Recently I was able to speak at my church's Women's Day service. This was such a wonderful opportunity to share some of the experiences of my life and how God has been there all along. Here's an excerpt:
We grew up a little more and were blessed to see Rep Shirley Chisholm run for President and later to be able to chant with the grown ups “Run Jesse Run!” And have some real idea of what that meant. These were positive experiences in the life of a Black girl from Deep East Oakland. Did you attend high school in the late 70s or early 80s here in Oakland, California? Did you see mannequins made to look like Black folks hanging from trees and as the bus pulled up to the school ? Ugly racist messages written on them and spray painted on the school sign. Did you think to yourself, “ I thought this stuff was over? I thought this happened a long time ago”. Cause that’s how you think as a child. That nothing bad can happen to you.
In the 90’s one of my favorite rappers, Ice Cube, reminded us “Just wakin up in the mornin gotta thank God” and then Tupac followed up with “just keep ya head up” . You see sometimes the Lord will talk to us through some unlikely sources. He meets us where we are. Now I am in no way saying that Pac or Cube are modern day Apostles. But don’t forget that on the Damascus road, Jesus spoke to Saul through a donkey……….. and changed…… his…… life. Saul became Paul and through him, Jesus, The Word, changed the lives of the people he taught and preached to and continues to do so even today.
I'm so glad that God doesn't require us to get ourselves together in order to come Him. But He is there all the while, patiently waiting for us to just hold out a hand, Just ask for help, Just surrender. God sent His Son as an human embodiment of His Love for us. All we have to do is accept Him. Confess that we have sinned and believe that Christ is our Savior. God makes it easy for us. The hard part is getting out of our own way.
No comments:
Post a Comment