Monday, March 18, 2024

The King of the Jews

 I hope this message finds you brethren, I hope it cleanses your soul, and to the ignorant, I hope it enlightens you to understand that we who are true to the understanding are not fazed by your foolishness. Brethren, I am seeing God’s people constantly doing things with no fear of consequences. I too am a poor man so all I have are my words. In these uncertain times I have become humbled greatly by the stories of Christ. In these holy months I have witnessed believers tested and many of these believers stand in tall high places. In submission to my own flaws and imperfections I’ve come closer to God but I am disappointed that even believers are falling victim. In watching the tribes of Noah’s offspring pour out uncontrolled conflicts I see the suffering of our beloved savior. Brethren, this message has to seep into your consciousness because mercy for all of God’s creation is what we must comprehend in the crucifixion story. The humility of God’s unyielding power to come and walk with his creation. In seeing constant starvation, war, and conflict, who am I to be guilty of selfishness by turning and looking away while I focus on my own meal. To God I give all my praise and I am thankful for his prophets so who am I? Friends, many of us have been blinded by our own desires. I have come to pled with God by taking time to meditate and read his stories. Why would the forces of God’s knowledge leave us with the stories of pharaohs and the truth that, “yes,” God’s people come in many colors shapes and sizes. This Passover season and Ramadan I am trying to be closer to God but I don’t understand why God’s people are not humbling themselves this holy season. I am watching the Palestinian people suffer, I am watching millions of people suffer, I am even watching truth unfold about Israeli tribes and even they too are suffering. Brethren, I’m seeing a world strong in knowledge be ignorant of its own power. In my own sins, I’m begging for God’s mercy. I can’t turn away in my own will to be purified in his wisdom and power. Friends, if I have learned one thing from the story about the King of the Jews, I have learned mercy, humility, and the will to want to do the right thing. I have learned to share with my brethren, to drink water with them at the cross and to dive in the waters where John the Baptist preached about the Holy Spirit. May peace find you friends, may those who are unchanged be changed, may those struggling find peace, and may those seeking power be brought to their knees in the humility and grace of our father. In hunger, sing songs so that you may be fed by God’s spirit. In chains, sing songs so that you may be freed by the oppressor, and when the enemy comes knocking be mindful that opportunist are often blinded by their own intentions and even scientists are baffled by God’s miracles. I wrote this piece after reading a headline about millions of Palestinians suffering of hunger in constant conflicts between the children of Abraham. Realizing and comprehending a world in trouble I found praise in the story about the King of the Jews. Singing songs of praise I became fed and filled with laughter because the enemy thought he had me too. In uncontrollable laughter I came to the comprehension that the story ends with a jackass baffled by a resurrected King. A resurrected Christ. A resurrected King of the Jews. Brethren, it’s a win - win situation for “US.” The other day I saw a woman dressed in all white and turned away. If she was a virgin that was none of my business. May you find blessings in the comprehension and understanding of a resurrected King of Kings. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Green Basketball

 “Larry, what is this?” Jack asked.

“My dad bought it for me. It’s a green basketball,” Larry replied.

“It’s not even official weight is it?” 

Larry began to get annoyed.

“Dude, it’s the same as any other ball we’ve ever played with, it’s just green.”

After several pickup games, Jack became even more frustrated because it appeared as though Larry would not miss.

“You’re a cheater, your dad did something to that ball so you don’t miss a shot,” Jack said shoving Larry from behind.

Everyone noticed the commotion and couldn’t believe how frustrated Jack was just over a pickup game.

Janice, one of Larry’s close friends, stood watching from her porch. Noticing her friend Larry in danger, she ran to break up the fight.

“Jack, stop, it’s just a game,” she explained.

“I bet every dime I had on that game and this punk cheated. His dad rigged that green ball,” Jack replied.

“That’s a lie, I just got lucky. I got hot Janice, for some reason I couldn’t miss,” Larry said, rubbing his now swollen lip.

The other kids all began to side with Jack but thank God Janice was there to mediate. 

“Larry is a freak, and I’m never playing with you bums again. I knew I should’ve brought my ball,” Will said, after kicking Larry in the stomach and throwing his ball into the woods. Even Larry’s own teammates were jealous of him for making so many shots.

“What is wrong with you all? Larry are you okay?” Janice asked Larry after noticing blood coming from his mouth.

“I can’t breathe, Janice. Janice help me, I can’t breathe!”

Realizing that her friend needed emergency help the other players just left him there to die.

“He’s trash anyway,” Janice heard one of them say from a distance. 

She ran into her house to call for help but it was too late, Larry suffered from a punctured lung that soon collapsed after being beaten to death by the other players.

The entire community was devastated at the loss and Larry’s dad Russel regretted ever buying his son a green ball.

After finding the ball in the woods, Janice couldn’t help but cry over the loss of her dear friend. News spread about Larry pretty fast so in his memory people all over the world began to play with green balls to honor the death of a kid with an amazing basketball spirit. He just loved the game and in the end Larry taught the world that it was just a game. His town rose his little league number 8 jersey into the city gym rafters and the world followed suit so that no kid would ever see the same fate as Larry. Every time a fight broke out in a basketball game team mascots would run onto the floor with a green ball and a green number 8 jersey.

The End.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

The Green Man

Yes, they ran when they saw me.

They screamed, then ran to safety, it never dawned on me that the world had never seen a green man.


Saturday, March 9, 2024

The Green Force

The light was green so I kept going.

Woman after woman invited me into their life and I kindly accepted the offers.

Falling from grace I felt a green force and like a little leprechaun he showed me a way out.

“Make sure she loves you for who you are lad.”

After his words, I only took arms with the woman that picked me up in the end.

The green force made me wiser, turned me into a saint.


Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Green Blood

From a distance it looked like a black wave. At first I thought I’d been dreaming and awoke in another world. If black was to be the color of power then I guess these people were trying to prove a point. They kept beating the war drum. In all, I became confused because they wouldn’t stop marching towards their goal. At first I thought they were human, but after I saw the front brigade get hit with a ripple of bullets I noticed that whoever these people were their blood was green. It was like I’d been trapped in a fiction fairytale. Were these the black angels that road the black horses or were these just a new fighting machine determined to defend their representative republic? Drenched in green blood it was like they were immortal. They fought their battle as though they’d been sent from God to strike fear in mortal souls who did not believe.
Witnesses who stood with me could not believe what we were seeing. 144,000 soldiers dressed in black bringing foolish, cunning, and demented men to their knees. The black clothed soldiers came from underneath the earth and they had green blood. I saw God’s hand in the wrath that they’d unleashed. Confused and eager to get a closer look, one of them looked me in the eyes for they only spared the righteous and I did not have a mark on me. Standing tall with them, I couldn’t help but notice that I was not delusional, this was not a human army these were black angels that bled green blood. They were preparing the way for a new beginning. Cleansing the earth for what was yet to come. Maybe a new world.

Green Blood

Friday, March 1, 2024

Green & Gold

I left her alone. Why did I do that? She was a gift to this world, but after seeing so many tragedies she just couldn’t take it anymore.

Starring at her picture, I became overwhelmed with grief.

God did you take her because I loved her? I could hear an inner part of my conscience telling me not to question. Alone in the room where we used to talk, I couldn’t help but marvel at the beautiful portrait that we had specially made when we got engaged. How do you die before the wedding? How do I go on? 

God help me.

Shortly after tipping over in my sorrows, I found myself on the floor. A fifty year old man drowning in the loss of the love of his life. What do I live for now? 

“Justin, Justin, get up. How long have you been on the floor?”

I could hear someone saying as I was slowly waking up.

“Go away!” I shout, noticing a small glare of light shining through my cracked door.

The room was pitch black. I made sure every blind was closed so I knew it had to be my sister, she’s the only one I gave a key to.

“Mom told me to check on you. Are you okay?”

I figured she didn’t hear the sad news.

“Francis is gone, Phillis. She didn’t make it through the treatments. She died while you were away.” I explained to my sister.

Reaching for my glasses, the room got silent.

“I’m sorry to hear that, I know you loved her.”

My sister and I had never talked about our relationships but I guess there’s a time for everything.

“How did she die?” Phillis asked, noticing me slowly opening up to converse more. 

“She killed herself because she couldn’t take the treatments,” I replied.

Sitting there with my sister, I’d been tough all of my life, but I’d lost a lot of people dear to me. Noticing my grey hair I couldn’t fathom where I was getting the strength to carry on from because I was scarred. Even when I got back to work it wasn’t the same. When Francis died, I guess a part of me died also. I didn’t date for years and even when I tried, nothing could replace me seeing her in her green and gold nightgown the night I proposed. What I didn’t know is that while I was questioning God he was showing me things, preparing me to guide the next generation. When my students heard my story and how I didn’t give up on life it made them stronger. Everyday I came in to teach class they developed a different kind of hope. I became their role model, their family away from home. When they gave me a card with a picture of Francis in her green and gold dress, I began to understand why I had to be in my students’ life. They helped me heal and I gave them strength. I became their good luck charm, they passed every test.

Green & Gold

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

The Prostitute

Friends, this piece means a lot to me. I’m a man and I love women, even the prostitutes. If this piece of literature offends you, then I recommend you educate yourself about a segment dear to the academic arena, a segment called sexual education and the darker side called sexual exploitation.

In my younger years I would laugh at a sexual joke while fantasizing about many local women dear to me. Battling with what I thought to be a sin turned out to be natural amongst men. I bring this topic up because men and women battle with sexuality but I’m just brave enough to talk about it. Some people even commit suicide because of extreme loneliness. Yes, I take pleasure in looking at naked women and if I were to lie to you I would be a coward. Yes, even as a young boy growing up in the ghettos of the world I would fantasize about every kind of woman I could think of, it’s every man’s struggle. I will not exploit too many of my inner demons nor my family’s demons but sexual desires are real. The porn industry is real. These are people who take their clothes off for the world to see and many have no shame. As I’ve grown older I’ve come to take the time to listen to these professionals talk about their industry. Many of these women are very attractive and have the power to inflict images that many of us cannot control. We’re human, but I do question the business because this is a no nonsense brutal business that is legal in some states and some parts of the world. Let me paint the picture, I have to let this out. The urge is there, a man or woman has been brutally beaten down in life and there he or she is; the prostitute, fulfilling every sexual deviant thought known to mankind at a price. Mainly women selling their self for money. Vibrating and gyrating as extreme stimulation takes over our most inner fantasies. We want it, we have to have it and nothing or anyone can stop the trance. The laws of science and every religious law cannot define the physical nor mental attraction. The ultimate stress reliever awaits, but just like everything it comes at a price. The truth is your girlfriend is an excuse, your wife is an excuse, your profession is an excuse, and lust is your curse. Guilty of our own human nature. The saddest part is dealing with the reality, many of these women are stuck in a pit and so many of their stories are the same. They have signed their entire cognitive dissonance over to a pimp. Many of these women have spent their entire lives fleeing drug infested surroundings cursed by the temptations of perverted minds. Some of these women are kidnapped and sold into the sex trade never to be rescued by a hero. Yes, I am human, and I am man enough to admit that I may have never slept with a prostitute but I see them all the time promoting their profession to the world. Yes, I do battle with my conscience perverted thoughts so I wrote this piece for the prostitute. Sweating, sitting in a room fantasizing about someone that I’ve never even met after going through so many terrible relationships in life has taught me one thing and that’s we’re all in this together. Drowning in these desires I’ve grown to listen, yield, and take the time to encourage the opposite sex. Goodbye February, I’ll end the month of American Black History and love with a little humor, maybe I’ll get lucky in March. Who knows?🍀 HaHa.

The Prostitute