it's NO sacrifice

i measured ... it's a full eleven and one half inches ... my pillow top mattress, that is, and so very close to fifty am I. Here in the bottom half of the east side of this country. Tennessee. We have many a folk without the warmth and comfort of a home. But, worse ... we have many a folk without the warmth and comfort of a church body. Cause, they don't know, what they don't know.  However, when we shelter them in the refuge of our house, our church house, our prayer house ... we received the gift of opportunity to share HIS love ... HIS forgiveness ... HIS kindness. And, it's NO  sacrifice  to put my pillow top to shame.

I am from ...

I am from the walk and I am from the wait.
I am from the coal of the sharecropper
I am from the wait and I am from the walk
the walk and the wait are together as one


I am from the cracks of the mason block
I am from the still standing four rooms
four rooms that birth more than fifthteen


I am from Knot and I am from D
yes, just D


I am from Lula and I am from Lillian
I am from Eula and I am from D Jr.


I am from the fair ... yet I am from the ground
I am from an old Hymn with no words
I am from the word and I am from a song


I am from Europe and I am from the far reaches
of african continent unseen ... never touched


I am from chittlins and hot sauce
I am from a good pickled fish sandwich
the white bread colored with mustard ... am I


I am from TOM and Jessie
a  love of generational pain ...


I am from boxes of unpacked truth
I am from the bottom of  brown crinckled sacks


I am from sweet potatoes and yams
I am from sweet milk colored with coffee


I am from the walk and I am from the wait.
I am from the here and I am from the there


I am from the sit and I am from the stand
I am from the with HIM I am.

to love a sister

no place to read
no place to write
no place to create


there her bed lays in the all
of the middle ...


of this my room ...
of this my space ...


but yet rarely is she there


cause some of us ... just
just ... do not get it


and right NOW ... she is on
the other side ... said Paul


to TIM ... staying attached
to one world ... while rejecting
HIS word


but How I Love her ... she is
... after all my sister and ...


what would not a sister
give to her sister.

tethered

sunday night during discipleship training ... my FATHER gave me a new gift ... you see sunday am ... after my early rising ... the cleaning started with me ... tried to get in a little before church. But, somehow ... the cleaning ended and more worship began ... as I tied my little cross ... to this huge mosaic cross ... tied to HIM always is the heart of the matter for me ... then ... there it was sunday night ... the Hebrew word ... hasaq ... O how i super love ... when HE locks it right on in.

that new thing

BSF is my new practice ... a weekly Wednesday gathering of women ... who study and respond to the word of GOD ... so i'm jumping in ... a seminar ... you mean, there is more ... to this weekly thing ... than just the study, lecture, notes and group ... a seminar .... on becoming a servant of GOD ... in i go ... cause i love to dig and this tennessee ground is but frozen.

then there it is my connection to this very moment ... that thing which will lock it in for me ... the word ... one word ... lowliness. lowliness and in lower case ... are but the same practice.

my heart felt desire to be so small i might never forget just who he is to me. 

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Philippians 2:3-8 (KJV)

that same JESUS

my uncle the Reverand Charles McCullough ... often shares one of my most fave sermons ... that same JESUS ... yes, this uncle is one of the many sons of the sharecropper. I love it ... when ... we see our FATHER at work in our very lives ... on a daily ... like we did last night. Renee's first video ... just reached in ... and grabbed our hearts ... you see ... our pastor ... Joe Vinson, has us digging into Ecclesiastes ... yes I know ... the Old Testiment ... where the teacher knew ... Everything Is Meaningless ... without the Lord ... that same JESUS.

three years + 5 months

before i could get started ... HE stopped me ... the BSF provided some more to learn. Yet another perspective on this book of Acts. Once again, there it is ... the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time... HE stops ... That night Paul had a vision ... HE starts ... this single life provides ... much freedom. this single life calls for submission to none other ... than our Lord and savior ... JESUS Christ ... the cup said it all ... then one day ... out of nowhere the cup broke ... as did me ... single mom of two ... working for HIM to inspire you ... three years + 5 months.