WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE

Message #2 in the sermon series:  HEALING WOUNDED FAMILIES.  The title of this message is:  WHAT IS YOUR FAMILY SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE.

Listen well and leave a comment.

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 --Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Bailey Tabernacle CME Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He writes the popular blog: A Word to the Wise at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com

Email: BaileyTabernacleChurch@comcast.net

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Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar. 

Visit the ministry’s website at baileytabernaclecme.org

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Bailey Tabernacle CME Church

P.O. Box 3145 

Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35403

HELPING PEOPLE IS SO UNFAIR

As of yesterday, the Ebola virus outbreak in northern Africa had claimed over a thousand lives.  Two of the thousands infected were American health workers who were in Africa to help.  When they got sick they were flown back to the United States and treated at Emory Univesity Hospital in coordination with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) laboratories in Atlanta.  The experimental drugs used on those 2 Americans worked!  They got better.

That’s great news, except----the international community led the World Health Organization (WHO) has been telling Africans that going to a health care center in their home country will help them fight Ebola. Now the Africans see that the Americans didn’t stay at the health care center in Africa.  They left and got better.   

Africans are being told that they are receiving the best possible care for an incurable virus.  But, it sure sounds like the Americans got better care and a cure.  It’s not fair.

I don’t believe that there is a conspiracy.  I don’t think this is racism or elitism.  I think that it’s the constant dilemma for every full-time do-gooder like the World Health Organization (WHO), hospital, non-profits, ministries, and me.

Depending on how you look at it, doing good can look really bad.

The WHO doesn’t have enough of those experimental drugs to give to all the affected people in north Africa.  So, now they have to choose who gets the most promising treatment.  They could protect the health care workers who are there to help and deserve to be protected.  But what’ll it look like when the foreigners stay healthy while Africans get sicker and die?

Oh, and the drugs haven’t been fully tested.  Nobody knows it the treatments will work without side effect or if the drugs will kill every third person. 

What if it causes sterility or horrible birth defects?  What if it doesn’t work in the north African climate?  Will the people of Africa believe that it was an honest mistake, or will they decide that it’s another in the long line of real Western conspiracies to destroy and destabilize African nations?

The WHO and every other person and organization that’s out there doing good in the world must decide whether the help they can give right now will do more good or more harm.    But even when you use your very best judgment---- how do you predict how people will perceive your decision?

As for the last question, the answer is:  You can’t.

Depending on how you look at it, doing good can look really bad.

In John 11, Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.  Jesus performed that miracle in a graveyard full of other people’s dead friends, brothers, and loved ones.  Yet, Jesus only resurrected Lazarus.

Don’t you think some other grieving person thought that was unfair?

In Mark 5: 24-34, a huge crowd surrounded Jesus including all kinds of sick people .  One lady was instantly cured by touching the hem of Jesus’ garment. 

And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” (Mark 5: 30-31

The disciples knew that a bunch of people were touching Jesus and His clothes.  But, only one of them got healed.

How unfair does that look?

Why her?  Why not me or my sick friend?

Our human resources are limited.  No matter how altruistic our hearts, we have to make difficult but firm decision about whom and how to help, which means deciding whom and how NOT to help. 

And no matter what you decide, no matter how wisely you judge, no matter how lovingly and unprejudicially you select--- you’re going to hurt somebody, and you’re going to piss somebody off.

Jesus spoke to that when He referenced the Old Testament outreach of the prophets Elijah an Elisha.

But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” (Luke 4: 25-27)

And Jesus audience (in church) responded like people respond today.

So all those in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw Him down over the cliff.  (Luke 4: 27, 28)

(Oh, and isn’t it interesting that one of the statements that made the worshippers mad enough to throw Jesus off a cliff was the story of a prophet going way over yonder to help a foreigner and single mother “while there are all these needs right here at home.”)

You won’t help everybody.  You CAN’T help everybody. 

That’s a fact, but not an excuse.

Jesus never said, “It isn’t time to heal every sickness so I’m not going heal any.”

If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?  Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2: 15-17)

Help everybody you can.

But, you can’t help everybody.  And, you won’t please everybody.

Don’t kill yourself inside over the limitations of your resources.  Increase your capacity as you can, but accept that no matter how much good you intend, no matter how much good you actually do---- it’ll look bad to somebody.

Do good anyway.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to  

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

BLANK-AND-MISDIRECT

Good classroom teachers develop an armory of looks. 

There’s the child-if-you-don’t-sit-your-butt-down-right-now look, the no-before-you-even-ask-NOOOOO look, the I-dare-you-I-double-dog-dare-you-to mess-with-her-one-mo’-time look, and of course the forget-about-them-you-can-do-this-I-got-your-back look.

But my favorite look is the blank-and-misdirect.

The Look

Ask a kid a question they're unsure of or  feel vulnerable (because they have to take a public stand on some topic) and the kid will look at the teacher for clue. The student will watch your facial expression and body language, trying to figure out which answer you WANT to hear.

So when I asked those question I’d immediately blank my facial expression and adopt neutral body language.  No clues. No cues.  BLANK.  When the student started answering, whether the answer was right or wrong, I’d twist my face to look like they were uttering the most ridiculous thing in the history of uttering. MISDIRECT

And if I felt really mischievous, I’d phrase the question to make it seem like the wrong answer was the right answer.

I’d ask something like, “Moses and Aaron were brothers, but only one of them came back to save his people from slavery.  Aaron was the oldest, so it wasn’t Moses, was it?”

Oh, yeah.  I still use blank-and-misdirect when I teach adult Bible study.

I didn’t develop the blank-and-misdirect look to torture my students (that was an unexpected bonus).  I want my students to KNOW their stuff, not just know my face.  I want them to study themselves into confidence, to KNOW the right answer for themselves no matter how people look at them.

And that’s what God wants for us.  Which is why some of the greatest leaders of the Bible also used the blank-and-misdirect.

Joshua’s Blank-and-Misdirect

Joshua, protégé of Moses and general of the Israelite armies that took possession of the Promised Land, gathered the leadership of Israel and offered what seemed like a blankly neutral choice.

If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. (Joshua 24: 15)

When the people answered the way they figured Joshua wanted them to answer, Joshua misdirected.

They said, “We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.” (Joshua 24: 18-20)

Despite Joshua’s blank-and-misdirect, the people stood by their answer. 

So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!” (Joshua 24: 22)

Jesus’ Classroom Review

In Matthew chapter 13, after a long day of teaching and preaching a series of parables, Jesus pulled His disciples aside for a review and asked, Have you understood all these things?” (Matthew 13: 51)

            The disciples immediately auto-replied, “Yes, Lord.”

And I think that Jesus’ expression at that point said, “Yeah, right.  Of course you don’t,” because Jesus didn’t just accept their answer. 

Good teachers know that “We understand” may really mean, “We don’t want you to ask us anymore questions.”

The Lord pushed His disciples to demonstrate mastery of the concepts He’d taught. 

He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” (Matthew 13: 52)

When you, the scribe/ scholar/ student,  understand what God is saying out of His Word, when you really get it then you’ll have some evidence.  You’ll be able to show your work as treasure:  new treasure and old treasure.

Your new treasure will be revelation and applications for your specific life in this particular moment.  Like when you read the Sabbath laws in Leviticus and you realize how to reorder your financial practices to achieve prosperity without working yourself to death, compromising your integrity, or waiting to hit the spiritual lottery.

The old treasure is a deeper reassurance of God’s Word.  You read 1 Thessalonians and come away knowing that Hell is as real as Heaven.  You don’t like that old truth, but you receive it because you really studied.  You didn’t just look around at your teacher or your peers and repeat what you think their faces say they want to hear.

Joshua wanted for his people what I want for my student, which is what Jesus wants for all of us who call ourselves His disciples.

We want you to KNOW the truth in the Bible. We want you to know FOR YOURSELF that the Bible is true for always and true for right now.  We want you to stand on that Truth and for that Truth no matter how many blank stares you get.  We want you to stand on that Truth no matter what forces try to misdirect you into compromise or quasi-intellectual rejection of God’s Word.

Because when you can stand for God’s Truth against the blank-and-misdirect, then you will discover the treasures of the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore prepare yourself and arise,

And speak to them all that I command you.

Do not be dismayed before their faces,

Lest I dismay you before them.  (Jeremiah 1: 17)

And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.  You shall speak My words to them, whether they hear or whether they refuse, for they are rebellious. (Eekiel 2: 6-7)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

SPIRITUAL DROWNING DOESN’T LOOK LIKE DROWNING

A friend shared an article called “DROWNING DOESN’T LOOK LIKE DROWNING.” That article scared me.

I learned that drowning is “the No. 2 cause of accidental death in children, ages 15 and under.”  That’s bad, but what really scared me was learning that “of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult.”

Half the time, parents literally watch their babies drown----- and they don’t even know it.

How?  Because most of us don’t know what drowning looks like.  Drowning doesn’t look like drowning.

We think drowning looks like it does in the movies.  In the movies, drowning people dramatically splash and gasp and yell for help.  But that’s not how it works in real-life. 

Sometimes people do yell for help and thrash about in the water. That’s called Aquatic Distress and sometimes (but not always) happens before true drowning.  The difference is that during aquatic distress, the victim can still assist in their own rescue by grabbing a lifeline, throw ring, etc.

The noise and drama means that they haven’t lost control.  They’re scared but not yet dying.

Actual drowning is characterized by the Instinctive Drowning Response which looks very different from the Hollywood version.

The more I thought about this article, the more I understood why the church loses so many people.  They’re right next to us, spiritually drowning, and we don’t even know it because the Instinctive Drowning Response looks like this:

1.       Drowning people are silent.  “Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help.” The brain deprioritizes speech in place of the instinctive search for air.

I’ve had church members tell me why they no longer come to church, but I’ve never had one tell me as they were heading out the door that they weren’t coming back.  They just leave and they don’t say anything.

Hollywood has us programmed to respond to drama.  When a family on tv is in crisis, doors get slammed, imposing music plays on the soundtrack, and the cameras flash a series of close-ups on tightly emotional faces. 

But in the real world, when things get really bad, people just go silent.  They stop arguing.  They stop saying anything. 

They just go under.

2.       Drowning people look like they’re swimming just fine.  “Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water.”  It looks like they’re breathing before diving again, but they can’t stay above water long enough to fill their lungs with air.

I’ve walked with many individuals and families through dramatic crises. During the most dramatic moments they are at church, on the phone with me, seeking godly counsel, and praying.
They look like they’re going to be alright and even grow from the experience.

But then they just go under.  They miss worship.  They skip counseling.  They stop calling and returning calls.  Quietly.  Without drama.  They just sink beneath the waves.

3.       Drowning people don’t signal for help.  “Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface” instead of raising their arm to wave.

When people drown spiritually, they often don’t  cry for help.  Oh sometimes there’s the midnight phone call or the desperate “Pastor, can you come by right now” text.  But most of the time, when it gets really, really bad---- nobody says anything.

Days or weeks later when I find out what happened, I ask, “Why didn’t you tell me?” And they respond, “I didn’t want to worry you.  There was nothing you could do anyway.”

4.       Drowning people look calm but they’ve lost control.  The survival instinct so overwhelms drowning victims’ brains that they physically cannot choose to help themselves or to help you help them by voluntarily reaching out or grasping a floatation device.

We say, “He just ‘snapped.’ “ 
“All of a sudden, she just lost it.”

After weeks of oh-we’re-fines, the psychologically broken truth comes out.  Really, we don’t see them lose control.  Control was gone a long time ago. 

What we see is the loss of false calm masquerading as control.

When they’re really far gone, they can’t help themselves.   I can’t just throw them a lifeline of  “Call me if you need anything,” because they won’t make that call.  They can’t.  They’re too busy trying to keep their heads above water.

5.       There’s a very small window for rescuing someone who’s drowning.  When someone’s really drowning, it isn’t a 5 minute sequence during which siblings can argue, a couple can share a kiss, and lifeguards can run in slow motion after fixing their hair and make-up.  ”Drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.”

As a pastor, I’m the spiritual guardian of my congregation.  I’m there in the water with them, and if they’re drowning, I’ve got maybe 20-60 seconds as they greet me at the end of worship or Bible study to  notice and grab them, and start the struggle of getting them to stop fighting me and God so that God can restore to them the breath of life.

The drowning article scared me because I realized that I have watched souls drown in my church, and I didn’t even know it.  But now I know what to look for.  Now I know, and I’m not scared anymore.

I’m determined that no one else in my charge is going under without me noticing and wrapping my arms around them doing my best to lift them up.

Deliver me out of the mire,

And let me not sink;

Let me be delivered from those who hate me,

And out of the deep waters.

Let not the floodwater overflow me,

Nor let the deep swallow me up;

And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.  (Psalm 69: 14, 15)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To listen to sermons and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme.blogspot.com .

You can help support this ministry by clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to

Hall Memorial CME Church

541 Seibles Road

Montgomery, AL 36116

WHOM DO YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE? (WHO'S YOUR REAL DADDY?)

The church wants unity.  We preach about it.  We sing of it.  We have workshops and conferences dedicated to the pursuit of unity in the church.   But can unity in the church be a bad thing.   Consider the concept of Christian unity from a slightly different perspective.

Hear a message delivered on the final night of revival at New Hope CME Church.   Based on the theme of “gaining strength through unity,” you are challenged to open the scriptures and ask yourself:   WHOM DO YOU REALLY LOOK LIKE?

Listen well.

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---Anderson T. Graves II   is a  writer, community organizer, and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church and the executive director of SAYNO (Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization) in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

 

 

A WORD TO THE WISE. Proverbs 30: 17. "Your Parents Through Your Eyes"

Proverbs 30: 17     The eye that mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.

Proverbs 30: 17.  Jesus said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness..” (Matthew 6: 22, 23a)

In other words, “It all depends on how you look at it.”

Your perspective-----the way you look at what you’re doing and what has been done to you-----helps decide whether you begin your journey full of light or full of darkness. 

When I was an English teacher at Capitol Height Jr. High School, I started the year with my students seated in alphabetical order.  One kid, a skinny, self-avowed thug regularly skipped school.  He never did homework. He never brought a book or paper to class. He was disruptive and disrespectful.  I called his parents every day that he was in class, but they were more frustrated and desperate for a solution than I was.

The young man in front of him was exactly the opposite.  He was a chubby, geeky, honor student.  He was quiet, polite, and focused.  He and his best friend, a little Asian kid, drew manga comics and designed video games as a hobby and sometimes for extra credit.

We were halfway through the first semester when I realized that the thug and the honor student were brothers.  Not stepbrothers.  Not half-brothers.  Brother brothers.  They both lived in the same 2-parent, working class home.  They shared a room.

Most of the kids in the class didn’t know they were brothers even though some of them had been classmates since 3^rdgrade.  The boys didn’t mention it because each of them was ashamed of the other.

One brother saw their parents and their home as a place of light.  The restrictions and imperfections encouraged him to learn and to succeed in every positive way available.

The other brother saw their family through eyes full of darkness.  His parents were “lame.”  Their marriage was “lame.”  Good grades were “lame.” School was “lame.”  Only the guys in the streets were real.

The thug brother was actually older, but he’d failed so many times that he ended up in the same class as his “good” little brother.  He didn’t pass that year either.

Your perspective on your parents is crucial.

Even if your parents failed you, your perspective on them matters.  You cannot go back and change their dysfunction, addiction, abuse, neglect, absence, immaturity, incarceration, or incompetence.  But you can decide whether or not it poisons your mindset.  

You can determine that daddy’s and mama’s sins will be a lesson in how not to live and a motivation for you to break the cycle.  You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with light.

Or, you can choose to see their failures as a precursor to your own.  You can repeat the lie that, “I’ll never be anything, either.” You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with darkness.  But you don’t have to.

They’re YOUR eyes.  It’s your mind and your mindset.  You choose, but be careful.

Jesus went on to say, “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6: 23b)

The last half of Proverbs 30: 17, warns that a dark-filled eye will become prey for ravens and young eagles.  The word here for eagles can also refer to vultures.  The point is that filling your eyes with darkness will turn you into food for scavengers. 

Living your life filled with hate for your parents and empty of hope because of them------ will kill you.

Don’t let the darkness destroy you.

Where there was right, remember it.  Where there was wrong, forgive. 

Where they were wise, respect them.  Where they were foolish, forgive.

Where they spoke life, receive it.  Where they spoke death, decline it.

Choose your perspective.

Be filled with light.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116

Proverbs 30: 17. "Your Parents Through Your Eyes"

Proverbs 30: 17     The eye that mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it.

Proverbs 30: 17.  Jesus said, “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness..” (Matthew 6: 22, 23a)

In other words, “It all depends on how you look at it.”

Your perspective-----the way you look at what you’re doing and what has been done to you-----helps decide whether you begin your journey full of light or full of darkness. 

When I was an English teacher at Capitol Height Jr. High School, I started the year with my students seated in alphabetical order.  One kid, a skinny, self-avowed thug regularly skipped school.  He never did homework. He never brought a book or paper to class. He was disruptive and disrespectful.  I called his parents every day that he was in class, but they were more frustrated and desperate for a solution than I was.

The young man in front of him was exactly the opposite.  He was a chubby, geeky, honor student.  He was quiet, polite, and focused.  He and his best friend, a little Asian kid, drew manga comics and designed video games as a hobby and sometimes for extra credit.

We were halfway through the first semester when I realized that the thug and the honor student were brothers.  Not stepbrothers.  Not half-brothers.  Brother brothers.  They both lived in the same 2-parent, working class home.  They shared a room.

Most of the kids in the class didn’t know they were brothers even though some of them had been classmates since 3^rd grade.  The boys didn’t mention it because each of them was ashamed of the other.

One brother saw their parents and their home as a place of light.  The restrictions and imperfections encouraged him to learn and to succeed in every positive way available.

The other brother saw their family through eyes full of darkness.  His parents were “lame.”  Their marriage was “lame.”  Good grades were “lame.” School was “lame.”  Only the guys in the streets were real.

The thug brother was actually older, but he’d failed so many times that he ended up in the same class as his “good” little brother.  He didn’t pass that year either.

Your perspective on your parents is crucial.

Even if your parents failed you, your perspective on them matters.  You cannot go back and change their dysfunction, addiction, abuse, neglect, absence, immaturity, incarceration, or incompetence.  But you can decide whether or not it poisons your mindset.  

You can determine that daddy’s and mama’s sins will be a lesson in how not to live and a motivation for you to break the cycle.  You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with light.

Or, you can choose to see their failures as a precursor to your own.  You can repeat the lie that, “I’ll never be anything, either.” You can look at your parents and fill your eyes with darkness.  But you don’t have to.

They’re YOUR eyes.  It’s your mind and your mindset.  You choose, but be careful.

Jesus went on to say, “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6: 23b)

The last half of Proverbs 30: 17, warns that a dark-filled eye will become prey for ravens and young eagles.  The word here for eagles can also refer to vultures.  The point is that filling your eyes with darkness will turn you into food for scavengers. 

Living your life filled with hate for your parents and empty of hope because of them------ will kill you.

Don’t let the darkness destroy you.

Where there was right, remember it.  Where there was wrong, forgive. 

Where they were wise, respect them.  Where they were foolish, forgive.

Where they spoke life, receive it.  Where they spoke death, decline it.

Choose your perspective.

Be filled with light.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama.

Call  334-288-0577
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.

If you enjoy our work, please help support our work in the community. Send a donation of any amount by check or money order.
Mail all contributions to :
Hall Memorial CME Church
541 Seibles Road
Montgomery, AL 36116