Saturday Edition: The Sinking Ship

I've been reading a lot about what's going on our beloved nation. The break up of Defense of Marriage Act. The great city of Detroit filing for bankruptcy. The "I told you so" verdict of the Zimmerman trial. Congress' failure to make a deal to prevent the rise of student loan rates. The now rebuttal to "double jeopardy" because of the Zimmerman verdict. The lowered standards of education, especially in Texas, my new home state (but I'm a Wolfpack N.C. man at heart, Lol). All these things and more have sort of got me in meditation mode, you know. I'm trying to figure out, how in the world did we get here? Where did all of this chaos come from? For most of us, we can say the old catch phrase, "the devil made me do it." Yeah, the so-called "prince of the power of the air" does have a lot of influence in this world. Even in the garden of Eden, he made Adam turn a blind eye while Eve made a deal with him to become "a god." But do you want to know what I really think, my friends? It's the fragility and darkness of men's hearts that has orchestrated this chaos. How could Detroit, once the premiere city for music, big business, and sports turn into a real life version of "The Walking Dead?" How did a man who knowingly shot a young boy out of prejudice because his appearance rather than his heart get away with murder? How did the "powers that be" influence the jury's decision find him innocent, now opening the door for the Department of Justice to one day decimate "Double Jeopardy" (remember, they couldn't get OJ for the '94 murders so they had to frame him)? How come now everybody is on the bandwagon supporting gay marriage when it's not only the divine law of God but the working of nature that marriage is between a man and a woman (even the people of Mesopotamia knew this-do your research)? Why is it that our now generation is being lied to in their history classes and made to take tests that even their teachers can't pass (hello Texas State Board of Education)? All of these things and many more are the product of allowed chaos? Where is the voice of reason in all this? Where is truth? Where is real justice? Where's the standard? These past few weeks, I've been dealing with a lot of "indecisiveness" in my own life. All of these things happening around. I feel like sometimes, I'm in a sinking ship, sot of like the Titanic. I remember my 9th grade History teacher Mr. King (Enloe High School '95, Raleigh, NC- YayYay!) told us that by the time we get his age, things in law, education, finances, and morality would change. Wow, was that man right. By all means y'all, I'm not a "holy roller" who has an "inverted view" of things. I'm very cultured and I do believe America is that sinking ship. Just like Rome. Just like Ancient Egypt. Just like Babylon. I guess Lecrae was right, "everything is falling." When the world is off course, somebody, just one person has to shake themselves and go back to the One who put things back on course. You know the name. And it's by it that we can be saved, from the sinking ship.

Til next time, Love, peace, and soooooouullllll!  - dgwo

References:
Psalms 82
Acts 4:10-12

Coming Of Age: Prioritization

I've been thinking a lot lately over my life. About a couple of weeks ago, I turned 32 and at that moment, life hit me. You see, I've been going through changes, a whole lot of changes. A lot of things I would allow or condone, I don't anymore. A lot of things I used to do, I don't do them anymore. There have been many people I used to hang with, well, we're not that close anymore. It's the natural order of things. Changes. Coming of Age. Now, I've reached a point in my life where I want more out of life. I'm not saying that I'm going to sell my soul over money, things, or fame. I'm saying that it's time to start building an inheritance for my future children, building up my household, investing into other people's lives who are younger than me. It's time for me to start traveling a whole lot more and live a full life. It's time to do all that God has put in my heart. I'm pretty sure you guys feel the same way but many of us wonder how we can get to that place of ultimate fulfillment. It's all summed up in one word, prioritization. For the past couple of days, I've been researching a lot of information through studying the Bible, reading professional comments on certain topics, and talking with my wife. I've come to realize that we Americans and even abroad lack in the skill of prioritization. We love to multitask; meaning, we love to plan out all these lovely ideas and think to do them all at the same time. We love being "busybodies" because we feel like we have something to prove to others (and maybe to ourselves to rid thoughts of regrets/unforgiveness of misdeeds). We love "overstuffing" ourselves (our time) with things so we can feel important or "fulfilled." In all actuality, at the end of the day (a common saying on Love & Hip-Hop - Lol), we feel torn, abused, wrecked, tired, and scattered in our thoughts. We feel worn down, confused, regretful, and lastly unfulfilled. These feelings and more are the result of lack of prioritization. Many of us,  to be honest with ourselves, have no priorities. That's why we're going no where in life. Many of us are multitasking, over-filling our time with things that don't matter. Maybe we've got all these great ideas but do them out of time. We focus on things and people that don't matter. We try to be Superman, saving the entire world or the world of people who aren't trying to save themselves. We try to salvage things that need to be scrapped. We hustle and bussle to the point where we're on the side of the road because we didn't put gas in our cars (let that marinate). We're killing ourselves and keep deceiving ourselves that we're living. We're shaving off years of our mental health and it's going to be one event that will cause us to blow up. Many of us don't even spend time with our family and loved ones because "we have to do this." We abandon our kids, our parents, or a project we know that's really important we continue to neglect. We lack priorities. And most importantly, God is out of our life's equation altogether. Jesus, who is the chief cornerstone is now laying in a field somewhere waiting to put in place to hold our building. Without a foundation built on the rock, the house will crumble. Since He is not number one, all of these other things have taken His place and we wonder why our lives, governments, churches, families, businesses, and communities are in ruins. Today, He's allowing all these crazy laws, environment catastrophes, and relational breakups to happen to get our attention (but many of us have yet to read to text message - Lol). He's telling us, "hey dudes and dudettes, put Me back as first in your life." Once He's first, we should take care of ourselves by cleaning our houses, getting our finances in order, taking vacation time, and treat yourself to video game or something. Then we need to take care of our families as we take care of ourselves. Then it's our job, which is a source of income, and the list goes on. Prioritization is knowing what's the most important, most essential thing that needs to cared for or attended to. Prioritization is nixing those things or people that are time wasters, unimportant, and distracting. Prioritization is realizing we only have one life on this earth and how we need to walk in wisdom more than ever. Yes, others are not going to roll with you when you begin to prioritize your life because many people love "out of course" living. That type of living is for people who'll never be nothing or ever achieve greatness in life. You my friends, are called for greatness and it takes prioritization to achieve it. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, achieve many great feats. He became rich without measure. He had it all and he kept getting more and more. However, all of his doings put a heavy weight on his mind. His life was spinning out of control. It got to the point when he was becoming more of a pimp than a husband. He started to put more taxes and other burdens on his people because of his ambition. His once blameless life became the hall of shame. He lost the essence of what life is all about and lost himself in the process. His life's tree withered. Then he realized, wow, my life's in shambles. How can I get it back on track? Then he learned one word, vanity. Vanity is more than the love of money and things of this world. It's chasing after something or someone not meant for you. It's something that's going to do more harm than good, even if it is a great benefit for others (but not for you). Solomon learned that his decision to chase after vanity brought misery to his life. That's when he smelled the coffee and started to prioritize his life from the ground (read Proverbs, you'll see). I know I've said a lot here and maybe went on a tangent but that's because I'm tired of living a life without priorities. I hope after downloading this, you'll feel the same way, too. It's unfulfilled and full of regrets. My friends, let's do better. Let's be better. Let's grow up by prioritizing our lives the right way.

Til next time, dgwo

References:
Ecclesiastes 1-3
Proverbs 4
Matthew 6:33

Coming Of Age: Stop Wasting Time

A friend of mine told me a couple of days ago that I'm tired of the foolishness and that I'm ready to live. She was correct. I am tired and ready to live. Most importantly, I'm tired of wasting time (as well as money) on things as well as people that are useless. As cold hearted as it may sound, this is where I am today. I'm making a choice to live and live it abundantly. We as human beings, especially in my weekly surroundings don't see that. Only a few and their tired of life as they have been experiencing it , too. My friends, I've wasted most of my life especially my adulthood (so far) on things and people that are useless. I remember hearing one preacher on a television program share some real talk a out this thing called life. He said the most valuable thing God has given mankind is time. Time worth more than money because it takes time to make it. However, we can't make money or raise our families or work on achieving God's dream in our lives if we waste our time. I've learned throughout these past three years that time will go by quickly always being sucked up by others' drama. We people allow it. I know I have done it for a long long long long time. Recently I made a decision to stop allowing things like fear and stupidity keep me from living that abundant life.  When others see you making that decision they are not going to like you. So what? At the end of our life story we all have to stand before God and tell him what we did with our life that he gave us. Did we travel? Did we help our friends come out of the gang life? Did we start that multimillion dollar business? Did we start a community center to help those who are less fortunate get their education and their computer skills? I decided to live God's dream inside of me and remove every mountain in my way.  My friends, this is our time, the greatest time in earth's history to make a difference. When things are the darkest that's when he light will shine the brightest. So I encourage you as well as myself to stop wasting time. Make something out of your life and don't procrastinate. Let the haters hate because they decided to be lazy but you were diligent to attain what  you want and need in this lifetime. Now that's the abundant life.

Til next time, dgwo.

Reference: 

John 10:10

Coming of Age: Drama Free

Anyone who knows me know I hate drama with a passion. I remember back in the mid 90s how the word drama became related to the word mess. Here is the definition of the word, drama:

Drama -  an exciting, emotional, or unexpected series of events or set of circumstances.

For anyone who has been through childish games with people, drama only stresses out the nerves and destroys patience. Drama destroys relationships. Drama destroys destiny. Drama destroys vision. If you're a person who's about something, I think you hate drama, too. Drama happens when one or some people are going somewhere in life and their supposed "friends" begin to hate on them. Or maybe there's a minor conflict at the job and someone who lacks maturity or foresight takes the conflict to a level where it shouldn't go. Wow. Drama occurs when someone walks too much in their emotions, which leads to selfishness; therefore when someone is trying to "help" them, they get into their emotions. Now everyone is the enemy. Everybody is against them. Everybody is trying to tell them how to live. Drama occurs when people don't communicate with one another. Matter of fact, one side has their arms wide open to the other party. However, the other party (from being a hard-head) refuses to come to a common (meeting) place to handle the situation. Hmmm. Just as Isaiah said, we should come and reason together. People who are addicted to drama start lousy arguments and say stupid things that ignite beef; thereby births drama among two or more parties. I gets real messy. I guess in this day and age, reasoning isn't a part of everybody seasoning (if you feel where I'm knocking). It's sad man because drama in our lives doesn't have to be so. We shouldn't have all these tribal and cold wars amongst each other but we do. We shouldn't be tearing each other down because of lack of communication but we do. Within the past 6 years of my life, the amount of drama I've experienced supersedes what I experienced in all my years in middle school as well as high school. A couple of months, drama made me mad but now, I'm like Shawn Carter; brushing my shoulders off. Nothing good from people who start drama ever comes to the forefront. It's messy. You'll always see people forsake others, even in the time of need and encouragement because they can't let go of drama. If we would learn to be adults (this even go for you kids in the latter part of high school), sit down, humble ourselves, and come to an agreement (even agreeing to disagree -thanks Mrs. Overton), drama becomes nonexistent. Drama loses its place in our lives and allows maturity to settle in our spirit. When the Pharisees were hating on Jesus out of their selfishness and lust for power and fame among the people, they started drama. Everywhere Jesus went to effect change in the lives and thinking of others, here go the Pharisees starting drama. To put this into layman's terms, every time a father is trying to support and be there for his kids, the baby momma is finding some way to sabotage his efforts. Every time an executive of firm is warning his or her conglomerates of poor financial decisions, their out to kill them. Every time a politician stands up to Congress and calls them out for their inappropriate decision-making, other politician cook up dirt from their long buried past to keep them quiet. Drama and trust me, Jesus faced it (and still facing it), too. One day, He stood up in boldness and told the people the time of their spiritual and mental freedom had come through the move of God in Him. Thereafter, the Pharisees stood up  and tried to kill the man. But Jesus was a smooth dude, escaping their clutches, moved through the crowd and disappeared. How did He do this? Through His years of observing maybe what His parents went through and His surrounding society, He knew how to handle drama. Sometimes, we have to learn how to bow out gracefully and let those who continue drama hang themselves. THAT'S RIGHT I SAID. The other side of loving people is allowing them to learn from their mistakes. Sometimes, watching a bunch of Pharisees killing themselves (not literally) doesn't feel like an act of love but it is. That's who we learn; its through our experiences. So, as this blog comes to a close, I'd like to tell all me people out there who are ready to move forward in life, travel the world, start a business, getting married, writing that book, and running that ministry, be drama free. It's the best thing to be. And when you start thinking like that, no type of drama will harm thee (get it, it's a rhyme). As for Mr. and Mrs. Overton, we're going to do just that, be drama free. And to all you haters and drama-makers, grow up already, stop keeping drama going, and let God set you free. This is what coming of age is all about, being drama free.

Til next time, dGwO

Reference:
Luke 4:16-32

Coming of Age: Learning From Life's Lessons

It's me again, friends. It's been a while. Since the last time I posted something "fresh", I've been in a couple of battles within this war called "adult" life. Being an adult is more than making money everyday on the job, having the freedom to do what you want, and making your own decisions. Being an adult is having some sort of basis or "foundation" to stand on. It's about having facts or truth that will help guide you in what James Brown called "A Man's World." It's a cold one, too. Throughout these past two months, I've been on a journey and man, it's been a long one. A couple of days ago, a good friend of mine and I were talking about some real issues. Then, wham, a thought came to my head. It was called "Coming of Age." What is coming of age? Coming up, I remember listening to a song Jay-Z had on his first LP "Reasonable Doubt" that had the same title with Memphis Bleek (don't act like you guys never heard it). The moral of that song was the younger dude's need to come up, grow out of some things and grow into some things. Now, I'm not saying we chase after that dollar because the love of money is the root of all types of evil, which many of us thirst for (1st Timothy 6:10). What I am saying is that we need to seek to get better. Our attitudes, our ways, our thinking, our associations, and paths. We learn to come of age or mature when we learn and meditate on life's lessons occurring in our lives. One thing that I love about God is that He allows us to experience the good, the bad, and the ugly to draw our attention to what's really important. About ten plus years ago, my focus was copping that new Cam'ron joint, getting blitzed after work, and chasing after women. Fast forward to 2013, my focus is on serving God, getting my financial house in order, taking care of my wife, and building my career. Things within these past ten plus years have caused me to change my focus. They've caused me to grow up. The last time I was in B-more, one of the most meaningful conversations I had was with my Jermaine (LaVar to some). Seeing all of his scars help make him become the business man he is today. Experience. Some people believe that we can actually escape the hard times but that's further from the truth. God sort of directs our path to those harsh experiences to put our trust in Him and to move forward from the foolishness. Have you ever seen 30, 40, 50, or older people still act like middle school kids? The answer is that they never learned to mature from their life's lessons. I'm planning on not making that same mistake. God allowed Joshua to see all that Moses did and what he experienced. One thing was for sure, he saw his mentor miss out on the "promise" given by God to Israel. Joshua took it to heart and crossed that river. Although things was perfect in the promised land, he lived out the promise given to him. He didn't make the same mistakes as Moses because he learned from life's lessons. How many of us are learning from life's lessons? If we don't we'll never grow. Those things and people (or those jokers) will continually frustrate you until you kill your own dreams and goals. My friends, let's learn from our lessons and our experiences. Let's grow, let's mature, let's be counted among the eagles that soar about this earth's worthless drama. You know what I'm saying?

Til next time, DgWo

Reference:
Joshua 1
Romans 5: 1-5

Refocus - May 1st, 2013

Sometimes in life we get caught up on everything that's going on around us. Problems, problems, and more problems. Distractions, regrets, shiesty people, worries, and all the other cares of life I can't name. All of these are blindfolds from keeping our vision closed to God's purpose in our lives. Here in the United States alone, we are the most overworked and most mentally stressed people in world society. It's like we're doing all these things and still have no piece of mind. We think that PTSD is only for soldiers who've been in war but that's further from the trouble. Over here, we believe in multi-tasking and doing it big all the time. Eventually these acts of "business" breaks us down and in the long run we are broke down. A lot of times we allow good for nothing people and things run our lives. This can happen directly and indirectly, you know. We continue to align ourselves with these that only make us waste God's precious time and resources. We get nothing accomplished. We get nothing done. We lose focus. There's a man known as Samson who lost focus on his purpose, to lead a people out of bondage from their enemies. There was another man known as Eli who was a holy man called to lead a nation to relationship with God. However, these men lost their focus on who they were supposed to serve and what they were purposed to do. Many of us are like these men. We have lost our focus. Today it's time to refocus. It's time for us to cut off those people who year after year hinder what God is attempting to do in our lives. If we don't, we'll to be on a vicious cycle that will cause us to waste our lives. It's time discipline our eating habits so we can live healthier lives. It's time for us to take charge over our of financial matters from spending, saving, and investing (in the right things). It's time for us to build our families on the Rock. Most importantly, it's time we refocus our eyes on Jesus, who is the wise master builder of our lives. When we zone into reaching a goal we do whatever it takes to achieve it. We assassinate anything else that tries to stop from doing so (Satan knows this better than us and that's why he stays successful in what he does). My friends, it time to refocus. Let's get our vision back. Let's refocused on raising our kids and loving our spouses. Let's break the monotonous cycle of setbacks we can overcome with just one choice not to give in. This is going to cause us to feed people with a long handed spoon (love people who mean us no good from a distance-something my father would say). This means when we feel mess invading our lives we need to stop, fight, and pray. So much to say but I can't say it all.

Til next time, dgwo.

Reference: Habakkuk 2:1

Go Get Your Life Back!!!!

What's up my friends, it's been a while. I've been through a lot of changes in my life, a lot of challenges. However, I thank God because I've got a renewed purpose in my life and that's getting my life back on track. I've been low but now I'm climbing up the mountain, not in pride but in confidence in God. Sometimes, we allow the comments and childishness of others to pull us down from being who we need to be. We allow the circumstances of life to tear us down and stranded in the city called stuck. We allow past and even present predilections keep us from moving forward in life; now we're like Lot's wife. A lot of us have wasted time with wasteful things and wasteful people. But today is a new day. This is a new season. There is change all around us not because we're heading into spring. God has opened His mouth and waved His hands to open opportunities for us to grasp. You know, we like to judge people who are successful; such people like Donald Trump. The man has been through a lot y'all but he fought to reclaim the dream that he saw in his heart. Look at Joseph, over a decade living as a slave and a cellmate. He ended up recapturing the dream that was put in his heart to become. My friends, it's time for us to go get our life back. It's time for us to stop the nonsense and get to living again. Parents, it's time out for being selfish trying to reclaim the glory days of times past when we were younger. It's time to raise our kids and fight for our families. To married couples, husbands and wives, it's time to rekindle the romance in our relationships that God has put together. To those who've been used and abused, forgive those who've trespassed against you that bitterness doesn't harden your hearts. Let go of the hurt and the pain and live again. To business owners, pastors, politicians trying to affect change, and to those who've been down, go get your life back. It first starts with taking hold of the name of Jesus Christ, following His instructions, and moving forward from taking it one step at a time. God is able to redeem the time that we've wasted or has been stolen from us. It's time for us to live and not die and let the world know God strengthens those who've been beaten down. When we get our lives back, don't let nothing or nobody take what God gave to you.

Til next time, dgwo

Isaiah 40:28-31
Joel 2:25-27
Revelation 3:11