Alpha Male

We recently was blessed with a dog. He is a 3 year old miniature pinscher and the cutest thing in the world. We named him Jazz. I have to admit I wasn't crazy with the idea of getting a "lap dog." I always said, "if we get a family dog, I wanted it to be big enough to knock me down when it jumps on me." Well, it turns out the min pin breed may be small but these dogs don't back down from anything (I'll write how Jazz took on a full sized Boxer at the dog park in another blog). The breed is referred to as the "king of the toy dogs."

My wife and Jazz bonded immediately. She took him for walks and cuddled him and rubbed his little belly. Things were a little different for me and Jazz (maybe the dreadlocks scared him). The first day in the house I called him and he didn't come. I excused his behavior as him getting adjusted to his new family. The next day before church I called Jazz...you guessed it...he didn't come to me. I said, "this is going to stop." While at church that morning, someone commented that Jazz was establishing his dominance in the home. I said okay no more Mr. Nice Guy, whenever I call him, I'm going to expect him to come to me. I was delayed at church and my family beat me home to take the dog for a walk. I got a ride home and opened my front door. I was met at the front door by a growling, barking dog! What did I do? I looked at Jazz and said, "Are you forgetting whose house this is, I AM THE ALPHA MALE in this house let's go for a walk! Jazz discovered on the walk that I had all authority over him. We returned home after about a 20 minute walk. I must admit I didn't know the effectiveness of that walk other than it made me feel better. Two hours after the walk, Jazz ran around the coffee table and sprung up in my lap...what did I do...I cuddled him and rubbed his little belly. We've been best buds ever since.

God showed me through this experience how life (situations) tries to intimidate us by barking, growling and appearing bigger than what those situations are...I not saying these situations aren't real, relevant, or severe that we face day in and day out. I'm declaring we know the ALPHA MALE! The ONE whose name is above all names! The ONE who has ALL AUTHORITY and given us authority and courage to take those situations by the collar and say "are you forgetting whose house this is; let's go for a walk." Today, take depression, oppression, sickness, poverty, etc. for a walk and remind them..the Alpha Male (Jesus) lives big in you and you've been given the DNA of a prince and princess! You are VICTORIOUS IN CHRIST!

The Trader Joe(ker)

I recently visited a local Trader Joe to do a little shopping with my wife…if you’ve never been shopping there, I highly recommended it! We got the routine items on this trip like most trips (eggs, milk, avocados, etc.). The most important item we got that inspired this blog was sweet potatoes. That’s right ya’ll you may be able to take the brotha out of the south but you can’t take the south out of the brotha!

This is where the Trader Joe cashier enters the story. She politely rings up all our items and gets to the sweet potatoes. She asks “have you ever had these for dessert.” I respond, “yes sweet potato pie.” She looks really stunned at my response so I said, “what type of dessert do you make with them.”…here’s where it gets good…She replies, “First you bake them in the oven on 350 degrees for 50 minutes until the skin falls off of them. Once that happens, you take them out and sprinkle cinnamon and honey on them and they are so good. By this time, Rachel and I both are standing there looking at her stunned. So, with a nice southern smile we say, “okay, thanks and have a nice day.”

After placing the groceries in the trunk, we began to discuss our encounter with the cashier. Rachel asks if she knew she was talking to a black man…I know African American is politically correct. I said yeah! I then began to explain how I eat my sweet potato with brown sugar and butter for dinner not dessert. Then I started telling Rachel how we eat sweet potato casserole (a family recipe passed down from my Dad’s mom that Rachel makes better than my grandma and mom) for dinner. After having that conversation with Rachel, it got me thinking about what my race knows. We know a lot of things but the concrete things we know are: how to fry chicken so good you want to slap somebody, cook collard greens until the melt in your mouth, certainly do something amazing with sweet potatoes, and we know OJ did it!!! The last comment is supposed to make you laugh out loud…

You are probably asking what spiritual truths can I pull out of this story. I see myself a lot of times like the cashier and God like a shopper. I think I have the latest greatest revelation about how my life is to turn out and when God throws His plan for me upon the “conveyer belt of life”, I ask Him, “hey do you know what to do with that plan.” He responds “YES, I’ll mold you into the image of Christ” and I give Him a stunned look and proceed to tell Him how to best use me (I’m squirming as I write this part). He simply looks and says ok because He is the perfect gentlemen and won’t force His will upon you nor me. He’ll walk away with that plan and simply mutter…doesn’t he realize I created all things including Him and My plans are to give Him a hope and future (Jeremiah 29:11).

Today, where are you with the Lord. Are you making your own plans? Are you resisting His plan for your life? If your answer is yes, there’s good news: STOP with your plans, and acknowledge His plan for your life. If you’ve never asked Him into your heart simply say, Jesus I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart you died for me, rose again, and live at the right hand of the Father. He is crazy about you and me (Him dying on the cross proves it) and desires for our dreams to be fulfilled. Remember, trust in the Lord with all you heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).