Kindness

Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian employee of the Hebrew King Zedekiah, didn't have to help the prophet Jeremiah, but he did (Jeremiah 38-39). Enemies of Jeremiah spoke to Zedekiah. Zedekiah agreed to follow their advice and had Jeremiah placed in a prison filled with mud. The Hebrew people were at war with Babylon, and little food and no water was available to Jeremiah in prison. Ebed-melech may have counted the cost, but irregardless he spoke to Zedekiah, and Zedekiah released Jeremiah from prison.

People like Ebed-melech and Chuck Wall speak up when others are wronged. One day in the spring of 1993 an anchorman commented on a bad situation, "Another random act of senseless violence." Chuck Wall, who is blind and an American teacher, heard the comment and was inspired to commit random acts of senseless kindness. Wall shared his idea with his students asking them to do something out of the ordinary to help someone and then to write an essay about it. He also decided to print bumper stickers that said: "Today, I will commit one random act of senseless kindness...Will you?" The idea caught on in Wall's community and spread internationally, so that today many are familiar with the phrase "random acts of kindness."

Krpa (kindness) celebrates and reproduces life. Chuck Wall's kindness has helped other people. When Ebed-melech was kind to Jeremiah, God was kind to Ebed-melech. Jeremiah 39:15-18 Amplified Bible says, "Now the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was [still] shut up in the court of the guard, saying, Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring to pass My words against this city for evil and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you on that day. But I will deliver you [Ebed-melech] on that day, says the Lord, and you will not be given into the hands of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely deliver you; and you will not fall by the sword, but your life will be [as your only booty and] as a reward of battle to you, because you have put your trust in Me, says the Lord."

"My life is better because of you," T.D. Jakes to his wife Serita Jakes in a love letter published in the February 2013 Ebony magazine article "House of Love." Please leave an on-line comment about those who make people's lives better and people who practice on-going kindness.

Perhaps Ebed-melech is one of the early believers who shared the news of an eternal, loving relationship with God with others in his native Ethiopia and in Egypt and in other parts of Africa. When we madly love God, everyone knows. International Christian minister Francis Chan says, "I found a love that is greater than life itself."

Aedesius and Frumentius, relatives of the Christian philosopher of Tyre, Meropius, worked for the Axumite King Ella Amida, who is the father of Ezana who is often credited with being the first to make Christianity a state religion in Abyssinia, which later became named Ethiopia. Please leave an on-line comment sharing interesting information about Christianity in Ethiopia, Egypt, Kush and other parts of Africa before, during and after the reign of Ezana.

Today Ethiopia is an African nation never conquered by a European nation in modern times and is a Christian-majority country that has been filled with Christians for centuries. Ethiopia has long interacted with Asians and others. Please leave an on-line comment sharing little-known facts about Asian Christianity.

Faith, Fear and Japanese Americans

"Fear is a disease that eats away at logic and makes man inhuman." -- Marian Anderson, singer in eight languages and civil rights advocate　

When Japan bombed American ships in Pearl Harbor not only was World War II kicked off in the United States of America, the US kicked out of their homes about 110,000 Japanese Americans living on America's west coast and forced them into War Relocation Camps.
　
Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt authorized Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which told local military officials to designate "military areas" as "exclusion zones" from which "any or all persons may be excluded."
　
Sometimes all three branches of American government, executive, congressional and judicial, fail to protect its citizens and their constitutional rights. In 1944 the US Supreme Court upheld Executive Order 9066.
　
Japanese American Gordon Hirabayashi refused to go to the War Relocation Camps along with other revolutionaries. Fred Korematsu said, "If you have the feeling that something is wrong, don't be afraid to speak up." Hirabayashi, Korematsu and others were instrumental in bringing cases to the Supreme Court that addressed the injustice of putting Americans in prison because of their race. Hirabayahsi didn't realize what a fight was ahead for Japanese Americans to live in America with their civil rights enforced. He says, "We had Constitutional rights. I didn't think anything could happen to us. We had a rude awakening."

"Check your speakers. This ain't a self-help song or another makeover song but how He made me over. You dig. I like me," sings award-winning Gospel singer Kirk Franklin in his song, "I Like Me" with Da TRUTH. Franklin is also a songwriter, record producer, music director and author. Please leave an on-line comment naming songs by Asians similar to Franklin's and Da TRUTH's "I Like Me."

Some people live their whole lives with a No es posible attitude, but those who know and trust God " . . . are bold as a lion" (Proverbs 28:1). International Bible Teacher Joyce Meyer says that courage is not the absence of fear, but courage is doing things afraid.

We can ask God to marry and protect us like Ruth asked Boaz to marry her. The book of Ruth 3:7-9 Amplified Bible says, "And when Boaz had eaten and drunk and his heart was merry, he went to lie down at the end of the heap of grain. Then [Ruth] came softly and uncovered his feet and lay down. At midnight the man was startled, and he turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! And he said, Who are you? And she answered, I am Ruth your maidservant. Spread your wing [of protection] over your maidservant, for you are a next of kin."

God's ways are often not our ways. After we receive the marriage vow of complete forgiveness of all our sins, eternal life, eternal relationship and eternal, extravagant love from God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost (not polygamy, but 1 x 1 X 1 =1), sometimes we are madly in love with our Husband, God, some times we are just mad with Him. It is not always asan (easy) being sadi-suda (married) to someone perfect.

The Perfect One is patient, and He is developing a patient spouse able to spread the true Kingdom of God globally. Proverbs 25:15 Amplified Bible says, "By long forbearance and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance." Proverbs 25:15 Wycliffe Bible says, "A prince shall be made soft by patience; and a soft tongue shall break hardness." Proverbs 25:15 Contemporary English Version says, "Patience and gentle talk can convince a ruler and overcome any problem."

The fight for Japanese-American justice took from the 1940s until 1988 when Congress passed and Republican President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment and said that the government's actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership." The US government eventually dispersed more than $1.6 billion in reparations to Japanese Americans interned and their heirs. Each citizen who had been interned was awarded $20,000. Please leave an on-line comment discussing: Should African Americans receive reparations because of African American slavery in the US? What about the unborn once Roe v. Wade legalizing unlimited abortion is overturned? Gospel singer Fred Hammond is an abortion survivor. Read his story and more in my article, "Thoughts About Abortion." If you received the $20,000 internment payment, please share what you spent it on.

Money matters. Money is not God. 1 Timothy 6:10 English Standard Bible says, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs."

Poverty does not equal purity. Money is a tool. A Spanish word for cash is efectivo. Proverbs 10:15 Contemporary English Version says, "Great wealth can be a fortress, but poverty is no protection at all." Brian Tracy says in his book, No Excuses! The Power of Self-Discipline 21 Ways To Achieve Lasting Happiness And Success, that the top 20 percent of people in America earn and control 80 percent of the assets; he also says that these 20 percent people also started in the bottom 20 percent of income earners and practiced certain principles to climb from the bottom 20 percent to the top 20 percent. If you are a top 20 percent person, share some of your success principles by leaving an on-line comment. 　

Please also leave an on-line comment answering the question, "How is America experiencing the ramifications of the Japanese internment, African American slavery, abortion and similar evils today?"

Divorced = Eliminated from the Race?

Thank God for Hazel Scott. Before Oprah there was Hazel. Hazel was the first African-American woman to host her own nationally syndicated television show in musical format.

In a time when most television hosts were men, The Hazel Scott Show aired on July 3, 1950.

Sometimes people do not notice a mistake, or they are afraid to point out a mistake. The general manager of the mint in Chile was fired in February 2010 after thousands of 50-peso coins were discovered with the name of the country spelled Chiie instead of Chile. The coins had been in circulation for two years before the error was reported.

Sometimes people create situations. Scott was eventually accused of being a Communist or Communist sympathizer, her contract was not renewed and the show was canceled in September 1950.
　
Multi-talented Scott played piano, trumpet and saxophone professionally. She sang and acted on Broadway and in film, arranged songs, wrote songs and didn't let racism or sexism stop her from working the dynamic range of her talents and serving as a Civil Rights activist.

Scott was born June 11, 1920, in Port au Spain, Trinidad. As a toddler she began to play piano. When she was a tween in 1932 her father, R. Thomas Scott, died.

Scott and her mother, Alma Long Scott, toured together. The younger Scott made her first appearance at Carnegie Hall, playing Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23.

Scott was playing regular nightclub gigs by age 15, started her own radio show the following year and performed in her first Broadway revue when she was 18. Read my article, "Youth Uprising," for more on talented youth. Please leave an on-line comment about talented youth and/or African-Americans.

Life was not perfect. Later in life, Scott attempted suicide twice. Please leave an on-line comment about Satan trying to take out someone successful who bounced back.

In 1945 in Connecticut Scott, a Catholic, married Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., a Baptist minister and U.S. Congressman, who was the first person from New York of African American descent to be elected to Congress and became a powerful and prominent national politician. The couple had one child, Adam Clayton Powell III, who is the first black to direct a major national radio news network, National Public Radio.

Scott and Powell Jr. divorced in 1960 after a separation. I don't know why they divorced. Bishop T.D. Jakes says in his sermon, Love Story, "Marriage does not work until a man dies. There's a wild nature in him that has to die, and every now and then it kicks up. And you got to kill it again. And if you don't kill it, it will destroy what you got." Jakes goes on to say in Love Story, "Christ gave Himself. Let the men say, 'Give it up.'" International Christian Minister Ravi Zacharias says about a husband and wife, "The Bible tells us to mutually submit to one another." International Christian Minister Joyce Meyer says in her sermon, Hindrances to a Good Marriage, that her ministry did a questionnaire and the number one and two reasons the respondents reported for trouble in marriage are:

1) lack of communication/not knowing how to communicate
2) selfishness/pride.

Dr. Derek Grier says in his Ministry Minute "Strong Marriage," "We really have no idea how selfish and how self-centered we are until we commit to spend the rest of our lives loving and making decisions with another person."

Please leave an on-line comment about the causes for trouble in marriage and/or divorce.

Scott did not succumb to a pessimistic view of life: "All good things must come to an end;" "If it is not one thing, it's another;" "This is as good as it gets." Cavett Robert says, "If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one." After her divorce Scott went to Paris, France.

Learn to relate well, so that you can date and mate well.

Scott married Ezio Bedin, a comedian, on January 19, 1961.
　
Scott opened the door for African Americans in the arts. Today America and the world is filled with the talents of African-American entertainers who dared to try something different using the talents God gave them.
　
God made it so that no two snowflakes are the same. Likewise even though today more than 7 billion people live on planet earth, God made it so that no two people are alike. Even twins have different fingerprints and odor prints! By swabbing the scene of a crime, investigators can compare  the scent samples taken from suspects with those taken at the scene of a crime.
　
God likes diversity displayed in daily living. Dr. Cindy Trim says,"Revelation without application is frustration." Let your unique light shine according to Matthew 5:14-16 New Living Translation Bible which says, "You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father."

Please share an on-line comment reporting good deeds. 

Stern-Looking But Big-Hearted

Nothing and no one stops the love of God. This same love flowed out of Absalom Jones who was a slave of a merchant in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a slave named Mary King. Absalom married Mary on January 4, 1770, when he was 23.

Living in bondage is not what Absalom and Mary desired for their children. Under Pennsylvania law, children born to slaves would be slaves. Aristotle wrote that human beings are teleological, which means that we are purpose driven. So Absalom and Mary worked to earn enough money to purchase freedom. During the Revolutionary War Absalom worked until twelve or one o'clock at night to assist his wife.

But their hard work was not enough to buy freedom. So they asked everyone they could, friends, associates and strangers, for donations and loans to purchase Mary's freedom. That did it.

No one fulfills God's plan for her or his life alone. God calls all Christians to help as many people as God leads you to help. Philippians 4:5 the Message Bible says, "Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him! Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you’re on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!"

It would have slowed down the advance of the Kingdom of God if people who God gave them the money and resources to help Absalom and Mary purchase their family's freedom decided to keep the resources to themselves. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 the Message Bible says, "Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life."

Hebrews 11:6 Amplified Bible says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]." God rewards faith with work. After eight years by 1778 Absalom paid back the loans given to him.

Stern-looking, but big-hearted Absalom was still a slave, but he continued to work to buy a house for his family. International Christian Minister Ravi Zacharias says, "The greatest compliment I can pay my wife is to let my children know that I love her the way Jesus loved the Church."

Finally, after seven more years Absalom was able to purchase his own freedom.

Please leave an on-line comment sharing notable African-American love stories.

Lovers like Absalom and Mary are the kind of people who founded the black church in America which was very active in assisting people with various needs. They also give us examples today of how to love our spouses.

Love opens up opportunites. Absalom went on to found the St. Thomas African Episcopal Church on July 17, 1794, and he became the first black American to become an ordained priest.

Like Father, Like Daughter

Like father, like daughter -- Jane Matilda Bolin was the youngest of the four children of lawyer Gaius Charles Bolin who had his own legal practice and was the first black president of the Dutchess County Bar Association in New York state. Gaius was the first black American to graduate from Williams College. In 1939 at the age of 31 his daughter, Jane, became the first black American woman to become a judge of any court in the United States of America. She served as a judge for the Domestic Relations Court for 40 years in New York.
　
Jane in the image of her father reproduced many firsts. Jane was the first black American woman to graduate from Yale Law School where she had been the only black student and one of three women. She was also the first black American woman to join the New York City Bar Association and to join the New York City law department as Assistant Corporation Counsel.
　
This mother of Yorke Bolin Mizelle was also an activist for children's rights and education. Jane served on the boards of the National Urban League, the Child Welfare League and the NAACP. Not one to rest on her past accomplishments Jane also received honorary degrees from Morgan State University, Western College for Women, Hampton University, Williams College and Tuskeegee Institute.
　
Through her work Jane ended the assignment of probation officers on the basis of race. She also stopped the placement of children in childcare agencies on the basis of ethnic background.
　
Speaking on women's rights in 1958, Jane said, "We have to fight every inch of the way and in the face of sometimes insufferable humiliations."
　
Jane would not have been such a fighter if her daddy did not spend quantity and quality time training Jane. Proverbs 22:6 Amplified Bible says, "Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Children can be biological and/or spiritual. The Apostle Paul was a spiritual father to Pastor Timothy and many others. Please share on-line comments regarding people helped by your natural and/or spiritual training, especially father and daughter training success.

Family is part of the foundation of society. Gaius Charles Bolin had the integrity to train his daughter Jane Matilda Bolin. In his book, Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity, philosopher Francis Fukuyama said that all societies could be divided into two kinds: "high-trust" and "low-trust." High trust societies encourage and respect integrity and are the most law-abiding, free and prosperous. Low-trust societies are characterized by tyranny, thievery, dishonesty and corruption. Low-trust societies are the most undemocratic and poor.

America's first president, George Washington, was famous for his honesty. Please leave an on-line comment sharing your opinion about the current state and future of the American family and society.

Disability and a Dynamic Life

No matter what life throws at us keep moving forward. Dr. Georgia L. McMurray was thrown Charcot-Marie-Tooth Atrophy, a neuromuscular, degenerative disease that left her completely paralyzed. She was physically disabled but not downcast in her outlook on life.
　
From her motorized wheelchair she continued her research as one of the nation's top educators and continued to advocate for families, children and the poor. She founded more than one organization over the course of her adult life. One such organization was the GLM Group which was a consulting firm that provided research, training and technical assistance to government and non-profit organizations working with families, children and the poor.
　
More than two decades ago Dr. McMurray founded Project Teen Aid to help teenage mothers and their babies excel in life. When Project Teen Aid was founded in 1966 teen moms where expelled from school because authorities thought this would help stem the spread of teenage motherhood. Dr. McCurray said that this practice would foster poverty, deny people the opportunity to connect behavior with outcomes and was discriminatory.
　
The devil tries to stop us with many things including disease. Dr. McMurray said often right up until her death at age 58, "I ask God for strength to continue the journey." Dr. McMurray was disabled, but she was not downcast and defeated. She took what God gave her and worked it for His glory. Acts 1:8 Amplified Bible says, "But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth."
　
Excellence should be an example that all Christians display. Dr. Derek Grier, who has battled severe illness in his life, writes in his book, 60 Minutes of Wisdom, "Actor Michael J. Fox made this statement, "I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business. The most anyone can ever do in life is his or her very best. Sometimes we find that our best is not enough and in such moments all that we can do is trust God.

The King James Version Bible says in Psalm 138:8, "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me." I do not know what Michael J. Fox believes about God, but he stated a biblical truth. All of us must make peace with the fact that we are less than perfect. But we must daily wage war against any notion that we should settle for being anything less than excellent."

Dr. McMurray had a short life dying at age 58, but it was a dynamic life. Former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, who battled depression, said, "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." I imagine when Dr. McMurray met God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost (1 X 1 X 1 = 1 or like water which can be liquid, ice or steam) that He said something like Matthew 25:21 Amplified Bible which says, "His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the blessedness) which your master enjoys." Please leave an on-line comment with simple ways to describe the Trinity.

Please also share an on-line comment regarding excellence in persons who are mentally and/or physically disabled. I would love to tweet with you. My Twitter name is "Michelelove30." Please also recommend this article on Google.

In the United States, India and many countries of the world females and the disabled are aborted because they are females and/or disabled. In the novel, Secret Daughter by Shilpi  Somaya Gowda, Kavita and Jasu are married. Shortly after Kavita gives birth to their first-born child, Jasu takes the child away and arranges to kill their baby girl through infanticide simply because the baby is a girl. When their second child is born Kavita conspires with her sister to defy Jasu and gives the girl to an orphanage. When Kavita is pregnant with their third child, Secret Daughter says, "A new medical clinic in the neighboring village offers ultrasounds to expectant mothers, ostensibly to check the health of the baby. But it is well known that those who go there do so to learn the gender of their unborn child. The procedure will cost two hundred rupees, a month's earnings from their crops, as well as a full day to make the journey. They will have to use all the money they've been saving for new farming tools, but despite the hardship, Kavita agrees. She knows if the test shows another girl growing in her womb, all of the possible outcomes are wrenching. Jasu can demand she have an abortion, right there at the clinic if they had the money. Or he could simply cast her out, forcing her to endure the shame of raising the child alone. She would be shunned, like the other beecharis in the village. But even this, becoming an outcast from her home and community, would not be as bad as the alternative. She cannot face the agony of giving birth, of holding her baby in her arms, only to have it taken away again. Kavita knows in her soul she simply will not survive that."
 
Please share an on-line comment about sex-selection abortion and abortion of the disabled.

Many babies are being aborted just because they have a disability, or two or more. With scientific progress perhaps many if not most of the disabilities that exist today will be healed in full in the future. Luke 1:37 Amplified Bible says, "For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment." In a test case in 2005 a man who had accidentally severed off his fingertip was able to regrow it entirely in four weeks! My son, Rafael Damani Fowler, has autism. We don't personally know of anyone who has been healed of autism, but maybe you do. Please leave an on-line comment about someone healed from autism or another disability.

Marriage Surprise

Many women think that to give love to a man and to receive love from that man in the union of marriage is one of life's most precious gifts that they are eagerly seeking to open. After Shyju Mathew's mom got married and opened her gift, she found a man bound by Satan with depression.

When comparing the man she knew before marriage with the man she lived with after marriage, she may have asked herself something like, "Yah kaun hai?" ("Who is this?") Please leave on-line comments sharing some surprises in your spouse and yourself after marriage.
　
Mathew's mom's husband practiced witchcraft. He was tormented and would throw angry fits often. She hated her life and wanted to commit suicide, but before she could do it, she discovered she was pregnant. Unlike the Tahina spectabilis palm tree which produces flowers only once, and then collapses to the ground and dies, Mathew's mom decided against suicide in response to a bad marriage and an unplanned pregnancy.

When she asked herself questions like, "Kya ap khus hai? ("Are you happy?") The answer was, "Nahi," ("No.")

God wants us to enjoy our life. God the Son Jesus Christ says in John 10:10 Amplified Bible, "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." David writes about God in Psalm 16:11 English Standard Version Bible, "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

An enjoyable earthly life is not one where we are ever emotionally high. Joy is some times a choice believers can make because God the Holy Ghost has given us the fruit of self-control. We have to wait until the next life to have an eternal emotional high when we live face-to-face with God.

Meanwhile in this earthly life, unhappiness is not an excuse to do evil like paying someone to take the life of our unborn baby (abortion). Instead follow the advice of the song, "Encourage Yourself," by The Tri-City Singers: "Some times you have to encourage yourself. Some times you have to speak victory during the test. And no matter how you feel speak the Word, and you will be healed. Speak over yourself. Encourage yourself in the Lord."
  　
Mathew's mom determined, "I'm going to live for this child's sake." An unwanted pregnancy does not have to influence a woman to become mentally ill or suicidal. Roman Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, "Circumstances do not make the man; they merely reveal him to himself."

Mathew's mom prayed that her baby would be a priest, a writer, a singer and a whole bunch of other good things. God answered her prayer. Like Hannah she dedicated her first born to God. When Mathew came home from school, his mom encouraged him to pray.
　
Mathew says she didn't force him to pray; he liked to pray. In fact he loved to pray. His mother paid attention to Mathew's interest and encouraged it. The Law of Concentration says that "whatever you dwell upon grows and increases in your life."
　
Observe what good things our children are interested in and encourage them. My son, Rafael Damani Fowler, loves playing CDs. He enjoys it for hours. Mathew enjoys praying for hours.
　
Mathew prayed so much that when he was seven years old, someone asked him to preach. Mathew asked his mom what to preach. His mom said, "Never ask a human being what to preach." She further counseled him to go to his bedroom and seek God.
　
Mathew has been seeking God and preaching ever since. He also writes and sings among other things on an international scale.
　
Parents are called to mold a child capable of positively impacting people beyond measure. Lord Jesus, let us parents live in our calling daily.

Being the example we want our children to be is excellent teaching. Immanuel Kant advises, "Resolve to behave as though your every act were to become a universal law for all people." The Apostle Paul instructs in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Amplified Bible, "Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah)." Are you bold and truthful enough to instruct your children and other people likewise?