"Lord, Make Me Peace..."

I was driving home from work after a long day of dealing with corporate visitors, straightening clothes, and absolute boredom! I was exhausted and my mind was heavy with the many aspects of life that are difficult, troubling, and heavy on my heart. Thought after thought rolled through my mind and then I finally rested on the relieving reality that in merely a week I will be with my friends spending a week in Savannah, GA! I was filled with excitement over the soon coming vacation!

As I was thinking about the trip, my thoughts turned to my friends' newly born son, Edmund and I thought of the crying baby and, for some reason, I welcomed the idea of being kept awake because of a little crying baby. Weird right?! As I daydreamed of this possible event, I imagined that I was able to calm the weeping lad and that was the point of contact for the Spirit to plant a renewed desire in my heart! Peace: to have peace, to give peace, and to be made into peace!

My mind was immediately filled with the words of St. Francis and longed to be a wellspring of peace.

The world isn't full of peace these days. we are surrounded with discussions of war and revolt. Chaos fills our work spaces, family encounters, and our troubled psyches. Something that we lack, and severely need, is peace. In Christ, I should be striving to be an instrument of peace in the world. We are called to be peacemakers; centers of calm in the storms of life. It is sad that, even though we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we are not often very peace-giving or peace-making.

I recognize the horrible truth that I myself am often a bringer of chaos; I often let my mind fall into chaos in the midst of undesirable situations rather than yielding myself to the Spirit's work in me. Instead of disciplining my mind I let my heart grow impatient and even cold towards others, rather than stepping in with the strength and wisdom of God to put an end to the wars raging around me. This is not a holy way to live and is not honoring to God.

Sin dwells within our hearts. It is the cancer of our souls; the broken aspect of our humanity. It is my sin that separates me from God and it is my tainted human nature that stirs my heart to malice, selfishness, and unholistic living and thinking. I am on this journey of redemption and healing, but I have a long way to go before I reach before I get to where God really wants me to be. He is walking with me through this and as He and I engage in this divine romance I am being made more and more like Him. That is what I experienced today in my car. A moment of with God in which He spoke softly to me and told me that He wanted me to be something different; revealing a part of me that has all but evaded my sight. In the midst of this revelation all I could say was, "Lord, make me peace..."

In this Lenten season, let us seek to be men and women of peace. Let us become instruments of peace for the world, and let's start where it often the most difficult-right in our own homes and relationships.

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

How To Save A Life

Last Thursday I participated in a CPR/AED training course that was set up through my church. As soon as they announced the class I was beyond excited about the opportunity and signed up as soon as I could and juggled my schedule with my manager to ensure that I could attend! Why? Because if I ever find myself in the middle of a crisis or stumble upon a person in need of CPR I want to be able to step up and help! I don't want to be just another person that found himself thinking, "man, I wish I known how to save them...I wish I had taken the time to learn the skills to save that person's life." 

Life is precious. It is a gift from God, and it is also quite fragile. CPR training is just one way we can prepare ourselves for the unforeseeable and possibly life-threatening situations we might stumble across. I would highly encourage you to go and get this training. You might be the one person who can make a difference to a person in need. It is well worth your time and effort to be prepared to make an impact in the lives of others. When you save one life, you don't affect just one life! You affect husbands, wives, children, parents, friends, etc! 

Come on y'all...let's train our minds an bodies to be effective in the world and make an impact in our communities and the world!

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Slavery Exists? Like What?

Every time I hear the word "slave" I find myself suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. It is difficult for me to fathom the concept of slavery or owning a human being. Being from the South, it is very much a part of my heritage, even though there are none in my ancestral tree that I know of that have owned slave, in fact most of my family came over after the end of slavery and nearly all suffered the curse of racism in America. Slavery feels like a very distant concept; far removed from the present/modern world.

Slavery is a part of the dark history of America, as well as most of the world. It is, however, not just the dark "history" of America. It is the demon that still haunts us even today. Slavery never left, it merely changed its clothing. Even worse, America's ever increasing hypersexuality has led to even further depths of the presence of slavery in the world. 

Sex slavery happens every single day throughout the world. Of course, sex slavery has been around since the earliest civilizations, but it seems that with the changing times and the growing equality of genders, we are seeing the darker and more abusive expression of sex slavery.  To make things worse, the evolving perspectives of sexuality and what is or is not acceptable in media and public knowledge is making such behavior more "acceptable" and desensitizing us to the severity of the issue. What has always been there is more exposed to be seen by the world and even being taken to greater levels of intensity. Despite it's exposure, it "appears" to be less known and left unaddressed. It's the elephant in the room that everyone is avoiding; everyone is trying not to talk about it or admit it exists. 

Human trafficking was always a common topic at Bryan College, the place where I completed my undergraduate studies, but it was over a year after leaving before I began to fully accept the need for my actions in this crisis. While I have always cared and been opposed to slavery, I have not always been active in fighting against this evil in our midst. The fact is that we have a responsibility as Christians to take a stand against this injustice and the enslavement of women and men throughout the world.

I am no expert on human trafficking. This has become increasingly clear to me as I have conversed with friends over the matter and engaged in conversations at work about the problems of human trafficking where I found that I lacked the depth of knowledge and the info to persuade others of the need for action. Enough is enough! I'm not going to be a bystander in this anymore!

We have a responsibility to the world to seek justice and liberty for all races and both genders.We stand in a world of Darkness and, just as the revolutionary in the movie Les Miserables cried out before his death, we cry "...till all the World is free!"

Slavery exists! Let us stand against it together under the banner of the Cross and cry for justice until our voices crack and our vocal cords rip from the stain of our screaming in the faces of the leaders! The same leaders who claim to be for the people and yet do nothing to end the torment and abuse!

How can you help? Easy! There are thousands of ways to fight against this evil. Here are a few:

• Make people aware via art, blogging, conversations with friends, etc.
• Participating in awareness movements such as the EndIt movement.
• Educating your children and your children's friends. 
• Teaching about human trafficking in schools and churches.
• Providing food to the hungry.
• Giving jobs to women in need.
• Working to end poverty.
• Volunteering at homeless shelters and providing shelter to people in need.
• Reaching to family in need and struggling. 

The list of possible actions are nigh endless, and there is so much that YOU can do just by being active in your church and your local communities. The first, and biggest, step towards the healing of the world and the end of slavery is talking about! Let's #EndIt together!

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

Moving On

Upon my graduation just a little over a year and a half ago, I found myself facing some difficult truths about myself. I was prideful, naive, self-centered, insecure, etc. I was constantly bumping heads with my family and my friends. I was angry all the time and I felt the weight of my past and my present crushing me and it fogged up my head; leading me to say and do things that have forever changed my life. After several months of getting no where I moved to Knoxville to take a job that...well, it didn't work out (collections sucks y'all), and for the past year I have worked part time in a retail department store and wrestling with the state of my heart and who I am as a man and a Christian.

I have had a lot of good days and a lot of bad. Moving away from home was one of the best things I could have done for myself, and I have had some pretty amazing friends to help me along the way. Facing one's own depravity and past is not an easy task, and thankfully I haven't had to do it on my own.

I have been reflecting on, and wrestling with, the various aspects of my life and experiences I accumulated over the last 23 years, including my teenage life and the theology that I heard (and believed) as I grew up. I have dealt with a lot of frustration, sadness, joy, and many more emotions as a result and have had a great number of revelations about myself. I have experienced significant growth and have had to accept a lot of hard truths.

I have been doing this for quite a long time and now I believe it is time to look past my...well, past haha. In the midst of my reflection I have not been fully engaged with the world around me. I retreated away for a time of healing, but now it's time for me to reengage the world. I am not saying that I am forgetting my past altogether or ignoring it's effect on my life, but I am saying that I am reprioritizing my life and putting my osat on the back burner. The past is important but not at the expense of the present and the future, which is what I have been doing up until this point.

With that said...HERE WE GO!

Grace and Peace,

Stephen

We Are But Dust and Shadows

One of my favorite book series ever is the Infernal Devices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. In this series we take a look into a fictional world of demon hunters called "Nephilim", a special race of humans that have Angel blood running in their veins that were created to fight demons and prevent the destruction of humanity. I was drawn to these books and very much enjoyed the plot and characters within, but something that really stood out to me was the phrase that was posted in front of the homebase of the Nephilim called "The Institute"; that phrase is Pulvus et Umbra Sumus" which means "We are but Dust and Shadows." 

Just two nights ago, the majority of the Christian world experienced the liturgical holiday known as Ash Wednesday. I, sadly enough, had to work and found myself rushing to Apostle's Anglican Church for the special service. I arrived just in time for the imposition of ashes! I took a seat in the back and waited for my turn to go. As I waited I prayed prayers of forgiveness and repentance, and as I did those words from iron gateway of The Institute echoed in my mind..."we are but dust and shadows." 

I soon found myself walking towards the front. The air was filled with the mourning of the saints and tears of repentance; the remembrance of our brokenness and fragility. I watched as my priests placed ashes on the heads of my brothers and sisters. Tears streamed from the eyes of one of the priests as he placed the ashes upon the foreheads of his wife and children. My turn was approaching and I could feel the tears welling up behind my eyes and, with tears still pouring from his eyes, my priest placed the mark upon my head and spoke the words, "Remember that you are dust, and to dust shall you return."

Ash Wednesday is a day that is dedicated to repentance and remembering the mortality of humanity. It is the day marking the genesis of Lent and our approach to the mournful day of "Good Friday" and the celebration of the joyous day we call "Easter." Now it has passed and Lent is in full swing, but we must not forget the truth behind those heart piercing words "...you are dust, and to dust shall you return." Our lives "are short and there is but little time to gladden the hearts of those who travel with us. So be quick to love and make haste to be kind." Let us remember that:
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• We are but dust and shadows. We are the creation of an almighty Creator and we are worthless in the light of His holy majesty. 
• We are sinners and deserve to be punished and obliterated by a holy and perfect Diety who despises sin and wickedness.
• We are loved by that same Holy God, and though we are unworthy He desires to be with us; for us to know Him and be be known by Him. 

We humble ourselves, repent, and fast. Not because we are trying to earn His favor or our salvation, but because we can't we can't earn these things and yet they are given nonetheless. We honor Him for He is worthy and He deserves our worship and service. There is nothing we can offer Him that He needs, for we are but dust and shadows, but we are made more than the dirt because of His Spirit breathed into us and His love for us. The love of God is the greatest source of our value and it is the great equalizer of humanity. It makes us equal for God loves unconditionally and, therefore, is not lessened or magnified by personality, power, talent, piety, or persuasion. Let us remember these things as we proceed in our journey toward the cross. 

Grace and Peace,

Stephen