Work out your own salvation/situations/issues

In life we are all bound to go through some challenging stuff that can either make or break us. It is inevitable that you will experience trials if you live long enough. However, how you choose to handle these trials will determine your success or failure. For many the challenge is the ability to develop good coping skills that will allow them to make good decisions. The thing is, your childhood environment, coupled with other life experiences, are the building blocks that influence your ability to cope. Unfortunately some people never develop a healthy coping mechanism and then are prone to blaming others when things go wrong in their lives.  For others, like me, who incorporate their faith in the equation, life can be a lot more bearable and at times very enjoyable. However, the degree to which their faith can sustain them is determined by the level of their spirituality.

Several years ago I was at a dip in my life’s road. Having just gotten out of an unhappy marriage I plunged myself into my career and worked relentlessly in an attempt to fill the void my divorce created. As a result of that, coupled with other things, I suffered a stroke. I pulled on my faith to sustain me and was subsequently able to pull myself together, however I found myself spiritually drained to the point that I felt my faith had become stunted. The place that I worshiped at the time failed to resuscitate my spirituality or reignite my faith. They also failed to give me the support I desperately needed to pull me out of the rut I found myself in to the point that I had stopped attending worship services for over a year. The sad thing was, no one seemed to notice which was a bit unsettling considering I was active in a couple of ministries, i.e., new member’s care advocate, sang in the choir. Then one Wednesday night while driving home from work I passed by the sanctuary and my spirit beaconed me to go in for mid-week service.  I obeyed and it is a decision I have not regretted. It turned out that the guest speaker of the night was Bishop Eddie L. Long from New Birth Missionary Church. While I had heard of Bishop Long before and had attended one of his services years ago at the Flat Shoal location, I didn't know enough about his teaching to form an opinion. 

The thing I remember most about that night, besides being at the edge of my seat the entire time he was preaching, is that as Bishop Long spoke about the Ark of the Covenant and that there was “an open door” for which the Lord was bidding me to “come up higher”, my spirit leaped inside me and for the first time in a long time I felt connected and alive again.  It was as if God sent me there to get answers to the spiritual rut I was in. The excitement that his words evoked in me would stay with me all week to the point that I visited New Birth that Sunday and joined the very next Tuesday night. This September will be four years since I have been a member of New Birth and I am happy to report that the excitement I felt that first night is still very much alive in me today, if not more so. It was just a month past my one year membership anniversary that the media scandal broke loose. The timing could not have been any worst as I was just finally getting a handle on my life and discovering my purpose. I remember questioning God as to the timing and the logic of bringing me someplace just to have me leave before my full spiritual recovery. Not that you ever truly arrive at being totally spiritually healed as it is an ongoing process, but you get what I mean. I remember praying and asking God for guidance as I often do when faced with life changing situations. My question was “should I leave or should I stay?” The answer seemed to come from Bishop Long’s own mouth. Every time he got behind the pulpit the words he released into the atmosphere was as if he had a front row seat to what was happening in my life. His words were like oxygen to by situation. I inhaled deeply the calming effect of the word of God and exhaled my stress and confusion. With each passing week the unfolding scandal had little or no effect on my spiritual growth as I continued to soak up every word that came across the pulpit like a sponge. I felt like a spiritually depraved woman who for the first time in a long time was able to make sense of my situation by using the teachings of the Bible as presented by Bishop Long. 

By implementing those Biblical principles in my life I developed healthy coping skills that allowed me to endure and overcome other life changing events that transpired in my life.   These were events that, had I not been exposed to the teachings at New Birth, I may not have been able to endure them as well as I did. These were events that gave me firsthand experience as to what it felt like to become homicidal, suicidal, and quite frankly at times brought me to the verge of losing my “cotton picking” mind. I have seen others who have, under these and similar type pressures, succumbed to one or more of those options. But for me, they were not an option because I learned how to truly trust God and for the first time in my life I completely understood the charge set forth in Proverbs 3:5-6 which says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.”

Sure there are those who question my decision to continue fellowshipping at New Birth. As I recently told a friend who voiced their opinion about the whole scandal thing, “I do not care whether or not what the media said is true.” Every one of us have to answer to a higher order, Bishop Long included. It is not my place to judge him or anyone else for that matter.  All I know is there is definitely an anointing on that man’s life. Everything he utters from behind that pulpit has been and is relevant to my situation. The way I see it, my personal relationship with God is my driving force. I do not wait for a word when I fellowship on Sundays. What I go to New Birth for is for confirmation of what God has already revealed to me during my quiet time with him.  When the time is right God will move me on to my next assignment. In the meantime I am staying put. When I think of everything that has transpired in my life these past four years, had I not been where I was I would have missed the teachings/word to help me get me through my situations. Too many people have missed out on their blessings because they were worshiping Bishop Long the man and not God the Father. As a result, when Bishop Long seemingly failed them, they no longer had the faith or convictions to see pass what they heard. As a result they abandoned their assignment and subsequently forfeited their blessings.

Trust me; I am not in any way condemning the members who left the fold. They did what they felt they needed to do. So why then are others quick to condemn me for staying? Last I checked this was still a free country and I am entitled to do what I think is best for me. I don’t owe anyone any explanations as to why I chose to stay but I’ll give you a couple reasons anyway. I stayed because my spirit is getting fed and my faith walk with God has gone to higher heights and deeper depths. The evidence of what I have been taught under the leadership of Bishop Long is manifested in my life ever day as I implement the principles I’m taught. I put my trust completely in God, not man.

The Bible says judge not that you be not judged. It’s easy to sit there and point a finger at someone when everyone else is doing it. It is much more difficult to let the Holy Spirit lead and direct you to keep an open mind to wither the storm. My convictions are based on my own values and moral and I refuse to let other people dictate to me what I should or should not believe. I have seen too many innocent people get tried and convicted by the media in their lead stories then when they are vindicated, there is only a one-liner stuck on page 33, if that. Truth is none of us are perfect and we have all got stuff going on in our lives that we don’t want exposed. The only difference is we are not significant enough for the media to put our stuff on blast. But if you ever decide to throw your hat in the ring for any sort of public office or become significant enough, you may want to think twice because that candy bar that you may or may not have snuck into your jeans at the local corner store when you were a teen may just end up on the evening news with the caption “Candidate involved in deadly diamond heist – store manager among the dead.”

Bishop Long is a vessel that God is using to promote the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. What other explanation can there be? Who in their right mind chooses to endure the public ridicule he has endured? What possible gain can come of this? It would be easy for him to denounce his spiritual calling and move to another country to get away from the hell he has no doubt been living in since the scandal broke, but he chose to stay and continue what God started. I can’t speak to why he still allows the Lord to use him but I am eternally grateful that he did not let “flesh” keep him from fulfilling his calling.  As a strong believer in the word of God I leave you with this. “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12

Say what you want about Bishop Long but I promise you one thing, he is working out his own salvation/issues. If people would spend more time concentrating on how they can make their life better and less on how others chose to live theirs, they might just learn some effective coping skills that will help them work out their own situations/issues.  I’m just saying - I got issues. What about you?)i( #IGotIssues #NewBirth #Salvation

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 The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe. 

Traffic - Driving to Arrive

When I was growing up, “You buy your license?” was a popular question that was asked sarcastically by island folks of people who displayed poor judgment while operating a car. What the question implied was that they must have paid somebody to get their driver’s license because there was no way they could have obtained it legitimately based on their poor driving skills.  Then when I moved to Georgia and discovered that you could actually renew your driver’s license at the local grocery store, specific locations of course, I was tickled at the irony. I remember thinking, “Folks back home would get a kick out of this.”  I would later find myself shouting at people who cut me off in traffic, “Where did you buy your license, Kroger?” They obviously didn't get it based on the confused looks on their face.  If I’m not mistaken, those satellite DMV locations have since been closed.

While it is all in good fun to make jokes about bad drivers, the truth is there is never any excuse for people to drive poorly. A lot of the incidents people encounter while driving can easily be avoided if they would practice safe driving.  What I've found is, except for a handful of people who may have taken driver’s education classes in school, the mass majority of people, myself included, learn to drive by ear, meaning they learned to drive by following the instructions given to them by either one of their parents, a friend, or some other family member. One of the problems with that is the person giving the instructions themselves may not have had any formal training in the art of operating a motor vehicle or the rules associated with driving on the road. As such, all they can teach is the basics of moving the car from point A to point B, reversing, and parallel parking. All of which are necessary for passing the driving portion (practical) of the driving exam, but what about the written portion (theory)? The other drawback to learning to drive by ear is that "bad drivers" were teaching "bad driving" which contributes to  highway issues. Think about it, whatever bad habits the teacher has, they pass it on to their student(s), who in turn may end up teaching someone else to drive at some point. As a result the cycle continues.

My first exposure to driver’s education classes was back on the island when my mother enrolled in driver’s school prior to getting her driver’s license.  Up until then I had no idea these type classes existed. It was in those classes that my mom learned all the ins and outs of operating a car. I remember how passionately she would share her newly learned information, like kinetic energy. I must admit that not before or since have I ever heard anyone else speak to kinetic energy as it relates to driving a car but it was good information which I embraced. What my mom shared with me is that every time you stop your car, you don’t just stop. You have to overcome a force that is known as kinetic energy, which tends to push your car forward. This force is the energy developed by a car while it's in motion. The law of kinetic energy means that when you double your speed, the kinetic energy of your car is four times as great. That means the braking distance is four times as great. When you triple or quadruple your speed, the stopping distance is even greater. My mom’s advice, “Don’t wait until you want to stop to apply the brakes. Let the kinetic energy run out.” So when I am driving I tend to let the kinetic energy run out on its own by not constantly pressing on the gas.

This little trick greatly reduced the wear and tear on my breaks to the point that I have only changed the brake pads on my 8-year old Jeep twice. Not bad considering the amount of driving I do.

Driving is a secondary function or “automatic” if you will, which is set in place based on an individual’s initial driving habits. Think about it, when you are driving are you thinking, “stop”, “go”, “step on the gas”, “step on the brakes”, or “look left/right”? Of course not because your brain is programmed to do those task automatically for you. The brain can also be wired to recognize the green light as a sign to keep driving and the red light as a warning to stop. Unfortunately not too many drivers have programmed their brain to recognize that an amber colored light is a signal to slow down, not speed up. It is because of this secondary function that people are able to engage in a number of other limited actions/tasks while driving, i.e., engage in conversation, read a map, etc. As a result, if you don’t learn to come to a complete stop at a stop sign in the beginning of your driving history, then the chances that you will do so regularly without thinking about it is very slim to none. That’s why most people do the “California roll” when approaching a stop sign, meaning they slow down just long enough to see if anything is coming but never really come to a complete stop, not unless something is coming and sometimes not even then. That can be dangerous.  

Not only can you use your brain to set your driving habits to incorporate obeying traffic rules, it can also be used as a GPS. Don’t believe me? Think about this, when you make a decision to go someplace, i.e., work, home, grocery store, etc., you don’t spend time trying to figure out how to get there unless it’s the first time you are making the trip. You just get in your car and you drive. Think about the last time your drove home from work, do you remember ever twist and turn you took, every car that cut you off, or how many red lights you encountered? Of course not, you would be hard pressed to remember the journey.

There are times I get home and I can’t tell you anything about the journey. That’s because it was all so routine. Unless something unusual happens on the way, I typically don’t remember how I got home. Ever tell yourself you are going to stop at the store on your way home from someplace and then realize when you pull into the garage that you didn't stop? That’s because you forgot to reprogram your brain's GPS – lol. Your brain's destination was set to “home” and there is where it took you.

Fact is operating a car is more than just learning enough to pass the driving test. It’s about programming your brain to recognize key safety triggers that will keep you and other’s safe. It is also about using good judgment and common sense when behind the wheel. It encompasses paying attention to what is going on around you and your ability to factor in those things every time when making a decision to either stop or go. Oh and it also involves being courteous to other drivers. In any given day I can easily lose count of the number of people who: 1) cut me off even though I have the right of way, 2) failed to signal when making a turn, and 3) pulled out in front of me only to go about 5-10 mph less than what I am traveling instead of just waiting for me to pass especially when there is nobody behind me. All because they are in too much of a rush to wait their turn. 

Texting, talking on the phone, reading, eating, putting on make-up, combing their hair, or reaching under their seats for something is some of the many distractions that can cause people their lives while driving.  Why not do those things before you get behind the wheel? If you do, you may just save a life, maybe even your own. I’m just saying – I got issues. What about you?)i(

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 The views and opinions shared here are by the Author and are the property of Todos Escribe.