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And Nehemiah said, “I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, “May the king live forever!   Why should my face look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”   (Nehemiah 2: 2b-3) The story of Nehemiah is wonderful picture of how God uses an ordinary “regular” person to do something extraordinary.   Nehemiah was the “cup-bearer” to King Artaxerxes, meaning he tasted the king’s wine to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.   Not a glamorous job by any means!   As the story goes Nehemiah confronted his fear of the king and told the king what he wanted i.e. to return to Jerusalem and help in the rebuilding of the city wall!   The word that comes to my mind when I read this story is -- Leadership .   A friend of mine defines leadership as “ influence ”.   Through Nehemiah’s leadership he influenced a people and a nation and the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt! If I was to ask y...

As we approach another Father’s Day, let’s look at the social and economic issues African-American men are facing that affect the entire black community. By: Charles D. Ellison Posted: June 10 2015 3:00 AM   Audience members at The Root’ s manCODE event at the Corcoran Gallery of Art Feb. 3, 2014, in Washington, D.C.   Nicole L. Cvetnic/The Root I n our pressing public discussion about what troubles the souls of black folk, there are times when the conversation can seem phlegmatically black-man-centric. Instead of saying “unarmed black people shot by police,” we accept “unarmed black men ” as the default. Yet we know that black women are being gunned down or brutalized at alarming rates, too. One ugly wee...

Getting Pastoral Counseling for Serious Mental Illnesses

Jason Collins and the dignity of self-expression - ESPN

Chris Broussard is a regular on ESPN and one of the most respected sports journalists in the country.  Now, he is being criticized for being a Christian who feels the right to have his own opinions about being gay and what that means from a Christian perspective. Broussard went on air this week to speak about Jason Collins, an NBA player who just admitted that he is openly gay.  Collins made the announcement as part of an interview with Sports Illustrated, and it’s led to a great deal of debate about gay players in NBA locker rooms. This is the right time for Collins to come out, since the gay lobby has more power than it’s ever had.  Anyone who doesn’t agree with the gay point of view is typically attacked to the point of being fired, and almost always accused of being homophobic. This means that a Christian can easily be fired simply for stating the bible’s views, even if he doesn’t attack any gay person in the process. Speaking on ...

John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, "Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?" - Luke 7:19 John did not doubt the Messiahship of Jesus that day beside the Jordan, when from the cloven heavens the radiant dove descended upon Him and the Father's voice was heard in loving approval. Nor did He doubt in any of the bright days that followed. It was only when it grew dark for John himself that he doubted. That is just the way yet with many people. When everything is bright and sunny they think they have surely found Christ, and they believe He is their friend, and their hearts are full of joy. But when troubles come and things begin to go against them, they wonder whether, after all, they have really found the Savior. They begin to question their own experiences. “Am I really a Christian? Was that really conversion when I thought I was saved? or is there some other experience that I must yet have?” Christ does not do j...

Both in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, we are told that God’s fundamental rule about how we are to interact with one another can be summed up, “Love thy neighbour as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18, KJV). In fact, out of hundreds and hundreds of Jewish laws about behavior and godly conduct, Jesus said that all of the laws basically relied on only two of them, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves (Mark 12:30–31, Matthew 22:37–39). The assumption that most people bring to this Golden Rule is that we all know we love ourselves and know how we want to be treated so therefore we should love others and treat them the same way. However, many people do not seem to have this basic, healthy love for themselves, which in turn makes it nearly impossible for them to love others any better. If they can’t love themselves, then how can they express anything resembling unconditional love to anyone else? It is diff...