Is it Real, Though?

I know, it's been a while…but hey, that's life, right?

So, about a year and a half ago as some of you may recall, the fellowship my family and I were attending decided that they were going to go in a direction, that after much prayer and consideration, I didn't feel called to take my family into.  They were trying to get the whole fellowship to concentrate their presence into one area and were going to not gather the entire congregation any more.  They were then switching to home churches.  This would have called for me to sell or rent my house and relocate my family to another area.  Not that, for the sake of the gospel, I wouldn't do something like that. On the contrary, I couldn't move my family because I am convicted and convinced that this is precisely where God wants us to be for the foreseeable future.  Also, unable to find somewhere to rent within our price range that would be suitable for my family, it would have been an unwise choice for me as a husband, a  father, and a steward of what God has given us to make.

That said, there was also other information that was used against me, which really had little bearing on our walk as a family, my walk as a man, or the impact the gospel has had on our lives.  Was what I did wrong? Yes. But was it grounds for excommunicating me and my family? Probably not.  Yes, I still struggle with things of the flesh.  Yes, my speech is not always edifying or right. Yes, I still lust. Yes, I still fight to keep my own mind every day.

But you know what?

I'm fighting.

I'm trying every day to be a better man of God. I'm trying and praying to be a better man for my boys, for my wife, for myself, and most importantly, for the glory of the God that gives me mercy, grace and love every day.  It took some time to fight bitterness from growing in my heart.  It took love and encouragement from God's children to stifle those seeds from taking root and flourishing into hate and spite and spewing venom about all those people that were just able to so quickly turn their backs on someone they had supposedly considered family just days prior.

After the Lord gave us a great fellowship of believers here in our own neighborhood, the ONE true friend I have that still attended our old fellowship informed me that they were going back to the way they did things before my family and I left. The reasons they have for returning to this way are varied, and I only pray God's best for them.  I have always only ever loved them and wished God's blessings for them.  I don't even know if they know that.  If they knew us, they'd know it's true.

The purpose of this post is not to say I was right or anything the like.  The purpose of this post is to ask, if someone is truly part of The Family of God, like you say they are, how is it so easy to just "excommunicate" someone after they've committed what you consider a grievous enough sin?  How could you just have gone so cold so quickly towards me and my family?  How could you turn your backs so abruptly on our sister?  Were our sins so grave that they brought utter shame to Christ's name? Were our sins so severe that we're now living lives that have no evidence of God's grace or love or mercy?

I would be hard pressed to say yes.  God's love, forgiveness, grace, and mercy are still ever present in our lives.  Having been through the emotions that my beloved sister is now going through, my Mrs and I have been talking with her and praying for her.  I don't know if you'll read this, but I write it to encourage everyone out there that God's grace and love are bigger than any failure we've suffered or felt we've had imposed on us.  Our God's love and forgiveness is more massive than us failing to walk on the path the way that you've instructed us to do so.

We deeply appreciated your community, relationship, love, and friendship. So, I ask…in the end, was it real?

A$AP ROCKY - Long Live A$AP

I don't normally do this, but this is both a response to the Director of Music for a radio station in San Jose and a review of an album I recently heard.  Granted, it's not going to be an in-depth review, because I won't have listened to it more than once when I write this.

Driving on my way to work today, I was listening to A$AP Rocky's latest album, "Long Live A$AP." From some of the people I follow on Twitter, it was supposed to have been a great album.  This is not the case.  I listened to half of it on the way to work and the other half on the way back home.  Looking back on it, I'm glad that that was how it worked out.  The album, while ranging from decent to solid on production, is largely dark and completely lacking in any kind of quality that isn't talking about niggas, riding with his niggas, riding on some niggas, fuck those other niggas, Lambos, Raris, whores, bitches, pseudo-religious statements in which he compares himself to God or Christ, weed, and niggas.  It left me quite drained and put a strain on my spirit that I don't normally feel from good music.  His songs and lyrics are in no way edifying, and are rarely clever.  I will probably never listen to him, or that album ever again.

Now, you may say, "this is just my taste in music," right?  That is where every bit of my mind, body and soul disagree.  Even if I wasn't a Christian, I could not enjoy such destructive and senseless music.  I pointed out to The Alchemist how I felt about the first half of the album I heard, and SJ Radio came back and answered.  I answered back and then he came back with the following Tweets:

"if u don't like pmw ... U don't like ASAP n q ... Cuz it's their signature just like hands on the wheel or brand new guy that's how those two get down ... And pmw is dope ... One of The top 5 cuts on the record the fact that u are sayin ASAP isn't hip hop or is hip hop... Makes u seem hella sus ... Quit classifying shit n do u listen to wat u like n disregard the other ish ... No need to Go into what is and isn't hip hop ... That's just idiotic " 

To which I say, What, precisely, is his and their signature? Garbage raps about guns, drugs, cars, and fucking whores?   And how, exactly, is a song titled, PMW (All I Really Need) and the PMW stands for Pussy, Money, Weed a great song?  How can anyone with a shred of reason or compassion for people be able to title a song Pussy, Money, Weed?  And then, well, the lyrics are of a caliber that suits the title.  And, if I used the loosest standards by which I judge music, there is by no means "5 dope cuts" on that entire album.  He's lucky if there's 2.  And, I concede, I should not have said he was hiphop...because not all rap is hiphop.

One of the lines that bothers me the most is "Quit classifying shit n do u." Do me?  What does that mean? Pay no attention to what is out there and try to help my people and anyone else that might listen to try to shield them from these garbage raps?  Bury my head in the sand and not TRY to find good music and the behest of people who I respect in HipHop and Rap?  So, in this case, they're telling me to be close-minded and just continue on my merry way?  Continue on my merry way and let people just fall into the pit of garbage raps that people like A$AP and 2chainz and Rick Ross perpetuate to capitalize on the feeble minds and desires of the poor souls that have no real direction?  That would mean that I hate those people.  And I don't.  My heart breaks for them and I would love to see them do better than the horrible lyrics that are contained in A$AP's album.  To see that that is no way to live their lives.  To see that that is not even close to an example of good music.  To see garbage for garbage and run from it.  Do me, SJ Radio?  I don't think so.

Your words are as ignorant as your grasp of music.  Pump garbage that's considered "hot."  It is called "hot garbage" for a reason.  Just because it's hot does not mean that it's dope.  Keep your selfish, self-serving words for someone with no vision.  As for me, I love HipHop and Rap...but I don't put up with garbage.