Who’s Your Jethro? – You Need Someone Who Can Bless You Forward.

So who was Jethro? Jethro was a Midianite high priest who happened to be Moses’ father-in-law. It was there beyond the wilderness where Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law that he encountered the presence of God. This was an authentic God moment. Its one of those rare Old Testament encounters where a mere mortal gets to behold the glory of God. In this encounter Moses was informed of his destiny, and of the source of his power and purpose…

Exodus 3:14 (New King James Version)

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

In the midst of this encounter, Moses also expressed doubt about his own abilities to accomplish what God had proclaimed...

Exodus 4:1 (NKJV)

1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”

Exodus 4:10 (NKJV)

10 Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

BUT God assured Moses that ample resources would be in place to overcome his shortcomings…

Exodus 4:2 (NKJV)

2 So the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
He said, “A rod.”

Exodus 4:11 (NKJV)

11 So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD?

Now you would think that after all of this, Moses would have just launched out and done as God had instructed, BUT he didn’t. AND this is where Jethro reenters the narrative! He went into the tent of his father-in-law, and asked “Ummm, Ummm, Ummm, can I go check on my peeps?”

Exodus 4:18 (NKJV)18

So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

Now, I’m making a big exegetical assumption which might preach well but may not be entirely true, BUT what I am seeing here based on Moses idiosyncrasies and character flaws, is a moment of doubt…

…Well, Jethro had the power right there to stop Moses in his tracks and say “No”… “No, Moses, you cannot go.” AND what would Moses have done then? I’m not sure what he would have done, but I can tell you that I have been in situations where the word of God had been declared over my life and I needed someone with some maturity, some experience, some foresight, to get behind me and give me a good push, or a swift kick and say “Go.” Very rarely did they say “go” to me, in fact they often said nothing at all. So I either sat confused and wondering… stayed in a holding pattern unable to advance… OR I was placed in a position of having to chose between severing a meaningful relationship and moving forward, or sitting still and slowly wasting away…

Well for all you would be Jethro’s out there, let’s look at what Jethro says in this situation… Jethro says lech l’shalom, which literally means, “go to peace.” Most of the time this phrase is translated as “go in peace” which is a slightly different Hebrew phrase, lech b’shalom. See the difference? In this case, there is a big difference between “to” and “in.” The phrase “go in peace” is a typical farewell blessing which can indicate “resting in wholeness or perfection” (L. Sweet), whereas “go to peace” symbolizes a forward blessing. Its more like ”go forward and get all that your destiny holds!”

According to Len Sweet: “’Go to Peace!’ has the peacemaking sense of shalom, and the channeling of energy that brings wholeness and wellness to the world.”

Sweet also notes that one of the most powerful acts you can do to another human being is to bless them forward…

Rabbi Jonathan Magonet says, (paraphrasing) You can’t be “at peace” until you go “to peace” so that one day you can rest “in peace.”

We all need Jethro’s, not to cosign our foolishness… not to flatter us and toot our horns… not to patronize and ingratiate us… not to “kiss our butts” and coddle us… BUT

… to encourage us to go forward!
… to not let us cease in well doing!
… to tell us not to lose heart when we go through seasons of doubt!
… to break us, or better yet kick us out of our holding patterns!
… to tell us to “use whatcha’ got!”
… to affirm what God has already confirmed!

TO TELL US, “You can win,” “You can succeed,” “You have purpose,” God has plans for you. Plans of good and not of evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope!

Are you a Jethro? Is there someone you need to call, set up a meeting with, write a letter to? Someone who needed and needs you to bless them forward? I want to encourage you to reach out to that person today. Withholding a blessing can be as detrimental as not receiving one.

We all need people who directly or indirectly give us permission to make progress. Of course your destiny doesn’t ultimately depend on this permission, but it might just be the catalyst you need.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Who's Your Jonathan? - Your TRUE FRIEND

There was one person who David could always count on. This person would never let him down, always had his back, always put him in position to win, was always willing to dim his own light that David's light might shine more brightly. That one person was Jonathan.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 (New King James Version)

1 Now when he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. 2 Saul took him that day, and would not let him go home to his father’s house anymore. 3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 And Jonathan took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow and his belt.

Jonathan was a true friend, not a best friend but a true friend, not a BFF but a true friend. The Message version of the Bible translates Proverbs 18:24 as,

"Friends come and friends go,
but a true friend sticks by you like family."

Now I realize that many of us have family members who aren't very close and never will be, but in the biblical sense, this verse can be likened to the old adage, "blood is thicker than water," indicating the closeness of blood kinship. In this case, this true friend is thicker than blood!

1 Samuel 18:1 says that Jonathan loved David as his own soul.-- A soul friend is the epitome of a true friend and sees you as a kind of SECOND SELF.

"The true friend is, so to speak, a second self."
Cicero

According to Leonard Sweet:

A Jonathan believes in you when no one else does.
A Jonathan is loyal even when you make it hard to be loyal.
A Jonathan is the first to call in good times or bad.
A Jonathan gives and gives and wants nothing in return.
A Jonathan walks with you through every season of your life.

I have to say this because I have debated with more than a few folk about the meaning of "friend." I don't call many people "friend." Friend is a deeply intimate term for me. I have a number of acquaintances, many of them very dear. In my youth a had a "crew" that I hung out with... my homeboys. I had guys I played ball with, women I talked on the telephone and went to the movies with, people I partied with, even people I worshiped with at church... people I loved, but how many of them were true friends? To quote the hip hop group Whodini, "The dictionary doesn't know the meaning of friend." I'll just say that for me, a friend is a very special individual, and a true friend is priceless.

A Jonathan has at least 3 characteristics

1) A "What's in it for YOU attitude"

Be careful of people who only want to be close to you because of what you can do for them. Some people can make you feel great about yourself for all the wrong reasons. They put you up on a pedestal and anoint you king or queen. This is when you need your Nathan to come in and straighten you out! (see my previous blog entry)... The point I'm trying to make is that some people will get close to you with a "What's in it for me" attitude. They know that they stand to gain something from their relationship with you and that's the sole reason why they are in the relationship. A Jonathan on the other hand has a "What's in it for YOU attitude." They can put their own ambitions on the back burner and champion you, just because they love you.

2) Establishes a level of intimacy with you.

Relationships exist at many levels. I have heard it said that people come into your life for a "reason, a season, or a lifetime" and different levels of truth and trust are required to sustain different types of relationships. Jonathan's have established intimacy with you. You can share your dark side, your secret sins, your private pains, your old unhealed wounds, and your Jonathan will love you anyway.

3)Pay the cost.

I have heard it said that anything worth having will cost you something. A Jonathan knows that there is a cost associated with true friendship. To be a true friend requires great sacrifice and a Jonathan is willing to "Pay The Cost."

Who's your Jonathan? The person who would give their very last that you might live... the one who is willing to fall back, so that you can move forward... the one who feels your pain as though it were their own and rejoices in your triumph as though it were their own victory?

We all need a Jonathan. Someone who will allow us to be ourselves with no shame or regret. Someone who loves us, not because of, but in spite of who we really are.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Who's Your Nathan?

Those of you who are familiar with the narrative of biblical writ in the life of King David may also be acquainted with the ministry of the prophet Nathan. It was Nathan who had the "gonads" to go to King David after he had looked upon, defiled and impregnated the wife (Bathsheba) of Uriah, and then sent Uriah to face certain death on the front lines. Lust, Adultery, and Murder all in one fell swoop. What a trifecta! You go David! When you sin, you do it BIG boy! David would have been content to keep this little triple play of debauchery to himself, if it were not for the prophet's willingness to point out the err of his ways.

2 Samuel 12:7

7 Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.

Nathan said, "David, you da man!" Oh wait a minute, before that line gets caught up in modern day colloquialisms, and you think that Nathan was saying something like, "You go boy"; "Get your swag right player"; "You da OG, original playa playa pimp don dadda."... we should read a few more verses...

Let's try 8-10

8 I gave your master's house to you, and your master's wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.'

This "You're the man" was more like "You're the fool." Is there anyone in your life who is allowed to point their finger in your face and tell you "you are really screwing things up, and if you don't make some changes, you're on a collision course with calamity." We all need editing from time to time, and some of us need editing all the time! But I'm not writing a book here, I'm only blogging!

The name Nathan means gift. Nathan was a gift to David, because he had the wisdom and courage to step to David and EDIT him before it was too late. AND David, despite all of his mistakes, had the wisdom to give Nathan permission to speak to him... to "keep it real" with him.

Your Nathan will "help you get under your own skin," "ask you tough, intrusive questions," "help you to see the truth about who you are." Nathan's can be hard to take sometimes, but Nathan's Edit you because they love you, and they are concerned for your future. They want to see you reach your destiny. Don't shun the "Nathan" in your life, embrace her/him because they only want what's best for you.

Who's your Nathan? Did you hang up on him yesterday and tell him to never call back? Did you tell her that her advice was unsolicited and unwanted? Did you curse the day you ever met?

Your Nathan is a gift! Your future may hinge upon your willingness to hear your Nathan.

(Heavily influenced by the writing of Len Sweet)

Written by Frederick A. Hanna

Michael Jackson - The Little Brown Boy

June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson dies at the age of 50. I'm personally conflicted about Michael Jackson. I grew up loving him. I loved him because of his marvelous talent, but probably more so because he was a little brown boy like me.



There weren't too many little brown boys in the public eye when I was growing up who weren't caricatures. As I think back, the only other black boys that I remember seeing regularly on television when I was very young were Buckwheat, Stymie, Rodney Allen Rippey, and the Jacksons.



The Jacksons weren't dark, nappy headed, funny talking boys. They were just brown boys like me, except they had great talent. I loved Michael's music and his ability to captivate an audience, but there was a point where I became conflicted about Michael. Around the time of the Thriller album, I began to get a little confused.



He started to seem a little strange to me. His high pitched voice and strange mannerisms actually made it hard for me to appreciate the Thriller album at that time. Perhaps it was because I was on the verge of teen hood, and Michael no longer met the standard for my ideas about masculinity. I can't be sure right now. What I am sure of is that by the time the Bad album came out, I could no longer relate to Michael.



He was no longer that little brown boy. People like to joke that he metamorphosized from a black boy into a white woman. I don't know about that, but there is no denying that he took on a strange transgendered look. Who knows if he had a skin disease that caused his skin color to change, or if he bleached his skin. One thing is for sure, he mutilated the beautiful face of that little brown boy that I had grown to love.

Over the years, I learned to love Michael again. His performance at halftime of Super Bowl XXVII was hands down the best halftime show of all time. It made me see that beneath all of the surgeries, the little brown boy who was simply the greatest entertainer of all time was still there.

Behind all of the court cases, the accusations, the rumors and speculations, Never Never Land... was a tragic character. Most of us will probably never know all of the things that culminated in him becoming the 50 year old man that died on June 25th, but we do know that he changed the music industry, influenced countless entertainers who came after him, and literally made the music video industry.

I do find it interesting that a man who meant so much to black music seemed to have such an ambivilance about his own racial identity. Well, I will always remember him as that little brown boy. You know, the one with the wide nose, full lips, coarse curly hair, and brown skin... like me.

Africanisms in the Black Church

W.E.B. Dubois notes that the church was the only African institution that made its way from the African forest and survived slavery.

I have always contended that the flavor of the Black Church has been salted by our African roots and the Africanisms that express themselves through the lineage of our ancestors; however, I heard something recently that gave me a moment of pause. We are heading to South Africa soon for an initiative sponsored by the graduate school of education at Rutgers, and I want to examine the role of the church as a source of emancipatory education for South Africans pre and post Apartheid. I want to compare this to the role of the Black Church in the U.S. pre and post Emancipation. It was with this in mind that Dr. Godonoo



told me to pay attention to the ways that African Christians acknowledge and practice Christianity in their churches, and acknowledge and practice African religious rituals in their homes. “They go home from church and pour libations and practice other African religious rites,” he instructed.

This made sense as I read E. Franklin Frazier’s, The Negro Church in America.



Frazier said that although remnants of African religious culture were preserved in the African American experience, the breaking up of tribes and clans and the loss of language rendered African religious myth and cults devoid of traditional meaning and significance. Being kept in baracoons,...

...enduring middle passage,...

...and being dehumanized in every possible way before being acculturated to plantation regime served to strip the African of his/her cultural heritage. Couple this with the fact that whites were frequently on guard for African religious practices, as they feared they would contribute to slave revolt, and that these practices were weeded out and often outlawed; and one can begin to see how the Christian religion of the new world, in terms of the Black Church, evolved into a unique entity all its own. It became the basis of social cohesion, political enlightenment, educational advancement, social activism, and protonationalism (in some cases) for African Americans.

So much more to say on this topic, which I will reserve for later musings in an article...

It will be interesting to see what Africa reveals to me, but one thing is for sure... As Africans, we brought a strong “sense of” and “sensitivity to” the activity of the spirit world... the shout, the dance, the fervor of religious spirit, and the other worldliness that helped African Americans to escape from slavery if only in spirit, were the remnants of our African past, and are made manifest in our African American present. It is part of what makes The Black Church in America unique.

This Whole "Swag" Thing

“Swagger: prideful, arrogant walk or stride…”

“Swagger: poised, sassiness that can't be touched. It may be in the walk or it may be in the talk, but there is no doubt it means you own the room and you have that natural charisma. Basically, one with swagger dominates at life…”

“Swagger is the confidence exuded as a reflection of ones dress, shoe game, attitude, and how one handles a situation.”

Urban Dictionary

You can learn how to dress just by jocking my fresh
Jocking jocking my fresh
Jocking jocking my fresh
Follow my steps, it's the road to success
Where the niggas know you thorough
And the girls say yes
But I can't teach you my swag
You can pay for school but you can't buy class
School of hard knocks
I'm a grad
And that all-blue Yankee is my graduation cap

--Jay Z////Swagger Like Us

I’m not feeling the whole “swag” thing. When I was younger, long before the term "swag" became popular slang, I used to laud my own swagger. I would walk around with an attitude... sometimes it was a nasty attitude... sometimes it was just arrogance... I told people about it, and explained that it was my "edge." It was what allowed me to have the self confidence I needed to succeed. When people told me it was arrogance, I explained to them that it was just self esteem. Some of it was a carryover of having to carry yourself in a certain way because you lived in a hostile environment... an environment where being soft could make you a casualty. I understood that being a member of a marginalized group meant that I needed to believe in myself, to be able to hold my head up, to be "black and proud."



While I would still argue that this is a truism, and that it is important that certain groups have this sense of self affirmation, I must also admit that there is a fine line between arrogance and self confidence. One displays a humble assuredness, the other reeks of pride. Pride is an ugly image to see when the man in the mirror is wearing it.

Sociologiaclly, "swag" is related to a fragmented gender identity among marginalized males that frequently renders them (us) invisible to mainstream society. The result is an exagerrated masculinity that masks an inner struggle with the feeling that one’s talents, abilities, personality, and worth are not valued or even recognized
because of structural prejudice and racism in society (Franklin, A. J. (1999). Invisibility syndrome and racial identity development in psychotherapy
and counseling African American men. The Counseling Psychologist, 27, 761-793.).

I don’t care how you try to dress up and recreate the term to mean confidence, manners, and style… When I hear the term “swag,” I hear arrogance, conceit, self-righteousness, pride, and vanity. I see the seeds of chauvinism, misogyny, and megalomania. Do me a favor; trade in your “swag” for some self respect, integrity, accountability, character, and humility…

In the words of Gang Starr's The Guru Keith E., "If you don't like it kid, take it personal."



Peace

Vancouver's Other Side

Had an amazing day in Vancouver today. We arrived via cruise ship, disembarking in downtown Vancouver. The city was beautiful as we cruised into the harbor. We arrived at our hotel, and ran off to have coffee before going to our magnificent hotel room. Downtown Vancouver is trendy and chic. It reminded me of New York City. All of the famous designers have shops there, there are tons of great restaurants, and the people dress with a European style. I was surprised at the number of Chinese people on the streets, even though I had read that Vancouver’s largest ethnic minority was Chinese. After walking through the downtown area, we took the ferry over to Grandview Island. Great place. Lots of great ethnic food, fresh fruits and veggies, art, musicians, culture... Lots of funky dressing people… I felt like I was in Soho. I was definitely digging the fashion forward clothing. We grabbed lunch and headed out for our whale watching tour which was fabulous. During our tour we learned about marine mammals and birds, but we also learned about the University of British Columbia, Stanley Park, and the Museum of Anthropology. Vancouver also boasts Broadway style plays along with other rich cultural experiences.

BUT… Some of you know that I can never visit a city and just see what the powers that be want you to see. I always have to investigate the seediest parts of the city. So after an incredible Thai dinner with my wife. I put on my walking shoes and decided to head 2 miles east to Vancouver’s notorious East Hastings Avenue. Our hotel happened to be on West Hastings in the beautiful downtown waterfront area, so finding East Hastings was no big deal. Take a right outside the hotel doors and proceed. The first mile was typical of what I had seen all day. Lots of renovation and restoration. Nightclubs bustling with scantily clad young middle class kids, etc. THEN ALL OF THE SUDDEN, it changed. I mean one corner was beautiful downtown, and the next corner was something completely different. The first signal of change I got was a cannabis shop. Is marijuana sale legal in Vancouver? I guess so, but I haven’t investigated it as of yet. The next sign was a series of seedy motels. The kind that either rent rooms by the hour, or house welfare families. Then all of the sudden there were hoards of people. There was a check cashing store, several run down bars, liquor stores, and convenience stores Homeless people everywhere. People covered in dirt and filth, walking around in circles in drug induced dazes, crackhead prostitutes with bodies like skeletons, people blurting out vulgarities and phrases that didn’t make sense, and hand to hand drug transactions. I saw a man sitting in a wheelchair shooting heroin right in front of a hotel in clear view. Then I saw a lady with 3 crack rocks (could have been crytal meth) on her knee as she readied the glass pipe to cook up the rocks. Next I walked through a haze of what I knew to be fumes from a crack pipe. I once watched a friend cook up and smoke crack in front of me, and you never forget that smell. I saw at least two more people shooting up on the sidewalk and countless others smoking crack up and down the sidewalk. This must have covered at least a mile of city streets on both sides of East Hastings. I saw a few police cars, but they seemed to be managing the chaos, not curtailing it. In all my time in New York, New Jersey, Philly, DC, and Baltimore, I have never seen anything like this. Homeless people lined the streets, people offered to sell me hot clothes, appliances, and sex, as one man stood on the corner feeding a huge pet rat. I never felt threatened though. I always feel a kind of kinship to disenfranchised people. They’re just people… People who need help.

Written by Frederick A. Hanna