Sadness

Today I found out that one of my former students was killed on Thursday. Sad, sad, sad. Was he a problem child in sixth grade, yes. He already had a record. Had been in juvie for stealing a car with some other boys. I only had him for sixth grade but it was apparent that if some truly strong intervention didn't happen then this outcome was inevitable. He never had a real chance. He didn't value education and had difficulty reading and staying focused. I could come up with dozens of reasons why he couldn't cope. He was one of ten children, his mother was/had been in jail, he had very low reading skills and reasoning and comprehension is difficult for him.

But despite all of this I would like to think that he could overcome these obstacles but he was still just a boy. He was a child. No more than 15 years old. What could he have know about taking care of himself and staying on the right track. Who was ever around to show him what to do? I just feel sorry for him. As I look at my students now I see two or three who can follow this same road. Its never all of them. Its just a few who are lost. So I try to encourage those who will take encouragement and lead them down the right path. We had our last Saturday school today. Thank God.

I really, really enjoyed last night. it was such an intimate evening. Everything was so enjoyable. I'm glad I decided to go. I thought it might be difficult but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank You for bring such a wonderful, interesting talent to our church. Thank You. Thank You.

Well, good night and God Bless. Its been a long day and I am praying for a good evening. Take Care of Yourself. We don't have a lot of time. Nothing is promised to us. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.

Discipline

Good Morning Father God. I praise you and lift up your Holy Name. You are worthy to be praised. I make a commitment to you today Lord that I will obey your commandments. I strive to obey your will in my life.
Like the three boys who went into the fire, I will praise you whether you save me or not. I am committed to you. Lord I speak to you from my heart. My heart longs for you and I will commit my life to you.

Daniel 3:16-18
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."

I do not need to defend myself in this matter. I do not need to make excuses or plea bargain. Do what you will but I will serve the Lord Our God. The Almighty. The Creator of Heaven and Earth. The Deliverer. The Sovereign King, The Holy One. Lord thank you for today and thank you for waking me up. I will look forward to this evening. I'm excited about seeing Gladys Knight. I want to make sure that I am feeling well and up to par for the evening. Glory be to God. You Are worthy to be praised.

God Bless You today. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.

Good Night

God Bless You Tonight. I pray that God will watch over you tonight during this very cold and harsh winter. I am truly tired of this winter. But that is another story. This week has been very rough for me weather wise. I have been late twice. Yesterday it took me two hours to get in and then I was blessed to be able to leave and go to the doctor so I could get some medicine to start getting better. Then today, I try another route and I am delayed because of a train. I pray that tomorrow is better. I found out that the substitute who worked for me yesterday had a problem. Someone stole five dollars from her purse. God I hate thieves. I heard they had security and everything trying to find out who stole her money. Its ridiculous that someone would do such a thing. We are just talking about six, seven, and eighth graders. I don't imagine we will ever see her again. Its so hard to get substitutes to come to our school as it is and when they do, something like this happens. Father God, help us to help our children learn that they can not keep abusing the people who are there to help them. We are preparing for the state test next week. A large majority of our students all over the city will sit down and find themselves confused and dazed when they begin to take this test that is constantly held in their face as the deciding factor of whether they will move to the next grade, what high school will accept them and whether they can choose a school or just accept what is given to them. This test gives us an idea how our children compete/compare/are judged by others who make decisions about their lives. Blessed be the name of the Lord. God, I pray that we are able to improve our scores. I pray that improvement is seen from our results. Let our children's light shine. Let them be able to think, and learn and produce a rich and cultured generation. Glory be to God. Thank You Jesus.
I am tired and I pray that I can get to sleep quickly and rest all night long until its time to get up. I have had such a restless week.
God Bless You tonight. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.

Communication

Father God I come to you humble and tired. I pray that I will feel better soon. I am fighting whatever this is that is trying to come over me. I trust in the Lord to see me through. No weapon formed against me shall prosper. While I dont accept the sickness, I will work through the symptoms. I will treat the symptoms to the best of my ability. I give glory and praise to you Father God.

I wonder, did somebody take something that was not theirs during the tour? I hate it when people steal from me. Whenever I am absent from school, my door stays unlocked all day and certain students, not all, just certain ones will come in and go through my desk. I wasn't there last Friday and some things are missing, again. They particularly like my markers. My dry erase markers especially. Of course if there is any candy or money, they go for that too. Thieves are the worst. I think that is why in God's commandments he not only says thou shall not steal, but thou shall not covet thy neighbors goods. Leave my stuff alone! We always say I would give it to you if you ask but I don't believe that to be true either. I would rather know that you want it so I can protect it better. Some things I would give to you and some I want to keep. Let me decide. Don't steal it from me. But as we are reminded daily, The Devil comes to KILL, STEAL and DESTROY. Don't think that he isnt doing all of those things to you on a daily basis.

God Bless You today. Be Blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.

Good Morning

Praise the Lord. I got up this morning after hitting the snooze for only two times. I want to renew my relationship. I want to be obedient to God's will.

Proverbs 2:5-10
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops, then your barns will be filled to overflowing and your vats will brim over with new wine.

So I trust in the Lord. I praise the Lord with my words and deeds. I am ready to start my day. I know the roads are wet, so I will give myself extra time. I am thankful to have another day to try to please you. I thank God for waking me up this morning. One more day. Thank You Lord. I look forward to the day when I see you again. God Bless You today. Be blessed and be a blessing to someone. I love you.

God Gets All of My Praises

I give all of my praise to God. I know that when the praises go up the blessings come down. God has the final say on my life. My breakthrough is coming. I feel closer to it. I will not be discouraged. I know that my future is in God's hand. Good night and God bless you. I love you.

Thank You

That was such a wonderful tour. It was so much to take in. I was just speechless. I wanted to look at everything. I could spend hours there just soaking in the rich history. You have African American culture, past and present. I love how your items bring the struggle alive. Actual documents, the black codes, the shackles, the bill of sale. The many pictures and signatures. You have to write a book. Just like that boy who was in my group who didn't know what you meant by the term black-face, there is so much rich history that needs to be told so that we dont forget. Never assume that people know, they just don't know. Walking us through your memories and collections allows us to remember that it was real, not just something you read about and forget. It makes me also know that you are real. You are multi-dimensional. Deep and inquisitive, yet very human. Thank you again for the tour. I will treasure the fact that you opened your home up to us, to me. I pray that you did not have a chance to regret doing that. I hope everything went well and you enjoyed it too. I hope it wasnt too exhausting. I was just in awe of all the wonderful antiques. I love antiques. I love history. Thank You, thank you, thank you.