It's been a long time...shouldn't have left you. (well not really, I just like that line)

Hello folks. It's been a short minute, but a minute nonetheless. Just two things I want to touch on. Enjoy, comment, don't comment, point & jeer, stare, complain, accuse, criticize, whatever....just read...lol.

1. WELFARE
Just a little gem of the welfare system from God's point of view. This is straight from His word, the #Bible.

• Leviticus 19:10 says: Don't strip your grapevines clean or gather the grapes that fall off the vines. Leave them for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the LORD your God. (CEV)
• Leviticus 23:22 says: When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the LORD your God! (CEV)

In both these passages, people who owned farmland would harvest their fields. Of course it was more manual than it is by today's standards without machinery and such. When harvesting, crops fell. The poor and those travelling could harvest the crops left behind. The thing was, they had to WORK. They had to go into the field after the harvesters and gather, bundle, package, and haul the leftover crops themselves. So God's system of welfare shows us 2 things:

• Those who "have" should not be greedy and take everything for themselves. Leave some for those in need.
• Those who "have not" should have to work in order to receive what is left for them.

By today's standards, the gathering of leftover crops is not that likely. But what about requiring welfare recipients to volunteer in various capacities? Welfare can be used as a stepping stone for those who view it that way. I don't think the welfare system in and of itself is bad, but I think the way it is carried out can use some tweaking, from both ends, recipients and administrators. DONE.

2. MEN PRAISING GOD

Had a brief dialogue with some twitter cohorts on this subject. While we did not get deep into it, we got talked enough to express a few points. There is this general view of men in church. Either they don't praise God enough, they praise God too much, perceived as being effeminate or gay, or they are just non-existent/inactive in church. I could blog all day about men in church. But let me stick to MEN PRAISING GOD. When a man praises, it should be LIKE A MAN! There should be nothing remotely feminine about a man's praise. When a man claps, it should sound like the crackle of God's lightening. When a man plays a tambourine, it should sound like the mighty boom of God's thunder. When a man dances before the Lord it should be joyous and like David danced, with all of his might. If a man dances with all of his might, the steps are not light, nor with flair, but I believe that his foot stomps will shake the very foundation of satan's kingdom and send reverberating earthquakes in the dominion of hell! This is why many men don't come to church, because it is made out to be the woman's domain. JESUS WAS A MAN. Check this, he was a carpenter. DID HE HAVE POWER TOOLS? DID HE HAVE ERGONOMIC HAND TOOLS? Naw, he had MUSCLE and BRAWN. He had to be strong and burly to be a carpenter and good at what he did. So why do men perceive that church is girly and womanly? Yes we have to have compassion and love and be gentle and kind. None of those things are feminine in nature. Men, we can be those things and still be macho and manly. Its all in the way that it's done. Men, praise God like men. AND I'M DONE!

That's all for now...be blessed. Peace.

Minister Q

This blessed me...

⁴And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

⁵And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.

⁶For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.

⁷And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.

⁸And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. (Mark 9:4-8, King James Version)

What will you do when the witnesses that you depended on to tell you of the savior and point you to Jesus are no longer around and all you have is Jesus? Will you trust him to be your everything or will you continually need someone else to show you Jesus? At what point in your life do you discontinue hanging on to every word someone else says and suckling milk from them and get up and feed yourself MEAT? Just some simple quesions. This will be fleshed out into a sermon...trust...

Music & Me...the one thing I own.

People who know me very well know that I feel like the only thing I really own outright in this world is music. It's not just about singing....it's MUSIC, period! Music is the one thing that I control and it listens to me and never does something that I don't advise or direct. It's totally under my control. I OWN music. No one can take it from me and nothing could ever stop the music in me. Even when I lose my voice, there's a melody playing in my heart/mind continually.



I know, for me at least, music is a gift from God and so it's the one thing that I can freely give back to him, without wondering if He will accept it. Because no matter how I'm feeling, when I sing to Jesus, IT'S ALWAYS SINCERE. I can't fake a love song to my savior. Even when I know I've fallen short and haven't pleased him, when I send up an offering, a song of repentance, a song of Love, a song of His Glory, he hears it, receives it and smiles. He forgives me, loves me, and tells me "it's gonna be ok. I'm with you."



In high school, they used to call me "radio"...long before the Cuba Gooding Jr. movie. Lol. I know a song for everything, any occaision. I can be in a normal conversation and all of my responses could be song titles, phrases, lines....music....love it! Even now, my mind is so musical that I'll be walking along and my brain will just play a song to correspond with the beat of my steps. (yes, i walk IN BEAT, successive steps, in syncopation, and time)



*side bar-someone on the floor here @ work just sang the "yaaaeee yaaaeee, yaaaeee yaaee yaee yeah" part from "DA BUTT" by EU* (back to ya regularly scheduled blog)



I was walking to the Lightrail one morning and of course, my steps were in beat. All of a sudden in my mind and unmistakable beat starts to play...the music drops...baseline, keys, guitar, strings, drums, tambourine...and then the lyrics



Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk,

I'm a woman's man, no time to talk.

Music loud and women warm.

I've been kicked around since I was born.

And now it's all right, it's O.K.

And you may look the other way.

We can try to understand

The New York Times' effect on man.

Whether you're a brother

Or whether you're a mother,

You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.

Feel the city breakin'

And ev'rybody shakin'

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.

Ah, ha, ha, ha,Stayin' alive.

Stayin' alive.

Ah, ha, ha, ha,Stayin' alive.



All I could do was crack up laughing....but hey, IT'S MUSIC and it's MINE. Everyone knows I love gospel music, that's a given. I love a GOOD love song also...nice lyrics, nice music, nice sentiment...i'm sold....here are a few of my fav love songs. Of course I'm gonna blog more about music, so you'll be turned on to more of my tastes as time goes on.

NOTHING EVEN MATTERS - Lauryn Hill & D'Angelo
"Now the skies could fall, Not even if my boss should call, The world it seems so very small. 'Cause nothing even matters at all"
(ever been in love and all you wanna do is be with/think about that person...whewwwwww)

NOTHING HAS EVER FELT LIKE THIS - Rachelle Ferrell & Will Downing
"Nothing has ever felt,quite like this Oh No. Nothing has ever meant the whoooooole world to me. Nothing has ever been this good.Nothing has ever been this right. Nothing so sweet, In my life..."
(Rachelle Ferrell...nuff said)

ALWAYS ON MY MIND - SWV & Brian Alexander Morgan
"Sometimes, I find it hard to concentrate Because thoughts of us together fill my head. When you're away, it's hard to sleep at night, So, my pillow, like my thoughts of you, I hold tight"
(a little "bubble gum-ish" but c'mon...who hasn't felt this way in love?)

Until next time...Q