Delectable Thought

I remember this morning six years ago vividly. Up early to prepare for the delivery of our daughter whose heart had stopped in the womb. The drive to the hospital that afternoon, the wait in the hospital bed, the nurse (Glenda) who wheeled me back (alone) to the delivery room, the sound of a newly born infant crying in the delivery room connected to mine, the touch of Glenda's hand on my mine as she squeezed it reassuringly. These are all things that I remember and think of often. I remember the recovery room and Glenda's voice telling us about footprints and birth certificates. I remember leaving the hospital in a wheelchair, footprints in hand, baby left behind. It may seem that my loss was great that day six years ago. For me, it is the greatest loss I've experienced, but even as I type, I know others (some whom I love dearly) who are walking through even deeper, even greater losses. What six years have taught me is that I really know very little about loss, death, and...

That there is a part two to this blog post is saddening to me. Sometimes, I'm dangerously close to being disheartened, but the truth that God is bigger and mightier than all, including things like racism, prejudice, agism, classism, poverty, and so on and so on rings clear in my mind and on my heart. My words will not end these things. Truthfully, I think until our broken world is made new by our risen Savior, no sin will end. At the start of this post, two more black males have died at the hands of white police officers. I know little facts about either case. I can make no judgment and won't. I can speak to the emotions that these stories evoke in me. Being a black boy's mama requires that I lean upon Jesus daily. I have NO idea what it's like growing up black in America where blacks and other minorities have been systematically oppressed. I find everyday that there are things I don't even consider that black mothers do consider when raising their young sons. For...

We Are The Evil There is a narrative that began the moment Adam and Eve believed the lie of Satan and disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. The fruit they ate did not make them unrighteous. The disobedience was sin and sin entered their hearts and thus the heart of every person after them. Their natures changed when they made that choice and thus the nature of every person after them.  We are the Evil. Skin color is not the evil. A uniform and badge are not the evil. Money is not the evil. A raised fist is not the evil. A movement is not the evil. We are the evil. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it?  Every. single. person has a heart set on sin and wickedness. It is only the blood of Jesus Christ that offers forgiveness and washes this heart clean. It is only by turning away from this sin and believing in Jesus that we are afforded the luxury of Jesu...

Since the events of last week, I've seen a lot of my African-American friends talking about starting conversations, keeping dialogue alive. I hear them and think it's important to keep the conversation alive and to constantly seek pro-active things we can do to bridge the gap. Part of breaking through barriers is understanding why the barrier is there to begin with. Aren't we better armed with knowledge and some understanding than none at all? I think so. As the weekend is upon us, I have some suggestions for movies that you could watch. Remember they are movies, produced by Hollywood, but I've found these movies to be helpful in my quest for understanding these past two years. 12 Years A Slave http://www.12yearsaslave.com This story is a hard one. It is based on the true events of Solomon Northrup, a free black man who was stolen from his home and family and enslaved in the South for 12 years. I've read the book written by Northrup and found that the movie clos...

Today marks the start to a new week, a new day, a new opportunity. As a new week begins and the news stories begin to shift to the "next breaking" thing, we can be tempted to move on from the events of last week and the weekend. We can be tempted to stop the conversation, end the dialogue about the issues of race in America, but this can't happen . If we do that, we become reactionary and not pro-active. In order to truly make a difference, to really begin to see change, we have to move from reacting to tragedy to seeking out change and making sure that type of tragedy isn't commonplace. I want to continue the conversation. I can't explain what it's like to be black in America. I can only write from the perspective of a white mother raising two sons, one white, one black. I'm going to ask a few things of you today and this week. They won't require you to do anything really other than reflect, think, consider, and maybe ask a few questions. I'm ...

I am the first to confess and admit that I do not have all the answers. I don't know that I have any of them really. I only have the Word of God and the experiences of black men and women whom I respect and trust. I must also confess that my desire to begin a dialogue among people, my reason for posting anything about race is that the stakes are high for me. I have a black boy who calls me mama and I feel as if I fail him if I do not use my voice to be a part of the solution. Part of stepping across the dividing line and seeking to understand our black brothers and sisters is admitting that white people have privilege in this country. I think the term "white privilege" is grossly misunderstood and misconstrued. I don't think I have all the answers about it, but I do want to clarify what I mean by it and how I understand it. I welcome any civil and open dialogue about it.  White Privilege Does Not Equal Guilt.  When I think of white privilege I don't think of...

Since the death of Trayvon Martin in 2012, I have written blog post after blog post about race only to delete each one out of fear of the opinions of the people I interact with daily and weekly. I've felt the swell of "something" continue to grow inside of me. I can continue to be quiet and seek to live simply and quietly, but I am the mother of a black boy and that puts me in the middle of the racial divide in this country. I am not black so I do not have firsthand knowledge or understanding of what it means to be black in this country. I only have history lessons, books, friends, and the experiences of black people to enlighten me and help me on my journey of understanding. I've spent the last few years reading what I can, listening, thinking, praying, attending conferences on racial reconciliation and I have arrived at a few thoughts. Know that the lens through which I view the world is a Biblical lens. My worldview is determined by God's Word. I won't elab...

On this Good Friday, as I reflect upon the cross and the crucifixion, I'm left to wonder what is the value of a soul. I learned five and half years ago, when my husband and I lost our baby girl, Ella Grace, that in order to arrive at some place of sanity as I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I had to reconcile what I knew to be true about God with my present circumstances. This is a reality for all of life's journey, I think, not just when we enter our darkest hours. Since that day five and half years ago, I've experienced other things, that before her death, I would have labeled "hard", but since, I've discovered are really just uncomfortable. I know hard things will come again. It is one of our resurrected Savior's promises to us. The Why's in His Ways There aren't enough pages or enough time for me to record all that I've learned and continue to learn about who God is and what God does and how HE connects to my circumstan...

Kanye's public antics and seemingly inflated sense of self have long been a subject of mirth and incredulity for me. I've followed his career off and on since he emerged on the scene as a producer for Rock-A-Fella records. I have a love of hip-hop that dates back to the nineties and Kanye is a part of that. No doubt Kanye has contributed an incredible amount to hip hop and rap. He has produced music for some of the greatest.  Jay-Z and Alicia Keyes to name two. Kanye West is considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. He has won 27 Grammy's, sold millions of albums, yet I woke up this morning to see him begging for money on Twitter. I was left wondering how he got to this point. There's no denying Kanye's contribution to the music industry. But his career and personal life are clouded with controversy. His declaration of himself as a god has long brought him criticism by some and applause by others.  This morning as I read his many tweets asking any...

February 13, 2013---The day we got to pick James up from the orphanage. This is his "gotcha" moment. In this moment, he is ours forever. Where we go, he will go. Where we stay, he will stay. He is no longer under the care of the orphanage, even though we are standing in the orphanage. He is no longer under the rule of the Ethiopian government because he belongs to us. Adoption is not without great loss, great pain.  For me to be this child's mother, a woman is without her son. A father, a grandmother, an aunt, perhaps a sibling. I can never think of this day without thinking of "them". I don't know why they chose to give him up. I will most likely never know, but I do know that God ordained that James Melaku would be our son. Of all the little boys in that orphanage, God chose James' paperwork to the paperwork that was completed, allowing him to be adoptable. God writes our stories. His the author of all life. He does not stop authoring our stories...

Our Posture Is Our Response:Why Women Must Speak Up About Women Being Drafted One Destination Is Reached By Leaving Another We have not arrived at this new destination by accident or happenstance.  We began this journey many decades ago when women bought the idea that they were being oppressed. In reality, they were being oppressed in many ways. They did not have the right to vote or own property. They were thought of as not as intelligent or not as valuable---all ideas and realities that still exist for many women in other parts of the world today. But two wrongs never make a right. The response was a swinging of the pendulum so far to the extreme that we are now left with the over-sexualization of women, the systemic killing of female babies, the transformation of the woman into a feminine version of a man and now, the proposed threat of our daughters and grand-daughters being drafted into military service. Perhaps somewhere, we, as women, began to believe that we were...