Peace

‎"Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines, though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will exult in the GOd of my Salvation. God the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights." Habakkuk 3:17-19 - Our country has seen a lot of heartache in the past week, and the world has seen much more this year, yet still we praise the Lord. A lot of us are searching for answers, and there are many conversations to be had, but for now let us just be still and know He is God.

Call Me a Snob

Negativity is always present in politics, it is a given, something that we expect and something that even the best and most well intentioned politicians fall prey to at one time or another. So usually when it steadily increases throughout a campaign, I am not surprised nor taken aback by what politicians say. This year that is different. I was prepared for the Republican debates to make me a little angry, just as the democratic debates did last year; however I was not prepared for the rhetoric to cut so deeply. I usually am able to shirk away the rhetoric knowing that a candidate is just vying for votes, but this season there have been a few statements that I was not able to simply shake off because they cut so deeply at what so many of us have worked to squash. Most recently Senator Rick Santorum made a statement about higher education that stopped me dead in my tracks and made me literally sick to my stomach. Our President, like many of us fought our way into higher education. We were unknown, or from small towns, or had single parents, and little money; and education was our ticket to open the locked doors of the upper echelons of society and scholarship. So when our President said that he wants everyone in our country to seek a form of higher education, he said it from a well intentioned place. He said it because he knows the difference an education can make in a person’s life and their community. He did not say it because he was a snob, as Senator Santorum contended. He said it because many of us have relatives just a few generations ago who would have been beaten or even killed if someone discovered that they even knew how to read. He said it because education was dangled above our heads, like a key to the prison we were locked in. As it stands, prisons use the reading skills of seven year olds to determine just how full their prisons will be; proving just how important an education is determining a life path. For those that were able to reach high enough, they set themselves free from years of sharecropping or migrant farm work. They made the difference in ensuring that their children, and grandchildren would not live the life they did.
And now Senator Santorum wants to calls us snobs for simply wanting to reach higher than many of us were told we could. Although he rails specifically against black people for being on food stamps and welfare, assuming we would not rather have a pay check; he is fighting against the very thing that would lift many above food stamps. He is fighting against the education that lifted his own family from immigrants to doctors and professionals. (It should be noted that Senator Santorum holds a J.D., MBA, and a Bachelors degree, and his wife has a nursing degree and a J.D.)
This is a dangerous discourse Senator Santorum, one that starts with anger and leads to hate. You are sowing seeds of anger that are all too similar to the seeds that were sown when we were fighting against a separate but equal that was not at all equal. The same type of anger that caused the national guard to be called in to integrate schools. The same anger that throws affirmative action into the face of any person of color seeking an education. You plant those seeds Senator Santorum when you point at a well education man of color, our President, and call him a snob for wanting others to succeed in the same fashion that he has.
Well call me a snob all you want Mr. Santorum, because I still want our nation to strive, to be educated, to be contenders in the growing economy. Call me a snob all you want Senator Santorum because I do want to end up like our President.

What to do

I realize that I never introduced myself. I am a law student who loves to write and wants to share her thoughts. I hope you enjoy, whoever you are.

The beginning of the year for many feels like a new revelation, a new opportunity, and new page. Many of us vow to leave the old year behind, and many of us wait to do that until that final countdown. We wait until we are forced into turning a new page, to actually turn the page. Most years I am geared up to do just that, but for some reason this year, New Years eve seemed like just another day. I began wondering why we make such a big deal about this "new year" . And then at a "Praise Party" the speaker mentioned how glad we would all be to leave 2009 behind. I hadn't thought about it, but the new year is a time to refresh. To bathe ourselves, to wash off the much and the mire of the previous year. To leave behind battle wounds, and prepare to make new ones. I also realized that as I looked back over the year I didn't see the battles or the wounds, I saw the victories. I remember that there was pain, but I saw the victories first, and for me that is incredible.

This year is full of uncertainty for many of us. Many of us are jobless, or graduating with no job prospects (like me). Many of us have also been given the opportunity to think about what it is we really want to be doing with our lives. Were we really that happy sitting behind a desk all day? Is our dream really to cook, or to open up a restaurant, a jewelry store, a record label? Is it all of that. Are we brave enough to risk failure this year to do what would put a smile on our faces everyday? I just finished watching Julie and Julia - and she took a year of her life to work hard and do something she loved. And it paid off in a huge way. So this year I am not going to be afraid to fail, I am not going to be afraid to tell people what I really love to do. That doesn't mean I won't take the job behind the desk, but it does mean that I won't stop doing what I love. This year I am going to get up and do it.

Idolatry Challenge

Before I go to bed at night, I like to have a bowl of cereal and watch a television program. Even if I am uber sleepy, I'll stay up and complete the same routine. Tonight however I thought about giving that time to God instead, but kept sitting in my chair. I got annoyed with having to change my routine, with changing something for God. I had to stop myself and consider how dependent I was becoming upon these superficial things to give me security and make me happy. In the 10 Commandments God commands us to have no other Idols before him. We often think of idols as extremes in our life, things we literally bow down to or allow to control us. But how often do we consider the little things that perhaps we consider routine or for our enjoyment? When I thought about it, I found myself hating the idea of having to give the little things I love throughout the week. I had created mini-idols in these things, and wanted to choose them over God. So I decided to challenge myself to eliminate them for a week, and then maybe a month if necessary. I can give the extra time back to God instead, and be fruitful. So my challenge to all of us is to give up something this week, besides a necessity, that we have found we can't live without. Let's see what happens.

Disruptions

Sometimes we like to plan our days and weeks. We pray about them, and tell ourselves that we are letting God have control. But nothing disproves that we are really giving up control like a disruption in our plans. Yesterday I had planned to get up and study, and then make it to school to sell my books before the book store closed at 3pm. I thought that I needed to do something extra in order ensure my financial stability. But God had other plans. When I went to start my car, nothing happened, and my car alarm was freaking out a little bit. So I had to wait for a tow-truck, and not only did I not make it to school by 3pm, but I missed out on an hour and a half of study time. I was fairly annoyed that this had disrupted my plan, but stopped myself to think about God's plan. I was concentrating on what I thought God stopped me from doing, instead of what he may have saved me from. The battery in my car had not actually died, there ended up being a problem with the computer that the repair man was able to fix. A problem which could have seriously disrupted my first day at work, which was today. So God saved me from a far greater mishap, one that could have affected my entire work experience. I was also humbled by this disruption, because it forced me to rely on God. It forced me to say, Ok God - I get it. And a day later I'm still here, I still have food to eat, I still have time to study. So if you are reading this, let God disrupt your plans. Even better don't make your own in the first place. Praise him for the disruptions He has caused in your life, they just might have saved it.

Crazy Love

Occasionally we have to remind ourselves of why we are here on earth. It's relatively easy to go about our days, focus on ourselves, and lose sight of why we are even able to those things. Thankfully I have been reminded about where our focus needs to be by a great little book called Crazy Love. Even though I live for God, and try to serve him righteously each day, I often do it for selfish reasons. Sometimes we do it out of guilt or fear, or just plain routine. But how often do we serve him, run to him, and seek him out of sheer love? And more importantly how often do we put ourselves and our wants aside completely, and serve him without seeking something in return? This book has reminded me that first of all, this is God's show, and we are tiny specs. We are here to glorify Him, we are here to carry out his plans for us. Nothing else we do really matters, and nothing else will hold up through the fire. Secondly, it gave me a new perspective of God's Love. The author, Francis Chan, described the feeling he gets when his daughter runs up to him when he returns home from work; and I realized that this is how God feels about us to. He is waiting for us to joyfully run to him, and learn about him, and talk to him about anything. And we also should be like that little girl running to her father. Our love needs to be that deep for God, that we run out in our bare feet, maybe barely dressed just to embrace him.

Anyone reading this might be wondering why I am writing this. It is not to exhibit anything about myself, but to make you want to run to God in the way I want to run to God right now. It is because I don't want anyone to die without knowing His love, and without being saved by it. Crazy Love was a tool God used to open my eyes, and I recommend it. But most of all, please find a way to feel God's love. It is real and deep, allow yourself to be enveloped by it. Don't hesitate before it's too late.

People You should know about

So I often run across people I think the world or at least a portion of it should know about, so in this segment I will share them.

Alexandra Burke


Most in the UK should know her name, she was the winner of X-Factor (UK's American Idol); but she is fairly unknown in the states. She's got an amazing voice and may follow in the footsteps of fellow X-Factor winner Leona Lewis. (Just an aside, I did pick Alexandra to win!) Check out some link below or just you-tube her.




Paul Stephens

I saw Paul last week at a Salvation Army event. He was simply amazing. He had everyone in the room asking "who is this guy??". I picked up his album as many others did, and have been listening ever since. Great songs, great voice, great message. What more can I say, well probably a lot but I'll stop there.




Cory Booker

A few years ago my roommate had me watch a documentary about some unknown politician named Cory Booker who was running for mayor in one of America's most troubled cities, Newark, New Jersey. He lost his first run, but sealed the deal the 2nd time around while living in the projects of Newark the whole time. He has great, new ideas for how to revolutionize a city and is starting to make some waves. He's one to watch.