Book Lover’s Appreciation

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Hey Readers!

Please join me, this Saturday, March 31st for Book Lovers Appreciation Day in conjunction with The Life Center Community Festival. This day of family fun from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m. will feature food trucks, entertainment, prizes, a Kids Korner with story hour (@ 2 p.m.), an Easter Egg Hunt and more! The best part is you get to mix and mingle with some of your favorite authors and receive a discount on their books.

This event will take place at The Life Center is located at 6385 Winchester Rd. (The Old Barnes & Noble). AND admission is FREE. The first 40 adults will receive a special gift bag.

For more information, check out the FACEBOOK Page

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Daily Devotional – 3/26/18 “Who are you beholding?”

As we get closer to the day set aside as Resurrection Sunday, I am still in the vein of Jesus being on the cross. While He hung there, He looked down to see His mother, Mary weeping to whom He said, “Woman, behold your son” and to one of the disciples He said, “Behold your mother.” (John 19:26-27). Now, I don’t know about you but the more I read this particular scripture, the more it confused me because I have to question the whereabouts of Jesus’ brothers? We know He had some but where are they? If your sibling is on trial and being prosecuted, would you not be there? Where are His brothers? However, here is what I have come to realize. Just because Jesus is in the home, it doesn’t mean everybody in the home is saved. Yea, you can say all day long, “As for me and my house,” but we all know you can probably save the actual house before you can, all the folk in it. This doesn’t negate your belief but people have to choose Jesus for themselves. Sure, you can drag them to church every Sunday and Wednesday but it still does not mean they’ll be saved. And we know the brothers of Jesus doubted His power because Jesus said in Mark 6:4, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”

Beloved look, I don’t care how well I preach and teach the gospel; there are still some folk in my family who will not believe. However, I cannot stop because I still have others who desire the smell and taste of Jesus. By why would Jesus say this to Mary? Well, this is Lakisha’s logic of thinking and I believe when Jesus sees His mother weeping over the agony of His sacrifice, He needed her to have somebody to lean on that understood the pain she was going through. Yea, it’s fine to be around family but if said family isn’t saved, they might not understand the difficulty of Mary’s suffering. Get this though, Jesus didn’t tell John and Mary to take care of one another, He simply said behold as to watch, see and observe. In other words, Jesus was telling them to now see the new relationship amongst those who believe in His Father. What does this mean? Simply to say, you may have to depend on, walk beside and agree with some folk, now, who aren’t related by DNA but by GOD. Because we know, or we ought to know that if the relationship is right; everything else should fall into place. So I have to ask, what or who are you beholding and are they beneficial to your spiritual walk?

Daily Devotional – 3/22/18 “When your sound change!”

While Jesus hung on a cross, with nails through his hands and feet, with a crown of thorns on His head, a mocking sign of “King of the Jews,” over His head and a criminal on both sides; He was still concerned about saving those who desired to be saved. You know the story, right? These two criminals initially joined in on the mocking of Jesus but as time went on, one of them changed their sound. His sound went from that of suffering to now of surrendering. While the other mocked, this one criminal comes to Jesus’ defense. He didn’t need it but doesn’t it feel good when someone else can defend your honor? Well, this criminal says in Luke 23:40-42, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed are suffering justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong. And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” In which Jesus replies in Luke 23:43, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” This was the second of the last things Jesus said on the cross. He’s in pain, He’s been ridiculed and made fun of, nails driven into parts of His body, His clothes divided over dice, given bitter vinegar to drink yet He’s willing to save the one who wants to be saved. Isn’t that good news?

And if I can be honest, many of us have been in the position of this criminal. No, I don’t mean hanging on a cross but we’ve been guilty of a crime yet Jesus is willing, for us. Willing to be mocked, suffer and die; for us. Think about it because we’ve all been at a place where we want to throw in the towel, turn our back on Jesus and give up but as time goes on our voice changes. You may not want to admit it but I am sure there have been times, during your pain, that you’ve cried out to God asking where He is. There have been times when the turmoil of this life almost made you curse God. When things were happening to you, in you and around you that made you feel like Job; tearing off your clothes, shaving your head and sitting in a pile of ashes. But then something happened. Time kept going and your mind changed. As you laid in your bed of burdens, your sound changed. For just like the criminal, you go from a speech of scorn to a sermon of surrender and from pity to that of purpose. For it is when your sound, mind, body and spirit changes that your destination does too because then you can clearly hear Jesus’ saying, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Daily Devotional – 3/21/18 “Father, forgive them …”

As Jesus hung on the cross, after being found guilty of caring more about people than they actually cared for themselves, after being beaten for loving folk who lied on Him, after His wrists and legs were nailed for taking the majority of our suffering; through pain He mumbled these words in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Understand the magnitude of this verse. Jesus willingly asked His Father to forgive those who, through willful ignorance, would become His executioner. As pain traveled through the nerves within His body, He prayed for forgiveness of those who had forsaken Him. Jesus prayed for forgiveness of those who glorified in His blood being shed. Jesus asked for forgiveness of those who laughed as thorns were pushed through his skin. While they were shooting dice to divide His clothes, Jesus was using the last of the air from His lungs to ask for forgiveness of them. Oh but here we are, staying in the house with folk we will not even pray for. We share the same bed with folk we aren’t willing to forgive. We have the same DNA with folk we haven’t spoken too in years. We even attend the same worship service with folk we talk about in group texts. Father, forgive them.

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Please Father, forgive those who don’t understand the heaviness of not forgiving. Forgive those who spitefully withhold forgiveness. Forgive them Father for still giving power to their abuser by lying with the hurt, pain and replay of the things they did. Forgive them Father for harboring resentment when you’ve given them the strength to release it. Forgive them Father for mishandling their gifts, over and over. Forgive them Father for taking advantage of your blessings even after you keep giving them. Father, forgive them because they didn’t know any better. Beloved, Jesus didn’t pray for their forgiveness because He had time to kill but Jesus did it due to who He is and to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. You, though, your forgiveness of those who don’t even recognize their need to be forgiven isn’t about them but it is because of whose you are and your ability to be obedient to God’s call on your life. Forgive them as your Father has forgiven you.