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The Chronicle2B - April 29, 2020 www.charlestonchronicle.net
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James Washington
Sometimes when life becomesincredibly difficult, it’s almost im-possible to believe that it is out ofGod’s love for me that I am en-during the worst the world hasto offer. It takes serious reflectionto come back to the basic truththat God loves me so much thatwhen I stray from His purposefor my life, His mid-course cor-rection can and sometimes is in-explicably (or so we want tobelieve) painful. In other words,these are the consequences thatI must endure because God is se-rious about getting my attention.I think we take day to day livingas a mere matter of fact, ratherthan the true miracle and bless-ing that life is. The matter of“factness” of what I’m talkingabout is the fact that we take lifefar to for granted as evidenced byour reaction to when our lives arethreatened; when we’re at theend of our rope, when the temp-tation not to do God’s will is sostrong that we don’t realize thesin we’ve just committed is justthat, past tense. It is then that werealize the precious gift of life. Itis then that we call upon theLord. I submit to you it is thenthat we internalize the conse-quences of not disobedience butour lack of focus on why is thishappening to me.
The bible is full of examples ofsaints who didn’t come to realizethat God’s love for us will put usin the throws of despair, if thatmeans we will focus our atten-tion on His purpose for us. Jesusknew this and in Gethsemaneasked God to “remove this fromme. Yet not as I will, but as youwill.” Jesus knew what was com-ing and knew why it was comingand understood the who wouldmake the decision about His roleand purpose. We get lost some-times. But allow me to simplify itthis way. Satan wants me as atrophy and God wants me as aneternal testament to His love.This is a high stakes game ofspiritual life and death. I don’tknow if I’ve ever been this popu-lar or have experienced such ahigh stakes game of life anddeath when it’s my life we’re talk-ing about.
The danger of taking this lifefor granted is not knowing or un-derstanding how precious I amto the Lord and how relentlessSatan is at using this world to de-stroy my relationship with theAlmighty. I understand Satanwants to embarrass, humiliateand like a scorned lover, hurt theLord. What better way to do thisthan to steal something, degradesomething, ruin something thatthe devil knows the Lord loves.That would be me. In your casethat would be you. Now if youadd to that a casual view of life it-self, you can see how easy it is tolet the world destroy somethingit knows is priceless, but theowner doesn’t always see it thatway.
So, I guess without knowing it,I am vulnerable; sometimes a vic-tim of my own careless attitude.Like a child who unknowinglywanders off into a swamp, he orshe has no idea of the dangerslurking there. Injury and deathare but steps away. That’s how Ifeel sometimes. I know I’m introuble. I know I’m lost. I knowif I’m not vigilant and consistent,the devil will take me out and cel-ebrate at the wake. Therefore,like a weekend athlete, I know Imust train. I know I must be pre-pared. I know the game is outthere. But sometimes I just don’twant to work that hard. I justwant to be left alone. Can yousee how that frame of mind canget you killed? Can you see howthat rather mundane thoughtcan spell trouble?
The bible is full of references tothose who would be seduced, ab-ducted, tricked and persecutedfor not being true to the Word ofGod. God Himself expressesfrustration at times about thosewho would willingly forget, orunwillingly choose not to re-member who
He is and who they belong to.The consequences can be cata-strophic. So what’s the answerwhen you’re just not feeling it?Get into the Word. What’s thesolution to being lost in thisworld? Get into the Word.What’s the defense for Satan’stemptations? Get into the Wordand form an offense of testimony.I guess this is a good time to sug-gest to you that my dilemma onthis when I find myself out ofsync, is to simply realize that Iam, well, out of sync. The answeris to be deliberate in the effort tofind my way home. You knowwhen you’re determined, youcan’t be distracted. There aresome qualities that we all possessthat arm us for this fight. Recog-nition, understanding, desire anddiscipline come to mind. To-gether, focused on the Word,they guarantee victory for Godand humiliation for the devil.Sometimes is just takes the will
to fight, and the understandingthat the war is over. We win. Ifyou don’t believe me, just askJesus. Better yet. Just ask thedevil. Remind him that you are achild of the most-high. Alwayswas. Always will be. It’s a familylove thing.
May God bless and keep you al-ways.
SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING:
Love Hurts God More Than You
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PRESERVED BY PURPOSEBy Shewanda Riley
Shewanda Riley
The last few weeks have beena rollercoaster of emotions. Mybeloved father Frank Riley, Jrpassed away peacefully in hissleep on April 8th. I wasn’t sureif I wanted to post about it as Iwas still processing my feelingsabout the loss of the man Iloved, admired and respected.The big question for me washow do I honor a man wholoved his family fiercely andtaught me and my sisters somuch? I thought about postingpictures of myself with him orposting old family pictures.However, those options didn’tseem like they could fully repre-sent the depth of the feelings Ihad for my Daddy.
This question of how to prop-erly honor my Daddy kept run-ning through my mind as myfamily was forced to hold a fu-neral that was extremely smallbecause of Covid-19 restric-tions. Maybe I was being un-reasonable, but I felt like he’dgotten cheated out of the burialthat he’d earned as a veteran ofthe military. The answer cameto me last week as I was strug-gling with replacing blinds inmy living room. In the midst oftraveling back and forth to SanAntonio for one month whilehe was on hospice, I had not
been able to replace a set ofbroken blinds. The best I coulddo was use electric tape to keepthem from completely fallingdown.
But once I was back in townand getting settled back in myhome in Fort Worth, I decidedto replace them. I don’t knowwhy; I am not mechanically in-clined so anything that needs tobe fixed at my house usually re-quires that I hire someone…lol�. But that day I said that Iwas going to do it myself…likemy Daddy who always knewhow to fix anything. Before Istarted, I prayed that his spiritof “Mr. Fix It” would help me.
I started off excited about
hanging the blinds but gotmore frustrated as I read andreread the confusing instruc-tions. Also, I had to change theposition of the brackets 6 timesbefore they were securedenough to hold the blinds.Looking for help, I madephone calls to my brother inlaw and a coworker who gaveme great advice on what toolsto use, how to hang the brack-ets etc for the 70-inch-wideblinds. Four hours later, I fi-nally finished the project andhung my new blinds. In doingso, I’d used the determinationthat my Daddy always showedthat made him an awesomerole model.
I believe that my father’s per-sistence in fixing things waspart of his way to honor Godwith his time like Colossians3:23 says “Work willingly atwhatever you do, as thoughyou were working for the Lordrather than for people.” So, Isee now that the best way I canhonor my father is to be persist-ent and resilient with every-thing I do…but I’m not so sureabout putting up anymoreblinds.
Rest in Peace Daddy..missyou and love you!
Determination is in the DNA