The President speaks...

I appreciated our President's honest, frank and poignant comments about race in America.  We want leadership from the Oval Office; he delivered that to the Nation yesterday.

I urge white America, don't be dismissive of what the President said to us.  That's the knee-jerk response; don't own that.  Reach down, find the empathy to put yourselves in the place of our citizens who are people of color.  Have a conversation with yourself--about that time you clutched your purse, or locked your door or whatever it was, JUST because you saw "color" and that produced irrational fear.  

Crime, violence, rage, and bitterness are all a part of the fabric of our culture--but they come in all colors; not just blood lines from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Native America.  Those flaws of character that create so much chaos in the "American Experience" also find significant place in the color White.

President Obama calmed the Nation; he affirmed our due process and charged us to embrace the outcome.  But, he did much more; he reminded me that people of color deal with "death by a 1000 cuts" every day.  Humiliation is such a strong negative message that diminishes its victims in profound, permanent ways.  My President helped me get past my frustration over seeming unreasonableness, to understanding; to empathy and softness.  For me, that's leadership.

We can only pray that this becomes a significant next step to healing the self-inflicted wounds of Slavery and Manifest Destiny.  

bN

TGFIAO

Thank God Friday is almost over.

Just one of those days--start out feeling optimistic and ready to end the week on a strong note.  Then, you walk in and it's one cranky call or hopelessly twisted scenario after another.  

My head aches, I'm hiding in the bathroom because I don't want to talk to Laura--I'm out of words, the dogs didn't even greet me when I walked through the door--intuitive is a good thing.   What I need right now, is a good night's rest.

I did aspire, and attempt to soar to kindness today.  Grateful there is always tomorrow. 

Tomorrow.  It's only a day away.

Politics as Industry

Father in  heaven...

Politics has become a growth industry in America, this is a problem; too much ambition and too little service.  It didn't start this way.  The noble has become ignoble.

Regardless of party affiliation, the pursuit of power, wealth, celebrity too, has become the focus of many elected to serve "the people" in Washington.  Congress has been sullied by gridlock, the "love of money", sexual scandal, graft and abuse of privilege.

I pray this 2014 election cycle breaks toward leaders willing to make tough decisions, without regard for how those decisions poll: that, will be patriotism.

...Deliver us from evil.

Will . Power .

I am reminded throughout the Scriptures about "the sacrifice of praise." 

When I discipline my will to offer my sacrifice of praise to Him, without exception I experience a "breakthrough" to worship...where a dynamic exchange takes place; Kingdom authority--His power working in me, for authentic Worship. 

This is why we see so much conflict around "worship" in the church today. Failure to worship prevents Believers from experiencing His empowering flow, from the throne of God to the people of God; as a consequence we underachieve and never fully appropriate "His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think." 

Ephesians 3.20

Start this week in Worship to say "no" to any attitude that prevents you from turning your full focus on God, who loves us with an everlasting, undeserved love. Don't focus on the environment, the music, the clutter created by leadership, the squasma of life--just look up and offer your sacrifice of praise; watch what God will do in you, then through you.

This is one sacrifice where God's people get much more than we give.

Facts are stubborn!

Facts are stubborn. It's easy to simply dismiss them, but then we won't, can't, make progress as a nation.

It's time America do what we have done so well for so long; put the best of both political visions to work and create a synergy that empowers our "We the people" political will. The best kind of politics is not a "winner take all" proposition.  That becomes a recipe for tyranny, regardless of whose in charge.   

Step back, breath deeply, think critically and refuse the Kool Aid people on BOTH sides of the asile have prepared for this next election cycle; don't forget to pray for guidence.

Grace is amazing...

Rose from my slumber to discover redemption.
Not earned, not deserved, not asked for
Generous, vast resolve so effective; graciously given,
Freely received.

Perspective transformed, purpose revealed
Hope a reality, thirsty no more; graciously given,
Freely received.

Remembers no chapter, holds hostage no person
Not a place or thing, not a judgement, but a gift; graciously given,
Freely received.

New every morning, pure like the dew, refreshing, free.
Unbounded, complete, matter settled: not guilty.
Set free from my prison; graciouly given,
Freely received.

Now, freely give...

Post-racial: Not.

"If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

So much for "the first post-racial President in our history;" sounded hopeful; sort of like "hope and change" and "change we can believe in."  This Presidency certainly will not be described as post-racial by any perspective of history.  Not because it couldn't have been.

You see, the "we think it's cool" crowd doomed that possibility almost from that night in Chicago, when a sea of well-wishers gathered to celebrate this President's election.  That certainly was a moment in history.  But it didn't produce a post-racial result.  You see, from that "moment" almost anyone who dared question this President's intelligence, fitness for office, ability to lead or wisdom in approaching the challenges facing the nation--has been tarred as a racist puppet of the Aryan Nation.

As I reflect back, all the Presidents during my lifetime have been the subject of a national pastime geared toward laughing at their quirks, questioning their intelligence, reviling their politics and counting the days till the next election cycle.  In this modern era, virtually nothing has been out of bounds.  (Now, let me state for the record, I don't believe what we subject our Presidents to is good for the nation; that said, it's become the norm, not the exception.  It's mean, but it's not racist.)

So, when this President stepped up to become the focus of the electorates ire, it's decried as racism.  That is non-sense.  Are there racists in America?  Certainly.  Is some the what we hear about this President racist?  Certainly.  The fact is some of what we heard about George Bush was (and continues to be) hate speech.  We chose not to make idiocy a crime in this country.

This is America.  We need to be able to speak our minds, thoughtful or otherwise, because that's a treasured "right" here.  It's part of what makes us, us.  My concern is that we have forgotten who we are and what makes this nation great.  I pray for civil discourse in the 2014 election cycle.  But I expect it to be a spirited and opinionated discourse--as it should be.  "Ideas" do that to people.  People must feel safe stating what they think about this President and believe to be the best course for the nation...regardless of their agenda.  

We make judgments about the ideas placed before us by politicians and the people that support them.  The 2014 election cycle should be no different than those that came before it...but some would seek to prevent this process from playing out that way.

It's here that we see a tragic irony.  The very people who anointed this administration as "post-racial" are the ones who continually play the race card to intimidate citizens; attempting to prevent them from engaging in a critical examination of the record this administration, and Congress, has produced.  That is their end-game.   If one cannot win on the facts, then win any way one can. 

I am concerned that the election to determine the next Congress will be characterized by class warfare, race-baiting, vitriol and a "take no prisoners" commitment to win at any cost.  Now is the time to brace for just such an election.  Prepare now to be driven to a decision by the facts and your conviction about what you believe is the best course for our nation going forward.  How can one do that

• Critically consider your values and then ask, which set of ideas best represent those values. 
• Become thoroughly familiar with who the candidates really are...not who they, or their handlers, simply say they are.
• Go deeper than the talking points. Think through policy and how it effects the nation going forward.
• Engage big ideas. Read, study, pray and reflect on the politics of the 21st century, then measure the ideas of those asking for your vote against your own understanding and perspective, born from that "due diligence."
• Refuse to be an ideologue.
• Measure twice and cut once.
• Seek guidance from God; Seek His agenda. Be willing to embrace it.
• Exercise your right, privilege and responsibility to vote.

We missed an opportunity to get it right under the leadership of this administration, one has to wonder, what could have been?  The good news is, while we don't always get it right the first time, Americans keep working at it until we do.  No, this isn't the first post-racial Presidency, but it's taken us one step closer to that vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. 

Sweet dream.

Justice?

She may be blind, but she can be fickle.