First Black Billionaire sheds light on predicted status of blacks.

I was so impressed with his approach to all the questions asked. Yes, he does have swag and yes he has a non-challant, "It's not that complicated" approach to major sources of division and difficulty in the African American community, but he does make some valid points. The things that stuck out to me the most were his responce to the relationship between the African American and Latin American community. He suggested that chairs from both culteres meet frequently to brainstorm on ways to lift one anothers statuses or solve each others major economical issues. As a viewer I was entertained by his lingo. Despite his obviouse intellegence, experience speaking to the elite, and profound success, he spoke in a way to reach any age or race. Robert Johnson remained cool and colected as he shed light on sterio types, and the reality of blacks in the US. "To what extend do African Americans fully participate in this...?" said Johnson. There was so much knowledge that I can't type it all but please watch!

Is that Everything?......

Me at 6:10AM today:

"In-case I get hungry, I need my credit cards.  Oh I might have to pay toll if there's traffic; found a dollar!  Okay, got my lip gloss, and perfume.  You know what? Let me bring another one just in-case, 'cause this one is almost finished." (Skims the room...) "OMG!! How could I forget my headphones to listen to Pandora....YES, found my keys I think I'm ready to go.  Is that everything?"

Sound familiar? 

As I shared yesterday, my prayer for myself is that God puts my life in the right order.  Ladies and gentlemen that is a major request!  So much so, that the same devotion ministered to my heart again last night.  The story of Tabatha really stuck out to me.  Like many people I know, Tabatha's life was in order so much so that she was a female disciple.  The story said that Tabitha became ill and died after Christ was crucified.  After Peter had prayed for her, she became alive again and because of this many people believed in Christ. (Acts 9:36-42)

The fact that she loved the Lord and lived her life in accordance to Gods plan for her life is proven through her title: disciple.  It may not be easy to stay positive when you see that God is lifting up your peers and using them for his glory and not you.  Sometimes I find myself asking "Lord when are you going to bless me like this! WOW!"  Stormie Omartian gave an awesome reference: "James 4:7 tells us that our first priority is to 'submit to God.'"  It's important to realize that you will never know the sacrifice, hardship, persecution, reaping and sewing  a servant of God has had to go through before they reached their fruit.   They had to constantly seek that God would place their lives in His perfect order.

As I rushed out the house making sure that I'm fully prepared materialistically, I should been preparing myself spiritually w a prayer like this. "In-case the enemy has a plan for me to fall, Lord encamp your angels around me.  Oh, I might have to minister to someone today, minister through me.  Okay I woke up this morning so you obviously have something purposed for me...Show me what that is.  You know what!? Let me praise You for two minutes 'cause You're doing somethings for me in the spiritual realm that I cannot not see.  OMG!!! How could I do anything without You??  YES! Please Lord prioritize my life as I put You first in everything I do.

Submition in Everything?....

I've been reading the Power of a Praying Woman  by Stormie Omartian and it's been a ram in the bush for my life. The format of the book makes it simple and user friendly.  The table of contents consists of topics that we should seek Christlike direction for. 

My life, up to date, has not gone according to plan, and that's been a weight that has kept the mind set of inaccomplishment a median.  This morning though I woke up with an unnusual vigor and excitement to get busy and work on things that I'd been putting off for....no reason at all.  As I seeked direction and tips for putting MY plans in order Stormie told me like it is.  Plainly, I must submit to God's plan for me. 

"God is a God of order." she said, before relating the ladder to the order in wich God placed the universe and all that is in it, with reference to 1 Corinthians 14:40 "Let all things be done decently and in order."  As she explained that Jesus, the son of God was blameless and without sin, yet submitted to God's will till the "point of unfathemable death and suffering"  I realized that I, fully blamefull and easily fallen, should be seeking/ submitting to Him all the more!

My favorite tip in this devotion was to find a church but not just any church, one where the purpose is clear and you "recognize the pastor's voice as an important spiritual authority in your life."  This will line you up with the order in which you uniquely should have in your life because if this said church is really where God want's you, you shouldn't be sitting around and playing church, you should be seeking the reason why you are there in hopes of getting your hands a little dirty, in Jesus name ovcourse LOL.

There was just too much in this short devotion for me to expand upon, but I'll stop here for now.  My favorite verse she suggested in accordance to the title "Lord, Instruct me as I Put My Life in Order" was "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account.  Let them do so with joy and not grief for that would be unprofitable for you."  Hebrews 13:17.

I'm writting to you as someone whose seen what it means to have a pastor that has prayed for your arrival to the ministry before they knew you and prayed you through hardships that God has ministered to them about before you even open your mouth and say "This is what I'm going through..."  Eeee yea....that type of devine revelation and confirmation that you are on the right path DOES infact exist.  It's no use to you if you don't submit to it though :(

Help to Walk the Walk!

Strong Words

Text Size: Zoom In

May 15, 2011 — by David C. Egner

Subscribe on iTunes

Play MP3 (Mobile)

Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: 1 John 3:10-18

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. —1 John 3:10

Bible in a year:
2 Kings 22-23; John 4:31-54

The book titled UnChristian lists reasons why some non-Christians don’t like people who profess faith in Jesus Christ. Their major complaints have to do with the way some Christians act toward unbelievers. The unbelievers in the study tended to view Christians as being hypocritical, judgmental, harsh, and unloving toward people not like themselves.
I’m sure you dislike hearing their view of Christians as I do. Sometimes there’s more truth in their perceptions than we wish there was. In 1 John 3, which begins with the words, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (v.1), John introduces a sharp contrast: Believers love righteousness, keep themselves from sin, and love one another; nonbelievers practice sin, hate others, and abide in death.

These are strong words! We are either followers of Jesus Christ or of the devil. We are like Cain or Abel (v.12; Gen. 4:8-15). John says that love for others is what proves we are genuine children of God (3:10,18-19; 4:7-8). We can’t continue to practice sin and claim to be followers of Christ. Let’s always make sure our words and deeds back up our beliefs.

O help us, Lord, to live our lives
So unsaved people clearly see
Reflections of Your loving heart,
Your kindness, and Your purity. —Sper

Following Christ has two requirements:
Believing, and acting like you do.

Brought to you by: http://odb.org/fZA?sms_ss=email&at_xt=4dcf2ec2ba6d48d0%2C0

Great School/Work Survival Tips.

Brought to you by:http://www.collegecentral.com/Article.cfm?CatID=CAR&ArticleID=4026

Early, Wide-Awake Bird Catches the Worm

06/15/2011

Mariana Ashley -- Focused on those men and women who are graduating from college this spring, this advice also applies to anyone working to build a successful career. 
Graduation season is here, which means those fortunate enough to find jobs straight out of college will begin their new exciting adventures and be immersed into the working world. But being thrashed into the typical 9 to 5 routine is a rude awakening for most college grads, especially those that are used to starting classes in the late afternoon. While not being a morning person is normal, the truth is that you will need to condition your body in order to wake up early mornings feeling refreshed and ready to tackle your tasks at hand. And, no, a cup of coffee isn’t good enough -- caffeine dehydrates you, which will make you feel even more tired as the work day progresses. Here are some quick tips on how to naturally awaken your drowsy body.

Get plenty of sleep.
While you may have been able to stay awake till 4:00 a.m. playing on your X-Box and then mosey into class on three hours of sleep, the truth of the matter is that this sort of sleep schedule will not be acceptable in the working world. Not getting the proper seven to eight hours of sleep each night will not only make it hard for you to get up in the mornings. Sleep deprivation is also directly associated with your work performance levels -- it affects your concentration, your abilities to process complicated information, and can even affect your level of creativity. And as you will learn early on, work is not like school; if you’re feeling tired you can’t just sit there and zone out as your professor gives a lecture. So get a good night’s rest each and every night.

Take a cold shower.
One of the easiest ways to shake off any type of drowsiness is to take a cold shower. A cold shower will send your body into a shock that will immediately invigorate your central nervous system and make you more alert. The cold water will also help improve your circulation system. To awaken your senses even further, you might want to try and add a few drops of eucalyptus oil into the shower. Eucalyptus oil is a remedy that is used to revive faint victims. If it can make faint victims wake up, it can definitely help you revive from your zombie-state.

Massage pressure points/exercise.
Carefully massaging pressure points, such as the ones found in your ear lobes, can help get your blood flowing and send more oxygen to your brain -- more oxygen will allow you to perk up with more ease. While massaging pressure points can help, a better way to get rid of drowsiness and reap longer lasting effects is to exercise in the mornings. The exercises don’t have to be too intense -- a simple jog around the block or maybe just some stretches will suffice. Exercising can send oxygen through all of your muscles and make you feel completely energized.

Eat a well-balanced breakfast.
There is nothing more important than eating a well balanced breakfast to jump-start your day. It’ll give you the energy boost your body needs to function throughout out the day. This is because if you don’t eat in the mornings, your glycogen levels will start to diminish, which means that by lunch, you’ll feel exceptionally tired. The perfect breakfast should include protein, carbohydrates, and “some” fat. For example, some yogurt with a cup of blueberries, a soft boiled egg with a piece of whole wheat toast, or a whole wheat waffle would be ideal breakfast.

Published by Ramon Greenwood. For more advice on how to accelerate your career during tough times, participate in Ramon Greenwood's widely read Common Sense At Work Blog click http://www.commonsenseatwork.com. He coaches from a successful career as Senior VP at American Express, author of career-related books, successful entrepreneur, and a senior executive/consultant in Fortune 500 companies. For more free career coaching visithttp://commonsenseatwork.com/job-advice-principles. Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She may be contacted at mariana.ashley031@gmail.com.
© 2011 Ramon Greenwood

Blog Therapy

At 3:18 PM  I got into  my emo mood, like I usually do, which was triggered by thoughts of some opportunities that I sat on and how I've yo-yo'ed my goals of being healthier and how I've let my parents down so many times and how unbearable the sight of myself was....(omg so dramatic lol) When I got to the marrow of my emotions I thought,

"This is great, I'm gonna vent to my best friend while my emotions are high and everything will be better!  YES!"
Then I thought about it....I don't have a best friend.....
"But wait," I pondered,  "this can't be right.  What about all the pictures on facebook (when I had it), and the friends I visit  I have a huge genre of friends!! Stylish ones, talented ones, beautiful ones, even pastors and mentors (I mean the list goes on!)" 

As I looked through my phone there wasn't one person who I would feel comfortable or not feel guilty calling. 

"He's probably realy busy and would think I'm a freak for crying about my little problem....She was nice that one time we talked on the phone 3 years ago....Umm he likes me, that would be awkward....She hates me....She hates me too....too important....mmmm they hate me too, she has a big mouth and can't hold water.....Oooh I was supposed to call him 2 weeks  ago.  KU-RAPP!"

What have I done these past 5 or 6 years with all the amazing people I've met?  What have I distracted myself with (don't answer that lol) that kept me from reaching a decent level of friendship and let them know what was realy going on with me?

Suclusion- if that's a word- was the root of my problem. (Sucluding myself gets realy deep I'll save that for another day.) But wait, maybe its normal to be like this.  I mean guys don't call each other to cry about emo-tions.....

Annnnnd thats where my story ends. 

Yup, no happy ending about how Christ is all I need (because I'm sure this will happen again) and I didn't receive a miraculouse phone call from someone who said "Hey remember me? I love you friend! Let's go drink champaign on my dad's boat and get free lazer hair removal!"

I have to admit, most of my broken and unnatended friendships are because of my little insecurity issues.....(Ooh somebodies glad I mentioned that,) but I realized that I should be proud that I've managed to be emotionaly independent or getting closer.

 PAUSE--I do realize that I need to mend some of these friendships with the people that care whether I do or not; and I'll let you know how that goes, maybe not.--PLAY

 I had a good cry, and texted someone I had NO IDEAwas going through the same thing as me.  This person didn't cry with me, or lie about how much they've been praying for me.  Our conversation was enough to know that I wasn't crazy for feeling this way and I had hope that its not the end of the world (ok this is getting quite Sesame Street-ish lemme hurry up)  This person was going to make an effort to see me and be my "real friend" as they put it. Thats all I needed at the time and God gave it to me.

This is ME!!!

The slogan here at Narrow Youth is "Don't be a steroetype."  Just because you're in your twenties and are a student doesn't mean that you have to be a procrastinater.  If you have procrastinated in the past, leave it there.  It's in the past.
Here's a funny little animation of the past me.....the past US!!