This is a space I created for distilling my thoughts as I discipline myself in my craft. At heart – I am a writer… a poet… Clarity finds me when I can put a pen to paper or rest my finger tips on a keyboard. Sanity comes as the swirling thoughts in my overloaded mind make it the page… Most times it feels like I’m just rambling, but every now and then the end result is actually something intelligible….
You are welcome to join me on this journey. Who knows? We may actually learn something from one another. Maybe you’ll inspire me or be inspired by me – I certainly hope so! Maybe, I’ll piss you off – or maybe you’ll frustrate me – that may be even better. You see, I have this strange theory that conflicts needn’t be avoided. Conflicts need to be managed. They are the friction that causes motion! I actually believe that we learn more from those with whom we disagree than from most any other source. The discord is actually an opportunity for harmony. Thesis… Antithesis… Synthesis… Growth. We will all end up a bit wiser, broader in our experience and perspective, more tolerant, and more compassionate. That is my hope, at least. I guess we will have to wait and see what happens!
In a recent Ministry Collaborative podcast, Mark Ramsey quoted an old saying:
“Give me a place to stand, and I will move the world.”
That simple sentence exposes a hard truth: movement without a foundation is just motion—and motion alone rarely changes anything.
I’ve been pondering his words, and I’ve come to a less-than-obvious conclusion.
Much of our ineffectiveness—in life, in relationships, and in ministry—comes from an unwillingness to take a stand on what truly matters, or even to dare say that some things matter more than others.
I appreciate the impulse behind the idea that everything matters to someone, depending on perspective. It is a generous instinct, rooted in a desire to affirm people. But even noble intentions carry risks.
When everything matters, nothing does.
When vision is distorted by isolation, individualism, or materialism, we become myopic—unable to see clearly. In those moments, what we need is a better lens.
For those who preach or lead congregations—and for all who seek to follow Jesus—that lens is grace: grace that calls for righteousness and justice without condemning those who have been deceived by selfishness and insularity. It is grace that affirms the life and dignity of all God’s creation. It is compassion. It is generosity. Where we stand, if we hope to move the world, is in Christ, with Christ, and on Christ.
If we want to move the world, the question is not whether we are passionate enough. The question is, ‘Where are we standing?’
The Church does not need more motion. It needs more grounding.
My ancestors understood this when they sang words that carried faith through uncertainty and loss:
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand All other ground is sinking sand… All other ground… is sinking sand!
The Apostle Paul said it like this:
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11
Learning where to stand requires:
• Naming your Ground This week, take time to name—out loud or in writing—what you are actually standing on. Ask yourself: What convictions shape my decisions when no one is watching? If Christ is our foundation, clarity matters. • Practicing Discernment, Not Equivalence Resist the pressure to treat everything as equally urgent. Pay attention to what you elevate with your time, energy, and attention. Some things matter more—and choosing wisely is an act of faith, not exclusion. • Letting Grace Be Your Lens Before reacting, judging, or withdrawing, ask: Am I seeing this through grace? Grace does not deny truth or justice—it grounds them in compassion and generosity. • Examining Your Movement Notice where you are busy but ungrounded. Activity is not the same as faithfulness. Ask: Is my movement rooted in Christ, or driven by anxiety, outrage, or fear? • Seeking Community Faith was never meant to be practiced alone. Seek grounding in community—through worship, conversation, prayer, and shared discernment. Standing firm is easier when we stand together. • Maintaining your Foundation Make space each day—however briefly—to return to Christ as your footing.
If we want to move the world, we don’t start by running – we start by standing—
As I rise to meet the day here in Alabama, it appears that nature is agreeing that it’s time for the season to change.
By the sounds of it, the birds got the memo and they are singing their hearts out!
Oh that we had the wisdom of the birds! They sing like they know something that we must all learn..
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Matthew 6:26
Today, I am taking my cue from these birds! I am welcoming this new day with a song…
Be not dismayed Whatever betide God will take care of you Beneath His wings In peace abide, God will take care of you.
There’s an old R&B song where the hook says, ‘Who do you love, are you sure?’ I can’t remember who recorded it but LL Cool J sampled it years later in a song called ‘Loungin. I don’t know why this song stuck in my head today. The LORD works in mysterious ways…
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, where candy and flowers will abound. But, when I look around and listen to the news, I can’t help but wonder if we really have any idea what real love is or what it does!
Much like the old spiritual song that says, ‘everybody talkin’ ‘bout heaven ain’t going.’ Real love is a mystery. Rooted in convenient affections and comfortable transactions- what we call love is hardly recognizable when compared to the biblical definition.
Love is selfless, humble, durable, and resilient. Love is willful and transformative to both the giver and the recipient. Love goes out of its way and shows up. Love is gracious and kind.
So, who do YOU love? Are you sure? How do those you say you love know it? How do you know you are loved?
God loves us. God proves God’s love by keeping God’s promises – presence, provision, and protection! God proves God’s love through persistence that endures even our imperfections… That’s love! Love like that!
So, who do YOU love? Are you sure? Do the people YOU love know it? Tell them… Show them… again and again!
In the words of MJB, ‘I’m looking for a real love…’
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
I want to remind us of the importance of perspective—how it shapes the way we encounter the world, express ourselves, and embrace one another.
Because of our physical and human limitations, our vision will always be slightly skewed. Someone or something will inevitably fall outside our frame. This isn’t a judgment; it’s simply an honest acknowledgment of our condition.
Yet the grace of Christ, when received with humility, lifts us. It grants us the ability to cultivate both compassion and clarity toward others—especially those we find most different from us, and most difficult to love.
So, my prayer for us today is simple:
Lord, lift us up by your grace, that we may see others with the same compassion and generosity with which you see us. Grant us the grace to truly see—and to be moved with compassion toward—everyone you place in our path.
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
LORD, lift us and grant us a new and better perspective today!
When I was about six years old, standing in the yard with my mother, while I can’t remember what was going on at the time, or what I had said or done, but I remember clearly her saying to me,
“Adam, you know what’s right. No matter what’s going on. No matter who’s around you. You know what’s right.”
As a young man, I resented her words. They haunted me—returning at the most inopportune moments, interrupting my mischief.
As I grew up, however, I began to appreciate her words. And as I’ve grown older, I feel the full weight of her words. Way back then, Sarah Nell was speaking words that would one day give—and save—my life.
I can hear the voice of the Spirit in her words…
We must not lose our souls. We must not yield to easy assimilation masquerading as integration. We must not surrender our distinction. We must not allow frustration to become despair— despair that tempts us to collude with the powerful. We must not mimic their ways. We must preserve our integrity.
With justice and reconciliation as our goal, and love as our sole motivation— joy, creativity, resilience, compassion: these are our weapons. This is our protest.
I say to you—brothers and sisters, men and women of faith:
We know what’s right. No matter what’s going on. No matter who’s around us. We know what’s right!
We know what’s right. Now let’s get to it.
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you, But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
While there are so many things that are not right in this world, let us not overlook the many things that must be right for us to be here in this moment.
Let us realize the miracle of this moment. Let us be fully aware of the conspiracy of time and space that makes our very lives possible…
Air to breathe… Blood running warm in our veins… A right mind… A reasonable portion of life, health, and strength…
Can you feel that?
This awareness did not begin with us.
Our enslaved ancestors, while confronted with horrendous circumstances, cultivated hope and creativity that sustain our communities even today.
I can hardly imagine what their lives must have been like, but I am regularly inspired by how they mustered the resilience to endure so that we might have even a chance!
All is not well in our world, but so much is. Otherwise, we would not be here.
God’s faithfulness, met by their courage and creativity, is the foundation of our present hope—even amid pressing crises.
Thank God for the witness of our ancestors.
May we draw on their strength to stabilize us in the midst of our storms.
May we sing—not in denial of our present reality, but in defiant hope for a brighter future:
There is no escaping grief. Sorrows will surely come. We will all eventually encounter the pain that accompanies loss.
But if there is any blessing or goodness at all in this disturbing reality, it is this – Grief and sorrow are moments that we pass through – but we needn’t live in it. Grief and sorrow are not our final destination!
While we cannot escape, we needn’t ignore, and cannot avoid it, we also don’t have to bear it alone.
We can share our grief with our community, we can carry our sorrows to the compassionate Creator who cares, who comforts us, and who is able to do something about it…
The hymn writer says:
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness;
take it to the Lord in prayer!
While we may not escape grief and sorrows, we do have a refuge in a loving God, who can transform even these…
You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.
Years ago, during an anniversary program, my wife stood up at the end of the service and jokingly referred to being married to the invisible man.
Ouch.
She spoke of seeing the impact of my presence everywhere—while often not seeing me.
Yikes.
Her words still give me pause today.
She wasn’t wrong. I’ve always worked a lot—behind the scenes, below the radar—pulling strings, holding doors, cleaning up messes, fixing things, filling gaps. Keeping my head down. Helping out. Avoiding attention. Seeing without being seen.
This, I told myself, was faithful ministry. Or at least, that’s what I believed at the time.
“The invisible man,” she said. I understand what she meant. I can’t dismiss the piercing, painful truth in her words.
But I may offer a slightly different perspective.
Invisible? Perhaps. But I am not invisible—though I am often unseen.
There is a difference.
Invisible suggests absence. Unseen suggests presence without recognition.
And somewhere along the way, I’ve learned to be okay with that… sort of.
Unseen… impactful.
Unseen… integral.
Unseen… evident.
I’m okay with that.
But it’s a slippery slope.
Because unseen can become ignored. Unseen becomes unacknowledged. And over time, unseen becomes invisible.
And that matters.
So I have a question for us today:
Who are the unseen yet impactful—the unseen but integral people who have blessed us behind the scenes, simply because?
Who has God used to refresh and encourage us?
Here’s my challenge for us:
Don’t let them become invisible. Don’t allow those who have influenced us, sustained us, and quietly inspired us to fade into obscurity.
Though they may be unseen, do not let them become invisible.
Because invisibility is loneliness. It is the quiet ache of being present, faithful, and forgotten.
No one really wants to be invisible.
So choose to see. Choose to remember.
Although others may be blind to our benefactors, let us not allow them to become invisible to us.
“…for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.” 1 Corinthians 16:18
Winter’s chill is here, and many of us complain about the cold. But let’s remember: it’s supposed to be cold outside this time of year.
What isn’t supposed to be cold, though, are our hearts.
As a Black man and a Christian, standing on the shoulders of my ancestors, I cannot accept or celebrate the emotional coldness gripping the nation I call home. For centuries, my ancestors and their allies have warned of this chill—raising their voices, protesting, and urging us to prepare for a winter of the soul. Now, that winter is upon us.
This icy blast doesn’t just sting noses and ears; it numbs the hearts of those who believed that whiteness, or proximity to it, would shield them from the cold. The temptation is to say, “We told you so,” and to find satisfaction in being right. But I know that high places are slippery—especially when coated in ICE.
Instead of giving in to bitterness, I choose to stoke the fires of hope and compassion. I offer warmth—a hat, a scarf, some gloves, perhaps. I refuse to surrender love to hatred or compassion to coldness. Even when it’s difficult, I will not abandon the warmth of grace. I cannot stop caring.
What about you? How will you keep your heart warm this winter? Will you choose compassion over indifference?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:43–45
Yes, it’s cold outside. Stay warm—in body and in spirit.
pastorpoet 