth beside the bed as she struggled to catch her breath, suddenly unable to stabilize her response.

“Okay ma’am I need you to calm down.  I can dispatch an ambulance out to you but I need to know what’s wrong.”

“I need a doctor!” 

“I understand, sweetheart, but I need you to bear with me, okay.  Are you in danger?  What’s your emergency?  Are you alone?”

Her voice was once more barely above a whisper, but the dispatcher was able to make out, “I was raped”, before the woman’s words faded into what sounded like the inaudible tears of a child.

“Ma’am, please, stay with me.  Is your assailant still present in the home?”

“No,” the dispatcher heard another silence as she typed away at her routing board. “He…she’s gone.”

He burst through the door with the air of a man drenched in frantic and fury.  Charging the nurses’ station like an angry bull, someone had better have answers.  None of the nurses present at the desk paid any particular attention to the stranger standing before them.  He opened the floor by blurting out the announcement of his presence to the backs of their heads as if responding to an open invitation.  “I’m Kite Spalding; I was told my wife was brought here.”  None of the women turned around.  They continued about the business of the evening, refusing to acknowledge his presence.  No one even flinched.  They continued as if no words had been spoken.  His anger grew exponentially and it took him every ounce of restraint he possessed to contain himself.  “Excuse me!”  His voice was now far more urgent and bordering on violently aggressive.  The urgency with which he spoke demanded the attention of anyone within yards of his presence. 

He’d finally gotten someone’s attention.  A nurse, small in stature, but big on attitude, turned quickly to face him. “Excuse me!  Can I help you?” She met his gaze head on, shoulders square and hands rested upon the nurses’ desk.   Though her face remained straight, her attitude dripped the existence of an unseen neck roll.  Mr. Spalding responded with as much attitude as he was given.  

“Yes! And you can start by scrapping the attitude and telling me where the hell you’re holding my wife!”

Trading attitude for attitude, the nurse moved forward with the battle rolling her eyes as she picked up the phone.  “You know”, she began with a deeply menacing smile, “where I can see how you might think that a good place to start, I’ve got a better one.”  She held up a finger and then turned her back, forcing Kite to await her return to the conversation. She stood up a bit more straight as someone picked up the line. “Yes, Security, we have a situation at the nurses’ station.”

Kite was livid.  “You have a what!??!”  He lunged at the nurses' back, making clear that his attitude was turning into rage, but before the incident could run its course, a delicate finger attached to a white lab coat hung up the phone.  Gently commandeering the receiver the elder woman quickly took control of the environment.

“Nurse Bridges, I can take it from here.  Please page Dr. Harborough to Exam Room 4.”

The young nurses’ attitude changed instantly for fear of reprimand and reproach.  She became a completely different person in the blink of an eye, at once humble and willing to provide assistance. “Yes doctor.”  Picking up the receiver once more, she turned slightly from the doctor and patients’ gaze, bowing out gracefully.

The doctor with her slightly sedate tone and comforting demeanor turned her full attention to the man standing before the front desk as if she knew instinctively what would come next.  Placing her hand close to his arm, she asked in a very matronly fashion, “How can I help your sir?”

 A plainly attractive, middle-aged white man poked his head in just as Kite took note of the disturbed expression painted across his face and the fact that he wasn’t dressed like a doctor.

“Dr. Harborough.”

“Miranda, a moment please?”

“Yes,” she turned her attentions back to Mr. Spalding.  “Mr. Spalding, if you could give us just a moment?”

“Sure.  Absolutely.”

“Thank you sir.” The doctor flashed a very uncomfortable smile before leaving the office and closing the door behind her.  In the hallway, certain that they were out of earshot, Ellis Harborough quickly voiced his frustrations. “What the hell Miranda?  I thought you handled the nut cases!  What’d you call me in for?”

“First of all”, Dr. Perriman chimed in, clearly taking offense.  “My patients are not nut cases.  They are simply wandering souls who have lost their hold on mental health… momentarily,” she added.  “Secondly, I think there may be more to this case than just that.  You’re an expert in criminology; I need some help getting to the bottom of this thing.”

“Yes, well call me crazy, but isn’t that what all these Albany PD detectives are for?”

“Not exactly, they are here to investigate the possibility of sexual assault, but I think there’s more to it than that.”

“What’s going on?  What haven’t I been told about this case?”  Miranda led Ellis further from her office door to address her concerns with the case. “Ellis, this woman swears to the most high God that she was raped, and where there is evidence of intercourse, she says that she was raped by a woman.”

“A what!?”  If he had any doubt that Miranda’s patients were crazy before, she’d cleared that right up.

She fanned her hands quickly before him.  “Keep your voice down!  A woman Ellis, and not just that, but Dr. Steven’s notes  that the initial examination shows obvious evidence of childbirth where the patient has made no mention of children.  The police found no evidence of a child in the home and the husband denies that they have ever had children.”

“Maybe the kid was from a previous marriage.  Could be that she just doesn’t want him to know.  You’ve seen the age difference between them; this is clearly not her first time around the block.”

“That may be true, but everyone who has ever ‘been around the block’ most often remembers the trip, and according to this patient, Innocence Spalding is a woman who has never bore any children.  Ellis, I need your help on this one.”

Ellis never could resist those puppy dog eyes and she had him right where she wanted him. She knew that he would do whatever he could to make her happy. “Okay, I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Thank you,” she offered with the shy gaze of a schoolgirl.

“Dr. Perriman?”  Looking over Ellis’s shoulder as best she could, given his stature, Miranda could see Kite quickly advancing toward them.  “Can I see my wife now?”

“I can’t honestly say Mr. Spalding, but why don’t we go find out?  Follow me.”  Before the door opened to Exam Room 4 Kite remembered Dr. Perriman’s request to the nurse with the attitude.  This caused him to wonder exactly what had just taken place in the hallway without him.  It was obvious that the doctor he found her speaking with was the individual she paged to Innie’s room.

As the door opened slowly, Kite could hear his wife’s voice long before he could see her face. She sounded frantic and alone.  “I am telling you, I know what I felt and he had breasts! Why don’t you people believe me!?!”

“Mrs. Spalding, it’s not that we don’t believe you, but please, do try to understand our position.”

Her eyes quickly searching the room in obvious horror, they found no rest amongst the flurry of strange faces. That is until she witnessed her husband advancing through the crowd of detectives and hospital personnel.

Break Open the Storehouse

One of my favorite quotes from the movie The Usual Suspects is, “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn’t exist.”  I’ve heard a lot of people say that Christians give the devil too much credit, when the fact is, the world doesn’t always give him enough.  The God v. devil argument is an ever-present battle of principle and worship acted out in our everyday lives.  If you refuse to recognize the power of the devil you are powerless to engage the might of God to overcome him.  How do you work to defeat someone that you never considered a threat?

A few weeks ago my Bishop’s message of the day was on the might of the devil and the power that we as humans allow him to have over us.  “Greater is He that is in [me], than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4), is one of the most widely quoted Bible verses in history, but very few stop to consider it’s true meaning.  Though God is far stronger, the devil does have some very real power.  The devil can amplify any bad habit or foreign thought you have if you fail to employ the Power of God to overcome it.

In December 2011, I got into a car accident and while blessed to walk away unharmed, my car was totaled.  Needing a car right away I bought a Pontiac Grand Prix, it just wasn't what I wanted.  I wanted an SUV. 

I don't believe in New Year’s Resolutions, but I do believe in improvement and claiming every blessing that the Lord has set aside for me.  I have decided that in 2013, I will more actively pursue those blessings.  The first that I decided to pursue was that SUV, which led me back to another post I wrote about being “hard to bless”.  Once I figured out what SUV I wanted, I looked for low-mileage used models in my area.  I walked into the dealership sure of what I wanted and was direct with the salesman, whose natural response was, “have you ever considered buying new?”  Let’s be serious, he’s a car salesman so of course my thought was ‘the newer the car, the bigger the commission’. 

I test drove all three vehicles and was determined that I was NOT about to buy a brand new truck!  It took me 4 days to make my purchase because I literally tried everything I could to get that used truck…until I did all the research.  With insurance, used car interest spikes, and the cost of the vehicle, not only did the new truck come out $100 cheaper monthly than the used, but the used had been in a major accident, making it unsafe to sell.  It’s amazing what the devil will try to convince you.    

When you place it in this context, it sounds like an obvious choice, but as I mentioned before, it took me 4 days to get clear in my mind.  The day I bought it, my daily Bible lesson was about ‘Breaking Open the Storehouse’. Not too far into my adulthood the First Lady of my church told me that every blessing God has set aside for me is housed in a storehouse - a secret room with my name on the door that no one can open but me.

Understand this, there IS a very real devil and a very real God, and no allowance for the overpowering acts of the devil can block your blessings if you don’t allow it to.  Stop letting the worlds’ manipulation and the devil’s tricks manipulate you into being your own worst enemy.  He does exist and he is warring against you every moment of your life.  Acknowledge his presence, work to defeat it, and break open the door to that storehouse!  You deserve it!

Follow me as I follow God.

-          @RevealingRuth

Hard to Bless

Genesis 33:11 says, “Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have all I need.”

In dealing with the wants and needs of this life, have you ever felt like you were hard to bless?  It's one thing to be hard to please. Hard to please speaks to man's inability to satisfy you. Hard to bless would mean that you put God in a position that could possibly lead Him to feel that even He - the omnipotent controller of our universe, cannot satisfy you.

Acknowledging my truth, last week, I had a 'hard to bless moment'.  A few months ago, I was actively seeking a 'new-to-me' used car to replace my (then) current vehicle. I knew exactly what I wanted, but every place I went told me that they couldn't finance a self-employed individual without 2 years of tax returns or a co-signer, regardless of credit and blah blah blah.  Confident in God's promises I knew that something would work out, and if it didn't, I was accepting God's will that it wasn't the right time for me to purchase a vehicle. It wasn't the right time.

So, for 2 months I stopped looking, then awakened last Monday morning set for a renewed search. I went online, found the used SUV I wanted and decided that no matter what, even if I had to pay cash, I was going to get that vehicle. That afternoon I walked into the dealership and when the man asked what I was looking for, I was very specific in my desires. He accommodated my requests but informed me that a new car would be a more “economical purchase”.  I was certain that the same woman who couldn't be financed at all just months previous would not qualify for a brand new 2013 SUV. Especially without all the tax returns and blah blah, right?  WRONG!!

I picked out my truck, presented my down payment, and after acquiring insurance and a loan from the very same bank that had turned me down months earlier, last Wednesday,  I drove away in a brand new 2013 SUV.

This is why this is significant - not just, because a woman who months earlier couldn't be financed was now driving away in a brand new car, but because I spent an entire day hunting down a used SUV. I fought tooth and nail not to get the new one! Nevertheless, God blocked every outside possibility.  He made what everyone else seemed to recognize as the right choice...my ONLY choice.  I was having a hard to bless moment.

I was determined not to buy a new car until I was forced into a position where the used one either couldn’t get insured or turned out to be more expensive than the brand new one.  While everyone else said to get the new car & accept the blessing, I didn't feel I needed a new car and instead considered used cars that all turned out to be more expensive options.

So what's the point?

Don't let life and the circumstances you view through human eyes distract you from the presence and acknowledgement of spiritual circumstance. Getting what you deserve does not always equate to accepting less than what you want, sometimes it's about greater blessings that we have never thought to consider.

Jesus said, "I came that you might have life, and that more abundantly". God's ability to bless abounds beyond human view or circumstance.  A previously owned SUV may have been all I needed, but God decided that it was less than what I deserved.

Don't make yourself hard to bless!  God wants the very best for you, and you're worth it because He says you're worth it!

Follow Me as I Follow God.

- @RevealingRuth