OCCUPY THIS! (Or "What Would Jesus Do?)

Earlier this year, I was asked to write an article for a magazine that never came into being.  In light of the current "Occupy Wall Street" movement, I thought it worth re-printing and sharing with all of you.

Let me know "what you think".

Love,

Rayel

Like Taking Candy From a Baby…

by Rayel

Copyright 2011.  Lisa Rayel Jeffrey.  All Rights Reserved.

As I write this, the news reports that the top executives of Goldman Sachs Investment firm just gave themselves 111 million dollars in bonuses.  Not salaries.

Bonuses.

The CEO and President received 24 million dollar bonuses each.  The CFO, 21 million dollars, and so on.

That’s just ONE investment firm of many on Wall Street.  The other investment firms have rewarded themselves similarly, meaning that the year end bonuses on Wall Street alone, will go way into the billions, if not trillions—NOT COUNTING the billions MORE in year end bonuses being given to top executives in Corporate America, as they lay off millions of workers.

THIS on the heels of the wealthy Republican politicians literally “holding hostage” the unemployed and poor children, refusing to extend both unemployment benefits OR subsidized school lunches until they got their extraordinary tax concessions—which include the ability to leave up to 20 million dollars to their children TAX FREE.  This will further extract trillions and trillions of dollars from the economy, further sinking all the public institutions and infrastructure these tax dollars would support.  As if our roads, schools, hospitals and social services weren’t suffering enough.

Why am I talking about such things in a Christian magazine?  Particularly, one devoted to evangelizing God’s mandate to “prosper”?

Well, I found myself in a Facebook “conversation”, over this, with a fellow Christian who felt that “the problem” was that the poor needed to stop expecting “free lunches” and get over their “outrageous sense of entitlement”.

Hmnn….  Let’s see.  So, we’ve got multimillionaires extracting more millions from a depleted economy, and LITERALLY taking food out of babies’ mouths to do it  (By the way, you should know that Governor Schwarzenegger has cut almost all Child Care funding here in California AFTER getting elected on a campaign pledging commitment to CHILDREN), BUT the POOR are the ones with the “outrageous sense of entitlement”?

Well, I couldn’t help but wonder what Jesus would say about all this—and how HE would define “prosperity”.

I turned to my trusty friend, The Bible, and was lead to Psalm 112.

Come along!  Read with me!

(vs, 1-5)  Praise the Lord!  Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.

          His descendants will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the upright will be blessed.

          Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.

          Unto the upright there arises light in darkness; he is gracious and full of compassion, and righteousness.

          A good man deals graciously and lends; he will guide his affairs with discretion.

(vs. 9)  He has dispersed abroad, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn will be exalted with honor.

So, we see that yes.  It IS important to leave an inheritance for our children.  That’s the mark of the righteous.  That’s the reward of those who obey God – that his descendants will be blessed!  That he WILL prosper!  And, I’m gonna talk more about that in later articles.

BUT—

It ALSO says that he is to be COMPASSIONATE.  In fact, it says he should be FULL OF COMPASSION!  This “screw the poor”, “I’ve got mine, you get yours” attitude is decidedly ANTICHRISTIAN.  And, anyone who calls themselves a Christian and feels this way is fooling themselves.  Jesus Himself, dedicated His entire ministry to reaching out to the poor and the alienated who were excluded from the temple system.  They couldn’t worship in the temple.  They had to perform their ceremonial baths in a pool outside of the city.  If they were sick, they were considered not worthy of a blessing from the High Priest.  In fact, the temples were connected by an elaborate tunnel and bridge system so the Priests could leave their homes and go directly into the temple without even having to touch the “commoners”.  BUT, you’d better believe hefty taxes were still extracted from those very sick and poor.

Jesus was born “in the hood”.  “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” they asked.  (John 1:46)  Like, “What good thing can come out of Cabrini Green?  Or Nickerson Gardens?  Or The 5^th Ward?”  Jesus grew up seeing the oppression of these people – HIS people.  These poor people were HIS family and neighbors.  The folk that raised HIM!

He grew up seeing so many of their bodies dot the landscape, rotting on crosses, because, indeed, the Romans crucified over 2,000 Jews BEFORE Him.  It was their favorite way of punishing even the hint of insurrection.  Leaving decaying bodies hanging for weeks sent a message that was hard to confuse:  Don’t even THINK about dismantling this system.

But Jesus did.  He challenged the High Priests.  He confronted the moneychangers.  He warned of those who played religion, but whose hearts were actually far from Him.  Hearts cold and indifferent to the suffering of others.

And, He sought to INCLUDE the poor…AND the rich.  His disciple, Matthew was a wealthy tax collector.   Come onboard! Jesus said, Just stop stealing!  He called the Roman Centurion who asked Jesus to heal his servant with just a word, a man of great faith.  The disciple, Luke was a wealthy physician, and indeed, Theophilus, to whom the books of Luke, and Acts were addressed, is speculated to be among the wealthiest members of society who perhaps underwrote publication of the books.  Jesus’ ministry was subsidized by many wealthy women and it was the wealthy Joseph of Arimathea who gave Jesus a proper burial.

Jesus had no problem with people prospering.

But do you think Jesus would think it’s ok to give the wealthy Roman rulers billions of dollars in bonuses and tax breaks while cutting off subsidized lunches and day care to children of the poor?

I don’t know.  What do you think?

As we go into this new year, in this new decade, be mindful that TRUE prosperity, in GOD’S eyes, is a two sided coin.

One side says,

“Give”

The other side says,

“…and it shall be given unto you.  Good measure.  Pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men give into your bosom. (Luke 6:38)

It’s not heads OR tails.  It’s heads AND tails.  Flip often!

Happy New Year y’all!

BE love…. and love will follow.

Rayel

Rayel is the founder and Executive Director of Rayelity Check Ministries, a faith based, non-profit organization dedicated to offering children and adults in crisis, assistance and tools for effective living (www.MySpace.com/RayelityCheck  and www.RayelityCheck.org ).  

WARREN BUFFET & ME

An old friend from high school had a simple post on her Facebook Page: 

"Warren Buffet thinks it's time for the super rich to pay a lot more in taxes.  I couldn't agree more.  If you, and me, and 199,198 agree, we'll deliver Warren's op-ed and all the signatures to Congress."

The Comment after that was from someone who said he "sort of" has a point.

Well... I'm an interesting "sort of" person.  And, out of that "interestingness", I had to respond.  You know what they say, "To whom much is given, much is required."  Well, God has blessed me with a LOT of exposure to a LOT of different kinds of people.

I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago.  Spent childhood summers on a chicken farm with my Grandparents in Dumas, Arkansas, sat in old fashioned, white-washed, wooden churches in the pulpit, watching my Grandfather preach as old black women caught the Holy Ghost and sent fold up chairs flying.  I attended a high school that was the junior equivalent of the United Nations, college in "The Redneck Riviera", worked in Commercial Lending on Wall Street, Advertising with the world's largest agencies, sat in Corporate Boardrooms as an adult, and on concrete stoops in Lawndale in my cousin's gang meetings, when I was a child.  I've travelled across the world and across the country, meeting and getting the perspectives of people as diverse as those living in one room tin huts, to those with multiple, million dollar homes.  I've worked in Cook County jail and I've shared dressing rooms with some of Hollywood's most beloved stars.  To say I've been around, would be an understatement.

And, this is why I feel uniquely qualified to put in my two cents on this whole "rich paying taxes" thing.  I can't say I know a lot, but this I know, both through public information and through personal confidences:

Major corporations paid ZERO in taxes last year, due to slick, LEGAL tax loops.  TRILLIONS were tucked away by the super rich in ILlegal, offshore accounts, hidden for years by UBS and LGT, who simply REFUSED to cooperate with the IRS.  The IRS conducted a sort of "surveillance" of these activities for eight years (from 2000 to 2007) and when they felt they had an "airtight case" they went to the two powerhouse capital managers.  LGT patently IGNORED them.  UBS agreed to give them LESS THAN 10 PERCENT of the names of their clients, under the condition that they would have a kind of IMMUNITY from prosecution-- even though they were patently guilty of "participating in a scheme to defraud the United States".

FROM LESS THAN 10 PERCENT OF THE CRIMINAL TAX EVADERS, THE UNITED STATES STANDS TO RECOUP BILLIONS!  Do you hear me?  BILLIONS!!! OF DOLLARS in otherwise uncollected taxes as a result of this paltry deal.  Now, just imagine if they collected the DUE TAXES from the FULL 50,000 (THAT'S FIFTY THOUSAND) SUPER RICH TAX DODGERS that the IRS was initially going after, in this just ONE case!!!!

The rich are so powerful that they made the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SETTLE FOR A MEASLEY 4,450  SUPER RICH TAX CHEATERS!    THIS CASE ALONE, COULD HAVE SOLVED THE US DEBT CRISIS AND IT'S STILL JUST A SMALL TRICKLE OF THE AMOUNT OF LEGAL TAXES THE SUPER RICH HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO GET AWAY WITHOUT PAYING!  We don't even need to raise their taxes!  We just need to make them pay what they already owe!  Amend the loopholes, and launch a mission as "determined" as the one in Iraq to shut down the offshore stashes.  But that won't happen.  They're all friends with the legislators and policymakers.  Neighbors, golf buddies, and the legislators have stock in THEIR companies!  They have a vested interest in the set up.

So, there is no real incentive (besides the drowning of this country) to make them pay their fair share.  They make money in this country, BIG money, but they just take, and take, and take  it out and put nothing back!  They've all got lifeboats, posh gated communities, and golden parachutes so who cares?  But, what happens when you put a straw in a glass and suck out its' contents without refilling it?  Exactly what's happened to this country.  It goes dry.  I worked on Wall Street back in the day and I saw it there.  I lived in what is considered the "richest city in America"... and listened to them there.  They are ADAMANT against paying ANY taxes, but they want everything they can suck out of this country.

Everything.

At one point, they fought against "taxation without representation" (See, The Boston Tea Party).  Now, today they are fighting tooth and nail for "representation without taxation"!  (See today's "Tea Party").

THAT'S a very big part of the real problem.

But, to be "bi-partisan", that is, equally excoriating of the rich AND the poor, I'll ask today's popular question.  Are the poor wasteful, also?  Absolutely.  Wasted food, wasted money, paying too much for EVERYTHING (but then, that is by design.  The poor are always gouged.  I remember as a child, visiting a building with my mother, who was a Social Worker, and walking into an apartment that was literally SNOWING INSIDE from an approximate 4-foot wide hole in the ceiling.  The residents were forced to pay the hell-bound slumlord MARKET RENT to live there!  Also, did you know that in Beverly Hills, you can pull as little as FIVE DOLLARS out of the ATMs?  They don't MAKE the rich take a whopping $20 out of their accounts.  Leave that money in there to keep collecting interest!)

But, I digress...  Anyway, back to the poor.  Just as I've sat in the living rooms of the ultra rich, and listened to their obsessive determination to avoid taxes, I've watched the extravagance of people who do not have to EARN anything.  The young women frequenting the welfare offices of this country pretty much all collect their benefits with the freshest hair weaves, fly-est manicures, and the trendiest clothes.  My mother complains about me wearing the same faded T-shirts I had in HIGH SCHOOL!   Well, thank God I can still fit them cause I couldn't afford their wardrobes, let alone their hairstyles!  And, I've had a professional manicure only three times in my life!

However, the most egregious welfare queen could not even begin to touch the thievery of these "immune elite".  And, that includes those just getting here from other countries.  There are particular groups (I won't say which ones cause I'm scared of them :-), that come here, actually TAKE UNDERGROUND CLASSES on how to bilk Medicare, and set up Home Health and Hospice agencies.  Within six months, they are literally extracting MILLIONS... ALSO from the United States government.

No welfare queen, black or white (and I'm sure you know by now that the majority of people on welfare are NOT black), comes even remotely close to the burden these IMPORTED "immune elite" place on the system.

And, let me mention just one more thing:  The banking bailout.  Banks were given a TON of money to make new mortgages to potential homebuyers.  To NEW, middle income homebuyers, to my understanding.

Well, they sat on the money for a lonnnnng, lonnnnng time.  Giving each other even BIGGER bonuses than the bonuses they were chastised for.  Then, certain of my neighbors in this "rich" city I mentioned earlier, shared with me something very interesting.  They were getting called, out of the blue, by banks offering to refinance their nearly paid for million dollar homes with next to no interest.  I'm talking homes with less than 50-thousand dollars on the balance.  The neighbors were like, "Sure!  Why not?  I can take this measley balance, stretch it out another 30 years and pay virtually no interest? I can then take the mortgage I HAVE been paying and make money on it elsewhere?"

It's a win-win!  The homeowner gets to continue to live opulently, make more money, and the banks get to say they technically issued a "new" loan, satisfying government requirements for the bailout!

Another neighbor, who's monthly mortgage on THAT home (like I said, they have more than one), is $15,000 a month, said that if she wanted to, she could just stop paying it, cause the banks have lost the papers on so many of the rich's multi-million dollar homes, that if she did, they probably wouldn't even notice.  She won't do it, but has friends who have.

What you're hearing on FOX news and all these other propagandic media, is a smokescreen to cover their own raping and pillaging.

Like I said, to whom much is given, much is required.  I've been given a lot of this information so I'm just doing my duty and sharing it.

Dont shoot the messenger.  I'm just telling what I know.  I'm not a huge fan of taxes either, but Jesus said, "render to Caesar what Caesar is due." (Mark 12:17)

What do YOU think?

*NOTE:  A lot of people are telling me they posted comments on earlier blogs but they didn't come through. I think I fixed the problem.  Now, I believe all comments will be accepted, so feel free!  Love you much!
Rayel

A CHECKERBOARD TRAP

I was driving across 79^th street the other day.  Most of you know by now that I recently moved back to Chicago and have already been stunned by the Saturday night free for all gunplay that’s so easy to come across.  But, then, it really doesn’t have to be a weekend.  For instance, Wednesday night my doorbell rang at 4:26 in the morning (so, technically, I guess it was really Thursday morning).  The dogs went ballistic so I was forced to jump up and answer it, though totally disoriented.

It was the police.  ANOTHER Black teen was just shot and killed just three blocks away.  The detective was canvassing the area, ringing EVERYBODY’S bell, to see if any of us heard anything…. Saw anything…  I was a little perplexed because I live on a block where admittedly, I’ve barely even SEEN any Black teens!  But then, Chicago is a city whose landscape changes dramatically, at a stones’ throw.  Thus, three blocks away, another young, Black life was gunned down.

So, the next day, I’m pondering this as I drive across  79^th street
from Stony Island to Damen, head north to Marquette, then drive from Damen to just PAST Midway airport.  For those of you not from here, just let me say, it’s a long drive, and largely through Black communities.  And, I noticed something quite distinct.  Quite systematic.

Approximately, every 4 to 6 blocks the gang colors would change… from blue to red… from red to blue… to the White T’s… and back to the red or blue.  It was a PATTERN!  Like a chessboard!

Young, black men, in their “groups”, in their colors, pretty much QUARANTINED within a few, crowded, filthy, city blocks, “imprisoned” there by territory lines too close, rival gangs on either side.

OF COURSE they aren’t going to school!  Unless the school’s in their backyard, they’ve got to risk their lives to go!  OF COURSE they aren’t going to look for a job… same thing.  So, they just better make their money off this square on “their” corner.  In fact, the number you frequently see tatted on the forearm of any young slinger is usually the BLOCK he is relegated to.  If you see a 67, he's "permitted" to stay on that 6700 street block.  83... 8300 street block and so on.  This single, city block is the only place you are "relatively" safe, for the rest of your foreseeable life.

And, don't fall for some girl in another block!  The majority of shootings THESE days, I'm told, are over GIRLS!  Usually, a young guy crossing into the wrong territory (which might be a single block, remember), to see a girl he likes.  So, you can't even express the normal yearnings and leanings of puberty without putting your life on the line!

Jacked up, huh?

And, this pattern is CONSISTENT!  To be sure, I took the same route going AND coming and there it was…. Red…. Blue…. Red….. Blue…. Oh!  There’s a “White T” crew…. Red…. Literally, every four blocks.

Does someone want me to believe that this is coincidental?

This is as coincidental as the U.S.’s lowered Credit rating and the Republican’s sabotage agenda.

When I was coming up, I remember gang territories were more along the lines of entire sides of town!  Major chunks of the West side were mostly “this”… Big chunks of the South side were mainly “that”…  It was still a wretched system, but the noose was nowhere near as tight as it is now.  NOW it has been tightened EXPONENTIALLY.

Once Chicago went on its’ land grab gentrification spree, and reclaimed all the prime real estate all those projects sat on, tens of thousands of their residents got thrown on the South side.  Evicted gang members thrown right in the middle of rival gang territories and then the murders began to skyrocket.

Many officials want to pretend that they have no idea why.

In answer to the overnight overcrowding, and in the interest of self preservation, these little “micro territories” must have formed.  Blue… Red… Blue… Red… and they’re imprisoned in a way that literally funnels them into prison.

…  if they survive.

It’s a Checkerboard trap.

What do you think?

LITTLE TOYRIANNA

A friend of mine forwarded to me a newsclipping today of a young, teenaged girl named Toyrianna, who killed her baby, then carried the baby around while she went shopping. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/29/toyrianna-smith-killed-ba_n_886772.html

I share her heartbreak.  "Why Lord, Why?" was the heading of the email she sent.

This was my response:

This is the result of EXTREME NEGLECT AND ABUSE of this PARENT when she was
growing up.  The years I worked at 26th and California, (Cook County Jail), I noticed that EVERY one of the juvenile offenders that would be up on felony charges were, THEMSELVES DCFS cases when they were growing up, being VICTIMS of extreme abuse and neglect often, from infancy.  Their capacity to process emotions in a healthy way was killed long ago as they were forced to endure unspeakable horrors within their families and terror-filled neighborhoods, with NO protection.

I'm reading this book called, "The Adolescent Self" by Dr. David B. Wexler to help me with my youth ministry and this child's condition is called, "Narcissistic Rage".  It's explained, thusly:

"The narcissistically sensitive individual (child, adolescent, or adult) expects to be able to exercise full control over the environment.  When the environment fails him, the blow to his fragile grandiosity is often overwhelming.  The result of these intense feelings of betrayal is an urge to gain revenge and to somehow destroy the offending agent.  Fragmentation (the internal experience marked by anxiety, tentativeness, or moodiness) is the result.   The person in this state, experiences no capacity for productive self assertion (they can only react in a destructive way).  The state is intolerable.

The origin of this form of narcissistic rage lies in the experience of traumatic helplessness as a child, when injuries were experienced and there were no avenues to adequately express the feelings nor idealized self-object figures (i.e. caring parents or caregivers to provide food, touch or warmth; grandparents who consistently remind them of their fundamental self worth; an authority figure to help foster identity development), who could serve containment functions.  This sets the groundwork for hypersensitivity in later life, when small slights or perceived betrayals threaten to resurrect the same (childhood) experiences of  both injury and helplessness."

So, THIS is the fragile psyche from which someone can shoot someone for stepping on their gymshoes... and yes... kill a baby for making them feel out of control and helpless... and then go shopping.  ANYTHING to escape the panic and make themselves feel better.

The Black community has GOT TO STOP FROWNING ON PSYCHOTHERAPY!!!!

It's real.  It HEALS.  We need it!!!!  The psychic traumas we have endured since we were crammed on those ships over 500 years ago, and those we endure everyday have KELOIDED OUR SOULS!  They are scars on top of scars!  This child is SICK and has been for a long, long, LONG time but it became normal in her world... OUR world... to just go on, limping along with the pain, fear, confusion, rage and emptiness.

There is no shame in getting help!   THIS is the shame-- the generational tragedy of NOT getting help!  There's so much help out there!.. MUCH OF IT'S FREE!

Sadly, I want to hug the mother, and cry for HER as well as that departed new life.  Children in my OWN family have experienced and witnessed some things veterans of WAR have not had to be exposed to, and yet, I have wept countless tears as my pleas to their caregivers to get them some therapy were rebuffed.  I even called DCFS on them to try to force it, to no avail.

In 12-step programs, they say the addict or alcoholic has to "hit bottom" before they are ready to finally get some help.  Clearly, we, as a people, have not "hit bottom" yet.

How much lower do we have to go?

What do YOU think?

DODGING BULLETS ON MEMORIAL DAY.... HOW IRONIC!

A friend of mine sent me an email today hoping I'd had a nice Memorial Day with my family. Wow!  If it had only been that simple!  This was my response.....

 Hey Brian! (name changed to spare him any association with last night's drama :-)

Actually, my family (cousins) got together and "forgot" to invite me.  Guess they're just too used to me being away.  I took the chance of inviting another relative, who's a brilliant artist, but with "issues", to a free jazz concert at the park behind the Museum of Science and Industry.  I'd hoped for the first time in 30-something years, we could spend some time together without her having an "episode".

Not!

I woke up this morning to texts and four voicemail messages accusing me of stealing her nail polish and why I'm always stealing from her.  What?!  I called my mother just to tell her, up front, that I did NOT, since she tends to blow off her insanity... no matter how extreme, and, she agreed it was ridiculous but, as usual, she turned it into a monologue about HER. Typical, but then, I've been watching "Two and a Half Men" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" for awhile, so now I've come to accept that this kind of "mother behavior" isn't so unusual).  I just eased myself off the phone.

At the park, there were hoards and hoards of Black teens.  Like locusts!  Are teenagers the dominant population in Chicago now?  I had the top down and young, testosterone filled boys leaned all in the car offering me "footlongs".  I wasn't faded.  Thought it kind of humorous, actually.  I'm old enough to be your GRANDmother, I thought to myself, but just graciously told them, "Thanks, I'm straight".  Noticing that a LOT of young brothas here are locking their hair, I complimented them.  Naively, I was thinking it was some beautiful, proud expression of their African heritage, until I witnessed the behavior.  Then, it hit me... They're emulating Lil Wayne!  What the...?!

When I left the concert, at 11pm, a couple dozen of them got into a fight, and then, right before my eyes, shots rang out and they scattered like roaches when you turn on the lights.  I mean FAST!  It's a shame so much has been stripped from the schools, including Sports.  Some of them would have been shoo-ins for The Olympics!   Since I'm not accustomed to gunfire (Thank GOD!), I wasn't sure what I was hearing.  "Are those firecrackers?" I wondered.  But, when I saw everybody break and run, I knew it was gunfire.  I saw one kid limping away.  I was in my car, stopped at the light.

I got so confused that I turned the wrong way, and went back INTO the crowd that was walking and driving away, and got stuck in traffic.  Everyone was on their cellphones.  Police cars, ambulances and firetrucks started roaring by and descending on the scene.  I heard young girls, saying "Oh God!  Oh God!"  I asked if anyone was actually shot (about 5 or 6 shots had rung out).  She said a girl got shot.  I was still trying to figure out which way to go once I got an opening.  I'm still so turned around in this city.


I wanted to ask some boys how it started and what was the beef, but by the time I got into Hyde Park, I wasn't sure if these were the same kids that were by the museum so they probably wouldn't know.  I finally made my way out of the crowd and continued to hear sirens and see flashing lights all around.  I decided I wanted something to eat, and like I've commented, so many of the food options here don't agree with me, so I drove allll the way over to 79th and the Ryan to that Chinese Restaurant by Dukes Lounge.  They were closed.  On the way, I naturally drove through packs and packs of more Black teens along 79th street-- still with the top down.  They didn't really seem to take much note of me, though.  They were being entertained by a battle between a guy and a tow truck driver.  This guy's car was up on the tow hitch and he was IN THE CAR, GUNNING IT, TRYING TO RESIST THE TOW!  And, the tow driver was just as aggressively, trying to hoist the car up!  The guy was grimmacing and burning rubber trying to pull AWAY from the tow truck and the driver was concentrating on shifting gears and flipping switches to take the car!  This guy was gonna tear his own car up trying to get away, I thought!  Meanwhile, bystanders shouted, "Take the mother f**ker!"  A ghetto spectator sport.

I cruised on through the midst of that, thinking, "Wow!"

But, that wasn't all.

Like I said, I finally get to the Chinese spot and it's closed so I go all the way BACK East, deciding to get some White Castle at 79th and Stoney Island.  Somewhere along the way, at around 1am or so, I decide it might be a good idea to put my top up.  Now, again, I say, I DON'T EAT THIS CRAP!  But, I'm tired of eating Salmon (not anymore :-)  Bet I'll be gobbling it up today!), so I don't want to go home and cook.  I just want something tasty and fast that I haven't really eaten in years.  White Castle, here I come!

I get there.  There is a HUGE motorcycle brigade in the lot.  "That doesn't look good", I thought.  "That looks like trouble waiting to happen."  But, those bikes aren't cheap, and the few riders I catch a glimpse of look beyond their teens, and, I've just driven from 57th and the lake, to 79th and the Ryan, and back to Stoney Island, so I'M GOING TO get something to eat!  Doggonit!  I inch past the bikes and pull in the drivethru.  Not a lot of cars in line but it still takes awhile.  "What are White Castle burgers gonna taste like after all this time?" I muse.  While sitting there, I hear about 4 or 5 loud pops from behind me.  I look up.  No one is running, so I'm hoping it's just a motorcycle backfiring.  "PLEASE, Lord, let it just be a motorcycle backfiring," I pray.  I sit... I inch up.... I sit... I finally get my food.  Police are again marching past me, descending on the restaurant from the other side of the drivethru.

A young woman, in flip flops, micro mini shorts, and a tight T-shirt with her boobs hanging too low and her stomach sticking out too far, skips by with a manic smile on her face.  She's apparently seen someone she recognizes in a car next to me.  She stands there chatting.  "What happened?" I ask her.  "Oh, they started shooting," she says casually.  And, keeps right on talking!  The female Security Guard walks past.  "They were shooting HERE?!" I ask her.  As if, the police envoy, the shots I heard, and the report I got wasn't enough confirmation.  The Guard just sighed "yeah", shook her head heavily, and went back to her post.  Another day in the office.

A policeman directed traffic out of the lot and I was forced to go right on 79th instead of the left I wanted to make down Stoney to get back on the Drive.  I didn't dare turn down a side street, to get back to Stoney, so I just kept going all the way BACK over 79th.  The whole way, ambulances, police cars, and assorted sirens whizzed past me.  A friend called me who was heading back home to South Shore from visiting friends on the North side.  He commented on all the yellow taped off crime scenes along HIS route!  He said it's always like this and especially since it's the first hot day of the season.  If this is the case, it's going to be a long, brutal summer.

Interestingly, he's entertaining friends from Japan who are staying at his house.  They are getting the REAL Chicago.  Not just the roped off "tourist playground" The Mayor has carved out for public view while the South Side has desintegrated into a Third World border town!

Ironically, I'm glad I witnessed all that last night.  I "knew" that Chicago has led the nation in Black teen homicides for the past six years, but it's one thing to "know" about the earthquake in Japan, or the Tsunami in Indonesia, or the tornadoes in Missouri, and it's TOTALLY another to be in the midst of it!  I "knew" all this before I came back with my galant "youth programs" but SEEING the wreckage lets me know that something so much bigger is needed.  These teens have had no "youth".  Something so much more mobilizing, Psychiatric, and indeed, even Supernatural, is in order.

Last night was a "defining moment"... or rather a "REdefining moment".  A new agenda is being shaped and I pray for the strength and wisdom to hear and act accordingly.

What made it all the more ironic for me was what I discovered about "Memorial Day".  Did you know that Memorial Day was originally known as "Decoration Day", and was first observed in 1865 by freed, enslaved, Southern Blacks in Charleston, South Carolina?  Yeah!  It was a day first honored at the Washingon Race Course to remember fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War.  The recognition of the fallen victims was then enacted under the name of "Memorial Day" by an organization of Union veterans-- The Grand Army Of The Republic (GAR)-- to honor Union soldiers of The American Civil War.

A day to celebrate the hard won freedom of Black people from slavery.

Ain't THAT 'bout a blip!
 
After World War I, it was extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars.  (Wikipedia)

NOW, African American communities, in cities all over the country, are  in the throes of a different kind of "war".   And that this "Memorial Day" weekend would be marked by gunfire and the marring of dozens of Black lives, that have not been honored, just magnifies the irony.

Lord, help us all.

Nothing stays contained forever.  I learned today that that girl last night got shot in the head!   Had just graduated college two days earlier.  Went to the lake with a couple of girlfriends.  Started heading out when she saw the fight break out, but got caught by one of the bullets.  One more of our children... This is ALL our problem.

What do YOU think?

"NEVERTHELESS..."

Remember when you were EXCITED over something you just got…. Then you weren’t?

You were EXCITED when you got that job… then, you were like, “Oh God!  I have to get up and go there AGAIN?”

You were EXCITED when you first went on that date… then, you were like, “Could you please just SHUT UP?”

EXCITED when they said you got the place.  Now, it’s a mess.  Too much trouble to keep up.

Do we get tired of things because we get what WE want instead of asking God what HE wants for us?  Some people are saying, “No!  That’s not me!  I ASK God for the things I want!”

But, that’s not the same thing.

Praying for the things you want, and praying for revelation on the things God wants FOR YOU are not the same thing.

Jesus got to a point where HIS job wasn’t that much fun anymore, either.  All the hoopla about his miracles and wisdom had died down.  Indeed, many of his followers had straight left Him after they realized He didn’t come to side JUST with the Jews.  How dare He heal a Roman Centurion’s servant and praise his faith?  They are the oppressor!  You’re not supposed to be nice to THEM!   You’re not The Messiah we thought you were!

At the same time, there was no denying the miracles He performed.  So now, not only was He accruing enemies for not being “partisan”, but because, His “work” was so undeniably good that it threatened the positions of the “religious elite”!

He just couldn’t win.  And, so they sought to kill him.

Not that Jesus didn’t know this from the beginning.  He knew from the beginning how it was going to play out.  STILL, there came a time, when the weight of it all became unbearable, and He knelt in The Garden of Gethsemane, sweating BLOOD and asking God if there was any other way to accomplish His job of redeeming our souls than going to that cross.

And, do know that “sweating blood” is not just a figurative expression.  There are documented cases of prisoners sweating blood before they go to the electric chair.  It’s a biological phenomenon that occurs sometimes when capillaries break through the skin during times of extreme stress and fear.

Jesus was TERRIFIED.

STILL,

He prayed, not for HIS will, but The Father’s.  “Nevertheless”, He said, “Not MY will, but THY will be done”.

Do you ever wonder how people stay a course so extraordinarily wrought with difficulties and trials?  How Martin Luther King stood at that podium PROPHESYING his death, saying that he KNEW he wasn’t going to the mountain top with us, but knew that one day, as a people, we would get there?  To KNOW that his death was eminent, but KEEP MARCHING?

How, Obama, stays on course although he has had more death threats and been disrespected more than any President in American history and from every angle?  From the press?  Fellow politicians?  The public?  All of the above even routinely attacking HIS WIFE????

If most of us were on a job like that, we would just QUIT.  Forget it!  ESPECIALLY after it started out so fun!  I went to the Inauguration and I saw all the joy and camaraderie up front.  I saw the giant banner hanging across the Broadcaster’s Museum glowing, “Welcome, Sasha and Malia!”  Now, those same broadcasters have called those children’s father everything from a terrorist to the AntiChrist with NO regard for their young lives.

How do you keep going when it’s no longer “fun”?

Sometimes I wonder.  I’ve quit a lot of things -- the majority of which I’m glad about.  Like Kenny Rogers said, “You gotta know when to hold… know when to fold… know when to walk away… and know when to RUN!”  And, like I say, "sometimes you gotta quit something to get something."  But, for those “destiny assignments” how do you press through when like in a Nike ad I once read (and kept) “it becomes not just difficult, but cold and difficult, OR cold and wet and difficult, OR cold… and wet… and difficult… and dark”?  How do you keep going when all around you looks impossible?

Well, the April 2011 issue of Women’s Health, a magazine I love, featured an article on what we call “Tru Grit”, and examined how people who were not always the smartest or the fastest prevailed where others failed.  They defined grit as:

 “sustained perseverance and passion for long-term goals,” and that “grit seemed to explain why more top CEO’s hail from state schools than from the Ivy League, and why some people gut out that last series of situps in boot camp while others flop on the floor when the burn really kicks in.”  According to a study at the U. of Penn., “Grit entails working strenuously toward challenges and maintaining effort and interest despite failure, adversity, and plateaus.   While some people cut their losses when faced with boredom or disappointments, those with grit stay the course.”

My Bible cuts to the chase:  “He who stands firm to the end will be saved.”  (Matthew 24:13).

And, regarding keeping your Spirit intact, while you’re being attacked, it encourages,  “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they prosecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matt. 5:11-12)

Obama, King, and many others share the experience of literally all the Biblical prophets before them, except Jonah, who were all “sent to a stubborn and obstinate people” (Ezekiel 2:4).  God warned that they wouldn’t listen to them, but they still had to do and say what God gave them to do and say.

THAT’S a tall order!  How do you do that?  Well, as for me, I’m just gonna keep on trying to do it the way Jesus did it because like Zechariah 4:6 warns, it’s “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says The Lord”.   And, if Jesus, the Son of God, had to stay in a position of prayer to draw His strength to endure, surely I can’t rely on my own flimsy strength!

So, that’s where I want to stay.  Not praying for what I want—for me OR my loved ones, but ever seeking GOD’S will-- over my own fears, desires and limited perspective and getting HIS strength to press through.

Now that’s what I call, “Tru Grit”.

How about you?  What do YOU think?

Thank You, Jesus!  I love You!