HOW LONG WILL THIS CYCLE CONTINUE?

"When the weight of this whole world
Tries to slay me
A strong tower from the enemy
You will be for me
So I need to find this place
Yes the special secret place
I'm assured of Your embrace
The place I ca'll my sanctuary
There You are" ~ Lead Me To The Rock, Stephen Hurd

"Truth is I'm tired
Options are few
I'm trying to pray
But where are you?
I'm all churched out
Hurt and abused
I can't fake
What's left to do?
Truth is I'm weak
No strength to fight
No tears to cry
Even if I tried
But still my soul
Refuses to die
One touch-will change-my life" ~Take Me To The King, Tamela Mann

"Pass me not oh gentle savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others thou art calling
Do not pass me by"

The last few posts were focused on mental health. Focused on not holding stuff in and finding people to talk to. Talking about all that, and then the reality of America comes to fruition. The reality that if you're black in America, you are still counted less than a human being. It feels like being black in America, you're still counted as 3/5 of a human being. One would think that the 3/5 compromise was not in affect anymore. Michael Jackson, God rest his soul, put out a song back in 1995 that says, "All I want to say is that they don't really care about us."

Proverbs 23:7a "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he" America has tried to push racism under the proverbial rug, but never bothered to address it. I watched this adult cartoon, Family Guy. On a particular episode they had a cut away where the slave owner told the slave he was free and then asked the slave, "So, we're cool right?" It feels like that's what happen after the civil rights movement. America to black people, "So, we're cool right?"

There's a Will Smith quote making the rounds, "Racism is not new, it's being filmed." That's facts. But even when it's not filmed, we should care just as much. People were mad at the group NWA back in the late 80s when the song, F The Police was released. Instead of looking into why the song was written in the first place, or listening to the rallying cry that the song was talking about, they got brushed off as just about of "thugs." Good thing that doesn't happen in 2020....cough cough. The world did to NWA what the church does to the world which is look at what they look like and what they're wearing and disregard them. Maybe the problem is not the clothes. Maybe the problem is the heart that's corrupt. 

Now some may look at me as a mixed man and ask why do I care? Why do I care about Blacks Lives Matter. Why I do I talk as if I'm a black man when I'm mixed? Well first of all, let's not act like being mixed is all Sunshine and rainbows. Let's not act like when I go out in public I don't get looks. Let's not act like when my parents were together, and we went out as a family, we got stared at like we were illegal. Like we were in South Africa during apartheid. I can remember when we would visit my Dad's side of the family in Kentucky, we'd stop at Wendys to get something to eat, and the atmosphere was scary. I remember feeling like I didn't belong. Kinda like I was counted as 3/5...yeah so that's why I speak up. I may not have had a bad encounter with the police, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. All it takes is one time. All it takes is one time for me to get pulled over by the wrong cop and all the sudden I'm a hashtag.

The church has been quiet on this issue for too long. The church has swept this under the rug for too long. It's time to speak up. It's time to say hey, enough is enough. It's to work the faith. It's time to as my dad would say, "Put feet on them prayers." How many more wake up calls do we need? How many more decades have to pass? How many more generations have to hear songs like "F The Police" by NWA or "Good Cop Bad Cop" by Ice Cube and say, "That's still relevant today." How many more moments do we have to get by? How many more deaths do we have to "get over?" When is enough really going to be enough? When are we going to stop hitting the snooze button on the alarm clock? When are we going to listen to the cries of the people and stop putting a pacifier in the mouths so they will shut up? 

This world needs hope. This world needs Jesus. This world needs love. Agape love. True love. That love of Jesus that we say we have? The world needs that. The world needs to see that. Put down the religious rule books. Put down the religious traditions, and show people Jesus. If Jesus gives you joy, why not present that to this joyless society? I'm tired.

I know it's not all police. I know it's not all white people. I know it's not all---but one bad apple...

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

DO YOU REALLY LOVE? DON'T YOU REALLY CARE?

For Hana Kimura. 22 year old professional wrestler. Death by suicide. 22 years old. Adult life never really got started. I never watched her perform, but that doesn't matter. What hurts is that she was so young and thought that life wasn't worth it. What also hurts is that what about those that are not being reported that's happening right around your block or dare I say right in your church. What about them? What are we doing as a body of believers to show that we care? What are we doing as a body to show that there's hope? Why are we continuing to sing to each other that "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness" and not singing that to people that need to hear it? How long will we say that we need to get out the four walls of the church and...get out the four walls? Shouts out to the people and the ministries doing the work.

Mark 2:16-17 "And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are w'ell have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."

Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:15-16 "This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them, but God was merciful to me in order that Christ Jesus might show his full patience in dealing with me, the worst of sinners, as an example for all those who would later believe in him and receive eternal life."

I once led a song by Dewayne Woods called God is that said, "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Based off Psalm 73:26 that says, "My flesh and my heart faileth:  but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."

If we're going to present that God is love and we don't show love, then what's the point? Salvation is an action. To live is an action. We got to learn how to love each other. I think one of the problems may be as to why we don't show the love of Jesus to the "world" is that we don't show it to each other. How can we tell people that they need Jesus and we can't even show the love of Jesus to each other? We don't even care about the mental health of people in the sanctuary.

I understand that you can't go to everyone to vent because some people just don't care. They'll say anything to end the conversation because they don't want to dig in to what the real issue may be. There's some people that really care. Some people need an ear not a mouth. That'll preach. Sometimes in prayer you need to be more of an ear and less of a mouth. Moving on.

How many more suicides do we need to see before we start to care? How many more leaders have to commit suicide before we pray for our leaders? The Clark Sisters put out a song "Pray for the USA." Are we? Am I? I know this is random. New Edition's first hit, "Candy Girl." There's a part of the song that repeats in my head. "Do you really love me? Don't you really care?"

Thanks for reading. Please, if you need an ear, there's someone willing to listen. There's someone that cares. I'm going to end it like this. "Souls in danger. Look above. For Jesus completely saves. He will lift you by His love out of the angry waves. He's the master of the sea. Billows His will obeys. He your savior wants to be, be saved today." I know I repeat myself in some of these posts, and that's not my goal. My goal is to spread hope through this hopeless time.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson

WE CAN'T BREAK DURING THIS SEASON

I'm not going to try to speak for everybody, but I will speak for myself. My anxiety has been making itself known during this season we're all going through. As a church kid, we don't get much teaching on how to handle anxiety. I'm glad that finally mental health is getting the focus it's been needing for years.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. There's a saying that goes, "A closed mouth don't get fed." Another one goes like this "We have not because we ask not" You can't get an answer if you don't ask the question. I once heard Kirk Franklin break it down like this, "A doctor can only heal what we reveal." Don't wait until it's too late. Have a little talk with Jesus tell him about your troubles. He'll lead you in the right direction. You want to talk to someone that won't prejudge you while you're talking. You won't find a lot of people like that. Not saying there aren't any, but it's not a guarantee. Jesus is that guarantee.

With that being said, I'm not going to sit here and say that it's easy to go to Jesus for your problems, when some of the people that serve Jesus won't even lead you to Him. People give you such generic responses to you pouring your heart out because the odds are some people don't care anyway. I believe one of the problems is that when people come to Christians for advise or just to have a heart to heart, some believers can't lay down the man made title and put on the title genuine. If there was ever a time for people need to genuine care for each other is now.

I have a tendency of holding stuff in for a long time. I'm not good at calling people because I need to talk. Even though at times that's what I really need to do, I don't. My fear of reaction stops me from calling people. I've always had anxiety anyway, but with this "pandemic" it feels like it's become harder for me. I put so much pressure on myself because of comparison. Meaning that I often find myself comparing my situation with that past generations and that's when the fear of "generational curse" comes in. I get in a mood set sometimes when I live not to disappoint. Sometimes I find myself doing things not because I need to do them, but fear of not pleasing people that have gave me advise of what to do. So in my mind, if I don't do it exactly how they told me to do it, I'm doing it wrong. This is what I live with. So when if I'm giving someone a ride or if you see me at church, the mask is on. Doing what I got to do to get done what I need to get done only to come back home and have the same anxiety that I hide from everyone. 

One of my go to songs has been Okay by Canton Jones. I just want to hear to Lord, it's going to be okay. Another go to song for me has been Help Me by James Fortune. The title speaks for itself. Sometimes that's been my prayer, help me.

We got to find a way to continue to lift our hands. We got to find a way to not break. We got to find a way to stay in the field until the war is ended. We got to find a way to meditate on the Bible day and night "so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Find a way to put it on the altar and leave it there. God did not bring us this far just to leave us. So what i'm saying to everybody reading, and what I'm saying to Daniel, don't be afraid to ask for help. We can't break in this season. I heard a preacher compare it to a pine tree. Bend but don't break. 

Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave a comment and share with your peoples.

Stay Saved,

Daniel Richerson