Dancing in the Streets: Jamaican Pride

This has been Jamaica's greatest ever medal haul at the Games. The country its now planning the biggest ever welcome home party in its history but for now they are still dancing in the streets.

says the BBC News article about the celebration in the heart of Jamaica.

If you want to see true unity in action, look no further than Jamaica.
The article continues:

"The place to be was Half Way Tree, a busy traffic intersection and home to the country's main bus terminus.

It has become the place to watch the sporting action from Beijing in Jamaica and whenever any of the country's local heroes take to the field the reaction is electric."

Whenever any of their local athletes compete the country gathers for support.
Notice the article doesn't say:

• the most popular athlete

• the most talented athlete

Any of their local athletes.

As you can see, there is no hierarchy of importance to be deemed "celebration worthy".

How does this reaction differ from what you are used to?

Try going to your local governor's office and request a major downtown intersection
to be blocked off for a celebration.

When the governor's office asks you why, tell them its for celebrating your
son's peewee league.

What type of response do you think you'll get?

Get my point.

How can we celebrate those around us that we love?
What ways can we appreciate them today?

Which leads me to my favorite part of the article.

The poorest of the poor of Jamaica's citizens find a way to get in on the celebration:

The sight of Jamaica's women makes the crowd erupt. I spy the traditional instrument used to celebrate in the island's poor inner city communities, the Dutchie cover - the lids of two cooking pots banged together at full force.

Jamaica is dear to my heart as part of my heritage.

Jamaica's culture inspires joy in the midst of poor circumstances.

Their spirit erupts into joy and is expressed by any means necessary.

As you can see, the cooking lids banged together at full force.
Make no mistake about it. People embraced them, instead of shun them.

There's no shame.

I love that they didn't have to feel ashamed to celebrate with the means they had. In fact, it highlights a distinction of you are welcomed here flavor.

In the United States, if I went to a parade with lids to cooking pots, I might be escorted to the nearest facility for observation.

If we see someone that doesn't have the same make and year of car or status we look the other
way and find others to embrace who we can "identify" with.


Maybe this is where I get my heart for people who have talent inside of them and if given a chance and planted in a nurturing environment can blossom.


Jamaica I am proud of you! Keep dancing. There is more yet to come!

Todd Bentley : All spirits aren't created equal

I have held my tongue long enough on Todd Bentley. Then I ran across this video and had to comment.





For any seekers who were thinking of being a follower of Christ I want you to know this is not normal behavior. And if you have been frightened away by these events I don't blame you.
Please don't give up your search for the spiritual water of Jesus Christ. Contrary to the above video he will not kick you in the face and say, "Bam!"

In fact, Isaiah 42:3 tell us the nature of Jesus Christ :A bruised reed He will not break; And a dimly burning flax He will not extinguish;

Leg dropping a pastor to "get the revival going" does not qualify in the above verse.

Jesus did not heal people by banging legs up and down "like a baseball bat" when they
were crippled.

Isn't the idea to reverse the situation and not add to it?

I am all for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit and I do believe they operate in the Church today.

Body of Christ, please discern the Holy Spirit for the sake of your soul.

The Gifts of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Kindness, Gentleness, Self-Control, Goodness, Faithfulness and Patience.

Casting out demons by choking people, kicking the elderly in the face with a bicker boot, and running people down don't quite fit the list above.

Unwanted Miracle Baby "Christ was there"

Meet precious Christela which means "Christ was there"

This story is a year old. But I just ran across it today for the first time and thank God that Jesus was there with her.

There are two victims in this story. Christela and the Baby's Mother.

I asked the same question as many did: How could a mother throw her 18 day old baby down an out house toilet that was 30 feet deep and leave her for dead?

Then I decided to think about it in a different way. What would cause a mother to do that? What pain was she in that she felt this was her only choice?

Two issues came across my mind as I read this story here is the first:

Christela’s birth mother is a juvenile from Marbial, a small village in the countryside, about 45 minutes from Jacmel. She was put out of her parents’ home when she became pregnant and she moved to Jacmel. A judge did sentence her to jail. Medically she is doing well.

1. The baby's mother was "Thrown away" and left for dead (so to speak). The mom was 15 years old at the time.

2. So the baby's mother did what was done to her baby away "Threw her away."

Thank the Lord that he looks out for us when we don't even realize it. A teenage boy followed a trail of blood to the outhouse toielt and rescued her. She was found "resting" with no scratches or bruises.

Let's pray for the family. Thank you Hands and Feet orphanage for looking after her.
God rewards those who love the forgotten of the world.
May God bless you.

Remembering Bernie Mac: Life Lessons

"The world just got a little less funny. He will be missed dearly." says friend George Clooney of Bernie Mac who died suddenly of Pneumonia.

Reading about his life brought to mind how much we miss seeing the whole picture of someone's life because of their fame.

We start thinking that his character consisted of only what we see on television.

While reading about Bernie Mac this morning I saw several things that can help what he brought to the world be continued.

I'm not referring to being a comedian. I speaking of the qualities that made up who he was and how he got there.

Mom Believed in Him

Mac's mother died of cancer when he was 16. In his book, Mac said she was a support for him and told him he would surprise everyone when he grew up.

"Woman believed in me," he wrote. "She believed in me long before I believed."

People in our life can effect us two ways: either to quench the fire that burns in our souls or fan the flame. His mother chose to fan the flame. It was that flame that kept his dream burning at times when the world seemed cold.

Estranged relationship with Father

Mac had only seen his dad about dozen times.

This where we could make a choice about the legacy we leave for our own families.

Do we follow the road of pain? Or do we set the foundation of a new legacy. He chose the latter.

His daughter described he as a great dad. In one of his books he described how he felt about being a dad and said he couldn't stop looking at her. He would wake up in the middle of the night just to see her face. He didn't understand how anyone would leave a child.

He broke a legacy that could have continued by making a choice to be a great dad to his daughter who was by his side when he died.

Husband for 30 years

His wife who was also at his side when he died said that he was

her best friend. They were together through the ups and downs of his career. What impressed me about his wife was from his autobiography. When they had to move into his grandfathers apartment he felt like a failure. He told his wife one night he was sorry. She told him that he didn't have to be sorry and that they were going to make it.

How awesome to see support in the midst of feeling humiliated. Impressive and true to self of Mac was being able in that time to be honest with what he was feeling with her. He spoke about trying to keep the poison of feeling like a failure from effecting his family, but it seeped out anyway. The important thing is that the end result was honesty to reality surrounded by the love of someone who believed in him.

Bernie Mac the Producer

Actress-comedienne Niecy Nash, who played Mac's sister on The Bernie Mac Show, recalls his knack for making fellow actors feel at home on the set.

"When I showed up to work, he said something to me that had never been said to me on a set before," she says. "He said, 'Baby girl, the script here is not the Bible. Do you, and I'll follow. I got mine, you get yours.' When he said that, I knew everything was going to be all right. I was happy to have the freedom to make up some funny with him. It was simply delicious."

Adds Nash, "My working experiences with Bernie were so amazing, that from that point on, I wouldn't have cared if he called me in the middle of the night to come and be in a scene where I didn't have anything to do but sit in the background and eat cereal. I would've just done it because I loved him like that."

What I loved about this focus on his life was how he related to his fellow actors. God used this quote from the actress to impress on my heart what Biblical Submission looks like. Whether it is in marriage, career, etc.

I cringed when I looked at the word submission. It reminded me of when I was told by clergy to submit to an abusive spouse because "God hates divorce."

That's until I met the true God of the Bible for myself and found a Church that shows his character with truth and Grace. Like God intends.

Going back to the Bernie Mac example, He gave this new actress a gift that seals submission: freedom and kindness.

Notice Niecy Nash's response - "I wouldn't have cared if he called me in the middle of the night to come and be in a scene where I didn't have anything to do but sit in the background and eat cereal."

True submission personified!

Authenticity Need Only Apply

Bernie Mac refused succumbing to altering his personality for television.

Bernie Mac is a comedian that refused to change his image for Hollywood and says that his life in Chicago is who he is and there is nothing that will change that.

The TV and film industries of the 1980’s were not interested in Mac;

While success was a long time coming, he is now a household name.

Mac said: "I'm not a star, and I don't want to be a star. Stars fall. I'm an ordinary guy with an extraordinary job."

He traveled a road that many of us try to hop and skip over today: building his success while shaping his character. Many times we fall prey to movies like the secret that tell us that all we have to do is imagine this and that and poof- out comes millions of dollars. I got swept up in this whirlwind for a quick second. Knowing you have a desire in your heart that you feel its fire with no place to release the heat. This primes us ready for two options: Marketers that know you want to make money and live the life of your dreams so they cater to your needs without fulfilling their promises. I reaped the consequences of a promise failed and off to the next victim they go a little richer and you a little poorer in both funds and hope.

Back to the story, Mac allowed his character to shape his career. He didn't form a television persona to project to the world based on "trends" he set the trend. God didn't make any two of us a like. Yet in our society we strive to be the same while profession individuality.

True success is driven by God with laser focus on his will. No one can take that away from you. Society ebbs and flows on trends. God remains the same yesterday today and forever. Amen.

Last Words from this Bernie Mac Brief:

"I came from a place where there wasn't a lot of joy," Mac told the AP in 2001. "I decided to try to make other people laugh when there wasn't a lot of things to laugh about."

What broken things from our past can we give to God today through Christ that can be turned to glorify him in the earth? Start today. And live fully.

God is Jealous for you Oprah

Earlier this year someone sent me a video of Oprah saying she heard a pastor once say that God is a Jealous God. She didn't understand why God would be jealous of her.

Hearing that sermon caused her to fall away from church and away from Christ.

Can you blame her?

If I heard a Pastor say that God was Jealous of me, I would run too!

While listening to this song, I thought of Oprah and all those who understood that verse in the say way. The song is called "He loves Me."

Before you listen to the song, let's clear up the explanation of that phrase. The NLT translation of the Bible does a nice job of teasing out the meaning.

You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. Exodus 20:5-NLT

He loves you so much that it breaks his heart to see His children straying away and devoting attention to other gods who want to only hurt you. He just wants to love you.




My hope for you is to encounter the love of God by meeting Jesus Christ. He gave up His life you so could spend the rest of your life experiencing the love he had planned for you since before the earth began.

Mary Winkler : God restores Custody and Hope For the Abused

“Nobody would believe me," remarked Mary Winkler "And they’d take the girls away and put me away.”

Mary, God believes you.

God also forgives you and loves you.

Thank you for continuing your fight to get your family back together so that God can
restore and heal your lives.

Know that communities of abused women around the world stand with you.

Enjoy the Grace that God gives through his Son Jesus Christ and accept his Love.

Mary, you are a courageous woman of God. Through all of the negative poison highlighted by the media about who you are, God gets the final answer and that's all that matters.

God grace is larger than your painful past and big enough to carry you through
the future.

There is hope for you!

Blessings to you!


The above quote was taken from the following article :Mary Winkler says husband tried to suffocate their infant daughter