Sunday, March 29, 2009

Kunta Kinte

Much of what we do today will effect the lives of those generations to come.  We all know this and if we don't we should.  Carbon foot printing is all the rage these days, but what about generational character issue carbon foot printing?  Sydney and I finished a marathon Roots watching this weekend.  She is writing a paper about the influence of Africans in Texas for her history class at school.  Each child is assigned a country to share how each one came to our state, the influence their culture has had on our state and the details of their coming over.  So, including the slave trades was important to discuss with regards to Africa.  Her teacher recommended her to watch Roots.  We rented the entire 12 hours plus Roots a Year Later.   
I remember when it came out and we as a family watched intently as these people and their families came into being and came to touch our hearts through this story.  There have been debates as to whether some of Mr. Haley's facts are completely accurate, but they are accurate in his heart.  The story he told and then shares with millions is one about family, it's about value, character and respect.  We were entrenched in the story and hardly could stop the movie to eat.  We wanted to see what happened next.  Time was erased, work found time to wait and silence was golden as we sat watching this story unfold before our eyes and in our hearts.  
What is the carbon footprint I am leaving generationally speaking for those coming after me? How am I preparing the way for them?  How am I setting things up to bless and not to curse? Generations will reap what I sow good and bad.  The decisions I choose today will effect the lives of my descendants for generations to come.  It was a good reminder of a lesson I know well and a great show to revisit if you are looking for a marathon movie type experience.
One of the experiences that happened to Alex Haley as he revisited his tribe in Africa once they realized he was a descendant, was a type of laying on of hands.  This tribe was muslim in origin yet Alex Haley is a Christian.  What it showed me with this expression of laying on of hands was how generationally, stories, even religions, can take some facts of one, add on to those facts and adopt them into tradition.  Mr. Haley said they encircled around him singing and dancing as they passed baby after baby for him to hold, to press their skin up against his. It was like they were saying without words, "You are flesh of our flesh and our flesh is a part of your flesh".  It was powerful to say the least and one story he tells to his children and grandchildren. Knowing where you come from is almost as important as knowing where you are going.  The things we come to learn from our past can propel us into our future.  They can also keep us stuck in our past if we allow them. Staying stuck in a fear is a generational chain that must be broken in order to acquire freedom. Spiritual freedom as well as physical freedom was the case for Kunta, but what it teaches us is that it can be obtained through perseverance, forgiveness, love and faith.  He never relented, never stop telling his stories of Africa, never stopped trying to be free to the point where they cut off his foot.  As the movie went on the story he told was repeated over and over.  The story became one we were familiar with and we could repeat it by the end of the movie.  
Just as we are to write His Word upon our hearts, 2 Cor. 3:2-3 "You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody.  You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts".  When we write His precepts, His love, His commandments on our hearts they are there forever.  It is up to us to spread the news of the gospel and to "Go ye into all the world and spread the good news".  We are to keep His story alive in us in order to keep the story alive through us.  We may not know the time, or place or the ear upon which the Word will fall, but we can rest assure that He hears us and that is all that matters.  He will see to the details, He will see to the rest if we do our part in the storytelling.  Telling our stories of what God has done in and through our lives for others to hear, should not and is not a way of boasting in ourselves, but a way to boast in the things of God.  I am always amazed at His power through His Word and the healing that takes place for those who are ready to listen.  Freedom awaits those who have ears to hear.  "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what the Lord has prepared, but by His Spirit He will reveal, His plans for those who love Him".

Thursday, March 26, 2009

And One

With March Madness in our house the term "and one" is heard A LOT.  I thought it appropriate for the title of this blog since 24/7 basketball is not always my thing, so I start exploring the computer finding yet another way to communicate. This blog, the words I say, the stories I tell, the YouTube posts I may have aired, could not be made possible without God.  He is God and I am His "and one".  It's just God and me getting together putting together our thoughts, ideas, dreams, hopes and vision.  Some good news for a change is what I hope this will bring to you along the way.  
I am still learning lots from all these communication opportunities.  I was imagining if this were the only way I had to communicate there would be many choices for me to pick from to get a message out to people.  Yet I am finding the "art of communication" is now encompassing many techniques, many avenues, many modes of operation and many means.  In other words we have lots of gadgets and gizzmos to choose from to get the word out. We have many ways to express our ideas.   Not my word Lord, but your Word be heard!  It is my hope anyway.  I will slowly switch probably to this blogger site for my posts because I can edit, manage and post from the road from another computer and don't have my computer with me.  No, I don't have a lap top.  I am a keyboard fan the old school type.....get it.....sorry.  Anyway I guess I could carry around my wireless keyboard so I may explore that option, yet again another option.  We are getting really spoiled with so many options and choices out there at our fingertips.  It's nice to be spoiled ever so often don't you think?  God spoils us everyday in that every breath we take is a blessing.  So here I go as I begin to figure out the customization of this site, making it personal, giving you ideas, giving you things to think about, changing and linking you up if you wish to places I like and learn from etc etc etc etc etc.......it just goes on and on. God is that way. He just keeps going and going and going.  He is infinite.  The good news is even when we unplug and disconnect from this computer, even when we fail, even when we might disconnect from Him, He is always there and will never forsake us.  I hope I can live up to the challenge of getting His message out to this world that needs Him.
John 3:16 " For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life".