If you look on the horizon, you will see the gathering storm. That storm has been brewing for almost 40 years. That storm is the mind of a Black man carefully crafted by his Creator for the next level. This small, simple place is a shelter to observe the coming storm in safety.
Not from Larry Craig...but from the Police officer.
DK: I know you're not going to fight me. But that's not the point. I would respect you and I still respect you. I don't disrespect you but I'm disrespected right now and I'm not tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you're sitting here lying to a police officer.
DK: It's not a (inaudible) I'm getting from somebody else. I'm (inaudible)
LC: (inaudible) (Talking over each other)
DK: I am trained in this and I know what I am doing. And I say you put your hand under there and you're going to sit there and...
LC: I admit I put my hand down.
DK: You put your hand and rubbed it on the bottom of the stall with your left hand.
LC: No. Wait a moment.
DK: And I, I'm not dumb, you can say I don't recall...
LC: If I had turned sideways, that was the only way I could get my left hand over there.
DK: it's not that hard for me to reach. (inaudible) it's not that hard. I see it happen everyday out here now.
LC: (inaudible) you do. All right.
DK: I just, I just, I guess, I guess I'm gonna say I'm just disappointed in you sir. I'm just really am. I expect this from the guy that we get out of the hood. I mean, people vote for you.
What Michael Vick did to you is exactly what you deserve
This ain't funny so don't ya dare laugh, just another case 'bout the wrong path, Straight 'n narrow or yo' soul gets cast -Richard Walters
Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, the bottom fell out.
After a morning of listening to random sports radio hosts shoveling dirt on the casket that may or may not contain the career of Michael Vick, something struck me.
How much of this is really OUR fault?
Whether it's Sports, entertainment, or politics, we invest our hopes and dreams in OTHER people.
Not family, or friends, but complete strangers.
I heard a sports columnist tell me that Michael Vick doesn't deserve to entertain us.
Sports is was and always will be a BUSINESS. A sports journalist, of ALL people cannot possibly be as detached from reality.
A cruel game is being played, yall. And I have never been too sure of who to blame.
Until NOW.
Its OUR fault.
For centuries, since the dawn of time, people of prodigious talent have been elevated to staggering heights in the eyes of the public at large, only to ultimately fall under the weight of the unrealistic expectations.
Once upon a time, Michael Vick was the future of the NFL. Occasionally, he was every bit the jaw dropping physical talent Football fans hoped for.
Mostly he was a Young Black man staggering through life under the weight of city desperate to achieve some sort of football legacy.
Michael Vick came along at a time when The NFL was just now ready to be crowned the undisputed KING of the sporting landscape.
It took Heroic, if scientifically enabled, acts never seen before to bring baseball back from the brink of relative obscurity despite the previous century of being hailed as being MORE than sports, being hailed as the American Pastime.
Basketball was in the afterglow of the Jordan era, smoking a cigarette and watching him get dressed, playing it cool, but knowing that he wasn't coming back and wondering how it would be able to make it without the arm candy it had enjoyed for the past 12-15 years.
But this is all irrelevant now. Vick is but a passing memory, football wise.
He has crossed over from Human being to poster child, stripped of that suddenly elusive third dimension that separates object lessons and poster children from Human Beings.
What has transpired is probably16 years in the making, and the responsibility for it falls squarely on your own shoulders.
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Sometimes, the most important thing is that which is missing. When you tell your significant other that you love them and all that you hear in reply is abject silence, that which is missing is more telling than anything that they could possibly say. Jesus, in reading this passage from Isaiah 61, read a messianic prophesy about Himself, but the telling thing about the reading is where He stopped - He stopped mid-sentence, in the middle of verse 2. Why would Jesus stop in the middle of a sentence like that? The answer is simple, yet profound in its implications for our Christian journey - the Kingdom of God was manifest with Jesus' entry into the world, but it will not be fully consummated until His return. His Kingdom is already here, but it is not yet fulfilled.
There is tension between the Already and the Not Yet, and we see this tension in many ways, every day. We witness the movement and power of the Holy Spirit on a regular basis, but we also see gross injustices going unpunished. We see God saving, healing, and delivering people from certain destruction, but we also see people cursing God and living well. We readily see the Already but we also understand the Not Yet, and this is why we earnestly yearn for Jesus' return - we want His Kingdom to come into effect in full. It is like beginning a race when all of your opponents have been disqualified - you are already assured of victory but you have not yet completed the race. It is much like the prototypical engagement period - you have the assurance of a life-long commitment but you have not yet consummated the relationship (n.b. failure to achieve the former often being connected to a failure to live up to the latter). We already have the assurance of our salvation through the in-dwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, but we have not yet been glorified in the fullness of the Kingdom of God. We praise God for the Already but we sit on tiptoe anticipation for the Not Yet.
Patience is a virtue.
I don't know about you, but I hate to wait for that which is already mine - nothing irritates me more than waiting for my food in a restaurant, waiting in rush hour traffic to get home, or waiting for a certain Texan to leave office - but Jesus said that no man knows the day nor the hour of His return, so we have no choice but to wait for Him to return and establish His kingdom in full here on Earth. It is already established, but it is not yet completed.
May the LORD bless you and keep you; May the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; And may the LORD, Who has already prepared a place for us, May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.
Yes I know...the whole world is acting a complete fool and I am not here to hold your hand and wax eloquently and pontificate upon it.
IT is a tragedy.
But I do submit to you that for the bargain price of 80K per year, plus Health, I will camp out in the office and put out 25,000 well written and thoroughly researched words a week.
Until then, I gotta walk these dogs and represent Boo (c) Raekwon the Chef.
But in the meantime....Hug your babies and love your mommas...cause its finna get WILD in these here streets.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, "In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out." Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?" Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.
It is amazing to me just how many people try to fake it 'til they make it. As I was watching the Democratic Debate that was sponsored by the AFL-CIO this week, John Edwards consistently talked about how many picket lines he had marched during the last two years. It got to the point where Joe Biden had to call him out on the carpet, asking him indirectly where John Edwards was when he was a senator from a Right-To-Work-For-Less state - where was John Edwards when publicly and vocally supporting Labor would have cost him dearly? There are a lot of people who talk a good game, and some who can walk well when there's no pressure on them, but where do we stand when it really matters? Where do we stand when our own money is on the line? Where do we stand when it's time to put up or shut up?
The seven sons of Sceva got caught faking the funk. They thought that their little side show - a profitable show in their day and ours - could ride into town and get paid, but as Steve Martin's character noted in the movie Leap of Faith, the biggest threat to a hustle is the genuine article, and the seven sons of Sceva ran into a genuine demon. One of the most telling statements that one can make is, "I almost lost my religion!" Religious people tend to get beat down by demons, but those of us who have a personal relationship with our Savior can walk in power, we can speak with authority, and we can make a difference for the Kingdom of God. Too often church folk try to put on a show for people to see just how righteous they are, but when we come face-to-face with a demon we will quickly learn that whatever is in us will truly come out of us. If we are walking with the Savior then He will stand up within us and exude His power on our behalf, but if we have nothing but religious pretense then we will find ourselves running bloodied and spiritually naked from a fight that we couldn't win.
Ain't no half-steppin'.
It is not enough to know about Jesus, you have to know Him for yourself and you have to submit the totality of your being to His sovereign will. People can fake it til they make it but that road inevitably leads to a sons of Sceva-scale beat-down. All power and authority is in Jesus Christ, and if we expect to be successful in this Christian journey then we have to center ourselves in the middle of His will because it's all about Him - He's the headliner, we're just the hype-men. Jesus doesn't employ His power on behalf of those who contribute to His kingdom, He shows Himself to be mighty on behalf of those who are committed to Him and His kingdom.
Where will you stand when it really matters?
May the LORD bless you and keep you; May the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; And may the LORD, Who wants us to stand up when it matters, May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.
500 for A-Rod, 755 and 756 for Bonds, 1 for Tomlin, 500 for me
And so, here we are, 2 year+ on this blog...and Im finally at Five hundred Posts. It has been a weekend of milestones.
A-Rod hits his HR 500 and suddenly he's the last hope to save baseball from Barry Bonds. Don't get too excited Alex, they were chasing you from Scrip Club to Scrip club and photographing cuss words off the back of your wife's wife-beater not 45 days ago.
Barry Bonds hits 755 and 756, much to the chagrin of all those who despise him. my feelings are well substantiated on this topic, I am not in the mood to even link you to what I said before.
Suffice it to say, Numbers don't lie (Shawn Carter)
Mike Tomlin is the real deal. The Tony Dungy Coaching tree grows a new branch. There is something about Tomlin, I could sense it. Any man whose first pregame sideline interview was the following
Adam Scheffter: DO you feel any pressure on your first game? Coach Tomlin: Man, Pressure is trying to feed your family.
It doesn't MATTER what he said after that. That is the kind of truth America needs from a sports figure.
And finally, I would like to thank a few people for the ride from post 1 to Post 500.
Jameil- probably my most faithful reader who doesn't actually live in the house with me.
My best friend in the whole wide world - my Blog Chaplain, who NEEDS to be getting his blog on SOMEWHERE...
Ms. Write-Now - you don't always leave your mark like I would want you to, but you've been around a long time and thats all that matters.
To My Favorite Librarian, my favorite Urban Planner, and my favorite Wedding Planner, all friends whose friendship goes WELL before Post #1; heck Ive known all three of you longer than Ive known my wife.
RPM, Wise, and Nikki - if we NEVER do the do, I still appreciate the moment. BlaqueScribe is STILL the movement.
and FINALLY... To the First Lady of this joint, who has read every post, from 1-500 but doesn't even talk to ME about it in person...I appreciate YOU....I just wish you would share with the world what you share with me. I love you.
and to the nameless faceless souls who come and go...for seconds or minutes...Thank you for at least making me feel like I am not doing this in vain.
So, after several weeks of spamming Human Resources people all over the metroplex, Once again I have decided to don the apron and carve out a living slinging fried shellfish at people craving the unique confluence of seafood and hypertension.
You might ask yourself: Yo, What IS it with you and waiting tables? You clearly have a fairly impressive arsenal of skills, so what are you doing waiting tables.
For almost TWENTY years, no less?
Firstly...I would LOVE to do something else. I spent several weeks spamming HR folk and harassing placement agencies. Apparently either this is all I am good for, or God is trying to tell me something.
Or....I suck at Job hunting. (if you answered C, you probably actually know me, so no gift for you.)
All that be as it may, the bottom line is, Once again i don the apron for a living. My better half suggested that, since clearly I excel in this field, that maybe, just MAYBE, THIS is what I should be going to school for.
After a little reasearch, lo and behold, a Bachelor's program right up the highway.
And off we go.
Stay tuned for the Hypertensive Scrimp chronicles.
Im older, wiser, and just a WEEE bit desperate to make something happen. And I am working with a bunch of young impressionable Caucasians.
