Daily Affirmation - Good Habits

• Today, I live a life of good habits.
• I develop and maintain daily routines that enable me to accomplish my life's goals.
• I do not allow unnecessary distractions to deter me from my routines, and I allow necessary distractions to only delay my performance of them.
• I am so fixed on my daily mission that my routines are not optional.
• I form new habits and routines, as necessary, through a 21 consecutive day program.
• Today, I will make a life of good habits so that I may enjoy the fruit of purpose-driven, faith-envisioned, work-given success.

Scriptural References: Joshua 1:8; Psalms 61:8, Matthew 6:11; Luke 9:23.

(c) 2018 Elohim Ministries. All rights reserved.

Daily Affirmation - I Release the Past

Today, I release the past.

I will no longer be held by my failures or successes thus far.

Each day, each minute, each moment is new and fresh and ripe with opportunity.

I will take advantage of my NOW to set myself up for the future for which I dream and strive.

As God throws my failures as far as the east is from the west, so will I.

I start my right now with a clean slate and begin drawing my new self.

Today, I release the past so that my present is the only indicator of my future.

Philippians 3:12-16 NRSV
¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind; and if you think differently about anything, this too God will reveal to you. ¹⁶ Only let us hold fast to what we have attained.

Sin Consciousness v. God Consciousness

This morning in prayer the Spirit of God once again challenged me. As I began to rehearse my shortcomings and sins before God, I was reminded that as long as I focused on the sin in my life I would be doomed to relive them. Sin consciousness creates a paradigm that shapes our behavior in many ways. It causes us to focus on not doing the thing we consider to be sin instead of focusing on doing what we are called to do and being who we are purposed to be. We are consumed by our propensity to sin, which makes us more apt to sin.

A wise person suggested the cure for sin consciousness: "In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge [God], and [God] will direct and make straight and plain your paths" (Prv 3:6 AMP). Instead of being so conscious of our propensity to sin, we should be listening for (acknowledging) God's voice. Even more than that, we should be listening for the voice of God within us. You see, we not only have a propensity to sin, but we also have the fullness of God dwelling on the inside of us.

Overcoming the sin (defined as "missing the mark") in your life is easier and more effective when you are focused on the fullness of God on the inside of you rather than the sin on the inside. Stop trying not to sin and start listening for and being submissive to the voice of God on the inside of you. This is the key to being the overcomer that God has already purposed you to be.

I Will Not Be Divided

As a result of the battle and victory over Same-Sex Marriage in the courts, many people begin superimposing the HRC equal sign with a red background over their Facebook (others used the rainbow flag). As a response, some who disagreed with the decision began using the Christian cross with a red background in place of the HRC equal sign. I am not sure if this was actually in conflict with the original image, but it does incite a frustration of mine: the attempt to pull me apart by the various aspects of my existence. Some believe I should stand in solidarity with my LGBT existence over and against my Christian existence. Some believe the my African American existence trumps them all.

I want to make it very clear! I will not be divided. I am an individual who is a member of all of these communities by the mere fact that I exist. To prioritize or deny either one of them is to deny the person that I am. I am an African American, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender)/SGL (Same Gender Loving) Christian.

To signify my defiance of this trend, I placed my own symbol in a red background. It is the symbol of the Christian cross, alongside the HRC equal sign (representing the LGBT community), followed by the Adinkra symbol for "Freedom" (the Fawohodie). Together they literally translate into the following:

The Cross Equals Freedom

This symbol represents all of the seemingly conflicting aspects of my existence that have been pushed into the light of public opinion and unrest. But the message of this symbol creates a double entendre: my freedom in Christ makes me free to be who I am. I am made free because of Christ's work on the cross. I am free to be all that God created me to be, including African American and LGBT/SGL. Again, "I WILL NOT BE DIVIDED!"

How the SCOTUS Marriage Equality Decision Benefits Traditional Marriage

The following is a conceptual outline about which I invite your input. Your comments are indeed welcomed, but your questions are coveted.

CLAIM: The SCOTUS Decision on Marriage Equality (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015) benefits those in traditional marriages because it challenges the gender-based roles that do not seriously take into consideration the current social and economic realities of our time.

§ 1. Traditional marriage is based not only on the gender of the partners, but also on a rigid definition of roles based on those genders.

§ 2. The social and economic changes in our society have challenged these prescriptions.

§ 3. Alterations to these roles have been made on an individual bases, often to the dismay of the hegemony.

§ 4. The strongly held beliefs and the enforcement of those beliefs shut down conversations about roles and gender designed to enhance the quality of life for all.

§ 5. The SCOTUS was established to ensure that the hegemony does not trample on the basic rights of the individual or the non-hegemonic people groups.

§ 6. Establishing that same-sex couples have the right to the institution of marriage forces the conversation about gender-based roles.

§ 7. Traditional marriages seeking to thrive in the contemporary social and economic climates are now sanctioned to creatively explore how the roles are defined within their relationship.

§ 8. They are also empowered to raise their voices in the conversation with the lessons they have learned.

McKinney Reflection: The Training and Safety of Our Kids

In this post, I am lamenting two things that I think are important and the loss of them is evident in the events of and after the McKinney Pool Party Fiasco of 2015. The first lament is for the skill of listening. In conversations that are emotionally charged as this one, we too often let our emotions flare before really hearing a person out and trying to understand their point of view. I have found that even in the most egregious disagreement are seeds of understanding. We will never get to the point of understanding unless we can hear (and listen to) thoughts and opinions that are radically different from our own.

An acquaintance of mine, Ms. Kisa Jackson, posted a video addressing a concern about the way children are being raised today without respect for authority. Her comments were based on the viral video footage of the McKinney Fiasco. She's received several negative and threatening reactions to her views, which saddens me greatly. It is her comments and the aftermath that fuels my laments.

A few years ago, Marvin and I were down to one car. I worked in Irving and he in Oak Cliff. To ease some of the stress, Marvin rode the city bus from work to home. Each day he would tell me about how kids who attended the school on his bus route would disrespect the adults, curse loudly and dare anyone to say anything to them. Several times the DART police force had to be called because the kids were so unruly.

It is no secret that somewhere along the way, we (the African American community as a whole) lost some of the common decency that was so indoctrinated into the children of my day and before (my second lament). There was a time when authority figures were backed by the parents. That time seems to be a distant memory. Nevertheless, I do not advocate for a blind trust either way. I know of many children who endured abuse by adults because they were taught to blindly respect them. By the same token, I know many parents who have missed out on great opportunities for strengthening the citizenship of their children by enabling their bad behavior with their blind trust of them.

There is little doubt in my mind that there is some fault to be assumed by the young people who responded chaotically to both the police presence and the force in which they operated. Nonetheless, I think that their response to the police may have been informed by more than just a lack of training from the parents. Could it be that we are now suffering a consequence similar to that which we decry from racial profiling? Could it be that the narratives and actual accounts of police brutality have created a fear within our children of the police? Also, are we no profiling these children when we, from a 7 minute video, which in my opinion did not show kids behaving like the ones Marvin would tell me about. I saw kids that were confused about what they should be doing getting caught up in the whirlwind of activities from several cops trying to control a chaotic situation. What I also saw was kids reacting to what I consider to be the abuse of Corporal Casebolt of the young girl. A knee jerk reaction, unwise as it may have been (which is debatable to me.)

Regardless of the behavior of the kids, it seems to me that Corporal Casebolt over-reacted. I think it is appropriate for us to hold our public servants accountable for their conduct as we hold our children accountable for theirs. No one gets a pass on this. We all have some responsibility for the McKinney Pool Party Fiasco of 2015. Words are powerful. The ways in which we create narratives about the other cause harmful paradigms. Our lack of understanding and respect for authority inhibits our ability to work collaboratively with them for our own protection. Our children learn more by what we do than what we say, so with our words we should be careful and courageous at the same time. "Wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove."

McKinney Police... Was it Right or Wrong??? Comments are welcome. Any threats or profanity you will be reported and deleted... My name is Kisa not coon nor bit@h...
Posted by Kisa Jackson on Monday, June 8, 2015

The McKinney Pool Fiasco of 2015: A Clarion Call for Action and Conversation

On Friday, June 5, something happened in the suburban town of McKinney, Texas that would add fuel to the fires of the national conversation on police brutality. A pool party turned into a horrid scene of police officers attempting to control a group of predominately African American teenagers. In particular, a video surfaced on the internet, captured by 15-year-old Brandon Brooks, of Corporal Eric Casebolt throwing a teenaged girl (unnamed), clad in a two piece bikini, on the ground by her hair and neck, dragging her on the ground and putting his knee into her back (or one her neck) pinning her to the ground. Corporal Casebolt also drew his firearm at other teens that were frantic and reportedly non-compliant to the police officers commands. The only person arrested during this altercation was a young man who has been charged with evading arrest after he complied with Casebolt’s command to leave the scene, as claimed by the young man’s lawyer.

Two rallies were held in protest of the officers’ actions and one counter-protest rally was held in support on Monday, June 8. I attended the rally that was held at the police department, the smaller of the two protest rallies. Upon arriving, I noticed that the organizers of the rally were not black people and the community of protesters was a conglomerate of diverse races, religions, socio-economic statuses, and ideologies. All who attended stood in solidarity on one issue: police accountability.

I attended the rally with some reservations. First and foremost was the fact that not all of the information about the event was available or corroborated by credible sources. Yes, videos do not lie, but out of context a video could mean many things. So, I went to listen, to learn, and to stand in solidarity for the cause. Quite by accident or providence, I ended up on the front line because I was the only one willing to lead the National Anthem to open the rally. (I wonder if this is what it means for your gift to make room for you.)

What I appreciated most about the rally was the fact that so many different voices were heard that night. Not everyone agreed with each other about the details and the desired results, but every voice was respected and heard. Out of this conversation came a ranging of topics that cry out for community conversation. Here are some of the topics that I heard:

• Police accountability to the community
• The silence of good cops when bad cops act bad
• Community autonomy and national solidarity
• The training and safety of our children
• Systemic and structural racism
• The demeaning narrative and projected images of black people
• Diversity in solidarity
• The expectations of a tax-payer funded police force

I want to donate some time to reflect on these topics in this blog. They are too complex to give justice in few words, so each will be given an entry by itself.

I pray that the rallies are a beginning to more community conversations. I pray that someone, some people will accept the charge to provide forums where we can learn from each other. By building relationships with each other, our communities can only become stronger. There may be those who are unwilling to change their bigoted views and behaviors, but they will be left behind in this world that is more and more seeing that we are more alike than we are different—we are all human. In the words of Ella Fitzgerald, “We are all here together.”