Stolen Understanding

I understood a matter


At least so I thought

Tried explaining it

It confused me more

Someone else attempted

They too fell short

We took the matter to the cops

As we felt robbed

A thief

A swindler

Took our understanding

The officer recorded it

Didn’t quite understand it either

Seemed his was stolen too

A stolen understanding

Leaves you weighing in the balance

Leaves you hanging

Searching never finding

The times are confusing

Each ‘why’ leads you to another

The culprit was still on the run

Two weeks later the report came

Many lost theirs too

National leaders

Teachers and doctors

Great men and women

Had their eyes darkened

Understanding stolen

~ ` ~ `~ `

Ephesians 4:18

Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

A Complete Makeover

It is never easy to think or accept that the problems I face do not start with me.

It is always natural and easier to deem the world is going the wrong way and you are the only one who seems to be getting it right.

Conflicts flourish on seeds of selfishness, a judgmental spirit and an unwillingness to forgive.
As I look around me, my home, my church, my work and my community and by extension my country.

It is so easy to get up each day and point fingers at everyone else and to rationalize why the world is the way it is.

I have seen great confusion, strive, discontent and evil at the hands of people who thought they could protect themselves from bad influences.

But I have grown to realise that our unwillingness to submit moves us from the umbrella of divine protection.
If I decide not to submit to the laws of the land I am therefore removing my protection.

Believing I can do better on my own only creates more waste and regrets. We are all susceptible and must take the necessary steps to protect God’s purpose in us.

I feel at times as though I am in a scorching pot, that is about to cook me alive.
But I usually find refuge when I withdraw myself to do my regular introspections and ask the Holy Spirit to show me where I went wrong.

My lesson:

Try changing everything around you and you will die trying, think differently and you will change everything around you

So I am now at the place where I believe I am the problem but then I am also the solution. Until I accept that I am the problem then I won’t see the need to be fixed.

I won’t submit myself to God’s authority for him to break, remold and set me. Until I see the need for a complete makeover, the regretful trend may continue.

It is our decision that creates seasons, so I am creating a new season in my life by deciding to go under God’s knife, a complete makeover.

Walking Minds

If you see a stray mind anywhere near you, please send it home

My mind went walking last evening and has not returned

So I woke up today not being in my right mind

As I got to my office someone said, “Looks like you’ve lost your mind”

So I shared my ordeal

Someone over-heard the conversation and told me I could check the ‘mind-depot’ located on Trafalgar Road, Kingston

I took some time off from work and went in search of my mind

Much to my surprise when I got there, I saw all types of minds, big and small

I saw criminal minds, gay minds, priestly minds, beggar minds, whore minds, godly minds, miserable minds, confused minds, perverted minds, hallucinated minds

Then there was an interesting section with some wreckage such as, make up your mind,

‘Mind Over Matter,’ ‘Out of Sight - Out of Mind’, ‘Mind Your Own Business,’ ‘Would You Mind’, ‘Pay No Mind’, ‘Mind Games’, ‘Mind your manners’, ‘Mind your own beeswax’ and ‘Mind Your Ps and Qs’

Then there were some unused minds in a huge warehouse, there were so many of them it seems as though no one had come to claim these: I saw ‘Peace of mind’, ‘the mind of Christ’ and a whole lot more.

I have since written this blog to tell you that you too can recover your mind, some folks only purpose is to make you lose it; you must be determined to keep it and preserve it.

When your mind goes walking, make sure it returns.

Back-to-School Blessings

As I go off to school, Father, help me to learn

Give me patience and bless my teachers so they will be patient too

Many opportunities to be a blessing to the world will surround me

Help me to always grab a hold of these opportunities

Whenever things go wrong and they often will

Help me Father to be a part of the solution and not to complicate the problem

If I am tempted to jump on the "bad-mouth bandwagon" help me Lord not to

As for me and my mouth we will serve the Lord

Help me not to be a complainer but a thanks giver

Grant focus to my mind

Remind me that I am a Christian before I am a student

And we are Christians before we are teachers, so we serve you first, not ourselves

Whenever it gets rough and the money is just not enough

You have promised to always supply all my needs, so I look to you Lord

Bless my school, bless the students and staff, and keep us safe,

Let me shine like a star, leading and lighting someone’s way

It is too easy to do evil so help me Lord from evil to stay

Lord, help me to always believe and accept that ‘I was made for better’

I want to pursue excellence and do your will, bless me now, bless me today

Ipromise to be the best me that I can be

Amen

I just want you to know

I am not hungry if you can’t feed me

I am not thirsty if you can’t quench me

I am not going if you won’t send me

Father, free me, live in me

What have you done to me?

I have changed...


I am different...


I hate the new me...


You’ve changed my skin...


Fill me with anger within...


What have you done to me?


I need to escape...


I am your captive...


Release me from this bed...


I just might end up dead...

I Asked...

I asked for wealth


I knew it not

It was right there

From the start



I asked for good health

I knew it not

It made me able to see

You have been there with me



I asked for good friends

I knew it not

They were always there

Helping, showing a heart of care



I asked for a servant’s heart

I knew it not

I was sent daily needy people

To show your love was the greatest



I asked for a wise man’s mind

I knew it not

It was a special kind

I had it all this time



I asked and I asked

When I thought I had it not

I knew it not

I murmured and complained



I asked and I asked

Much to my surprise

You had already equipped me

Now I can see, you were always there

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: The language of laughter

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: The language of laughter: What language is laughter? I speak Italian and you German Yet you understood my very laughter expression I am amazed at this little fact...

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: The language of laughter

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: The language of laughter: What language is laughter? I speak Italian and you German Yet you understood my very laughter expression I am amazed at this little fact...

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: Hey! Champion

The Colour and Power of Your Thoughts: Hey! Champion: The champion in you Let it soar like an eagle Above and beyond the challenges One by one, jump over each hurdle Walk, run, fly Th...

Hey! Champion

The champion in you


Let it soar like an eagle

Above and beyond the challenges

One by one, jump over each hurdle

Walk, run, fly

There is no problem greater

Than what God has deposited in you

Kill worrying, she is too distracting

There is no obstacle stronger

Than what God has given you

Your victory is coming

It may not be fast and quick, but it will come full

Patience is your friend, impatience your enemy

His laws, your road map

Your obedience, the access key

There is a champion in you

Walk, run, fly, soar

Above it all,

Cry, ask why, but don’t stop try

There is a champion in you

You Made A Difference In My Life

May Day - Manchester

(Feel free to share with a family member, a friend or anyone who has touched your life)

Run!

Life is a race; you better believe it and must be prepared to run…

Every morning when you wake you have got to run…

Enemy coming at you to tempt and deceive you, you better be running…

You know you’ve got the intelligence and you like to win an argument but sometimes you have got to run…

Those who run away aren’t necessarily the weak or cowards…most often they are wise

Run! Like joseph

Run! Don’t be like Samson

Run! Away from the lust of the eyes and the flesh

Run! Away from the drugs and substance abuse

Run! Away from the fights that never end but change your entire life and bring you death

Run! Away from greed and the love of money

Run! Away from the love of the world

Run! Away from yourself

It is a race in which you are running against yourself and time

Run teenage boy run
Run teenage girl run

Run husband run
Run wife run

Single man and woman, run
Some won’t cheer you on but they’ll quickly scorn…run, run and run

You may have failed as a son but you don’t have to fail as a dad
You may have failed as a wife, but you don’t have to fail as a mom…run, run, and run

If you are going to run well you must learn what to run to and what to run away from
In any case when you wake in the morning, Run!

(Animated image from: www.halhigdon.com/rundogsrun.htm)

Game Over

Why do I allow you to rob my joy…and bring me pain

Why do I keep allowing you to take my pride…return me shame
What you think of me does not determine my name

Once upon a time you would mesmerize my mind
I would be fool’s foot ball to be kicked where your legs saw fit
But TODAY, you will no longer walk over me, no way

I am claiming my victory
I’m writing a new story
Time to walk in God’s glory

I’m changing my name
I'm changing my game
Here’s my status for you:
GAME OVER



Why I Cried...

There was so much happening…

Too much that I had little or no control over…

“Make it stop! Make them go away!” I shouted repeatedly…

But as each sun rose then set, it grew worse and worse…

I started bottling it all up…

Fighting it on the inside…

Hurting myself more and more…

Once I thought I would quit…

Twice I lifted my eyes and started to do it…

I internalized it, I criticized it, I hated it…

But as each sun rose then set, it grew worse and worse…

The system, the people and the way things were designed…

They all seemed to have been working against me on over time…

They had disrupted my reasoning and messed up my mind…

I felt my heart at a snail's pace bleeding as the pain grew stronger…

“Oh God, I just can’t take this any longer!”…

“Make it stop! Make them go away!” I shouted repeatedly…

Then one day it all hit me so hard…

My head felt like it was about to explode…

My heart burned from pepper mixed with fire…

Then slowly down my cheeks the teardrops came…

No longer could I bear the anguish and the pain…

As I sat down to write this, down came the tears again…

I cried and I cried as healing tears washed my eyes…

Then I cried some more so my heart could see life around me a bit clearer…

Now that I have cried, today I stand stronger, wiser, brighter and happier…

I have dried my eyes, I have had my sad moments, so when you see me smile, let me go by…

I know why I smile and I know why I laugh, I also know why I cried…

I am a Seed

Planted

Nurtured

Lived

Germinated

Matured

Fruitful and now it gives

A word spoken

A kind deed given

These are precious seeds

I am a seed

So too are you

Whose seed do you carry?

I am a seed of another seed

You carry a sown seed

It determines how you live and who you marry

Plant a seed for change,

It may not grow in your life time

But plant it anyway

Many have planted

We are their produce

They live on, once we speak

I pause to honour

The difference they have made

A vital difference in me and perhaps you

A chosen seed

A seed of love

A seed of mercy

A seed of purple or blue

A seed of thoughtfulness too

I am a seed, so too are you

Far from it...

I am perfect…far from it

I am righteous…oh dear, far from it

I am very loving…far from it

I forgive easily…oh man! Far from it

I love the Lord…now I am a bit closer

I want to live with Him forever…now you talking (BIG SMILE)

I am not perfect, but your love is bringing me closer to it

I am not righteous, but you are my righteousness

I am not so loving, especially to those who hurt me, but I am transformed by your love for me

I use to forgive easier before all this madness around me but you are teaching me daily to let it go

Wow!

It is no wonder why I am able to sleep well at nights and live in peace

Because everything I am not, you are

When I am far from you, I am far from all the good and holy things too

All you ask is that I remain close to you

Thank you Jesus

The Love Story

‘A list of thought provoking comments and questions on love’

• The story of the average young searching for love is both confusing and mixed up, but who says that's the way it always have to be...

• Why do you have to make all the wrong selections before arriving at the right one?

Desperate for love we accept God’s reject...

Why so many people in love aren’t willing to forgive each other?

Love makes communication easier; disrespect makes it harder...

The word love means a whole lot of different things to different people and to the same people at times...

Loneliness should not be your main reason to seek love or a companion...

If the mind loves misery it will not find comfort anywhere else...

There is an element of ‘love’ which says, ‘taken for granted’...

Whatever you love sometimes you want more of, I wonder whether that is the case for those who love the poor?

You will do for love what you believe is impossible for everything else.

A love quest often leaves the chased and the chaser blind to others... 

When a child loves you he/she believes you are perfect, but as they grow older we teach them to look for faults and hold on to them...

Love is very encouraging to the heart...

My BEST days are the ones I gave love without partiality.

Dog Quarrel

In the still of the night

The cry of grey hounds filled the air

A fierce quarrel among the beasts

Bark, bark, everywhere

They all were speaking at the same time

So what the other said, I could not hear

Brutal, heated words, they were not clear

You dare not grab a dog by its ear



Though they were near, a distant away

I would not dare, I would not dare

A bite may be better than a bark from the beasts

They quarreled louder dangerously quiet a tease

Like pairs of ferocious women

Bitterly they tore each others’ flesh with growls

Barking the clouds from out the sky

No neighbour to calm this flood of fire



Acrimonious sound bites

‘Brown dawg!’

A fight ensued, I knew it

The quarrel wouldn’t last

Midnight only a distant past

Skimpily clod

I knew I had to



Sweep for my sleep

I grabbed the broom, dashed from the room

Breathing heavily

Blood was in my eyes

Too long, in the middle of the streets

A grave wrong had robbed my sleep

I rushed outside so fast

Two huge stones followed me


I tossed the stones and I wielded my broom

The sacred angry dog pack rapidly dispersed

Leaving a wounded lying still

He was too badly bitten

One quarrel

One fight

One sacrifice

Dogs short of fence

Owners starved of sense

Must a child now pay?

Hiding From Myself

I haste,

I haste,

To find a place,

A place beneath,

In this game of hide and seek,

Hide me from myself,

Make me into someone else,

A heart that is 180 degrees to my mind,

Myself I hid, now I try desperately to find,

I travel where my desires are greatest,

No, not where my Father say is best,

Hide me from myself,

Make me into someone else,

Fear and shame,

Give me a new name,

I detest it,

I dislike it,

Who I am and who I have become,

I can no longer hide,

I must ride my tide,

My thoughts

My mind

My secrets

My stuff

Though not perfect

A seed of righteousness is in me

I am God’s promise for someone’s dream

I must fulfill it

I must live it

I am bringing this game to an end

I want to be free, Jesus is my friend

I am in it, to win it

I am in it, to win it

(God loves us just as we are, come as you are, bring all your broken pieces, bring it all to Jesus, He is calling, He is waiting)