Devotion 10-25-2010 "Smug'em Back"

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Devotion

 

October 25, 2010

 

"Smug’em back"

 

Two weeks ago, I placed a Facebook status regarding a boy to whom I was fortunate to meet in Uruguay, South America.

 

Here is the story:

 

I was touring with a group of singers in South America, we had a travel day leaving Buenos Aires to travel to Uruguay. We traveled the coastline by a boat, more like a ship. It was awesome. My first time experiencing that. It was cool especially since this cruise ship, more like a ferry but more exotic than the one in Staten Island, NYC..... Smiles, this cruise ferry.... Had free Wi-Fi. So I was in heaven and I enjoyed every second of that departure from the "norm" of airport scrutiny, security and searches. It was a good trip to Uruguay.

 

When we arrived at our hotel some four hours later. We were tired, hungry and some were sleepy. I was hungry. When traveling with a large group of people and we all bombard the hotel lobby looking for our keys...... It could be a jam. It was.

 

So you know me, Internet man, I was searching out ways to have access to my online family. I found the hotel "business center" (it was more like 3 desks thrown together and 2 computers attached.... More about this hotel later in another devotion).

 

There were at the desk two young boys, 13 and 15, in age I am assuming. The 13 year old was a precocious little chap! He saw all of us come in, he looked around, I was looking at the computers checking out the system, then our eyes met for a brief second then he "SMUGGED ME"!

 

That little brat..... SMUGGED ME!

 

I was about to smile just to be friendly. He SMUGGED ME!

 

When you have traveled as much as I have, you recognize a few things that are totally universal in their scope of things.....

 

·        A Smile

·        A Coke Cola

·        the Word.... Alleluia!

 

I was about to give him a smile. He smugged me, he pursed his lips to give a fake smile and turned his head. Well, I wasn't hungry anymore, I was thinking for a few seconds of why he smugged me. He gave me a look like..... "if you think you getting this computer, you ain't, keep it moving" looking at me as if I was short!

 

I got smugged.

 

Then I REMEMBERED!!!!

 

I remembered who the heck I was! I am Darren Hicks, married to Diannette for almost 30 years, I am a grown man, I am a saved man, I am a child of the King of Kings, and I ALSO REMEMBERED THAT I HAD A BRAND NEW IPAD IN MY BAG, THAT MY DIANNETTE BOUGHT FOR ME.....WITH MY 4 CHILDREN..... THAT I CARRIED WITH ME AND I DID NOT NEED THAT COMPUTER THAT HE SMUGGED ME FOR.....

 

IT TOOK A SECOND to recollect my thoughts.....cause you know me I wanted to not just smug him back but smush his face as well, but since I was in a foreign country, I figured to keep my hands to myself. With those hands, I reached into my bag and pulled out my brand new iPad and turned it on, waited till he was able to get a clear view..... Flashed the screen at him and SMUGGED HIM BACK!!!

 

Saints, don't let the enemy of your soul, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your family or associates SMUG YOU FOR WHAT THEY DON’T THINK YOU HAVE!

 

Don't allow yourselves to “think you” into a depression coma because you might not have what you think you should have.

 

Don't allow your spirit to be controlled by what others are assuming of you. I remember the adage "Trying to keep up with the Joneses"..... Well, some of have realized that the Joneses are in debt and their possessions are up for foreclosure.

 

Be occupied with the thoughts of pleasing God and Yourself. Be happy with you!

 

Remember who you are, pull out of your bag of life the blessings that you currently have, the blessings that you presently have in your possession, the blessings that you have forgotten ALREADY BELONG TO YOU!!!!

 

God has not forgotten you, stop PLAYING OR DOWN PLAYING yourself. You are a child of God and the blessings that you have are yours. Nothing nor no one can take them from you.

 

SMUG HIM, SMUG THEM BACK!

 

Be blessed. You are highly favored in God. Remember that.

 

Elder JDH ©

 

Sent from my iPad

 

Devotion October 19, 2010 "Without The Logo"

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Devotion

 

Monday, October 18, 2010

 

"Without The Logo"

 

Watching CNN a few days ago I was blessed to hear and see our President Obama give a speech at the Fashion Week Gala. During the speech, the Presidential Seal, fell off of the podium with a loud noise. True to the form of a great leader, where "stuff" or the small stuff at least should not bother him, he was quick in his response to this to say....

 

"What? You all know who I am anyways...." that was a moment for me.

 

My thoughts were drawn to the fact of the matter... Regardless of the seal, the logo, flags or the bumper stickers on his car, or where he is standing... We all know him. He was telling the truth.

 

Now, what about us in our everyday lives where we work, play, teach, live, walk, talk, breathe, dance, shout, be us, what about the people who see us.... Can they say "I know that man, I know that woman".

 

Can our neighbors say that out of that apartment, out of that house flows the true love of God. Out of that dwelling, live some very powerful influential people who can get help to you in the time of need, 'them thar people is truth living folk over thar'.

 

Without the tee-shirt, without the hat, without the 23 bumper stickers on your car, can your people truly say that you are a Jesus person? Can the world that watches you live truly say that you are who you say you are on any given Sunday morning?

 

When "something goes down" does your name gets 'scratched' off the list right away or is your name the first to be considered for the cause of the mess!

 

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm......

 

My Pastor, Bishop Carlton Brown preached a message on this past Sunday entitled "Dont Curse Them, Join Them". A powerful message about being Heavenly Minded and Earthly Good. Having a balance. However, never being afraid to stand up and stand out for the causes of Christ.

 

So, without your "label that can be seen, without the logo, without the dress code" does the world know that you are a Christ minded walking, living, breathing full of life, normal..... person?

 

President Obama does not need a label. We know him! Can we know you as easily!

 

The Apostle Paul states in 2 Corinthians 1-4 that we are "epistles or books" written not with ink but with the spirit of God and READ among all men.

 

This week lets be a "good read" for someone looking for the truth and proof of The Living Christ Jesus!

 

Have a blessed day!

Elder JDH (c)

 

Devotion October 4, 2010

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“A POWERFUL MOMENT”

 

Well, by now most of you have heard that we laid to rest my Brother in law, MY BROTHER, Tyrone Carter. The Home Going services were held at Salvation & Deliverance Church on 116^th Street in Harlem, NYC the service was AWESOME. It was uplifting, encouraging and OH MY LORD those people at that church can sing and “shout” (dance in the Holyspirit). I HAD a great time. My sister, Danna, was blessed and all went well. She has been so strong through this.

 

We took my brother to Butler, NJ to the Mt. Holiness Cemetery where he was laid to rest. Danna really did this well. She placed her husband in a crypt, there was a service there and it was a nice final goodbye.

 

This “powerful” moment in came when my son, Warren, went to the office to find some of our other relatives that have been laid to rest there. Primarily, my Mother in Law, Joyce Hickson, aka Darlbabe. (She will smack me one good time when I get to heaven for calling her by her first name…. LOLOLOL gladly accept it….did you hear me say “heaven”.) Warren goes to the office and he locates his Grandma, he leaves the family and as I was looking around for him, I noticed him afar off, bending over a spot where his Grandma, and two of his uncles are laid.

 

These WONDERFUL people Warren has never met.

 

*** side note*** (James, our oldest, met his Grandma during the first 6 months of his life and My Diannette and I being new parents were having a tough time getting him to “shut up”. He was crying. He was full. He was dry. He was JUST CRYING just because he had lungs. So we were going to Grandma’s house for a visit. James cried all the way there on the train and buses, it was INDEED embarrassing to say the least. We get to Grandma’s house and she said… “HE SPOILED…. Lay his butt on my bed”…she goes over to him and places her hand on his back….pats his back ever so gently 3 times….and he falls into a deep sleep…. I WANTED TO BEAT HIS BUTT… she was INDEED a TRUE MOTHER and a GREAT person…I love her and miss her dearly…)***

 

Back to my “moment”: Warren was bent over the gravesite of his Grandma and Uncles and he was cleaning the dirt, leaves and grass that had grown over the name plate. I was fine till I saw that. I was OK concerning the weeks’ event until I saw my son moved to compassion about people to whom he never met and to clean off the ONLY spot of remembrance that HE has of them. Unbeknownst to him, his older brother did the same thing a few years earlier when we went to bury another relative.

 

THOSE WERE “POWERFUL MOMENTS” for me. I never forgot that my eldest did that and I will never forget that my youngest followed that lead.

 

Sometimes in LIFE we keep looking for the BIG MOMENTS to occur where the earth is moved and the mountains “skip” into the seas, BUT LIFE IS MADE UP OF BILLIONS OF LITTLE MOMENTS that make our seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years.

 

Take time for the rest of your life and admire the “moments” that GOD has given you. LIVE. LAUGH. LOVE and TAKE PLENTY OF PHOTOS. LIFE IS FOR living and these moments are ours to treasure forever and a day.

 

 

Remember to LIVE and LOVE.

 

Elder JDH ©

Devotions October 2, 2010: http://todaymybrothersandsisters.blogspot.com/

Good Morning,

 

Devotion October 2, 2010

 

“Sneezing”

 

Hmmmmmmmm, an interesting thing happened while I was devouring sage sausage, eggs and some other little left-over in the fridge. A couple of days ago… You all know me somewhat, I was “multi-tasking “and I figure why not talk to my sister on the phone while eating breakfast.

 

BAD MOVE on 2 counts!

 

·        I hate talking on the phone, PERIOD.

·        CARDINAL RULE OF EATING: never talk with your mouth filled, never talk and eat at the same time.

 

I was breaking all of the rules together while working on a small project on the computer system. So it goes… I was talking and breathing and swallowing when I breathed inward when I was supposed to be swallowing. YIKES!!!

 

This was a GOD moment indeed. However, it was brought on by my sheer disobedience of rules that I learned as a child.

 

So, while small particles of eggs were being ‘transplanted’ into my nasal passages, my body violently rejected them by making my eyes tear, my lungs to take in small blasts of air and then VIOLENTLY making my body PUSH air through my nasal passages and mouth to PROJECT these foreign objects. MAN OH MAN…. What an experience.

 

I dismissed the phone call, grabbed a towel and went to sneezing violently thru my mouth then allowing my body to direct the air into my nasal passages to clear them as well. TOOK a few mins and when all was said and done, I learned a valuable lesson.

 

The eggs that I was indeed eating and enjoying were good for me. They were my strength for that morning, they were breakfast, my body was receiving food that I have eaten all of my life, HOWEVER they eggs are NEVER to be introduced in certain parts of your BODY or they will and can KILL you.

 

Understanding that passage of scripture:

 

Psa 139:14  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

 

Your BODY reacts when there is something in the wrong spot…even though it has been in the body before.

 

GOD IS SNEEZING! Make sure you are in your place; make sure you have not migrated to another location in the body and making havoc by being out of place. GOD IS SNEEZING! Are you where you are supposed to be in the place where GOD has placed you? NOT where you think you should be because you have the title, the job or the money to make a spot for yourself? GOD IS SNEEZING!

 

Don’t get caught up in HIS violent exhaling of the UN-necessaries in HIS BODY!

 

When I was sneezing and violently reacting to the particles of food “being in the wrong” place, I did not care where the food landed. ALL I CARED about was expelling the particles from my body. Hmmmmmmmm enough said on that….

 

Get in your place. Stay in your place. Be in your lane. Stop shifting and causing the body to go through a sneezing fits to get rid of your foolishness and drama.

 

Don’t you know that sneezing is one of the primary ways that “germs” infect the air around us? I wonder when GOD sneezes through his body how we are INFECTING those around us.

 

Get it together saints…. Let’s stop making God sneeze!

 

Elder JDH ©