Tag: parenting

A Desperate God

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Since entering Seminary, the scope and breadth of how I view and understand God has changed a bit. Well, a lot.

I sat in my room teary eyed and wholly upset at God after learning that He regretted making us in Genesis 6:6: “…and the LORD was sorry that He made humankind on the earth and it grieved Him to His heart.” (NSRV)

I knew He destroyed the earth because we (humankind) couldn’t get our lives right, but daaaaang. Regret? Sorrowful? We grieved You?

Sheesh.

Once I got over feeling some kind of way (honestly, that really hurt my feelings!), I began to see that nearly every encounter God had with man in the Old Testament was fueled by His insatiable desire to have a relationship with us. This anthropomorphic God (one with human-like characteristics, feelings, thoughts, interactions) was desperate to have us as His own, be thankful to Him for creating us, and, in whatever way possible, live our lives as He said we should.

He, like all “parents” do, had a plan for His kids. Our disobedience, however, brought about some of the most discussed, disparaging, and body-of-Christ splitting occurrences in the bible. We see a God who passes judgment on Hebrews and enemies alike for disobedience; God attempts to kill Moses for his disobedience (Exodus 4:18-31) despite God giving him the charge of delivering the Hebrews out of Egypt (clearly, obeying His ordinances was more important than some God-given assignment, eh?) We see God obliterate the Egyptians and their first-born sons for refusing to let His chosen people worship Yahweh as they wanted to — even going so far to intentionally hardening Pharoah’s heart to up the ante and make the punishments for disobedience grow and grow by the day. “I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain the glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD. And they did so.” (Exodus 14:4)

Grimy!

In the new dispensation of our faith, grace and mercy rules the coop. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the foundation of everything we believe, and in many ways, we have forgotten the vengeance and judgment of God.

Jesus makes us feel good. His sermons and parables of fish and salt and lights on a hill are so applicable and practical — it’s like a Publix commercial during the holidays: just makes you want to hug somebody, cook some food, and share it (and the gospel) with good people.

But we’ve forgotten the vengeance and judgment of God.

Jesus playing keep away with the children.

We’ve forgotten that He’s serious about us — and serious with those who come against us. He desperately wants us, and after millenniums of trying to get us to do right on our own, He sent Jesus to stand in the gap. When God looks at us, He sees us through the blood stained garments of Jesus. He doesn’t do what He should to us because Jesus keeps playing “keep away” with God!

Lest we have forgotten, God is no punk. He’s not here to play games on Sunday (or Saturday, if that’s your practice). He is cut throat, vengeful, angry, wrathful, and passes judgment at His discretion. Why? Because He’s holy and wants us to be holy as well. He wants to have a well-balanced relationship with us that brings pleasure to both parties. He’s not down for a one-sided venture to eternity; He wants us to walk with Him.

Now wait, does this mean we walk around in all white, sacrificing goats or living like the Old Testament law says? Absolutely not. However, there is something to be said about honoring Him  in the most sacred place of all: our hearts.

A friend mentioned that he was growing tired of so many preachers presenting no balance to the grace message, sending folks on their way with rose-tinted glasses that God is pleased with our mediocrity and that how we feel rules over God’s expectations. Forget yo’ feelings: God wants your heart!

In light of the monstrous storm battering the northeast, many have said that the storm is a “sign of judgment” from God. We need to “get right!”, they say.

I love what Stephen Prothero from CNN’s Religion Blog had to say about this “judgment”:

“As for me, I am less sure about what God wills for our storms (political or otherwise). In my view, any God worth worshiping isn’t going to be so predictable, or so capricious… When it comes to storms like Sandy, I just don’t believe in a God who drowns black babies in Haiti yet refuses to drown out the voices of cranky white men who claim so irreverently to speak in His name.”

God isn’t some faux wizard behind the smoke and mirrors of the “Great and Powerful Oz” using switch levers and buttons controlling this earth… at least I don’t think so. We can’t say one way or the other if the things that occur in the earth that bring destruction and death are “God’s doing.”

What we can say is that He’s still desperately seeking for our hearts to turn back to Him and will go at any lengths to get them back.

Yes, God passes judgment on us. Yes, He allows the enemy to come in and wreak havoc until we get our minds back on track. Sometimes we recover, sometimes we don’t. I am reminded as I go through this Seminary experience, though: It’s dangerous to teach grace without teaching judgment. Have you ever met a kid that was never punished for anything? They’re brats. And the absolute worst.

I’m at the place where I’m seeing and learning that God is really desperate for us. He’s revealed Himself to us in ways that we can’t fathom, given to us in ways we don’t deserve. Building relationship with Him is something He wants. His desperation for us exudes from every crevice of this earth.

Grace and judgment: what a dynamic duo.

On the “don’t-cast-your-judgment-on-me, I’m-working-on-my-relationship-with-you” Chase,

Alisha L.

The Blind Side

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I don’t know why I named this blog “The Blind Side.” Just dropped in my spirit, so I’ll run with it.

Anyway…

I’ve learned so much about being a parent by being in relationship with God.

There are so many things parents are responsible for teaching their children: how to brush their teeth. How to tie their shoes. How to say “please” and “thank you.”

I, in turn, have learned so much about God by being a parent.

Today, Ashli and I were walking out of Wal-Mart and when we got to the curb, I looked both ways to see if a car as coming (there were none) and I lead us across the street.

Ashli, however, crossed the street without even looking.

What does it say about her trust in me? She trusts me enough and knows that I am wise enough to never cross the street without looking. She also knows that I’d never do anything to harm her or put her in harm’s way. She’s confident in the fact that she can walk, hand-in-hand with me, without hesitation… even when she’s not paying any attention.

How much more is it when we have a relationship with God?

A relationship with Him requires for us to trust Him, take His guidance and wisdom as gold, and walk with Him knowing that He’d never lead us astray or put us in harm’s way…even when we’re not paying attention.

This trust relationship, however, only comes when there’s a real relationship.

If Ashli was walking with a stranger, (which she would never do by the way) I’m sure she’d be more conscious, looking around, hesitating to make a move across the street–not because of the possible danger, but because of the unfamiliarity of the person she was walking with.

Again I ask, how much more is it when we do not have a relationship with God?

It’s not about church attendance, religious practices, speaking in diverse tongues, or having a first row seat with the deaconess board.

It’s about developing a personal relationship with Him in which that we can not only trust Him, but more importantly, He can trust us.

Ah, that’s why this blog is called “The Blind Side”: God protects us from those sides we can’t see, whether because of positioning or because we’re simply not paying attention. (That’s usually my problem…)

I thought I’d never figure that out.

On the Chase,

Alisha L.

The Real East Coast/West Coast Beef

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 East_VS_West_Logo__by_Turboman

Biggie vs. Tupac
Bad Boy vs. Death Row
Junior Mafia vs. West Side Connection


The 90’s were filled with musical rivalry from artists and labels from the East and West coast. As a hip hop head, I was deeply saddened by the death of the two best rappers alive (or dead), Biggie and Tupac. The “beef” between the East and the West, while has died with the two aforementioned rappers, has never been back to the place where the two sides would ever meet up again in musical harmony.

You’re probably wondering why I began this blog with a short synopsis of the “East Coast vs. West Coast” beef. Trust me, you’ll understand in just a few seconds…

Today I battled with some guilt. It wasn’t even something major, but it bothered me so bad that I’ve literally been “hiding” from God the last few days (as if that’s possible). I knew that all I needed to do was pray, ask for forgiveness, and hope that, while I had failed this test once again, that He’d show me some grace and mercy and pull me through this trial.

But I took on this guilt, afraid to ask Him for forgiveness and to help me because I knew that my troubles were all my fault and I didn’t feel like I should bother God with another trivial request to save me when I knew that it was I that created the problem.

No, no… I didn’t do anything crazy; I’ve just never been the best at managing money. I’ve gotten so much better, but I fall short every once in a while. God has delivered me out of some financial situations that I saw no way out of, and, if I can just be real with ya’ll, I should have never gotten out of.

But with experience comes growth and with growth comes higher levels of expectations from Him.

The last three days I’ve battled with the idea of simply getting on my knees and asking for forgiveness, asking Him to change my mindset regarding this area of my life, help me to prioritize what is important and what is not. Today was my day of reckoning.

Sometimes we lose ground because we feel we are unworthy to seek God for his grace, mercy, and forgiveness simply because we’ve made the same mistake over and over. We feel like I did the last few days; “I can’t ask Him to help me! I’ve made this mistake so many times. I’m sure He’s so fed up with me and my antics…”

But His word is true… (Here comes the East vs. West Coast connection)
As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Psalms 103:12 (Amplified Version)

Since the bible days, the East Coast ain’t never liked the West Coast. Ha!

No, seriously. Nothing that we can do can ever keep God from loving us. He’s anxiously waiting for us to come on back, set down our pride or pity and ask him for forgiveness. No matter how big or small the fault, His love for us never fails.

 The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.
Psalms 103:13-14

Now, does this mean that we do not have to sometimes suffer the consequences of our actions? Absolutely not. God is, while the most compassionate person I know, expects us to learn from mistakes, and like any good parent, will not always bail us out. But it is that tough love, you see, that makes Him the best “daddy” in the world. He’s consistent too. He didn’t let Jesus punk out on His great “lesson”, why should he let us?

On the Chase,

Alisha L.