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Makkah

When God created man in his image it was not that we would physically look like God but that you could see God’s ways in us.

Ideally, someone who doesn’t really know God could have a relationship with a child of God and just based on behavior they could learn about our father in Heaven.

So I want to remind us of something that we may not often consider, and that is our ability to create.

God can speak things into existence and so can we. He can change the course of someone’s life, and so can we. God can teardown or build up people, places and things, and so can we.

As a creator, have you considered the things you have created lately? Have you used this ability for good or evil? When you take inventory of the relationships you have and looking in the past, would the outcomes say you are a builder or a destroyer?

Let’s start with the children, what are our kids learning from us? They should be learning how to create from us. Are they learning to use love, compassion, humility and grace to build? Or are they using hatred, arrogance and revenge to wreak havoc on the world?

The relationships built in the workplace, do they honor God and have you proven to be a master builder or have you not been consistent in careers because of — stuff?

And what of your personal life? Has the measure of love you have sent into the universe been returned to you? Has your compassion changed anyone’s life? All of these questions are to get you to think about your actions as a creator and tweak some things before the day of reckoning.

There will be a day of reckoning and I’m not talking about Judgement Day.

This will be a day disassociated from anything going on in your life currently. You ever wondered why some things happen? I mean everything can be wonderful in your current space and then like a thief in the night, calamity happens. You think it’s coincidental?

Be the creator you are called to be. Walk in your truth and empower others. This is your true purpose.

Four names have dominated the media over the last couple of weeks and these stories have been nothing short of scandalous.

These stories show the most horrible parts of who we really are as a nation, as a country and as a world.

We can assume that those in the world who live in the “sticks” and I am speaking of Third World countries and far less developed places than the US. I’m speaking of places who have no idea about social media and are not paying taxes and are probably working off the barter system. Although they have their daily issues, no one is getting screwed over for a percentage or taken advantage of for political gain.

Unless you have been under a rock for the last month, you should be well familiar with these four names: Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, Amy Guyger, and Botham Jean.

One of these four are physically dead (may God rest his soul) and the other three have various interest groups attempting to destroy them financially, mentally and emotionally.

Forgiveness, honesty, compassion, love, respect, equality and justice are all words that have been eliminated from these scenarios. The world will not even look for these words. There is always a “bigger picture” that serves someone else’s agenda while the lives of these people serve as pawns in this game.

We are not only looking bad here in the present, we have ignored all the lessons of the past when it comes to such matters (which is why we repeat our problems) and we are setting a new precedence for the future. How can we hold anyone accountable in the future if we allow corruption now? Someone needs to be watching the ones who are supposed to watching the ones being watched.

No one will walk away from these outrageous schemes — not even the watchers. We are all guilty and that’s the way of the world.

This blog is written to bring you hope!

We live in a world that makes it difficult to thrive because there are some who want to see you fail; there are others who are plotting against you to make sure you fail; and there is still others who are threatened by your very presence and they are against you too.

Not all of us have a support network that stands on the side cheering us on and ready to help when trouble comes.

In Earth, Wind and Fire’s song “Shining Star” the group delivers this fast moving piece that resonates the anticipation of what will happen when we try. When we make an attempt to see where our very best can take us. “Shining star for you to see what your life can truly be” is the phrase that pays here. It expresses the possibilities that come when we dare to dream. No settling here. We should surround ourselves with others who are trying to shine. Don’t lose your dreams because you listen to other losers who have given up.

Try, try, try and try again. Never stop trying. The only great things that happen without trying are make believe. Don’t run from the work, embrace it as just another brick in the yellow brick road that leads to the  Emerald City — and once you get there, you can be the voice behind the great and powerful wizard of Oz.

Go for it!

An older business owner was taking a months vacation and entrusted his establishment to a recent college grad who would run things while he was away.

The older gentlemen specifically said to the college grad not to change a thing. “Just let it be,” he said.

Not one week later the college grad realizes that everything in the store was freely given — meaning there were no financial benefits to this business that had really great products that were in demand. He though it was set up wrong and he was glad to be able to help out this old timer.

He also wondered why the everything was in a sealed brown bag. “No one sees the product until they take it … this is crazy!”

So he calls the old man back to the establishment and they had it out! You young man said, “How in the world are you still in business? This is all wrong and people can’t even see their product!”

The old man explained that he only has three products and he opened the bags so the college guy could see. The products were faith, hope and love and his greatest product was love. He said it is freely given based on need. No charge!

The college grad did not understand and he said how do you profit from that? The old man smiled and said, the more you give away, the more you get back and his store is fully stocked. The old man showed him a hidden room in the back full of bags.

This simple lesson: God fully supplies us with the things that we need but set in place the law of the harvest that we might reap what we sow. The moral is you can’t hide love. Now how are you reaping?

I hope that this does not come across as a rant. I keep seeing our country on a number of areas settle for less, accept mediocrity and celebrate being average. It just seems that when I was coming up it was a different time.

I played little league baseball and I was a pretty good athlete when I was younger. I remember very vividly winning the world series. It was the same year I won the MVP of the all-star game going 5 for 5 with 2 homeruns and 7 RBIs. I received a trophy and was celebrated (alone) as the best player that day. Our world series win was the same. None of the other 13 teams in the league were celebrated. And you know, it was good. The teams that lost had a chance to try harder next year and we wanted to get better and do it again. We lost in the world series the next year and you know what? We got nothing for coming in second. The only thing we got to do was shake the winning teams’ hands to congratulate them and then scurry off the field because this was their moment not ours.

When did we get so soft? I mean that loss bothered me because it was my last year playing little league and I wanted to go out with a bang. I was angry with my teammates, coaches and even myself — and I wouldn’t change those feelings for anything. I needed to know what losing felt like. I needed to be uncomfortable with it. I needed to go home empty handed. When teams won back then they used to sing the song We Are The Champions by Queen. I hated to hear other teams sing that song.

Competition is much needed in our lives. No one needs to be spared of the agony of defeat. It truly builds character. Not only did we want to win, but we wanted to win fair and square — no cheats. And the feeling of winning feels so good that you will crave it again and again. Take it away and what do we have left?

In the late 70s someone decided that everyone needed to get a trophy for just participating. If you showed up with a good attitude and tried, you got a trophy. Then another person thought that girls and boys at a certain age could play co-ed. Little girls began to infiltrate little leagues everywhere and the level of play suffered.

The next thing I know, we started having graduation ceremonies for Kindergartners and they stopped people from celebrating touch downs, homeruns and slam dunks. We could not dance, high five, shout or anything. The reason: You don’t want anyone to feel bad.

This logic crossed over from sports to the working class. Unions began to standardize raises so nevermind that you out work everyone at your job, you are going to get the same wage as everyone else. It is not based on work performance anymore. It’s based on whether or not you came to work and worked. Time on the job is what pay is based on so in the course of a year, your raises are already factored in and all you have to do is show up. Sadly, you may only get over the course of the year a $1.00 raise incrementally broken up in two or three parts. On my own, I may have out worked everyone and gotten a $5 increase. But don’t penalize everyone, just me for working so hard.

Thirty plus years of that brings us to today where minimum wage needs to be increased. But in my day no one wanted minimum wage so you went to school, learned a trade or joined the military so you could avoid minimum wage. When I was in high school, fast food jobs were for kids. As were most retail sales reps and movie theater gigs, these jobs were earmarked for teens and now adults do them as first, second or third jobs. When did our country decide to take shortcuts to success? There are none. Contrary to popular belief, hard work, character and integrity were virtues that were taught on every level and the individuals who were learning wanted to succeed. I don’t believe this to be the case anymore. People today do more direct marketing and attempt to profit off their friend’s money.

Today we lie, steal and cheat. We reach success by any means necessary, but that ain’t success! We live in a time where the dark clouds which hover over our government (which should be made up of the best people our country has to offer) is now full of indictments, selfish greedy individuals and they are spearheaded by a fool.

We settle and celebrate mediocrity which makes us weak.

This dumbed-down version of America will be remembered when it is too late. What I mean is that all of the historical signs are there. Our mediocre country is divided and the two sides will clash for the same reason they did during the Civil War. Slavery? Nope, I know that’s what they finally admitted to us but that’s not it. That war and the coming war will be due to IGNORANCE.

Right now, we are too ignorant to make new gun laws and follow the way of more civilized nations like Japan and Germany — the most horrific thing you can have in those countries are mass stabbings. We are too ignorant and greedy to use our resources for the masses. Power in America rests in the 1 percent. Corporations manipulate our government so bad that even the most honest of politicians have a very difficult time representing their constituency.

We are too ignorant to solve basic needs like clean water, energy and air in our country. We are too ignorant to know when we are being lied to and we are too ignorant to know what to do about it. We are too ignorant to know that nothing positive can come from hate. We are too ignorant in our own conceit to believe that one race is better than another. We are ignorant and because of this single fact, we will crumble. It’s very discouraging to watch it happen, but it is coming. We certainly don’t look like anyones champion.

So two earthly giants died recently and their deaths made all the world observe.

They battled in two different arenas but the results were the same: We grieve their loss and things will never be quite the same.

John McCain and Aretha Franklin were huge icons who like us all cannot cheat death. For certain, death does not play favorites. Even though most of us did not know them intimately, their actions touched our lives in a positive way and we will grieve their empty spaces.

What do we do with ourselves now? There are feelings left over that were earmarked for those who have made their transition.

Interestingly enough, there should never be leftover love. Human beings crave this commodity and if we are open, another human will accept the love. We got too attached to the one who died — that’s not a bad thing as long as it doesn’t hinder future love. You cannot spend your life admiring, loving, caring and spending time with someone only for them to die and those who remain to kill all feelings towards them.

We were created to love, care, spend time, and admire. We waste time holding grudges, being angry, hating and keeping records of wrongdoing. This is what makes death difficult.

So with every death we need to multiply our love for the living. So if I am loving everyone 5x as much, if I know 5 folks who have transitioned then I should then love those still here 10x — did you get my math? With every death our love for the living increases. This is how we should be grieving.