The Need for a Wake Up Call

"This Fourth of July is yours, not mine, You may rejoice, I must mourn."
-Frederick Douglass, What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?

#AwakenAmerica T-Shirt
by Lifepath08

I state this plainly and with limit idea how it might strike home for others: America needs to wake up.

I say this to those who look like me and stand with me: American minorities need to wake up.

I say this to those who work and remain poor as well as those who struggle and strive to survive from paycheck to paycheck, even those who have no employment and no foreseeable means of employment in the near future: America's working class needs to wake up.

If we do not wake up, we are doomed.

We will be doomed to repeat the last 4 years. We will be doomed to see racial tensions grow to the full extent of the law and boil over into bloodbaths and mayhem. We will be doomed to see the shrinking value of a dollar right before our own eyes. We will be doomed.

We will be doomed if we do not take an active role in the political process. We will be doomed if we sit back and expect the others to carry the weight of this election. We will be doomed if we simply accept what has passed for representation in the past as valid assurance that things will get better by and by.

Wake up and wise up.

We have to get active and mobilized, educating and empowering the average voter on how to use the power of his or her vote and voice.

#AwakenAmerica #vote2020

Revisit how 2008 was won based on concepts like HOPE, CHANGE, and YES WE CAN. Can we do something like that again?

Time for Change

UCSD's Compton Cookout is turning into the Chancellor Cop-out. Nice try but no takers on freedom speech and such defenses when its your campus. The incident demonstrated that racism and bigotry can be seen as a laughing matter to many on a campus where 2% of the population is ridiculed and mocked as "ghetto." The last time I checked UC had some pretty stringent standards. Time for change is upon us. It's today. Promote as much Black pride as you can muster in these last days of Black History Month. Our children and youth need to see us as leaders, not laughing stocks.
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Get a daily dose of reality @ http://revbruce.wordpress.com
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Try sharing with a youth.
Surely, it can prevent teen-age pregnancy and drop outs.
Visit www.mentoring.org
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Church or Community?

There's a question brewing among the saints. Evangelicals and radicals alike are tossing ideas back and forth. Many folks in Christian circles are trying to figure out what to do during these hard economic times. People are trying to figure out if it is about the church being part of the community or the community being part of the church.

We contemplate the complicated. We mix and mingle a whole lot of mess. In the end, we are left with the simple discovery that there is no better solution than what we had before. The countless ways that we can dream up and scheme up don't seem to matter much because God has already offered the best alternative.

He expects us to be part of the solution to both the community's issues and the church's ills. The church needs to get over itself and recognize that it's not that holy. Church people sin just like evryone else, by thought, word and deed. The church should serve those within the community to help meet unmet needs of the fatherless, homeless, jobless, and others. Our service is not good works if the benefactors are merely other church people. That would make us simply hypocrites. We need to get out into the community and see where we might be able to lend support to existing services and add to the plethora of newly-adapted services needed to reach people at their lowest points as they seek to survive and simply make ends meet. Let the church serve its community, embracing brothers and sisters with all that they have to offer.

The unity of the church will consist
not in organizations,
not in dogmas,
not in liturgies,
not in pious hearts,
but in the word of God
in the voice of Jesus Christ.
- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Inspired by God

I am honestly inspired by God as I prepare for an unconventional sermon today. Street preaching, as many will agree, requires one to say what needs to be said and shut up and get out of the way. The Lord will lead you further once you get started, but He gives you enough to get started and share with the people in order to make a real connection with them. At least twice per month, we rotate among 3 to 4 preachers to share a brief inspirational message before a line of people seeking food items and clothes from our community giveaway. Our presentation of the gospel has shifted as hearts have been opened by the Word and our own eyes have been opened to the degree of blight and poverty that exists within our community. As I prepare for my message, I see images of black, brown and yellow faces with hope in their dark eyes. I can't help but hear the Lord's words the "least of these" echo over and over again in my spirit. Keep us in prayer as we serve the people once again.

Bayview Charities Food Giveaway
Sponsored by Feeding America
Every 1st & 3rd Friday
8 AM-10 AM
www.bayviewcharities.com
www.bayviewbc.org
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Visit Rev. Bruce's other blog, too. http://revbruce.wordpress.com

Black Business Month: Technology Tools

Technology is the great equalizer for modern business. Through technology small businesses can compete and reach markets that were never available to them in prior years. The business world has seriously gone global.
Those who use technology need some essential tools to maximize its usage for business success. The following is a list of tech essentials:
Laptop/ PC: this serves as the base of your online operations; from outgoing messages and email blasts to billing and accounting software like Quickbooks, you need either or both of these working for you.
Smartphone: you have a lot of choices. Blackberry, Apple's iPhone, HTC and Palm. I use the Palm Pro with Windows Mobile. Email, text messages, Internet surfing, and lot of other bells and whistles that I cannot even keep up with. Discover what you need for your business to run smoothly on the go.
Website: Check out www.bravenet.com because they have web tools and platforms for web design; need to add a calendar to your site? Start here. Yes, you can use Google calendar and sites but this is one option among many.
Social Networking: you need a profile beyond your About Us page on your website. Linked In, MySpace, and others provide a platform for you to provide a profile and interact with others online. I am a big fan of Facebook. it just has the type of platform that I find well worth the time and effort. Twitter also let's me get some ideas out there about business, sports, and whole lot of other things. FaithFreaks is a Christian network that I like almost as much as www.urbanministry.org.

There are other tools that we can use, but these are just the essentials.
Follow me on www.twitter.com/lifepath01/.

Buy Black: Black Business Month (August)

In an era such this one that has seen the first African-American president, Black business in America needs support and strengthening. It should be that the Black community, especially the Black church, works to generate Black-owned businesses, even women-owned businesses. Throughout August, I will highlight some issues and insights regarding Black business as part of Life Path's recognition of Black Business Month.