BACKlikeWEneverLEFT

Wow world it has been over two years since my last blog, it’s amazing how time flies!!! Well first and foremost, I want to apologize for the hiatus and tell everyone that I will give the most effort humanly possible to keep blogging on a consistent basis. I understand that sometimes life takes a hold of us and we caught up in the daily grind, but that is never an excuse. Effort is something that does not cost anything but time and energy, and I truely appreciate having this blog as an outlet to express my ideas, concerns, thoughts and feelings to the masses. So with that being said, whats new with your boy Handy???

As some of you may know me personally and for those who don’t, over the last couple of years, I have gotten married to my lovely wife Thelma (that’s such an old name haha) and we are expecting our first son in November!! I really wanted to have a daughter, but God wanted different for me so I’m not upset. My oldest son Isaiah was valedictorian of his 5th grade class and is now ready to tackle the new beast called “middle school”. Me and my wife are moving out of our home of the last six years into somewhere bigger because of the oncoming baby. Also, my “blogger in crime” Puff has a one year old daughter! Don’t tell him I told y’all it’s a secret, SShhh!!! As you can see, this is just some of the changes for us over the last couple of years. It has been a time full of surprises to say the least.

Now that we have gotten the pleasantries out of the way, let’s get to business and lets chop up this fable that we have going around in the black community called “praying for peace”. At what point, do we stop looking at God to solve our problems and understand that without God we cannot solve our problems. I have noticed that as a race, we do not understand the difference in those two statements in our current day and age. Now you may say, “Handy, you trippin, you just said the exact same thing, just tried to word it different” Now on the surface this may be true, but let’s really delve into those two statements and hopefully I can show the difference in the two.

Now when you hear someone say, “just pray on it and God will figure it out”, they are telling you, well you may not know the answer right now, but He will reveal it to you when the timing is right. Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight.” Now understand that everything is not meant for us to understand in God’s eyes and I get that. Like why are so many black men dying at the hands of guns period, whether from a white man or a black man, I truly don’t understand. We try to make reasons for why it happens, but really we don’t understand why either. You can go anywhere in the world and you will not see people slaughtered, outside of war, in the same manner black men get killed in America. It makes no sense that literally a day does not go by in America, where a black man isn’t shot and killed. I just don’t understand it and if you claim you do understand why, then you are just fooling yourself. The forces at work for this constant evilness are way bigger than me and you, and as people sometimes we have to accept that and know the difference between what we can handle and what to leave in God’s hands. So “praying for peace”, I understand to that extent. That’s us wanting God to solve our problems for us.
But let’s be real folks, that’s not what the problem is in today’s world in my eyes. We need to pray for understanding and guidance as we fight for our right to live in this country. It is nothing wrong with wanting peace, but don’t get it twisted, the Lord fights diligently for what is His. We need to stop “praying for peace” and start “praying for guidance” because we want our actions to be guided by the Lord and not the Devil. Ephesians 6:10-18 declares, “10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Point is, we have to stop twiddling our thumbs and expecting a miracle to happen just cause. If we fight for our right to live, truly using the Lord to guide our steps as we fight, then we as a people understand that without God we cannot solve our problems. And as the Bible shows, it is nothing wrong with fighting the good fight.

Whew! That can be a lot to take in but hopefully by the end of this blog, you can see a little into why I want us to understand what we are praying for. It’s a huge difference between praying for peace and praying for understanding and guidance. Black people we have to wake up and understand that it is not wrong to fight for what is right. We have a right to live just like any other race or people in this world. Stop praying for peace with people that only want war with you. And understand that the enemy will attack you whether you are ready or not. So do you want to be prepared for war or slaughtered like sheep? No matter how much you run from the bully, they will always pick on you when they find you. In this world we reside in, evil will always find you and you always have to be ready to fight it. Let’s stop running and being cowards and fight for our right to live. Love y’all, until next time, Peace.

-Handy