TILL THE WORLD HEARS

Even before I was conceived in my mother's womb,
I was given a mandate,
Before I was delivered into this vain and worthless world,
I was given a purpose, from my birthdate to my deathdate,
So I have a message in my heart,
So intertwined with my spirit it cannot be torn apart,
A message so alive in my soul, it cannot be stifled,
A mandate so lively in my being, it cannot be trifled,
So I say, it's a new age,
And I have a message,
I will shout it from the rooftop,
Sing it from the mountaintop,
Spread like raindrops,
From the north to the south to the ends of the earth,
With my own hands, my own feet and my own mouth,
Until the whole world hears it,

So even if I get knocked down,
Even if I get pushed to the ground,
Even if I'm suffering in the valley,
Like an ever rising lily,
I shall arise and continue with this mandate,
For not even my circumstance,
Stands a chance,
Whether good or bad,
Happy or sad,
Regardless of my situation,
In spite of my disposition,
I'll shout it from the rooftop,
Sing it from the mountaintop,
Spread it like raindrops,
Until the whole world hears it,
For it is a message of hope,
A mandate of restoration,
And a purpose of reconciliation,
That the broken shall become the risen,
The crying shall become the singing,
The dejected shall become the accepted and the celebrated.
This is what I live for: to reveal God to my world in all I do.
And I will do this till the day I die!
So help me God.

MY IDENTITY

That I rock Gucci,
Wear Prada, and show up in Loui Vuitton,
That I rock Ralph Lauren,
Wear Versace, and show up in Steve Madden,
That I roll in Bentleys, cruise in Porsches,
And pull up in Rose Royces and push Lamborghinis,
That I eat specially made foods, dine and wine with A-listers,
The ballers, the pros, the big boys, those that matter from the world's perspective,
Does not mean I'm the clothes I wear, the cars I drive, the food I eat, the wine I drink,
Neither am I defined by the cash in my flash, or by those I roll with,
So who am I and what's my identity? 

My identity cannot be found in vanity,
My sense of who and what I'm worth cannot be seen in artificiality,
But who I am, if I'm anything, what I am, if I'm anything is found in Jesus Christ,
For I am nothing but a wretched, hopeless sinner who was saved by divine mercy and grace,
Scooped out of the dust by He who gave up His life and took my place,
So I live to glorify He who saved me by by His blood, I live to seek His face,
I don't let the standard of this world; the figures, the stats, and the charts,
Define my sense of who I'm worth, my only true worth and identity is found in Christ alone,
For if my satisfaction and identity comes from Gucci, Prada, Lui Vuitton and the designers series,
Then I am lost,
If my joy is based on that which is earthly and material,
Then I have missed my true purpose,
So though I like to look good, I realize that my image and beauty can only come from Jesus Christ.
He is my identity.

BEYOND DESCRIPTION

If I have to search through all the dictionaries of this world for the right words,
If I have to look through every library on our planet for the right lexicon,
To adequately describe you,
To exhaustively explain you,
It would be an exercise in futility,
It would be a wasted effort, in its entirety,
For you are beyond mental perception,
You are beyond human description,
Your beauty is beyond artificiality,
Your nature is beyond perceptibility,
You are God!

How can I ever describe you,
Who spoke the universe into existence,
How can I ever possibly explain you,
Who commanded our cosmos into a perceptible essence, 
Lord, I long for words to totally illustrate,
I long for words to really explicate,
You who ride upon the heavens with your name JAH!
You who live beyond our galaxy with your name ALPHA!
You who are seated on your throne, elevated in glory, with your name OMEGA!
You who are seated on your throne, elevated in majesty, with your name JEHOVAH!
When I think of you, and all you made, your awesomeness, your might and your power,
I'm speechless, dumb-founded, awe-struck, flabber-whelmed and over-ghasted,
For the mind of mere gullible and fallible mortals like us, cannot fully comprehend you,
'Cause you are God!

Lord, what more can I say?
If I say I'm amazed at you,
That will be an understatement,
If I say I'm in awe of you,
It will still not do you justice,
'Cause truth is, lord you are beyond description,
Beyond comprehension,
Far beyond perception,
And greater than human explication,
So I bow in adoration and total submission,
'Cause you alone are God!

SOME DAY, SOME WHERE

As I drove home from work today,
Listening to a song on my way,
The reality of this life saturated my mind,
As I reflected on the life we live,
As I thought about working nine to five,
Daily living, daily hustling, daily striving,
To make ends meet, to make a living,
And then a question came to my heart,
Is it possible for there to be complete rest?
And the answer came right back to me,
Yes, it is possible, but not in this world,
Then the words of this poem were vaguely formed in my heart,
And today, as I write, I pray they shall be clearly formed in your mind,

For someday, somewhere,
In a place beyond the sky,
A place void of all the sufferings,
A place void of all the "toilings",
We shall all be at home with out maker,
Someday, somewhere,
When the stars shall cease to shine,
When the sun shall no longer give its light,
When life as we know it shall be changed forever,
We shall be at home with our savior,
Someday, somewhere,
In a place where there is no night, but only day,
In a city beyond the sky, no yet known to man,
In a country whose builder and maker is Jehovah,
In a universe where the streets are covered in gold,
A place, a city, a country, a universe, and a world called beautiful,
We shall be at rest, at home, in heaven with our father,
So don't be discouraged, for our lord Jesus Christ,
Is coming back for us like He promised,
And yes, in His father's house, our father's house-heaven,
Are many mansions which He has prepared for us,
So hold on, for your home, you true and final home, is beyond the sky.

I LOOK TO THE CROSS

Sometimes in this misleading, deceptive, vain and turbulent world,
I'm caught in between pleasing you and the world,
Sometimes lord, I let my lack of change lead me to a change,
A change in my faith, a change in my attitude to your word,
So I complain, worry and forget the assurance of your word,

In the midst of a fast-paced society,
A world filled with so many practices, in its entirety,
A world where it is easy to get caught up in the mix and chase vanity,
A world where it is easy to think my life is all about me, me, me, only,
Sometimes even the challenges of my life push me to the ground,
Sometimes I fall, in a moment I let go off my faith, and follow the crowd,
But then when I find myself caught in between you and the world,
Where to turn to, my world or your word,
When confusion, frustration, and discouragement sets in,
I look to the cross,
For then I am reminded of why I'm here,
And the price that was paid for me to be standing right here,
Saved, delivered, forgiven, restored and changed,
I'm reminded of the blood that was shed for me,
I'm reminded of the fact that my strength can only come from Christ,
I'm reminded that my home and place of final abode, is beyond the sky-in heaven,
So I look to the cross, and then I take up my own cross and follow hard after my savior.
For if the cross doesn't move me, then I'm better dead than alive,
Lord please help me.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

In his 2009 album, the Blueprint 3, American rapper Jay Z on the song Forever Young ft Mr. Hudson, was quoted as saying, "Slamming Bentley doors, hopping out of Porsches, popping out on Forbes' list..." Also, in the song Can't Shut Us Down by Cross Movement's Christian rapper, Sho Baraka featuring Lecrae, Lecrae was heard saying, "I'll do this till the day I take my last breath..." In case you are wondering and asking, why this comparison? Well, today as I reflected on a couple of things, prompted by what I had seen online about a very popular pop artist's open declaration of her beliefs, the question that came to my heart was, WHERE DO YOU STAND? Folks, we live in a world with a variety of belief systems, we are constantly bombarded by different notions and people's perspectives and views on life. And truth is, in the midst of all these, it is easy to lose grip on what your beliefs are, and on where you stand and why. This is one of the problems with our generation: most of us no longer have a mind of our own, we are becoming more like clones, accepting and believing whatever we hear on the radio or CD or see on the T.V.

Furthermore, back to my references earlier. Now I know that Jay Z has been criticized by many for so many reasons. Lecrae himself regardless of the fact that he is a Christian artist, has been recently criticized by some for some reasons. But one thing that I see in both artists, at least from their public declarations, is that they are sure of what they believe, whether you agree with them or not. In this world, some are clear on what they believe, what they want, and where they stand. For them it's all about fame, fast money, fast cars, fast life, girls, glamor, flash and cash. For many others it is God, Christ, righteousness, holiness, salvation and making it to heaven while taking others with them. One group lives for themselves but the other group lives for God. But what bothers me is the others who don't even know where they stand. They are neither hot nor cold, they are just in between; accepting, believing and rolling with everything that comes their way. That's what bothers me the most. Because at the end of this life, when we all stand before God, it's not going be a question of what your favorite artist believed, or even what your pastor, mother, father or anyone else you love believed, but what you believed. So I end with this question, WHERE DO YOU STAND?
Remember these quotes, "we shall all give account of our lives" and "the world only follows a man who knows where he is going."
I'd like to hear from you. Share with me some of your very core beliefs in life and why you have these beliefs. 

TRY JESUS

Dejected, depressed, deserted and broken, is your situation,
Unhappy, discouraged, despondent and shaken, is your position,
Or perhaps, rich, famous and affluent, yet miserable is your description,
Or may be high, mighty, connected and well known, yet empty is your condition,
No matter your case, whatever your story, regardless of your pain,
I'd like you to ignore the skeptics and critics,
Look past the senseless and baseless debates,
And please try Jesus,
For He gave up the priceless prize of His life for your redemption,
So just try Jesus, 'cause I'm sure He would not fail you,
Why suffer unnecessarily when someone has already suffered for you?

Done drugs, sex, alcohol, done it all,
Tried rehab, psychology, philosophy, meditation, new age, tried it all,
Yet your life is far from happy,
You turn to certain T.V and radio shows, in a bid to find the right way to go,
Yet you still stumble and fall,
"Well, every way is the right way", you say,
But you know that all the ways you have tried so far haven't really given you joy,
You join the unbelievers and say, "What about other religions?"
And I say, show me one in which blood was shed, resurrection recorded and miracles followed,
Now that's the authenticity of Jesus-He didn't just come to lead a religion, but to give up His life for you,
We all should have died for our sins, but He took our place,
So quit doubting and try this Jesus,
Quit worrying and just try Jesus,
You may not understand everything yet, but start by trying Jesus,
Ignore the skeptics, critics, agnostics and atheists and just give the author of salvation a chance,
Try Jesus and I assure you, not by stories others told me, but by my own experiences, that He would not fail you.
How? You ask, just pray and say: Lord Jesus I believe you died to save me. I accept you today as my lord and personal savior.  Come into my life and make me fully whole. Amen.
If you said that prayer, you are saved by faith. Join a bible believing church and grow in your faith. For further assistance in your new walk and for prayers, you can visit: http://jesushousedc.org/
Peace. Have a nice day, and remember: Life is what you make it, so try and make it right.