I feel so inadequate.....

After having gone to see "Selma" on January 10th with my wife Chapri, while I left feeling encouraged, I also had this sense of inadequacy.  To think about the fact that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a mere 39 years old when he was assasinated.  I feel that I have had a full and demanding life, but I have not even scratched the surface of all that he accomplished in such a short lifetime....and....he died for ME!
Having seen the movie so close to the holiday that recognizes his legacy, I vowed that I would NOT sleep in this year, nor would I do a full list of "honey do's", I vowed and committed to celebrating his life and legacy on the Holiday set aside to do just that!  And boy did I celebrate!
The day began with an early rise at 5 am in order to get the Magnificent 8 (actually only 7 went) ready and on the road to Ann Arbor so that they coud attend the 17th Anual University of Michigan MLK Children and Youth Program.  From there Chapri and I headed back north to Birmingham for The Community House Race Relations and Diversity Task Force 23rd Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Breakfast.  I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted as soon as we hit the banquet facility by my friend Howard Baron with an invite to join him at the Bloomfield Hills School District's table.  Along with Howard was a couple other Bloomfield Hills School Board Members, Cynthia vonOeyen and Dr. Jacqueline El-Sayed.  In addition to the board representation, also at the table was non other than the Superintendant, Dr. Robert Glass, PhD.  Not only was this a pleasant surprise, but it was also very encouraging as a parent of 8 children in the school district to see this level of participation from the board and senior level staff at this very important event.  The event was a panel discussion on the state of race relations today and the role of media and social media on influencing those relations.  The dialogue was complete with a very tasty breakfast, table discussion and Q&A.  The event was kicked off by Mellody Hobson's TEDTalk "Color blind or color brave?"  I LOVED IT!

From there Chapri and I were set to go see Selma again with the Skillman Foundation but got derailed and ended up having a really deep conversation with another friend around this whole idea of the "Global Learners Initiative" .  We then picked the kids back up from Ann Arbor, while listening to "I have a Dream" podcast and headed to Roeper School in Bloomfield Hills for Martin Luther King, Jr. Candlelight Walk which was precluded by "The Children's March" film screening.  You can find the actual film here.  The event was challenging yet encouraging and very well done!

As I sit now and reflect upon the full experience, I am/was challenged by the impact that the youth had on the original civil rights movement.  As my goatee continues to whiten, I reflect upon Dr. King's age of 39, a young man.  The youth of Birmingham Alabama as outlined in "The Children's March", were ALL school aged.  SNCC, who worked with Dr. King on the coordination of the march on Selma, was the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.  They were students!  The 4 little girls who were victims of the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church, while EXTREMELY TRAGIC, was instrumental in the movement!

We talk about the naivety of the children or their innocence!  I'm here to tell you that there is NOTHING innocent or naive about the purity of the innocence of the children.  While we are quick to say that they are our future leaders....I'm here to tell you, they are our CURRENT leaders... and I feel so inadequate!

God's getting ready to....

This morning I read a post on Facebook from an old friend, old in the sense that we went to high school together not old in the sense of age.... more on that later.  In her post, she posed the question, "why do most people say God is getting ready to do _________(fill in the blank)? You mean He created man and still isn't ready?  He is God.  Is He not ready?"  She received a bunch of responses to this question and I felt compelled to respond but it felt as if the "conversation" was over so it gave me a good reason/subject/topic to blog about.  While I hardly feel like the authority on these types of things, I suppose I do have an opinion that I'd like to share.

So, is God ready?  Indeed He is ready!  He always was, always is and always will be.

I've always thought, that my life is already written in the "Book of Life" and I'm simply living out that life.  The older I get the more I understand that in order for us to realize the blessings that God has for us, we have to be ready to receive those blessings.

"Favor ain't fair" is another thing that we as Christians always say and the clerk challenged me one day while paying for my gas at Speedway.  She challenged me in asking me "what does that mean?" and I really had no answer for her.  This caused me to reflect on the meaning of this and consult my 1st spiritual teacher and mentor, my wife, Chapri.  As we volleyed this back and forth we moved into the understanding together that this simply means that what God has for me, he may or may not have for you.  He blesses us according to our individual needs/wants/desires/dreams/talents and because those are not all equal, "favor ain't fair".  Upon further reflection and unpacking or the proverbial onion peeling, we are blessed according to our readiness.  We might all say that we want a million dollars ($1,000,000) but many of us have not the slightest idea of the true worth of $1,000,000 and wouldn't know what to do with it.  Does that preclude us from being "blessed" with it?  I think not but it may not be my lot or purpose in life to have that particular experience and the learning and teaching that can come from it.

On just yesterday, I was working through some Minute with Maxwell's by John Maxwell and one of the "word of the day" postings that he expounded upon was "opportunity".  By the way, Dr. Maxwell is a profound man and great leader and you should check out his work if you’re not familiar.  Well, Dr. Maxwell shared that opportunity is not opportunity at all for those who are not ready for it and if we wait for the opportunity to come before we get ready for it, we're too late.  That said, we must always be growing and making ready for the future opportunities that might come our way.

What also occurred to me is that the message is delivered to people in the way that they need to hear it.  A "new" convert or baby Christian may need to hear that God is getting ready to fix their mess in order for them to draw closer to God.  This is not spin in my estimation.  This is simply "putting the cookies on the bottom shelf" so that more people can get to it.  That is not to say, that they’re dumbing down the word, but it is making it tangible for more people.

The other thing that occurred to me is that this has the potential to negate our responsibility for "readiness".  It takes the burden of change off of our plates and places it squarely on God's plate.  If He's getting ready to bless me, then I can just sit back and receive it.  This could not be further from the truth.  As I mentioned earlier, if we're not ready for the opportunity, it will surely pass us by.  Conversely, if WE get ready and prepare ahead of time, when the opportunity presents itself, we can the advantage of it.

So, is God ready?  Is He truly "getting ready to _____"?  I say it’s a matter of optics and vernacular.  He's already ready and what the saying should be is "God is getting ME ready to_______".

Where to begin?

I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time.  Problem was, I could never stay on task with a single subject long enough to write about it.  Then yesterday, as I was searching for an article that I read late last year on the "mental paralyzingly effects of poverty", I ran across Killer Martinis (http://killer-martinis.squarespace.com/) and got inspired.  In her post, she'd talked about things that I had to have known once but have long since forgot, either by design, simple forgetfulness or old age (even though I still think I'm on the ascending slope of the hill).  More on that later.

I reflected upon what seems to come naturally to me and while the items on that list are numerous in my mind, what became abundantly clear was my undying need, call it desire, to connect things.  By things, I mean people, places, events, causes and affects.  It's like playing Dot To Dot-Adult Style.

Surely you remember playing dot to dot as a kid.  The puzzle game where you draw a line through an ascending set of numbers on a page with random, numbered dots that looks like a scattered mess when you begin.  The fabulous, intriguing, magnificent thing about this game is as you work your way through the number set on the page, a picture or image of something begins to take form.  The more you connect the dots the clearer the picture becomes.

Well, it feels like I'm still playing dot to dot and when the picture begins to come clear to me as to why things are what they are, or are what they seem to be or are what they appear to be to me, it's like, I've discovered a secret that's been hidden in plain sight the entire time if I had just taken the time to look.

That's what I think my blog will be about, Dot to Dot-Adult Style.  I will be posting random thoughts and the connections as I see them.  Feel free to agree or disagree with my thinkings.  I'm sure that I will be proven wrong much of the time, which is quite alright with me, but I think I may be spot on with some things too...

At any rate, with this I will be fulfilling a desire of mine and bucket list item, to write, as well as my obsession with connection.

Welcome aboard, it's gonna be a wild ride.