No Child Left Behind

The BET Honors is a awards television program produced by Black Entertainment Television.  Each year since the awards program started individuals, usually from the African American and African communities are honored for their work in different areas.  This year, as most, the honorees are celebrates, athletes, or other individuals who are famous.  This year , 2013, Halle Berry, JD Jakes,  Chaka Khan. and Lisa Leslie were among those honored for their outstanding work and contributions in the areas of their giving.

WNBA star Lisa Leslie said something in her remarks when she accepted her award that I have heard others say.  It was, "We all can't be winners, someone has to lose." She is an honored winner, so it was easy for her to say that, but everyone experiences lose in their lives.

What is a winner?  How do we define it?  Is it being the strongest?  If so, what does it mean to be strong?  Is it the richest?  What is rich?  Is it money? Prestige? Influence? Is it power?  What is power?  Is it beauty?  What is beauty? Is it being number one?  What does that mean?  In the eyes of human beings, we have define winners and losers.  We do not have the capacity to comprehend anything but one being the best, so that is what we have.  We have millions of contest and we compete to be number one.  We spend time and money just on doing that, only to be beat out the next year, or the next by someone stronger, younger, smarter, or more beautiful.  We talk about being number one, but it is not easy staying number one.  Only number one is remembered.

God is so much bigger than we are.  We can all be number one in Him.  We do not have to compete with each other to gain is attention, his approval, his forgiveness, or his blessings, or his love.  He has enough to give each one of us all that we need all of the time.  No line, no waiting.

In the education legislation "No Child Left Behind" supported by both houses on Congress, the goal was to ensure that no child in an American public school got left behind in their academic pursuit, and no child would slip through the cracks, and get left behind, and not receive an excellent public education that would prepare them for a successful adult life.  The intention of this legislation was admirable, it has been the implementation of it that has brought public education to its knees.  After years of administration, training, and millions of dollars American students have improved, but there are still thousands of students that are left behind, and thousands of teachers who feel less affective and appreciated than ever before.  The problem?  Hmm.  It is complicated at best, but to put it in a nut shell, success is not just shoving unrelated facts, down children's throats in a very short time period and then testing them on it, to see how much of it they can recall.  There's no room for analysis, or original thought, just recalling facts, something the U.S. Department of Education and Congress decided to measure, because it's easy, well, for those who grade the tests and make money from doing so.  It is horrible for everyone else.

To succeed at anything there are some key things that have to be in place.  They are; knowledge, instruction, submission, time, hard work, resources, acceptance and relationship.  These are not the only components, but the most important.

In the gospel of Matthew the first book of the New Testament in the Bible, in chapter 13 Jesus is teaching the multitudes that are following him.  He is teaching through the use of parables.  Each place he goes people are blessed by his teachings, and due to their faith many are healed of many things.  He and his disciples come to Nazareth, the place where he grew up, and starts teaching.  The people there have known him since he was a child.  He speaks with wisdom and authority, and they cannot believe this is the boy they knew and they reject him and do not receive all the blessings he has for them.

The strange thing is, the people of Nazareth truly did not know Jesus, because if they had, they would have shared with the world what a humble and obedient child he was.  How helpful he was, how kind, and how he never caused anyone any trouble.  Instead it seems they totally ignored Jesus in his youth and did not recognize him for who he was and how he handled himself.  They were blind when it came to Jesus.  When he returned there during his ministry, their eyes were finally opened, but not their hearts, and instead of rejoicing in who he was, they resented him, and because of their resentment, they were left behind and did not receive what was meant for them.

Education has not changed since Jesus' ministry, many times due to the lack of the key components many students are left behind.  If children cannot submit their wills to the instruction of the teacher, and accept what they are teaching, and refuse to be in good relationship with teachers, then they will not learn and be left behind.  Of course, teachers have to do their part, and by far the vast majority are, but with so many students, with so many problems, with so many requirements, and so little time and resources, it is very hard for teachers to establish a meaningful relationship with all students, which is so critical for so many students.  Unlike God, teachers have limits, and cannot fulfill the needs of all of the students that they have, which in many cases is well beyond academics.

The problem with "No Child Left Behind" and the new "Race to the Top" is God has been left behind.  Without God we will always leave children behind, we will always have children that slip through the cracks.  The US has systematically taken God out of public schools.  God in schools is not forcing everyone to believe the same thing, the same way.  It does not mean we all have to pray, or kneel in a certain direction at a certain time.  It is simply acknowledging that God is a part of the process, and that teachers, students, and staff,  have the appropriate avenues to exercise their faith in an appropriate way in the school setting.

Each do we live we have an opportunity to submit ourselves to our loving Savior and receive all he has for us, and when we do, we are so blessed and have positioned ourselves to be a blessing to others.  We cannot do this within our own strength, but through his.

Bible Verse

Matthew 13:53-58

New International Version (NIV)

A Prophet Without Honor

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he moved on from there. ⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed.“Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked. ⁵⁵ “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him.
But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.”
⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

Jesus Remains the Same

How are we as Christians supposed to live and handle ourselves in this world today?  It can be very difficult.  With the elections of 2012 over, President Obama has won his second term in office, but also gay marriage has become legal in more states, and so has gambling, and even the legalization of marinara.  Abortion continues to be an issue of great division, and extreme right members of the Republican party who call themselves the Tea Party, declare they stand for who God, but seem hostile, intolerant and racist.

I have heard Christians say many things, one is that we have to accept that changes going on in our society, that things change as society changes.  My response to that is that God does not change and neither does the Word of the God.  We may by living under grace, but the law still stands. 

Sin is sin.  Sin does three things.  First, it separates us from God, secondly, it impacts other people in a destructive ways, and third it leads to death.  Nothing that is good comes from sin.  Also, sin is sin, whether it is lying or murder it is all the same in God's eyes.  We tend to judge things differently, and that is understandable, but God is Holy, that any sin at all is totally filyhy to him.  We can never measure up to God.  If we accept Jesus we do not have to.  He has paid our sin debt for us.  We were born into sin because of the sin of Adam, the first man, but we have eternal life because of Jesus Christ.

The question remains.  How do we, as Christians conduct ourselves in our ever increasingly sinful culture and society?  There are a number of ways to answer this question, but in Hebrews chapter 13 Paul provides information and insight on this very thing.

In this last chapter of this letter that Paul writes to the Hebrews he provides instructions and exhortations about daily life and living.  He starts off the chapter with the words "keep on loving" I think he did that because it is hard to love each other sometimes based on our behavior.  He also reminds those who read his letter that no matter what happens God will never leave us or forsake us.  He also states that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  No matter what we do, or what society dictates, our loving Savior is consistent.  We can be secure in who He is daily.

Hebrews 13:1-10

New International Version (NIV)

Concluding Exhortations

13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ² Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. ³ Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

⁴ Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,

“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”

⁶ So we say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”

⁷ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. ¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

The Voice

The Voice is a television show that is aired on NBC.  It is one of a number of shows that try to find that next big singing star.  It competes with the original show "American Idol" and then there is "The XFactor" all giving deserving talented people a chance at stardom.  Those of us who have been around a while will remember "Star Search" which I admit I watched and loved, but it was not limited to people who sang. 

Personally, I am not a fan of any of these current reality shows, but will watch a few minutes of them from time to time.  I often wonder how many sing sensations does the world need.  I usually change the channel because so many times the person who is performing cannot sing at all and is yelling.

I have to admit that I like The Voice better than all the other current reality shows. Why?  It is the format.  The person comes out and sings and the judges have their backs turned towards them.  This means that the judges make their judgement solely on the quality of the participants voice.  Their looks, the age, their race, their gender play no factor into the decision of a judge to hit a button and have their chair turn and face the performer.  Once a judge or judges turn their chair while the person is performing, the individual is invited to be on that judge's team.  If more than one judge hit their button then the judges have tell the performer why being on their team is in their best interest.  Singers who finish their song without a judge hitting their buttons are not selected to be on any one's team and that is the end to their dream of stardom.

The voice is a very special gift, and being able to hear someone else's voice in love is another.  I remembered that recently about a week ago.  In this modern age of text messages, e-mails, Facebook and Twitter, I no longer speak to many of my friends.  We meet on Facebook, or send tweets to each other.  We seldom pick up the phone and actually talk to each other, and the same is true with work.  I was assisting a teacher with a technical difficulty and had submitted an e-mail to the technology department.  A while later my office phone rang and it was a fellow worker from the technology department calling me about the e-mail I had sent.  He wanted to speak to me to make certain we had the support we needed.  He provided instructions, which I later followed through on and the problem was resolved.  I e-mailed him back letting him know that the computer system was now operating  properly.  Then as I closed my e-mail I typed, "It was nice to hear your voice."  It was at that moment that I realized even though I have communicated with this person for years, I very seldom see him or talk to him, and had not heard his voice in over a year.  It just struck me that in that brief conversation we had over the phone about a computer program, the whole experience was so much richer than an e-mail.

There are things you learn about a person when you hear their voice, something that does not transmit in an e-mail, or text message.  The human voice moves us, it touches us, it makes us happy, or makes us cry, there's just something about the "voice."  I think that's why the American TV watching public can support three singing reality shows at once, and if you include "America's Got Talent" then there are four. Thankfully they do not all air at the same time.

In the book of John, Jesus is taking part in Jewish  celebration when  some of his fellow Jews do not believe he is the Messiah as he claims and challenge him.  They want proof that he is who he says that he is.  Jesus had the power within him to do great miracles that would put them all in their place, but that was not his way. He did things very simplistically and low key as often as possible.  He says to them they do not believe him, even when he does great works because they are not his sheep and do not listen to him.  They do not listen or recognize his voice. 

To know God, and to know his voice is to submit ourselves to his will.  If we have to have things our way, then we will never hear God's voice.  If we can be moved and changed by the voice of a talented singer or speaker, how much more can God's voice bless us?  His voice is perfect every time.  He knows exactly what to say to us, how to say it to us, and when.  The problem is so many of us do not hear it.  We are never sit  still or are quiet enough to hear what God is speaking to our hearts through prayer, his Word, and those that love him.

Take the time needed to hear from God.

Bible Verses

Psalm 46:10

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”

John 10:22-30

New International Version (NIV)

Further Conflict Over Jesus’ Claims

²² Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was in the temple courts walking in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴ The Jews who were there gathered around him, saying, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
²⁵ Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name testify about me, ²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

A Valentine's Day Message

In the last seven days the people who live in the Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Delaware have lived through two blizzards. Schools, businesses and even the federal government have all been shut down for almost a week. Now, we are in recovery mode. Streets have been plowed, but still very dangerous, roofs have collapsed under the weight and pressure of snow and ice, power lines have been down and people are still without power, and trees are down every where. These harsh weather conditions have not been limited to the east coast. There have been reports of harsh winter weather all over the country with snow falling in places it usually never snows like in Florida, Alabama and Texas.

In the midst of so much difficulty and upset to our usual routines, it is hard to remember that Sunday, February 14th is Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day, like all holidays has a history and customs, and has been highly commercialized, but what is most important is that it is a time that we focus on love. Love is the greatest gift one person one can give to another, and many times it's not all flowers, candy, and pretty soft stuff animals holding hearts. In fact true unconditional love is much more than romance, it is something that requires much more from each of us.

Unconditional love means we put those in our lives we love first. Jesus is the perfect example of this. He was the son of God. He was perfect in every way. God sent Jesus to Earth so save humankind. Jesus did nothing but show love to other people, but in the end the world rejected him. Right before Jesus was to be taken as a prisoner he was alone and praying. He knew the great pain was coming and he did not want to go through it. He was blameless, but he was about to take on the sins of the whole world and it was going to be beyond horrible. In his moment of sheer terror and weakness he asked God his father if this cup could be pass from him, but before the question was totally out of his lips he said, "Let your will be done."

How many times have you had to change your plans to care for someone else? How many times have you been interrupted to handle something that you did not cause? How many times have you had to clean up a mess that someone else has created? How many times have you been blamed for something that you did not do? What was your response? Was it anger? If it was, that is totally understandable, but give that anger to God and allow him to replace it with love. Love is doing the right thing at the right time, for the right reasons. If we rely on God, then we will know what the right thing is. Love does not mean letting people walk all over you or to allow others to take advantage of you.

So this Valentine's Day, cherish the people that you love in your life. Do something special. It doesn't have to be hearts and candy, it could be doing something special together. If you are alone, remember that you are never alone and receive the love God has for you. Once you know how much God loves you, you can do something nice for someone else. When love unconditionally, you do it without expecting anything in return, and that's true love.

Happy Valentine's Day and remember what it says in Matthew 28:20 "I am always with you."

Special Note: this post is dedicated to a good friend and his family, Mr. Ben Craig

Rely on and Remember God's Words

I hope you are having a wonderful Easter or Resurrection holiday season. I know that I am. This time last week I was looking forward to some time off from work for the holiday. Then by midweek mom was readmitted to the hospital due to an infection. At first we were told she was going to be in for a few days and then as long as two weeks. I took the news really hard and mom was upset about spending another major holiday in the hospital.
As dad and I were preparing to go to the hospital on Good Friday, mom called and told us she was going to be released. We were all very surprised and very happy. As dad and I drove to the hospital, he admitted to me he was fearful that once we got there, we were going to be told that in fact she could not come home. My father is not a man of fear. He is so positive that it drives me crazy. In the midst of a storm he sees a ray of sunshine. This fear was uncharacteristic of my dad. He walks in faith, not fear, but in this moment fear was winning out. It was because we have been through this before and he knew the pain of disappointment. He also knew how upset mom would be and how much it would take all of us to make her feel better. I guess he just didn't have the strength to face the possibility of disappointment. We have been going through this for almost two years, and we are all tired of it.
We got to the hospital and were delighted to learn that in fact mom was coming home. It was the best Good Friday ever. We had a great Easter too. Today mom had to go into the clinic and as I was helping get washed she admitted to me that she feared that she may be readmitted. I understood her fear, it has happened before, more than once. I called her a little while ago and so far she is doing fine and will be coming home later today.
I admire both of my parents. They are people of faith and hope, but fear is something that they have experienced and when they do, they have admitted it and it has allowed them to release the fear and hold onto their faith that is based on God's word.
Who you place your faith in is so important. I know a young woman who works for an organization that is downsizing due to budget problems from the U.S. economic problems. The contact states that the person with the least amount of seniority will be let go first. The young lady had the least amount of seniority and was upset, and rightly so. She then took action and got three good job offers. Then she was told that she had nothing to worry about, that her position was safe. She turned down all three job offers. When the final decision was made she was devastated that she indeed was going to loose her position. Someone in a more powerful position made the final decision, which in fact was the legal and fair thing to do. Not only did this young lady put her faith in the words of someone who had limited power and influence, but then she contacted the employer of the job she turned down and lied about why she had not accepted the position. It was too late, the position was gone, and it would of been close to her home, and she would no longer have a long difficult commute. This young lady learned a very painful lesson.
Who do you put your faith in? Whose words do you believe? God's word are true even when they don't make sense or seem to have gotten lost. In Luke 24: 1-8 it states, "On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, 'Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' Then they remembered his words." (NIV)
Jesus had told his followers what was going to happen to him, but they could not grasp the concept. Then he was arrested, put on trail, tortured, and publicly murdered. That is a lot for anyone to witness, let alone understand. When the women went to the tomb, they were going to do what was expected to a dead body of a human, the thing they did not understand that Jesus was not only human, but also divine. Jesus knew his followers did not understand him and two angels were at the tomb waiting for the women. They had to remind them of Jesus' words. When they women did, they rejoiced and shared the good news.
No matter what you face remember you are most powerful at your weakest moment, because it is at that moment that you let go and let God and with God all things are possible. Have faith in his word, his word is true, even if you think that it is too late, it is never to late when it comes to God. Rejoice! Our redeemer lives! Share the good news!