on who carries the most weight

In terms of work, I am willing to go above and beyond to meet and exceed the expectations of the sales department and other customers, and work effectively with my team. However, ultimately it is my boss's opinion of me that carries weight, rather than the thoughts of my colleagues.

This same philosophy applies to my approach to life. While I strive to be the best human, friend, brother, and son I can be, and to be appreciated by those around me, at the end of the day, it's God's opinion of me that truly matters.

-me

currently listening to Tell me anything, by Andy Stott

Mawning

Today, I place my full trust in God, knowing that I am completely supported, loved & cared for in every way. I am deeply grateful, and so it is!...

what if

But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?

~ Robert F. Kennedy

in the past 48 hours

• i baked and shipped a hundred cupcakes
• i learned a valuable life lesson
• i received bakeware as a gift
• i noticed there were 26 more downloads of my short stories on Amazon Kindle
• i baked 3 cakes
• i wrote another story
• i decided to stop taking back my problems after giving them to God

A Persian Proverb

 "از تو حرکت، از خدا برکت."

Literal Translation: From you, action, from God, benediction.


Connotation: You have to work towards something first instead of expecting luck.


English Equivalent: God helps those who help themselves.


this is a repost

Question of the Day

If God were to ask you why He should let you into Heaven, what would you say?

 First of all, thank You for loving me so much that you sacrificed your son Jesus on the cross so that might have life and have  it abundantly. I don't deserve Your love but I am grateful. I've done some things I'm not proud of, and by asking for forgiveness from You, I know that I am automatically forgiven. Thank you.  I'm hoping that You allow me into heaven because I have lived my life according to Your word. I owe you my life. I can thank you all day every day but it will still not be enough for all You have done for me. My back has been against the wall a few times, and proving that You're God, you have performed miracles. You have blessed me in ways that defy logic, and they were always at the 11th hour. You have had my back 100% of the time. I love you, and I hope that one day, You will be able to say to me, 'well done, my good and faithful servant.'     What a day of rejoicing that will be!

Know this

The combination of your natural talent and learned skills with God's coordinated timing and placement allows you to successfully do what you are meant to do today, easily influencing others.

Note to self

                

  
        Never hold onto anything tighter than you're holding onto God.

this morning

I heard this song on Pandora this morning  ( Kirk Franklin's station) and I had to share it.  Perhaps it's for you.

-Lashun Pace- He Keeps Doing Great Things For Me

See, what had happened was...

i thought she was capable of being loved, and so i fell for her (not because she was capable, but because it occurred and i couldn't find a reason not to love her), but it was too early to let her know, so i behaved as one does when they're in love, and it was her birthday, and she loves nutella and her daughter thought it would be nice to bake a cake for her so i had her  help me make my famous hazelnut fudge marble cake with the nutella, and that was all i got because it was too early for a serious present, and she told me that after the birth of her daughter that day was the happiest because no one ever baked her a cake before not even her mother and she had tears in her eyes and all her sisters were there for the surprise party and they all loved it and begged me to bake their own cake and she dumped me because it was obvious that i was a good man and would be a good father and that i deserved to be with someone who could love me (i've heard this a million and two times) and she was only capable of loving the father of her daughter who is in prison in idaho , servicing a life sentence for kidnap, rape, torture, and murder- and now is up for parole, but i got 5  cake orders that were already paid for, for fifty dollars a piece. in cash. but i'd rather have love and the whole nine yards. 

one day i'll get it right. only God knows why this is happening.

Good Morning

As my mom always says

 

"Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet

 and sweet for bitter."

Isaiah 5:20

 

 

About those that treat me like a less than;

woe until you.

As my mom always says,

"You can't mess with God's children and expect there to be no consequences."

So I go on by my business, 

I treat everyone the way I'd want to be treated. I keep myself prayed up, and I let God handle it. 

I have family members that have mistreated myself and my mom,

then terrible things happen to them, 

one after the other.

then they call my mom and me,

asking,

"why are these terrible things happening to me and my family?"

we know the answer,

but we don't say anything.

 

 

 

I love the Lord

I love the Lord; He heard my cries,
And pitied every groan;
Long as I live, when troubles rise,
I’ll hasten to His throne.

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
    he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
    I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2

Note to self

Love is hard enough

In order to go to Heaven, I'm required to love everyone, even my enemies. Even my fake friends. Even the back stabbers. Even the liars. Even the thiefs.  Even the users. I must love all who mistreat me.  I'm also required to treat people the way I'd like to be treated.  That's the difficult part-knowing that they don't deserve it, knowing that they may not do the same towards me.  But I have to do what I have to do, to reserve my spot in Heaven. The command to love is really a command to be like Christ, and I am a Christian. 

But there's no reason why I have to like them. If I may be honest with how I feel - 

loving them is hard enough.

Just a thought.

The right place, the right people, the right time

"life doesn't give you the people you want. it gives you the people you need. to help you. to hurt you. to love you. to leave you. and to make you into the person you were meant to be."
                 - anonymous

 Right after 9 11 when I worked in DC, I had started dating Shakara. I had a good friend named Henry at the time. As a result of 9 11, my company lost alot of business (some of the companies we consulted were housed in the Twin Towers)  and a lot of us were fired. I didn't want Shakara to know I didn't have a job, and unemployment wasn't going to cover my place. At the same time, Henry's girlfriend kicked him out of her apartment, so  before I asked him to move in to the guest room, he had asked me to do just that. And he paid about 60% of the rent. So I collected unemployment and  I cooked dinner and baked for my neighbors and I drove Henry to and from work so that I could use his car for job-hunting and for my dates with Shakara.  I had managed to date Shakara for 2 yrs without her knowing I was unemployed. She was disappointed that I hadn't told her but impressed that I managed to date her without ever having her pay for anything. Henry was a big help to me. When a recruiter got me a job back in Milwaukee, Shakara moved there with me. Henry paid 50% of the moving expenses.  I never heard from him again. I've tried to connect with him on Facebook to say thanks and to pay him back but can't get a hold of him.

When I  saw that above quote I was reminded of my friend Henry. His friendship came at the right time, and though I intend for good friendships to last forever, it seemed to end at what God might have determined to be the right time.

God is  good God.

Note to self

I will

1. give God the glory 7 days a week
2. stop comparing myself to others
3. stop being afraid to speak up
4. love myself first
5. push myself to do what I say I'm going to do
6. choose to be happy
7. be loved
8. be respected
9. have high expectations for myself
10. find a way to make some money off my baking

The Prayer of Mathematics

"Dear God,

         I'm not always a good judge of character. I try to see the good in people, and sometimes there is no goodness in them, but I will still look for it. Sometimes I think that people can't possibly mistreat people who treat them well, but I know that's me being naive. My mother raised me to believe in reaping and sowing, so being evil on indifferent in return is not in my DNA. Dear Lord,   please subtract from my life, people who don't mean me well, people who are anchors whose only purpose in life is to weigh me down, instigators, liars, hypocrites, fair-weather friends, users, those who call me friend but treat me like that friend of the family that always assumes he's invited and shows up to events, those who invite me to events only after everyone else has been invited and they made the mistake of mentioning the event to me, those who don't have the courage to tell me to leave them alone,   those who make me feel like I don't measure up to them, and people who will prevent me from being who and what You and I want me to be,  and, dear Lord,  please add to my life, the exact opposite, and that is, people who actually care about me, who want me to be happy and want me to do well on this journey  I call life. Amen "

This is my prayer every morning.    Interesting though; I try to be as cool as receptive and as funny and as sweet and as reliable as I can be, and sometimes I wonder why some friends automatically drop off, never to be heard from again. Sometimes I even call and text them, leaving messages, 'hoping that they're okay,' and they don't respond.

Then I realize, God is answering my prayer. He's filtering out all the anchors, all the albatrosses, all the fakers, all the  liars, the fair-weather friends, those that either don't mean me well or don't care about me. Like I asked.