“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

I was watching a video the other day about how much money one should save for retirement to be considered “successful” and I found myself on edge just listening to the numbers.

How do we NOT be anxious when anxiety is being normalized?
And not just with our wants, but with those things we consider necessary to live.

A constant fear of losing a job, or finding a job, or transitioning out of a career path.
Feeding & clothing ourselves.
Finding love… keeping love.
And on top of all of that… I STILL haven’t washed last night’s dishes.

7 days a week.
365 days a year.
This is the life we’ve accepted as normal.

So how, in the midst of all this, do we NOT be anxious about tomorrow.

In today's episode, I want to dive into how we can reject the normalization of the anxieties that the world tries to spoon-feed us.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“...And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.”

If we aren’t careful, we can look at this story and say
… That’ll NEVER be me. I’ll never be like the prodigal son…
Simply because we incorrectly understood what actually made him “prodigal”.

We have heard the story from the angle of the loving father and how he is like God our father.

We have also heard it from the perspective of the older brother and how not to be jealous of the celebration of the return of the lost sheep.

But we have never taken the time to dive into what made the younger brother "prodigal", we just accept him as such.

In today's episode, I want to dive into the "why" of the younger brother and see if we can learn from and avoid his mistakes.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

"... So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his servant.”

As I was working out one morning, I was listening to one of my favorite gospel artists, Hezekiah Walker, and I came across a song called “99 and a Half”, and in this  song he sings, “Lord I’m running, trying to make 100 because 99 and a half won’t do” and as I listened to this song I begin to think on all the things that hold me back from fully following the vision that God set before me, and I begin to despair.

Was it fear of the uncertainty? Lack of trust in God?
What was it that  kept me from running full force into the purpose and plan that God lay before me?

And who the heck was Elisha that he didn’t struggle with this?

In today's episode, I want to dive into the character of Elisha and the bold move of burning bridges backwards.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’
He replied, ‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.’ “

Complicated Situations.
When I said that, almost immediately something came to your mind.
For some it’s a job.
For others it might be a person… an entanglement  or situationship… whatever your word of choice may be.
And for others it might be forgiveness, like it was for the disciples in this verse.

But whatever it is… one word can usually sum it up.
Complicated.

In today's episode, I want to dive into why Christ choose a mulberry tree as the epitome =of a complicated situation and why uprooting it is such a big deal.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first...”

What are you replacing your bad habits with?
… more bad habits?

Does accomplishment come in JUST laying down a destructive habit… or have we missed the point entirely?

In today's episode, I want to dive into what it means to truly lay impure spirits and destructive behaviors aside and not return to them "unoccupied".

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

"Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 
When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’

The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk.’ And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked."

Resignation.
To abandon, quit, surrender, or stand down.

Many times we find ourselves at the doorstep of a blessing, but like the man in this story, we find ourselves making excuses instead of making moves to freedom. How did we end up in such a state, resigned to our circumstances and situation.

In today's episode, I want to dive into how this man found himself face to face with healing and still made excuses... and how we serve a God who offers us healing INSPITE of our excuses.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, 'Why stay here until we die?
If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.' ”

Transitions. 
Sometimes as we go through seasons, we become better at transitioning, and sometimes it just continues to confuse us and we find ourselves in a stuck state.

Why do we find ourselves in this state? How do we transition well?
In today's episode I want to dive into what holds us back from transitioning well and find out what the Word says about how to actually do a better job in our season of transition.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

“A man’s gift will make room for him, And bring him before great men.”

When reading this verse, what comes to mind?
Does this verse excite you because of the opportunity to glorify God with your gift before great men… or do you feel this verse doesn’t apply to you because you feel that either:

• You don’t have gifts like that, or
• There is no way your gifts will bring you before great men.

Many times we fear the gift… fear it because it is unknown to us. And instead of seeking to understand the treasure inside of us, we choose to leave it buried.

We sit back and wait on someone else’s gift to make room for us… for another person’s opportunity to open a door for us to walk through.

In today's episode I want to reach out to those who are NOT content with fearing or not understanding the gifts and treasures God placed inside you and I want to answer the question, "Where do I begin?"

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

In Psalm 46. the psalmist speaks of the world falling down around him.
In verse 2… the mountains fall into the sea… the waters roar and foam so hard that the mountains quake. 
In verse 6, the nations are in an uproar and kingdoms fall.
… and in the midst of all this, the command that God gives in verse 10 is… “Be still and know…”

He says this because He knows that when things get hectic… the last thing we want to do is “be still”. We have been taught that being still is equivalent to being unproductive.

In today's episode I want to answer the question "What lies in the stillness?" and talk through why He beacons us into stillness with Him in spite of our natural instincts.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.

How do I reconcile my faith and my race?
One I was born into
… the other I was “born again” into.
Neither, in my mind, can I live without.
Both drive every decision I make
… but only one seems to drive every decision made towards me.

The world doesn’t see me as a Christian first.
They only see me as a black man.
And that one filter drives all of their subsequent actions.

So how do I reconcile the two?
Am I a Black man who is Christian,
Or am I a Christian first and black second?

Join me in today's episode as I wrestle to reconcile my faith and the reality of my race.

... and with that being said, let's dive right in.