Da Word... 203! Ingenuity

Good morning!  Yo it's starting to get a little cold up here in Boston!  The lows have started to hit the 40s, and our highs have been the low 60s.  The temperature is just creeping on down and down, heh heh.  Time to start busting out the winter gear.  Aight, on to... da Word!

checkit:

...they invent ways of doing evil...

- Paul (Romans 1:30)

You know, we humans are amaaaaazing.  For real kid!  Our bodies adapt constantly; we are able to learn many a varied thing and devise practical applications; and we have this mega organ ( our brain ) that still continues to baffle scientists the world over.  Yo..... Pops hooked us UP!  With this gift Pops gave us, we have become ever resourceful, imaginative, and creative.  So what have we been doing with this brain of ours?

Apparently, potnas, we've been straight inventing ways of doing evil.  WHAT!?  Yeah kid, you heard right and Paul came correct.  If you peep Romans 1, you'll see that Paul is laying the groundwork for building a case.  In this first step, he is attempting to open our eyes to the realization that humans.... yo we are bad kid! He's trying to show that once we lost our way, once we turned from Pops and started doing things our own way and/or started interpreting Pops in a way that selfishly benefits us...... it was straight downhill.

Yeah bruthaz and sistaz, at that point we started using our gifts of ingenuity to manufacture all KINDS of ways to do evil.  What worse possible application or end goal could we have aspired to!  Evil is just too tempting, and it's easy to want to invent new ways of getting what we desire.  But that's a double edged sword potnas.  Yeah, we'll get what we want, but at what cost?  Our character?  Our integrity? Our friends and family? Our relationships?  Our very selves?  ...our souls?

Come on bruthaz and sistaz, let's make a change.  Let us make sure to use our gift of ingenuity to invent ways of doing good!  For the rewards of doing so are priceless and enduring.  You can't get any better than that.  And let us inspire those around us by word and deed to do the same.  For the lives of all those connected will be tremendously enriched beyond any measure.  Now that's what I'm talking about.

G-bless,

  - patrick

Da Word... 202! The God Genie

Morning All!  I hope things are going very well.  Especially if you have today off like I do!  OH YEAH!!!!  Days off are great yo.  You can just switch gears and do something totally different.  Anyhow, on to.... da Word!

checkit:

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

- 1 John 5:14

THAT.... my friends..... is pretty AWESOME!  Pops above hears me?  ME? Really?  Homeboy takes a moment just to hear what I ask for?  God himself!?   Yeah kid, this ain't no lie.  According to this passage of scripture, we can hold onto this promise and have the unshakable confidence that Pops above hears us when we ask him something.

But wait, what's the catch?   Catch you say?  There is no catch.  If you are straight rollin' with Pops, and I mean you two are tight and getting tighter everyday, then shoooooooot, you two will be thinking alike as well!  Matter of fact you my friend, you will start to become more and more like Pops above in character!   That's right.  I mean come on, you can't rub shoulders with the ILLEST being around and NOT get influenced.  Look how easy it is to get influenced by some of your friends!  Hang around each other long enough and both of you start to do or say some of the same things.  And, so it is with Pops!

See, you will start to want the very same things Pops wants.  You will start to think like Pops thinks.  You will be moving in the same direction as he is.  And thus, when you approach Pops and ask him a thing, you can be sure that what you ask will be according to his will.  Because your will be in alignment with his.  And BOOM!  It's go time!  You and Pops will start bringing a Holy Righteous Ruckus that is OFF the HOOK!

Why his will?  The real question is why not?!  You think Pops... aka GOD... is going to lead you astray?  You think homeboy is going to lead you to the worst possible path?  You think the big G is a kid with an ant farm and a magnifying glass?  Come on people!  No no no no!  The will of Pops is the best possible choice one can ever make. He already sees and knows all!  And he is trying to lead you into receiving the best in life. 

That's why Pops ain't no Genie.  We can't just ask him for anything.  I mean come on we don't know what we want!  Most of the things we ask for that aren't according to homeboy's will more times than not leads us into a worse predicament!  I'm sure you can relate.  You finally got something you thought would make things better and in the end it makes things worse.  It would have been better had never got the thing!  BAM!  And that brings us full circle!  Pops would have never given it to us in the first place. 

So what can we have confidence in?  We can have confidence that Pops gives us whatever we ask that is in accordance to his will.  Matter of fact, that confidence is so strong that once we ask we can rest assured and know that we already have it (peep verse 15).  I don't know about you, but I'm liking that.  Pops has my back... and I ain't got nothing to worry about nor anything to lose.

G-bless,

   - patrick

Da Word... 201! Motive

HEY!!!!   It's been a loooong time!  Talk about hiatus!  Wow.  The last month and a half I was a straight tool potnas.  I was pullin' maaaaaaaaaaaaaaad hours at work. But now, that's all done!  WOOOHOOO!   And Da Word... is back! 

checkit:

All a man's ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

- Proverbs 16:2

Motive baby!  It's AAAALL about motive. Your motive determines perspective and can be the difference between something taken as genuine or taken as straight malicious and selfish.  Motive is EVERYTHING.  Ever stop to wonder how everything we want to do or try to do tend to align towards seeming innocent? 

Yo, our powers of persuasion and rationalization are potent!  We can make anything seem genuine and altruistic.  It might take a few rounds of rationalization, but we'll get there.  And BOOM!  Low and behooooold.... our ways seem innocent to us. 

But potnas... we can't hide our true motives from Pops above!   I mean yeah we can pull the wool over almost any fellow human's eyes... even our own!  But trying to pull a fast one on Pops?  .....HAH!  That's a good one, had me straight rollin' for a good minute there.  Not gonna happen bruthaz and sistaz.  Pops will see through everything and straight to the heart of the matter. 

And yo, Pops himself will weigh your motives by its true measure!  That's kind of heavy!  So why try to pull a fast one on Pops just to sucker some poor fellow human or our very selves?  Especially when Pops will just see it as such plainly?  Because along with powers of persuasion, we have this CRAZY imagination, hah hah.  We can't do it; our motives are plain before God.  And you know what?  Our motives are sometimes even plain before our fellow bruthaz and sistaz! 

So what's the point of this proverb?   The point is this, let our motives be true and genuine and therefore blessed by Pops.  And as a result, our ways will indeed be innocent, success will line the paths we walk, and people all around will reap blessings as it overflows.  

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.  PeACE!

G-bless,

  - patrick