Tag: Inspiration
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A Box as Big as the Universe
My uncle, Vernon Kitabu Turner, can’t be put in a box. And it is time that I thank God for him. He just loves God and has ceaselessly sought to understand the Spirit that he has witnessed as active his entire life by any means necessary. When I was younger, people told me that I…
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A Tale of Three Sheep🐑
Person A: “You’re a sheep.Person B: “No. You’re a sheep.” Person C: “Why are you calling each other sheep?” Persons A and B: “Because the only people I listen to who told me to think for myself told me that anyone who disagrees with me is a sheep.” Person C: So let me get this…
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Two Ideas One Mind: The Vices and Virtues of Cognitive Dissonance
I sometimes wonder if hypocrisy comes from a person’s inability to harmonize the seemingly divergent awarenesses that arise as a result of them experiencing cognitive dissonance. Take for example someone like the segregationist Senator, Strom Thurmond who, despite adamantly advocating against civil rights for Black Americans and pushed for state’s rights to impose segregation, was…
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Jesus Went that Way! – Race In the Face of of Grace
You know what I don’t get? Racist Christians or racist people who practice any spiritual discipline for that matter. But having spent all of my life in Christianity, I really have to say that nothing is more perplexing to me than a racist Christian. Considering that Christian literally means, a follower of Christ, I have…
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Is Common English An Inherently Biased/Oppressive/Racist Language?
Can a language be biased/oppressive/racist? I know that right off the bat some people will take issue with the question this title suggests. They’ll say, “No. A language can’t be inherently racist or anything else other than a method of communication. It is neutral. Words don’t hurt people. People hurt people.” And to some degree,…
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Do I Deserve To Be Happy?
Recently a friend told me that I deserve to be happy? Hearing those words took me back to one of the darkest times in my life–a season I touch on in the links on my last post, DMX and the Ballad of the Brokenhearted. Prior to the emotional crash I chronicle in that and other…
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DMX and the Ballad of the Brokenhearted
Have you ever looked into the eyes of someone who has been truly brokenhearted? Perhaps you have and they were your very own eyes? If you have, then you’ll likely agree with me that despite what romantic entertainment will have you believe, there are relatively few people who have been completely brokenhearted. To give you…
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That Old Rugged Cross
A stumbling block. An Offense. A curse. These are all words used to describe the cross of Jesus that we find ourselves contemplating. The Roman Cross, one of the most inhumane instruments of death ever conceived. Jesus, a teacher of wisdom and love who traveled through communities blessing and loving, healing and holding, cherishing and…
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When God Shows Up
How do you explain the inexplicable? How do you see the Unseen? How do you teach about the Unknown? These are questions that go through my head on a weekly basis serving as a minister. I guess the short answer to all of those questions is faith. But what exactly is faith? In Hebrews 11,…
The Roofless Church 