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  • Grand Old Party

    Posted on November 20th, 2013 rhonda No comments

    “Am I therefore become your enemy,

    because I tell you the truth?”

    Galatians 4:16

     

    Dear Christian Republican Voters:

     

    I’m writing because I’m angry at you and want to be reconciled with you; for my good, our good, and the good of our country.  I originally drafted this letter when the government was shut-down and America was headed towards default.  I am angry because you voted in people who are willing to destroy this country to get what you want.  I want to talk to Republican Christians because the body of Christ should be more important than our political parties.

     

    Let me introduce myself first.  I am a Christian.  I believe in the Holy Trinity of the Father, Son, & Holy Ghost.  I believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.  I believe the Bible is the word of God.  I’m a middle-aged, working, intelligent and educated African American woman living on the east coast who normally votes Democrat.  I support President Obama.

     

    No, I don’t support the President’s actions as it regards cultural/societal issues that are in contrast to the Bible.  Yet, Psalm 41:1 says “blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble”.  President Obama’s regard for the weak is shown in enacting pay-equality for women, Obamacare, and wanting the rich to pay their fair-share in taxes.  It appears that not only do you disagree with his policies, but you hate him and his family as human beings.  Why else would a Congressman call the President a liar, during the President’s State of the Union address?  The disrespect & disdain with which you’ve treated him, through your representatives, infuriates me.  I still don’t know if President George Bush won his first election fair and square; but once the dust-up was over, Democrats accepted his authority.  Why are people still arguing that President Obama is a Kenyan with a fake birth certificate?

     

    That’s why I’m writing to you.  I want you to know who I am, and why I support President Obama and liberal/moderate Democrats.  I want you to realize that I’m a human being, no better or worse than you are.  I also want you to use your influence as voters to restore respect for the Office of the Presidency (regardless of who the President is) and to infuse the Republican Party with a concern for the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger.  That’s Biblical.  You and I should be able to be reconciled with one another based on our being members of the household of God.

     

    Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

    Put on the full armor of God,

    so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

    For our struggle is not against flesh and blood,

    but against the rulers, against the authorities,

    against the powers of this dark world and

    against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

    Ephesians 6:10-12

  • Thanks Glenn

    Posted on November 12th, 2013 rhonda No comments

     

    Samuel said,

    “Although you were once small in your own eyes,

    did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel?”

    1 Samuel 15:17

     

    A woman shared that, decades ago, as a younger woman she regularly got involved with married men.  She said that it took her a long time to realize the damage that she did to the wives.  She was clueless about the pain and suffering she caused others.  She ended by saying, “When you think you’re insignificant & worthless, then nothing that you do really matters”. 

     

    Years ago, I heard a Pastor speak on the fact that, when we believe we’re insignificant, we do things to try to make ourselves important, and oftentimes those things can be self-destructive and painful to other people.  He used 1 Samuel as his reference point.

     

    The smallest things, good or bad, make a difference in other people’s lives.  I look back in gratitude at Glenn.  Decades ago, when I was a first year student in college, I remember going to an on-campus dinner given specifically for incoming freshman as a part of our Orientation week.  I am introverted, but have gained enough in maturity and insight over the years to be able to feel comfortable at formal functions where I don’t know anyone.  Back then, over 20 years ago, I was a basket case.  Even though I wasn’t technically late, it seemed that all the tables were full of people & everyone was happily chattering with other freshman, as though they’d come from the same high school together.  As I was standing there, feeling really awkward, and wondering where to sit & what to do, all of a sudden this guy, Glenn, waved me over & said that there was a seat at the table where he was.

     

    He wasn’t trying to get anything from me.  Glenn was just a good guy.  He facilitated a lot of the conversation at the table.  Over the 4 years that we were both in school, I saw him intermittently & we always greeted one another; but we never became friends and I don’t know where he is today.  All I know is how grateful I was that he saved me from a really awkward situation.  All these years later, that small act of kindness still sticks in my head.  I try to “pay it forward” by being welcoming to other people who are new at work, or at church, or in other social situations.

     

    Everything that we do makes a difference, because God created us for a purpose.  There’s no need for anyone to be “small” in their own eyes.

     

    “. . . what is mankind that you are mindful of them,

    human beings that you care for them?

    You have made them a little lower than the angels

    and crowned themwith glory and honor.”

    Psalm 8:4-5

     

     

     

  • Work It

    Posted on November 5th, 2013 rhonda No comments

    “Whatever you do,

    work at it with all your heart,

    as working for the Lord,

    not for men,

    since you know that you will receive

    an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.”

    Colossians 3:23-24 

    When I realized I wanted to become a human trafficking abolitionist, for years I harbored a fantasy that I would leave my current job and work for an organization like the International Justice Mission.  I wanted to do “important” work and free people from slavery.   I sent out resumes and requested informational interviews.  No one was interested.

    I resented the anti-trafficking world’s disinterest in me.  Then I realized that it was all for the good (Romans 8:28).  The more I read about slavery, the more I realized that it’s the most vulnerable people who get enslaved.  The “at-risk” groups are the poor, the orphan, the widow and the stranger.

    I’m an educator and a social worker.  If I do my job as an offering to God, I can do a lot of “important” preventive work.  If I can equip people with the essential life skills they need to stand on their own two feet, I will have done a lot to make them trafficking-resistant and slavery-proof.  I’ll no longer hear impoverished women entertain prostitution as a viable option to make ends meet.

    We don’t have to do someone else’s job to make a difference in this world.  Do the job that God gave you, which includes being rich in good deeds, being generous and willing to share (I Timothy 6:18).  In addition to tithing, we have other ways to be generous and make an impact.  As the body of Christ, we can gather together to provide homes for single moms & their children, ensure that babies get preventive healthcare, help a woman get job training, or even send a child to school.  We’re blessed to have Christian organizations that can maximize the impact of our gifts (www.worldvisiongifts.org).

    We all have to discern and decide to make a difference in our own way.

     “I was young

    And now I am old,

    Yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

    or their children begging bread.

    They are always generous and lend freely:

    their children will be blessed.”

    Psalm 37:25-26