Rick Warren on Purpose

Ted.com has this really good video with Pastor Rick Warren talking about purpose.

Give

GIve, and [gifts] will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will they pour into [the pouch formed by] the bosom [of your robe and used as a bag]. For with the measure you deal out [with the measure you use when you confer benefits on others], it will be measured back to you.

Amplified Bible

Being Used by God

It's amazing what happens when you are open to being used by God.

A few weeks back I had some food that I bought but didn't eat all of it because I didn't like the flavoring. So I put it in the refrigerator the night I purchased it. The next day I saw it and was torn because I knew I wouldn't eat it but didn't want to throw it away. So I thought (the suggestion of the holy spirit) to pack the food up with a plastic fork and keep it in my bag, and when I saw a homeless person I would give it to him or her.

A friend and I decided to catch the train to head to our destination. When we entered the train there was a really bag odor and I looked to my left to see a man stretched out on the train seat with his shoes off. For a quick second I thought to place the food near him but didn't. Minutes later, the man gets up and walks straight to me and asks me if I have any food to eat? I reach in my bag and hand him the food with a "God bless you." He thanks me and walks back to his seat and starts to open the bag to eat. I exit the train.

He didn't ask anyone else on that train for food. He came straight to me. I had the food and he had the need. Who else but God was at work here? God is simply amazing.

Demonstrating God's Love

Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you.… If you love only the people who love you, what praise should you get? … [L]ove your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back. Then you will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God, because he is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin. Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy. (Luke 6:27–28, 32, 35–36)


Walking out this scripture in my life has been difficult. However, I will reach this spiritual goal to love those who do not walk in love towards me and to bless those who curse me. To achieve this is a great demonstration of the God in me.

Tyler Perry

Tayari Jones has posted on her blog some of my findings on the new movie being produced, written and directed by Tyler Perry. Take a look here.

My search came about as a reaction to an earlier blog post of Tayari's about not being happy that Tyler is taking on this Choreopoem by Ntozake Shange and developing it into a movie.

I am a Tyler Perry fan and look forward to his expression of this work.

From Picture to Flesh

Tonight while out in the city enjoying the cool night, I decided to make a trip to the grocery store on the upper west side. While walking north I noticed coming towards me was a familiar face that for a time hung on my bedroom wall as a teenager. That face belonged to Gail O'Neill. When I was a teenager in the 90s it was the reign of the supermodel. I could count off the many mainstream (white) names but just as important I can tell you the women who held an extra special place in my heart for their many beautiful shades of brown, and they are: Gail O'Neill, Roshumba, Waris, Veronica Webb, Beverly Peele, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, and Karen Alexander just to name a few. These women had Revlon and Cover Girl endorsements. I was proud of them and to prove it, they each earned a spot on my wall.

So while I had the chance I approached her and said thank you for being present so that I as a young girl had the images of woman who looked like me filling ads, editorial pages of magazines and television screens (Saturday morning ritual of watching Videofashion). She thanked me for expressing that and mentioned her sadness for young black girls today that don't have that. She asked my name I gave it to her and we went our separate ways.

This is what gives me a second wind for NYC, the many occasions when I have seen--on the street no less, people I would not have thought I would see or meet. Within a week and a half, I have seen and/or spoken to Gail O'Neill, Leslie Uggams, Marianne Pearl and Ledisi. And that's just recently. When I tell you I meet and see the rich and/or famous it's not a stretch of the imagination. I could very easily win a contest if someone were keeping score. The thing about it is I never intentionally look. Read my earlier post to see other women I've encountered.

At the Cross

It was all taken care of at The Cross.

Hillsong's song says it all.