Real Talk

Peace and blessings,

Here is the second half of the '07 posting. Stay blessed, encouraged, and speekonit...





1)

What Does it Take, Pt. 1

(Don Imus, Hip-hop, and moral responsibility)




2)

What Does it Take, Pt. 2

(Hip-hop artists' moral responsibility)






3)

Loving to Agitate

(The Gadfly and the call of Christians to be agitators)






4)

Worlds Apart

(The separating power of classism)




5)

On The Immigrant Debate, Pt. 2

6)

An Interesting Way to Look at Intercession

7)

A Few Thoughtz: The Tipping Point, Pt. 2

8)

A Christian, a Muslim, and an Atheist

9)

Technology and Society

10)

Health Nutz, Pt. 1

(How Christian living is healthy living)



11)

Of Water and Diamonds

(Juxtaposing the intrinsic value of water with the extrinsic value of diamonds)

12)

Health Nutz, Pt. 2: Joy in the Midst of Pain

13)

Truth of Inconvenience

(Why I think odd encounters are sometimes God's way of speaking to us)








14)

The Complexities and Challenges of the Jena 6 Case

Labels: 2007, artist, Atheist, Christian, gadfly, health, hip-hop, immigration, Intercession, Jena 6, Lecrae, moral, Muslim, society, technology, Tipping Point

Peace and blessings,

Below are half of the selected postings from '07. Take care, God bless, and speekonit...





1)

Beacon of Light

(A woman gives her life to Christ and ministers to exotic dancers)





2)

A Dream Preserved

(MLK's dream will forever live on in and through us)



3)

JC, MLK, and SF: Who Would Have Thought?

4)

More Than a Month: Good Looking Out Carter G.

5)

A Lesson in Social Psychology: The Children of Israel

6)

Fly Like an Eagle, Sort of

(A juxtaposition of biblical conceptions of an eagle and the "eagle" dance)





7)

More Than a Month: Good Looking Out Dr. Phillip Emeagwali

(The "father of the internet")



8)

Has it Really Come to This?

(A false teacher leading people astray)



9)

Two Sides to a Coin: The Video Game Dilemma

(Video games about Darfur and Columbine)






10)

Holding it Down: Bishop George McKinney

11)

Heaven for a Gangsta

12)

The Universal Importance of Unity

Labels: 2007, Children of Israel, eagle, JC, Jose De Jesus Miranda, Lecrae, Miseducation of the Negro, MLK, New Slavemasters, unity, video game, Voltron

Peace and blessings,

I pray everyone had a safe, wonderful, and blessed Christmas and New Years. For those whom for whatever reason had a difficult time during this holiday season, I pray that God continues to shower you with His love, peace, and comfort (Psalms 55:22; Matthew 11:28).

It seems fitting that I would begin my first post of the new year on the birthday of my late grandfather, who was one of most admirable and honorable men of God I will ever know. I pray that through my life I will make you proud...

In 2006 while attending a church in Cambridge, MA I was prophesied to. When I approached the pastor right before he laid hands on me I can honestly say that while I believed in the gift of prophecy, I did not put too much stock in someone speaking into my life about specific areas in my life that were "cut off" from those around me. To my surprise, however, that's exactly what happened. I think for all of us there are some things we believe without witnessing it first hand, and other things we have to witness first hand to believe. For me, prophecy was one of those things.

After I told him the three things that were weighing on my heart at the time, he told me what God was telling him with regards to those three things. It wasn't until he "changed course" in a sense that I truly felt the presence of God. He basically said that before I come into what God has for me, God had to "take the lid off and show you some things." Once he started revealing what one of those things was, I suddenly felt encapsulated by the Holy Spirit to where I literally couldn't move (i. e. my legs felt cemented into the ground despite me trying to move them). It was at that moment that I knew that only God could have told Him that, because no one else knew.

After that experience, I have since been wondering what were some of those other "things" that God had to show me. In 2007, I feel like some of those things have been revealed to me, as well as the purpose for me experiencing those things. Given that "7" is the biblical number of completion, I feel like the ups and downs of last year occurred the way they did because for me (and I am only speaking for myself), it could not have happened any other way. In other words, I believe that there are some things that we each must experience in order for God to straighten out our "character-kinks." Put frankly, God loves us such that He is always concerned with building our character and making us better people, and thus a better reflection of Him.

There are some things in my spirit that if left unchecked, can do tons of damage to myself, to those around me, and to my relationship with God. Through experiencing the ups and downs of 2007, and seeing God reveal Himself to me in many different ways during those experiences, I can honestly say that I am a better, stronger, wiser man of God this year than I was last year. This is only the beginning, however, because God will never stop working on us because we can never be perfect on our own. Understanding that what defines us is not who we are when things are going "as usual," but who we are when things in our life are anything but usual, I am really looking forward to this year. Therefore, my new year's resolution is three-fold:

1) To work on viewing people and myself the way God views us

2) To work on viewing the situations and experiences that come up in life the way God views them

3) To work on viewing the world the way God views it.

What about you? Anything you've learned in 2007 that you think will make you a better person in 2008? Any new years resolutions? God bless, happy new year, and speekonit...

Labels: 2007, 2008, church, God, Matthew, prophecy, Psalms

Peace and blessings,

I must say that 2007 has been a great year. Not just because biblically "7" represents the year of completion and freedom (i.e. the year of Jubilee), but also because of the abundance of lyrically and musically solid Christian hip-hop that has came out this year. Although I'm sure there is a ton of good Christian hip-hop that has come out this year (check the website links in the "Holy Hip Hop Resources" section to find out for yourself), I can only speak on the albums that I have personally copped and listened to. Therefore, below are five albums that have been released in 2007, each accompanied by a lyrical quote from the album. A couple of these quotes, as well as the reviews to these albums (which can also be found in the HHH Resources section), are courtesy of

Rapzilla,

and excellent site for all things Christian Hip Hop. Feel free to share your thoughts on any of these albums that you may have. Until next time, stay blessed and speekonit...



1) "Open Book" by Da Truth



From the song "Star Struck:"

"No, He’s not common at all/ All eyes on Him/Hold your jewels, we gotta priceless gem/Who else can pay the price for sin/ Nobody, and build a whole body/Like a private gym/ Nobody, nobody but Him/He’s Superman but godly, embodied in Clark Kent/ yeah, He came to save the day/ Why would you trade Him to play/ In a crooked world that is fading away?/ Candy paint and wood grain decay, ok?"



2) "HIStory: Our Place in His Story" by Cross Movement



From the song "Spare Change:"

"We lost Truth in this period/and proof is so mysterious/losing absolutes is so serious/how we think we gon' live when everything's relative/is anybody curious?//without a standard of Truth society's deranged/that's why I'm up in your ear begging for change."



3) "13 Letters" by 116 Click



From the song "Evolution:"

"I was a slave to the night life, sex and the chronic/the unki-jerk(?), mad dog, gin and tonic/then God pulled my heart strings, yeah He's harmonic/now i'm gonna live forever I'm bionic/put death in a joke hold and slammed it like onyx/so we can slam dance in heaven it's ironic/after years of research these scientists couldn't figure/how I acted like an ape but evolved from a sinner"



4) "Our World Fallen" by Flame



From the song "Call Him:"

"Let's take a look at the fall man/the One who came down, put His foot on the raw land/gotta question 'do you know who you are man?'/or do you assume that you can do what the Lord can?/I know it's hard fam, trying to live life/lookin' to the left and nobody is livin' right/lookin' to the right everybody is livin' wrong/like we livin' in a movie and doin' it to a song/are your influences throwin' you a zone?/influencin' you to want to do what you're most prone/you Christ He left His heavenly home/not just that, He left his heavenly throne/just to bring Ebony home/or whatever your name is/He definately claims His/plus exhanges filth to anguish/guilt and pain/and makes us stainless"



5) "The Process of Illumination and Elimination" by Everyday Process



From the song "Holla at Me:"

" I guess to say that the Rock's in the building/2000 years flawless He's still rockin' His children/A monument like Plymoth Rock for His Pilgrims/In fact, the impact has got me rocked for a million/Strict life and I don't play in the streets/strict diet, I stay away from the sweets/excuse me kid if he don't eat the king's meat/I'm on my Shadrach tell them boys go 'head bring heat"

Labels: 116 Click, 2007, albums, Christian hip hop, Cross Movement, Da Truth, Everyday Process, Flame, freedom, HHH