Hangin’ with Huckabee

I spent about two hours in a crowded book store last night for a chance to meet Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential hopeful is touring 60 cities in three weeks to promote his new book, “A Simple Christmas.” He was at Quail Ridge Books and Music in Raleigh on Thursday night.

I am an enthusiastic Huckabee supporter. In fact, I changed my party affiliation from Democrat to unaffiliated so I could vote for him in the Republican primary. With that said, I was excited to have a chance to shake his hand and say hello.

It was great to be in a room full of other Huckabee supporters. I must mention that I was the only black person there. But, I wasn’t worried about that; I was on a mission.

Mr. Huckabee’s bus was an hour late. I’m sure the weather didn’t help. It was cold, rainy and windy. The weather made me want to stay home, but I decided I couldn’t miss this opportunity.

The wait wasn’t bad at all. The time seemed to fly by pretty quickly, plus there was a little girl who was quite entertaining. I read a little bit of “A Simple Christmas,” and having my iPhone didn’t hurt either.

Pretty soon, the bus pulled up and the wait was over.

The signing line went pretty quickly, and before I knew it, it was my turn. There was a lot I wanted to say, but I just said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Yeah, I totally froze! But hopefully I’ll get a chance to meet Mr. Huckabee again, and hopefully we’ll see his name on the ballot in 2012.

More than enough

Bring all the tithes into the storehouse,
That there may be food in My house,
And try Me now in this,
Says the Lord of hosts,
If I will not open for you the windows of heaven
And pour out for you such blessing
That there will not be room enough to receive it. — Malachi 3:10

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. — Luke 6:38

This is the season of Thanksgiving, but every day is a day to give God thanks for all He has done. For me, the realization of my blessings come as little epiphanies as I’m going about my day.

So today, I was looking in my refrigerator at some meat I need to get in the freezer but I really don’t have room to get it all in there. I just looked at it and said, “I have so much, I don’t have room enough for it all.” I immediately thought about the scriptures above. If we give to God — if we bring our time and our tithes and offerings to Him — He will bless us. In fact, He’ll pour out a blessing we don’t have room enough to receive. God will use men — other human beings — to bring these abundant blessings into our lives.

See, a few days ago, to help me out, my parents took me grocery shopping. That’s something they do often, and I thank God for them doing that for me. God uses them to bless me with so much I don’t have room enough to receive it. What a mighty God we serve!

I may not have everything, but I am abundantly blessed. Look for the blessings in your life. Look for the opportunities to be grateful. We’ll find plenty of things to complain about, but that is not God’s will. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says “in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

So, during this Thanksgiving season, make gratitude your daily attitude. Let finding all the reasons to be thankful become a habit that extends well past “turkey day.”

Because it’s in my heart

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matthew 7:21-23, New King James Version)

This week, I’ll be at church, or involved in something church-related every single day of the week. As I look at the pile of work I still have to do this week, it is a bit overwhelming. But, the thing that sustains me is knowing why I do what I do. Ministry, when done with the right motives, is meant to serve a Kingdom-building purpose. Whatever we do, we should do it because our hearts and minds are set on serving God. Whatever we do, we should do it because we love the Lord.

Counting my blessings

“Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!”

I have so many things to be grateful for in my life. God is truly blessing me. But sometimes we don’t think God is blessing us unless we have thousands of dollars in the bank or everything in our lives is perfect. The truth is, we are blessed just to wake up in the morning.

I was reflecting this week on just how blessed I am, and I began to count my blessings. Here are just a few of the things God has blessed me with:

1. I get to spend everyday with my best friend.: Meeting my husband was so unexpected. Who knew I would meet a cool friend who would have an awesome brother who would become my awesome husband? He makes me laugh and he makes me believe in myself.
2. I have an amazing family.: My parents are everything to me. If I wasn’t married, I’d probably still be living at home with them. (Well, maybe not. Maybe I’d just live really close by.) They’ve done so much for me, I know if I ever tried to repay them, it would never be enough. But, someday, I’m gonna try anyway. I’m also blessed to have a little sister who makes me laugh all the time. I try to tell her things, and she never listens to me, but we always have a lot of fun when I go home to visit.  Then there’s the family I married into. You always hear people complain about their in-laws, but mine welcomed me from day one and I couldn’t imagine life without them now.
3. I have a cool job.: I love what I do. Sometimes the circumstances are stressful, but I get to do so many different things, and I enjoy all of the different things I get to do. My job challenges me to grow professionally and personally, and I think that’s the best situation you could ask for. \
4. I have a great church family.: I love my church so much. I really couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. My pastor and his wife are so humble and so dedicated to teaching sound doctrine. I have grown so much since I’ve been there, and I’ve learned so much about God’s will for me and the gifts He’s given me to use for advancing His kingdom.

There are so many things. I could list them for days and days. I have life. I’m in my right mind. I’m healthy. I have a roof over my head. I have food to eat.

You don’t have to look far to find the blessings in your life. The thing is, many people spend too much time focusing on the challenges they face. Challenges will never go away. So, don’t worry about those. Instead, spend your time counting your blessings and thanking God for all He’s done.

The world’s evangelist

I recently visited the Billy Graham Library. It was such an awesome, moving experience. If you’re ever in Charlotte, you should definitely visit the Library. You’ll be inspired by how Billy and Ruth Graham humbly submitted to God’s will for their lives and, in turn, took the Gospel all over the world.

The big 3-0

I turned 30 yesterday and that has me thinking about how I want to move forward now that I’ve left my 20s behind. I feel like I have so much I should’ve done by now, and there are still so many things I want to do.

For those of you who’ve already been there, what do you remember about that age– 30? Where were you? What were you doing? I want to hear your stories.

Michael, music, memories

Shock. I think that’s the word to describe what I feel right now. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is dead.

For some of you, that doesn’t mean anything, but to me, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. To understand why Michael’s death hurts me so much, you have to understand me. See, you have to understand that I’ve loved Michael as far back as my mind can remember. You have to understand that music is such a huge part of my life, and to me, Michael is one of the best artists to exist in the world of music.You would have to see all the days I spent dancing along with his music, and watching his videos and concerts.

I have so many funny memories about Michael. I can’t forget when Thriller came out, and I was so scared to watch that video. I was so scared, in fact, that my Michael Jackson doll started to look a little too scary at night, and I decided to throw it away. While we were still dating, I told Wayne (my husband now) this story and he bought me another Michael Jackson doll.

Michael had something that made me smile every time I saw him. Michael’s friend Elizabeth Taylor branded him the King of Pop, and he truly lived up to that title.

When I hear the name Michael Jackson, I think of brilliance, of dazzling stars, lasers and deep emotions. … I think he is one of the finest people to hit this planet, and, in my estimation, he is the true King of Pop, Rock and Soul.  — Elizabeth Taylor

As a fan, I never chose to believe any of the rumors about Michael’s activities with children or any of the crazy stories about some of the weird behavior people talked about. Obviously the man had some things that troubled him. What we think means nothing now. His soul and his judgment rests with God. I only hope Michael had a relationship with Jesus Christ and that he is now in Heaven.

Michael has been compared to Peter Pan — the Disney character who never grew up. Michael’s early entrance to the music business, although it put him in a position to achieve great fame and transform music,  robbed him of his childhood. That reality brought a lot of sadness to his life.

Before you judge me, try hard to love me. The painful youth I’ve had. Have you seen my childhood? — “Childhood, Michael Jackson

My words don’t mean much. I just wanted to express how I feel right now. You can love it or hate it. You can make fun of me for caring, but you don’t understand me. I’m a person with a huge heart, a huge sensitive heart. I feel things so strongly. That’s just me … love it or hate it.

\”Gone too Soon\” by Michael Jackson

Eyes on the prize

Sometimes I really wish I could turn back the hands of time and re-live parts of my life with the knowledge I have now. I can think of so many ways I could improve my current situation if I could just change something in the past.

But knowing we can’t change the past, how do we move forward? The Apostle Paul offers us some advice: “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Phil. 3:13-14)

I haven’t always done the right thing in my life. I can’t claim perfection. But the great thing is that God doesn’t hold me to my past. I don’t have to worry about the past because God has promised to give me a good future, full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

So, the next time I feel like rewinding the clock, I’ll remember that there’s no need to look back.

I didn’t know!

I’m so glad Discovery Health turned the special “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” into a series. I’m just fascinated by the idea that you could go months and months and never even know you are pregnant. The stories are always so riveting. I mean, Discovery really dramatizes these things. The music, the re-enactments — it really makes for good TV! I just hope that never happens to me. I want to know as soon as possible if I’m pregnant!

Kate + 8?

The tension was so thick between Jon and Kate Gosselin you could have cut it with a knife. Jon and Kate Plus Eight is one of my favorite shows, but last night it was almost painful to watch. Even though  it chronicled the celebration of the sextuplets’ fifth birthday, the whole episode just seemed a little sad.

I refused to believe any of the stories about Jon and Kate’s marital problems, so I was quite sad to see that they really are struggling. What I saw was a lot of anger and sadness, but not a whole lot of hope. It kind of reminded me of the movie Fireproof.

In Fireproof, the couple didn’t have any hope for their marriage until one of them was challenged to try to save the relationship. It was just a movie, but the situations were very real.

In marriage, we can sometimes let nagging little issues turn into cancers in our relationships. Lack of communication, compromise and understanding drive us to start resenting one another. The answer for Jon and Kate, and the answer for us all, is to submit our will to God’s will and do things His way.

Doing it God’s way keeps us from being selfish. Doing it God’s way keeps us from placing blame. Doing it God’s way forces us to keep trying even when we can’t see any hope.

My husband and I don’t have eight kids. We don’t have any kids. Still, sometimes the going gets rough, but I remember our vows — to love each other until death parts us. And I remember every day that I can’t take anything for granted. We have to keep fighting to make our marriage work. I hope Jon and Kate still have some fight left in them.

Love is Not a Fight by Warren Barfield