George Zimmerman has been found not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin.

 

Paula Deen, the southern cuisine guru, has fallen from grace and into hard times because of a racial slur.

 

They, their friends, family, supporters and detractors will, must and should learn a hard and cruel lesson of life.

 

In our age of the entitlement mentality, instant gratification, and lack of personal responsibility, the following may come as a shock and surprise to many.

 

 

 

Life will not always work out to your satisfaction.

You cannot sculpt, style or cut life to your pattern.

You are not the potter and life is not your clay.

This is not Burger King where you can have it your way.

You do not reside in LegoLand where you can recast the bricks in any shape you so desire.

Sometimes you will be dealt a seemingly bad hand.

Yet you must play the game with the cards you hold between your fingers. 

Life is not easy.

It is not a vocation for sissies or wimps.

 

There is constant change. 

We do not like change.

It makes us uncomfortable and ill at ease.

 

Times change.

Things change.

People change.

And life is like old man river, he just keeps rolling along.

 

Yet this is all we have and if we are ever going to make a go out of it we must arise, brush ourselves off and get moving.

 

Yes! It is true things are easier said than done.

 

Sometimes the blow of injustice is so devastating that it sucks all the air out of your lungs and takes your breath away.

 

Daily the scalding tears on your cheeks, the pain in your heart, the burning in your stomach threaten to overwhelm you.

 

I sympathize and agree with you that there is vast difference between talking or writing about a thing than doing a thing.

 

But if you are going to mature and become all you were intended to be, you must tackle reality head on.

 

If you stop, pause, think for a moment; what is the alternative?

One must be careful that the crime against one does not claim two victims.

We do what we can to address inequities.

However, once you have done all you can, that's all you can do.

You must let go.

Let God.

And move on.

Because life is constantly flowing forward if you stand still, get tied up, you are going to lag behind, be run over or swept away by the raging currents of life.

 

We dare not stay long in the valley.

Remember, the psalmist calls it the "valley of the shadow of death."

We were designed by our Maker to live life and that more abundantly.

The miracle of birth alone shows that you are a special phenomenon with the potential to do great things and leave an indelible mark upon the earth.

To bury such promise and squander such a gift is to shame yourself and the Creator who fashioned you in his image.

You are one and you are unique.

Once He called you out and you were born again, you were inducted into a royal priesthood, became a member of the chosen generation and a peculiar people.

That is why suicide is such a shame, travesty and tragedy.

It is a clear demonstration that you had no faith in the Creator and you did not trust him enough that He was able to make things better.

Stuck in "death valley" you had lost all hope that you could ascend and overcome that stubborn impasse.

 

Four things, if you are paying keen attention, happen to the human spirit when you hear the rhema word of God.

 

Information initiates Inspiration that settles the question of Confirmation thus leading to Transformation.

 

Two churches in South Florida have names that are so apt The Living Word and Creciendo en Gracia (Growing in Grace).

 

Since the word of God is living and active, successful people understand that once exposed to it,your spirit responds and motivates you to grow in His grace.

 

The word of God is not static or stagnant.

It will always evoke a response, positive or negative, and will not be ignored.

It will never stand still and always activate a hearer to move from something to something.

This will always make us uncomfortable.

We are continually drawn to complacency but since we are not at our final destination we cannot and will not thoroughly be at ease in this life.

 

 We are on a quest for the city whose builder and maker is God. The one that exists in the land where mercy and truth meet; where righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

 

Rahab, the prostitute, heard from her customers about the military exploits of Israel so to her eternal benefit she forsook her chosen profession, denied her heritage and threw her lot in with the people of God.

 

Ruth learned about the love and goodness of Jehovah from Naomi so she left behind the Moabite culture to marry a Jew and become a forerunner of the Savior of the world.

 

Paul had to acknowledge the power and might of Jesus Christ when he was knocked from his horse and struck with blindness. Then he had to turn around and rebuild all he had broken down.

 

People find it hard to forgive because they remain mired in the bitterness of the past and always hold history against you.

 

God, however, deals with everyone as if today is the first day of the rest of your life.

 

Do you remember the brother of the prodigal son?

 

I invite you to read again to the conversation he had with his father about the return of the wayward brother.

 

"And he answering said to his father, lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment;and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf." 

 

Freedom, forgiveness or moving forward will always be a transaction that involves you and one or more people.

 

God is reminding you as he told Joshua,"my late, great servant Moses is dead, now therefore, arise, cross over this river Jordan and possess the land."

 

As I was with Moses so will I be with you.

 

Get up.

Get moving

I got this.

In fact, I have the whole world in my hands.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Together we have a land to conquer.

 

This could and should have been the response of the man who took Moses' place or anyone with the attitude of a conqueror, mindset of a faithful overcomer and determination to

move beyond that impossible barrier.

 

Adios!

I've got things to do,

people to see,

places to know,

promises to keep,

and miles to go 

 

 

 

V. Knowles is a husband and father with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick.