Category: Actualization
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Death Where Is Your Sting?
As the world tossed and turned around me, I remained still. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” The yelling and screaming. “Get his ass.” The world is upside down. Feet where heads should be. The sky and ground have switched places. “Can you plant seeds in the clouds? If so, what…
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A Confession of Sin
As I confessed in the past blog post tagged here, The Sin of Overprotection, my biggest sin is overprotection. I know that this might sound benign. But, in my experience, it does me as much harm as other people’s professed sins, It has cost me relationships, it has caused me needless suffering, and in many…
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Do the INR (Individual Narrative Responsibility) Work
How often do you reflect on how much the stories you tell yourself impact your life? Personally, I think about it everyday. Because since I was a child, I have always been keenly aware of narrative dynamics. Consciously or unconsciously we all perceive ourselves as characters in a narrative. And how we locate ourselves in…
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Race Doesn’t Divide, Racism Does
After I shared my piece on whether or not Jesus’s skin color matters, I had someone suggest that what I write about race is divisive. I, of course disagree. I look at it as more of an intervention because I love everyone and I would like for us to get to a place where we…
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Using Words to Listen to Silence
I’m currently reading this book, Ki-Asana Zen, written by my uncle, Vernon Kitabu Turner. Reading it, I am reminded how blessed I am for having mentors and that God is always looking out for me on my journey—mind, body, and soul. On my spiritual journey, I have never pursued anyone or anything apart from the…
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In the Shadow of Bullies and Hypocrites
Grief Will Make You Take Stock and Clean House Over the past few weeks, I have been doing a lot of reflection on my personal history in the Church and my relationship to my fellow human beings. A lot of it is in light of how the church treated Carlton Pearson. Ever since I went…
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Message From a Frustrated Former Pastor (Concerning Pauline Interpretations and Other Stuff)
Since I don’t go to a particular church right now, I sometimes visit different churches or listen to messages from different folks online. Today I came across a guy online giving a message out of 1 Corinthians. Sadly he was using it to “put women in their place” and talk about “weak men” who support…
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Once a Pastor, Always a Pastor?
Whenever I describe myself as a former pastor, almost always, someone says, “once a pastor, always a pastor.” To which I usually respond with shrugged shoulders, and say something to the effect of, “I don’t know.” I’ve been trying to figure out what that statement means to folks––“once a pastor, always a pastor.“ Is that…
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You Can’t Help Yourself
I grew up with a single mother who was friends with other single mothers. Several of them had their own businesses. I often heard them bashing men and saying things like, “I don’t need a man to be happy.” While ontologically true, many of them attempted to enter into relationships with men or other women…
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The Time to Shine is Always Now
The time to shine is always now. If people are surprised to see me rapping now, there’s more to the backstory you don’t know. A lot of people don’t know this. But my mom was basically a part of early hip hop. She used to be called JoSi, The Queen of Rhymes and she had…
The Roofless Church 